Episode 161: With Rod Stewart
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Transcript
Transcript
Time Crisis back again. Many changes are afoot. From downtown Los Angeles all the
way to the United Kingdom we're joined in the studio by rock legend Rod Stewart.
We talk about everything from trains to football to the tears of Hercules. This
is a very special Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig.
Time Crisis back again. Hell of a show today. We'll be joined by rock legend Rod
Stewart in a little bit but first some truly shocking news this week. I kind of
can't believe it but we just found out Staples Center, beloved arena, maybe not
that beloved but an arena in downtown Los Angeles. It's where the Lakers play,
it's where the Clippers play, it's where the Kings play. It will be changing its
name because somebody knew about the rights and before we talk about it I was
I was just having this discussion with somebody. I broke the news to them.
Actually it was a friend of the show Ariel Rechshied sitting in the studio with him
and I was like oh man and he was like what and I told him he's like old-school
LA dude I was like you're not gonna believe this they're changing the name
of Staples Center the first thing he says oh god what is it and so before I say it
I kind of remember I think we've talked about it on the show that the Staples
Center is one of the classiest arena names. We've had this discussion right?
I think so. You could be like the Dunkin Donuts Center in Rhode Island you could
end up being Smoothie King Arena where the Pelicans play in New Orleans but we
talked about the fact that is if you're gonna have a sponsored name you're not
gonna be Madison Square Garden you're gonna have a sponsored name there's
something about Staples Center that just sounds like somebody's name you don't
even think about the fact that it's a weird office supply chain and I believe
the discussion we had on TC went along the lines of like LA is so lucky imagine
if instead of Staples coming through with the naming rights it had been
Office Depot it would be just such a shame be such an embarrassment for the
city. LA is really lucky and then we even I believe we even had a discussion maybe
LA because it's LA they got all these offers Office Depot came through you
know who knows what else Burger King Taco Bell whatever and they said no no
no it has to sound good and then Staples came through and they said you got it
because that sounds good. We're the second biggest city in America we need
the money but we're not gonna take some dorky name that'd be an embarrassment to
the City of Angels so anyway they have this great name Staples Center and it
really goes down easy it's a win-win for everybody. Turns out that theory was
wrong. That theory was deeply wrong or a lot has changed in the past 22 years so
because we've had this discussion I was very interested to see what is the new
name of the Staples Center who bought the naming rights and what is this place
gonna become well I guess Seinfeld you're our number cruncher I'll let you
do the honors what is the new name of the Staples Center in downtown Los
Angeles the Staples Center will now be called crypto.com arena rolls off the
tongue don't it folks. Crypto.com arena. We were literally like less than a year ago
sitting around just being like LA it's a classy city a lot of big money there a
lot of Hollywood producers they want a classy name for their arena no crypto.com
so it's gonna be called crypto.com arena not crypto.com center yeah no they
dropped the center I feel like they could have called it crypto center but
dot-com is kind of ruining it. It has to be crypto.com because that's the name of the
business if they just called it crypto center then you'd have all sorts of... That sounds terrifying. It's very Robocop.
Civilian welcome to crypto center but crypto is too broad of a category
everybody in the crypto space benefits from the crypto center this is not about
coinbase it's not about friends with benefits it's not about NFT week this is
about crypto.com a very specific website but I mean where to even begin it's so
insane that it actually kind of rules and also like as much as we were talking
about it Staples Center being a classy name I don't actually give a what the LA
arenas called got no horse in that race but crypto.com it's like so beyond I
just went to crypto.com the first face I see on it is Matt Damon what is he an
investor fortune favors the brave favors spelled the British way by the way please
select your preferred location I'm gonna hit us Singapore company oh it's based
in Singapore and they got Matt friend of the show Matt Damon to do a little spot
for it well they're not messing around they got Matt Damon they cut and they
change the name of the Staples Center they're throwing some cash around yeah
they got some real money I mean they paid 700 million dollars to rename the
Staples Center yeah maybe they broke Matt off with a you know five million
for an hour's work they spent seven hundred million dollars for the name
right for 20 for a 20 year later 20 years yeah my a friend of mine so I
haven't I haven't number crunched this yet but texted me this morning saying
that's like a country mile more than anyone's ever paid he said that nine
million dollars a year is the current highest lease they just took it to over
30 so this is a hundred country my was your friend that's like you Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart was Matt Damon because we were just talking that the the single
from Rod's new album the track one on the album actually called one more time
has a line that uses the phrase good old country mile he's talking about sex he
said the sex with the woman he's talking to so it was immense by a good old
country mile but anyway I do love by a country mile and I'm glad that this
phrase is reentering the lexicon visa V Nick's friend and Rod Stewart that's a
zeitgeist everybody country mouth
sweetest guy made me want to cry we're all inside the road even new friends
leaving this time I wish you could be with me I would show you off like a
trophy the road it winds up twist turns oh my stomach burns
Jake have you thought of some questions for Rod? I have a few yeah I'm gonna let
you drive but I'll pipe in with a few. No yeah this is a tag team I mean you're a
big fan of every picture tells the story right you're a massive fan of his early
70s solo records and those faces records from that same era oh yeah unbelievable
yeah ooh la la you only get to ask one question to Rod what question is it I
want to hear about his first trip to California oh love that all right let's
definitely ask him that yeah just piggybacking off of what Jake said I
actually when I wrote some notes one of them was kind of about just like it
seems like you can't he's kind of based in California so I was just kind of like
curious about how long he's been there is it weird being like in English
dude in Southern California yeah he's another I mean he makes me think of
David Hockney even though they have nothing in common but iconic blonde
Englishman that has been living in LA for decades actually that's a good
question too I think you should phrase it just like that like so Rod another
iconic blonde Englishman has been living in LA for decades David Hockney you guys
friends I think the answer will be yes there's no way they haven't like party
together yeah I think he lives in Malibu because he I don't know what we doing
the show right now what this is like yeah they were getting meta yeah yeah
we're no no this is good we're showing people behind the curtain this is our
show Daniel Ralston used to work at a bar at the Malibu Beach Inn which was
like a kind of a nice hotel in Malibu and Rod would come in with his mates and
watch football games oh his English mates he'd come in with his English mates
and watch the soccer games it like weird you know like what on the afternoon when
no one's in there just a ragtag group of Englishmen David Hockney Rod Stewart
Stephen Hawking Prince Charles I mean you got a picture Branson oh yeah
Richard Branson that's a good crew right there anyway the I can only um I don't
care personally that it's got this terrible name but if California does
fall into the sea within the next 20 years you heard it here first it's
because of this this brings some serious you know biblical type evil into the
Golden State I wish Warren Zeevon was still alive to write a song about this
oh god yeah he would love it it's really is like a perfect metaphor for like the
direction of our economy and society I mean the late 90s you know big-box
retailers were king yep and even if you know it was a little funny and tacky to
have Staples an office supply retailer big-box went out on the bidding war
granted with a classy name it's really you know the brick-and-mortar era is uh
phasing out and we're gonna do this here for the next 20 years I also want to say
that we're not anti crypto on this show I mean we did a whole special about NFT
week with the desk spot so we're very pro crypto pro NFT are we well I don't
know about NFTs we never really we're not anti crypto I just want to say
though it's like one funny thing though is that when people talk about crypto
and the blockchain and how that could change the way that people interact and
change everything you know it would be cool if you told me that 1 million
people on the blockchain somehow came together to buy the naming rights for
Staples Center and they called it you know gave it some like crazy funny name
ass arena yeah even if they call it ass arena or if they just pick something
like you know it would be cool if you told me that 1 million people globally
using aetherium bought the naming rights and they bought it that's so it would
cost so much money it was the highest naming rights by many country miles like
they bought it for five billion dollars and they just named it a 200 digit
number you know something like weird like that like literally five seven nine
five one two three seven six oh zero zero you know arena and they're like for
short and it they just call it like like numbers arena or whatever I'd be like
all right that rules yeah this is the dream of just like weird happening
because powerful corporations don't get the naming rights anymore or like they
named it after some like hacker legend like who's that guy that the the hackers
love Aaron Swartz if they named it after some legend I don't know Julian Assange
arena yeah like that crowdsourced right then I'd be like wow the black chain
Edward Snowden arena you know just some legends of a legend of leaks or hacks or
I don't know like or just a joke I mean it'd be pretty lame but you know like
not this but like Harambe arena again lame but I was gonna say bored ape
arena would have been even bored a you know would be would be slightly better
all I'm saying is that yeah you see where I'm going with this that would be
like wow the blockchain is changing culture it's wild and wacky and like
hackery and like whatever and decentralized you know but instead it's
like just the same old thing crypto.com you know what I mean it's like yeah an
even worse version so again not anti black chain not even anti crypto.com I
got to talk to Matt Damon to really have an opinion but you know it's just like
kind of lame but I think we should go even one step further back because this
really tracks like something culturally before is the Staples Center before was
even built where did the Lakers play? The Forum. And the Forum had various names
actually Seinfeld can you look up the forum had a few funny names at some
point it was called the Great Western Forum from a bank and before that it was
oh that was from a bank interesting I think so and I think before that it was
like the fantastic form but I think originally was just the forum man they
better not off auction off the rights to Dodger Stadium. So initially it was named
after Great Western Savings and Loan as the Great Western Forum then it was
acquired by Washington Mutual now Chase Bank and it was changed to just the
forum. I mean these companies had restraint back then. Washington
Mutual dropped some coin on and they said you know what let's be classy we're
just gonna call it the forum if you know you know. If you know you know
arena. Wow who owns if you know you know arena? You got to do a little bit of digging.
It's actually Wendy's right it's very cool that they didn't call it Wendy's
arena. Oh yeah that is cool I've been meaning to go there. But that's always
been the case right Paramount is a Gulf and Western company you know from
the beginning. Back then you know mid-century people were more discreet
and more tasteful it was a zenith of this country and I think it reflects I
think you could totally write a credible thesis on naming of arenas and the
decline of America. What's also fun yeah at some point it was called the forum
which truly actually sounds like Roman and actually totally from the forum to
Staples Center to crypto.com arena. Wait but was there anything in between
Seinfeld? Oh wow well it apparently currently the forum is actually known as
the forum presented by Chase is the full name of the forum. They just oh god.
Yeah I'm not seeing anything kind of in between that seems like it was here is
the forum Great Western Forum and then back to the forum presented by Chase.
Presented by Chase it's classy. It's so just don't it's it's somewhat classy.
Staples Center was shortened to Staples right like would you say I'm going to
Staples? No you'd say I'm going to Staples Center. Oh yeah going to Staples
sounds like you're going to the to no one goes to Staples. I mean that's that
what's so amazing right? I mean well yeah by the way what's going on with the
Staples the company are they in trouble or did they just say you know what maybe
they knew that they were in a power position and like whoever owns the arena
came back like guys please don't make it look even if you can come in at half of
what crypto.com is offering well you can keep it and Staples said you know what
we just flashed out so much money over the last 22 years and everybody's gonna
always think of it as Staples Center and now they're in this power position where
they're like people are gonna be nostalgic for an office supplies store
they're winning. Nostalgic for an office supplies store. Well I mean and it just
sounds like the press release of a painting exhibition I just did. Staples
paid a hundred and sixteen million dollars for 20 years starting in 1999
and then they extended the agreement during the Great Recession 2009 so I
should also say that LA Times has an article about this and it quotes the
chief executive of crypto.com Chris Marselec as saying that the new name
will come to be seen as a sign of the times and he has a quote here in the
next few years people will look back at this moment as the moment when crypto
crossed the chasm into the mainstream. Marselec said when reached at his home
in Hong Kong this is just a brilliant move from the guys at AEG because the
next decade belongs to crypto he said. He said this is a brilliant move by AEG
for accepting my 700 million dollars. It's kind of weird to be the guy from
crypto.com saying great move on AEG's part. I just came across an article
Paul George who plays for the Clippers he was asked what do you think about the
name change and he's from LA and he says it'll be weird I grew up with this being
Staples and Staples being the place to play and the place to be it'll
definitely be weird it's the same location but it's kind of like you're
stripping the history here by calling it something else from there going forward
I guess it's a new history to be written. Interesting quote but even then you're
now getting somebody to talk about an office supply store like Staples being
like well that's history man kind of stripping history yeah and he's right a
new history is being written in 20 years somebody might look back fondly on
crypto.com but yeah this truly is a milestone
Are we gonna ask Rod about crypto? Yeah I think this should be the first question
should at least be about the name change and if that opens up a lot of NFT talk
so be it. He's probably played the Staples Center right? As I understand he's been
an LA resident for many years well yeah let's get into it. We can start with
all the LA stuff.
Now let's go to the Time Crisis Hotline
[Phone Ringing]
Ezra and Jake. Rod! Yeah!
Hey boys how are you? How's it going? Welcome to the show. Thank you lovely to be on first time on.
Hopefully not the last but we're thrilled to have you. Thank you. We're huge fans
you're a legend and very excited about your new album Tears of Hercules but the
first thing we want to ask you about you're a longtime LA resident correct?
Since 1975. And that's kind of been your home base I imagine you're all over the
place but that's your home base? Yeah more or less yeah. So I imagine you've
probably been to performed at the Staples Center before? Yes yes. Have you
heard about the name change? No I've been locked up here for about 18 months. I
went back to LA to do Vegas last month otherwise I haven't been back there at
all. Okay you've been in the UK for quarantine? Yeah we've been locked down mate. The new name of the
Staples Center is the Crypto.com Arena. Is that bad? Well we just wanted to get
your reaction to it. I couldn't give a f***. Well that's probably the right attitude. It wasn't one of my favorite places to perform anyway. I love the Forum.
And I think the Forum's been revamped now. It's got a much better sound. Were you playing
concerts at the Forum like back in the 70s? Yeah with the Faces yeah we used to
play the Forum quite regularly. I did it with Tina Turner once she came up and
sang when she had a second album out. Yeah I've done it loads of times. I
should imagine 20-30 times. I played Madison Square Garden about 50 times so
imagine the Forum's up there as well. Yeah I gotta check that. I know Elton's done it more than me.
Yeah well one question that I've always wanted to ask you and I've always been
so curious about this is you're one of the greatest rock singers of all time.
Oh behind yourself. You're up there but I've always been interested is that
you're such a great songwriter and yet in your catalog you have so equally
dispersed songs that you've written or co-written and then songs that other
people have written. You've done many albums in your series of covers.
Obviously you have a great ear for identifying great songwriters. You've
covered Tom Waits multiple times so I'm just kind of curious about your
relationship to songwriting and how that kind of started and when you first kind
of like got into it. Oh that's a good story actually a good question. I'd never
put pen to paper while I was with all the bands I was with till I
joined the Jeff Beck group and then Jeff said we should start writing our own
songs for one of the two Jeff Beck albums. I think it was the second one and
Jeff said guys can you start writing songs. I said okay Ronnie and I said
we'll give it a go and so I went over to Ronnie's house which was a little tiny
council house. Do you know what a council house is? They're houses for the poor.
Like government housing? Yeah yeah exactly yeah so I went over his house and
middle of winter we turned on the electric fire which had three bars and
then his mum came in and said you can only use one because it's expensive.
That was very cold. We had a notepad and a piece of paper and a pencil and we
tried to write a Jeff Beck song and nothing came out and then we said well
let's have a glass of wine. So we had a bottle of wine between the two of us and
still nothing came out. But that was the first failed attempt at writing songs
was with Ronnie. We eventually got a song called Around the Plinths I think it was
for the Jeff Beck album but it was a struggle. Now it's so enjoyable I mean I
really love it you know I love the whole way we we put albums together. I'm not
saying everybody should do it this way but I do mine over the laptop you know
make alterations that way and it's so having spent probably you know 20 years
in studios with no light and no sunshine it's a relief to be able to do it that
way. But I enjoy the songwriting process now more than I've done in my entire
life. The faces used to lock me in a holiday in room you know they used to give me a bottle of wine,
tape recorder and a bit of paper and they'd lock the door till I got the lyrics because I was lazy.
So you didn't particularly back then want to go spend a lot of time
writing songs? No, in those in the 70s there was too much shagging and drinking to do you know.
Yeah. Party. Because the places were party bad. But even when you look at your early work the first couple you know solo
albums and the fact that Maggie Mae a song that you wrote or co-wrote becomes
this like huge hit that didn't make you feel like wow there's like really I'm
like the man I got to keep writing my own songs. Yeah, yeah I did and of course you may
know the story that that wasn't supposed to be on the album. That song was a B-side?
Yeah we only had eight tracks and the guys from Mercury Records out of Chicago
said we need another track and I said I'll have a look see what I've got. And I had
this unfinished song we didn't even have a title and I went and finished it with
Ronnie and Mac and there came Maggie Mae and it wasn't for a desk jockey in
Cleveland who turned it over because reason to believe was the A-side. B-side
was Maggie may not be talking to you today. It's amazing that it used to work
that way. It was Cleveland that turned the tide?
D-jockey in Cleveland turned it over. This is good let's play this. We were just talking recently
about there was a disc jockey in Cleveland that got Rush's career started.
Well, yeah. Can't imagine it's the same guy because it's 50 years ago. It might have
been it was probably early 70s. Yeah, 1971. It was 50 years ago this month or next month.
Wild. It was 50 years in March I think I'll check that out but maybe the same guy.
Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you.
It's late September and I really should be back at school.
I know I keep you amused but I feel I'm being used.
Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried anymore.
You led me away from home just to save you from being alone.
You stole my heart and that's what really hurts.
Is it true that in the 70s like the Midwest was like true rock country? Did you have like
amazing shows in Ohio and Indiana? Do you have a special connection to that area?
No, not really. I mean with the Jeff Beck group we had a couple of cities. I'm going way back now
to '69, '68, '69. We had a couple of cities that we favored and one of them was Detroit and the
other one was Pittsburgh. It was always a great audience for us. Out West it wasn't so good.
I can't remember the faces because we were all so drunk at the time.
After everything went on with the faces. We drank too much that's for sure.
Was your first trip to California with the faces?
No, the first trip was with the Jeff Beck group and we supported Pink Floyd at the
Anaheim Convention Center. It was our first tour. We support the Grateful Dead,
a lot of big bands, American bands.
Whoa, you opened for the Grateful Dead?
Yeah, it was hard for them to follow us on I tell you.
Americans have never seen anything like this, especially the likes, you know,
four white boys playing Chicago blues. Especially the way me and Ronnie used to look in those days.
We had all these cross belt bottom trousers and pink crosses, enormous hair. Americans hadn't
seen anything like that in 1969.
My dad has told me that he saw you play opening for Jimi Hendrix.
Oh, that's right. Yeah.
And he said it blew. Yeah, he was my dad because I grew up with your music.
I'm a huge fan. My dad's a huge fan. But he would always tell that story
that he didn't know who you were. You guys opened for Hendrix and just like blew the stage out.
Yeah, he followed us on. He was great. And I remember that. You know, millions of concerts,
you remember one. I remember it because I didn't go and solo to Jimi. You know,
I had a bit of a cold. Ronnie and Jeff went solo and Nicky Hopkins went to solo too. I go,
I feel so awful. I better not. I might give him a cold. Missed the opportunities.
So that's how I remember that. Yeah. He was a lot better than us.
Fire coming out of his arse.
It sounds like, yeah.
Throwing guitars up in the air. And, you know, he was great. Rest in peace, Jimi.
Is it true that the faces would sometimes check into hotels as the Grateful Dead?
Fleetwood Mac.
Oh, Fleetwood Mac? Because the faces had been banned?
Fleetwood Mac weren't known in those days. The Grateful Dead were. Fleetwood Mac hadn't broken
through. We were both bands were trying to cut through. So no one knew whether we were Fleetwood
Mac or the faces. No one really knew.
And is that because the faces had been banned?
Yeah. Yeah. For, you know, silly behavior and, you know, the normal thing. We drilled through
walls because they were only breeze Brock. So we used to drill through the walls. So all the walls,
can't believe I'm telling you this, you know, we used to get really told off.
And the reason we did it, we were so because the Holiday Inn used to treat us so badly,
like we were scum. You know what I mean? So that was our way of getting back at them.
I saw an interview where you said they wouldn't even bring you room service.
No, no, they just didn't want to. They didn't want to know us.
You know, just because you were like rock and rollers or was like an anti.
They thought you were hippies.
We weren't hippies, but it was middle America, mostly, you know, like around Kansas and Des Moines.
And so what was your impression of the Grateful Dead and like the San Francisco kind of hippie
scene?
It was lovely. It was lovely. It's probably the right word, but it didn't affect me and Ronnie.
We had our own style, you know, we invented our own style. I was talking to someone about this
yesterday because on the new album, there's a tribute to Mark Bowlen and me and Mark were really
good friends. You know, we did a show with the faces with him where he was top of the bill and
we absolutely wiped the floor with him. You know, he was such a gentleman. He'd come in and say,
I can't follow you guys on. That was so great. Amniax would do that nowadays and we remain good
friends. But getting back to what you said, we all shopped in the same shop. It was called Granny
Takes a Trip in a King's Road. You know, so you go in there, you go in this shop and I've got all
that jacket there and they go, no, you don't want that. Bowie's got it. You go, oh, no,
Jagger's got that one. It was that close knit, you know. I've forgotten what your question was.
Now I'm rambling.
I was just your impressions of the Grateful Dead. We talk about them a lot in the show,
and it's been interesting to us. Such a huge band in the US, but never particularly crossed over
with English audiences.
I can't tell you why. I mean, I must admit I wasn't a fan at all because it wasn't like the
sort of music I like. I like, you know, blues stuff, soul stuff. And their stuff sort of
rambled on for a few days, didn't it?
Yeah. Did you interact with them much when you did the show together
or you were kind of in your own universe?
Yeah. Yeah.
Fair enough.
♪ In the morning, don't say you love me ♪
♪ 'Cause I'll only kick you out of the door ♪
♪ I know your name is Rita ♪
♪ 'Cause you're probably feeling and smelling sweet ♪
♪ Since when I saw you down on the floor ♪
♪ Guitar, whoa ♪
♪
♪ You won't need to much persuading ♪
♪ I don't mean to sound degrading ♪
♪ But with a face like that, you got nothing to laugh about ♪
♪ Red lips, brown fingernails ♪
♪ I hear you, I mean, I don't care to fail ♪
♪ Let's go upstairs and leave my shadow glow ♪
♪ Come on ♪
♪ Stay with me ♪
♪ Stay with me ♪
♪ For tonight, you better stay with me ♪
♪ Stay with me ♪
♪ Stay with me ♪
♪ For tonight, you better stay with me ♪
So how is it that you ended up settling in California in 1975?
Something must have attracted you to LA.
- It was something pushed me out of the UK.
The taxes became, 93% of your money was going to be taken in taxes.
- Tax man.
- That was 1975.
And in those days, everybody left.
I think at one point, it was Eric Clapton, I think Joe Cocker, me,
maybe in the Bee Gees, a lot of people all went out on April the 5th,
the day before the fiscal year to get away from UK taxes.
They were just diabolical.
I mean, can you imagine just taking home 93% of what you earn?
It's not fair.
- That's a, yeah, I think in the US in the 50s, it was the same too.
- Was it really?
- Yeah, like during the Eisenhower years, it was for the very, very top earners,
it was like in the 90s.
And of course, obviously, the Beatles wrote that famous song about it too.
- "Paying for the War."
- Yeah, right.
- But so of all the places you could go, so we understand you were leaving the UK,
but was California just the most obvious choice to you?
- Oh, yeah, because I'd been there before and enjoyed it,
enjoyed the company of some beautiful girls, and of course, the sunshine.
And yeah, why wouldn't I go?
- You know, I've always had like a funny connection in my head between
you as an iconic blonde Englishman living in LA,
with another iconic blonde Englishman living in LA, David Hockney.
Did you guys ever hang out?
- Oh, no, we don't.
We don't.
Believe it or not, I've got a Hockney somewhere in this house.
- Really?
- I went out with one of his best mates from Manchester, a girl called Jenny Rylance,
and he used to live upstairs when we were all unknown.
- Oh, so you got some early work.
- She came from Manchester as well.
And I have a drawing of his somewhere, I've got to try and find it.
Might be worth some money, you know.
But I didn't really hang out with him.
- But you met him?
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- And so there were a lot of English musicians of your generation,
probably all moving to LA around the same time, hanging out?
- Yeah, yeah, for the same reason, the tax reasons.
I think the Bee Gees as well were living in England at that time,
and they moved out to California.
May be wrong on that one, but there was a mass exodus.
Because all of us thought, you know, how long is this going to last?
Didn't think I'd still be doing this in me 70s.
We thought we'd go earn the money while we can, you know,
because what are we going to do with the rest of our lives?
- Yeah, of course.
- So did you have those conversations with your friends when you were,
let's say, in your mid 30s and it's the early 80s or something,
and you're just, or the 70s, and you're like,
like in the year 2000, we'll definitely not be doing this anymore.
I guess I'll, did you have a vision of what you might be doing
when you were in your 50s or 60s or 70s?
- No.
- I've got no clue, it was frightening.
I was put on this earth to just sing and look at this face.
What else could I be but a rock singer?
(laughing)
- What would you tell the like 35 year old Rod Stewart
if you could talk to him now?
- My life's been pretty wonderful.
I've got no complaints.
I mean, I had a couple of dodgy business people working for me.
Be careful of who you trust.
Be careful.
Always keep your eye on the pennies.
You know, the pounds look after themselves.
Keep your eye on the pennies.
- Very good advice.
And also like, the truth is, when we look backwards at your career,
it seems like a more or less unbroken string of successes,
which is not true of everybody from your generation.
Like you had obviously like the early success in the rock era,
but late 70s, still making hits,
into the 80s, the new wave era, into the 90s.
Is that how it felt at the time?
- Yeah, it did.
You know, I think about it and I think, you know,
I'm still here and I've been hoping for a top five album tomorrow.
I was hoping it was going to be number one,
but I can't compete with, I'm talking about in England, in Great Britain.
Can't compete with Adele and ABBA and Little Ginger Geezer.
- Oh yeah.
- Yeah, Little Ginger Geezer.
I can't compete with them.
They're just, you know, ABBA haven't released an album for 40 years.
But we're hoping to get in.
So I would never have dreamt in a million years
I'd still be recording and more importantly,
enjoying it so much as I do.
And I love getting up on the stage.
I'm a natural show off.
Always was before I was singing.
You know, I love expressing myself with clothes and humor.
Now I can do it with my voice that the good Lord has given me.
- Yeah, your voice still sounds great.
- It does, doesn't it?
- Yeah, no, no, no, truly.
And I mean, did you do anything?
I mean, I know you did a lot of partying.
So like, it's always just kind of sounded the same.
You never had to sweat it.
- Yeah, like an athlete, you know, as you get older,
you've got to look how there are only a couple of muscles
bashing together in your throat.
You've got to look after them.
You got, you know, you got to warm up for an hour,
warm down for 15 minutes.
Can't stay out too late in noisy clubs anymore.
You know, it's just because of getting older.
And you got to look, it's like, it really is like being an athlete.
Even when you do, you know, we did 10 concerts in Las Vegas.
Takes a lot of building up to it.
You know, you can't, it's like football.
You can't just go out and play.
You do all the training you want,
but you can't just get on the field and start playing.
It's a whole different entity.
Same with vocalizing.
- Are you going on tour next year?
Are you mostly doing shows in Vegas?
- Yeah, oh yeah.
And what happens, I do it three times a year.
Beginning of the year, middle of the year, the end of the year.
And in between that, hopefully if all goes well,
we'll be going down to New Zealand and Australia.
And then we're doing three months in America.
And then we'll do Europe and the UK this time next year.
They're actually selling, in fact, a couple of gigs
are already sold out for this time next year here in England.
So pretty good for an old fella.
- Oh, amazing, awesome.
That's incredible.
♪ He left his home with a dollar in his pocket ♪
♪ And a head full of dreams ♪
♪ He said somehow, someway it's gotta get better than this ♪
♪ Piled it back to bags, left him no form ♪
♪ Mama, she was just 17 ♪
♪ There were tears in her eyes ♪
♪ Then she kissed her little sister goodbye ♪
♪ They held each other tight ♪
♪ As they drove them through the night ♪
♪ They were so excited ♪
♪ We got but one shot at life ♪
♪ Let's take it while we're still not afraid ♪
♪ Because life is so free ♪
♪ And time is a thief when you're undecided ♪
♪ And like a fistful of sand ♪
♪ You can slip out through your hands ♪
♪ Young hearts be free to sing along ♪
♪ Time is on your side ♪
♪ Don't let 'em put you down ♪
♪ Don't let 'em push you around ♪
♪ Don't let 'em ever change your point of view ♪
- I have no idea if this is true,
but I heard a rumor that you're famously
a model train enthusiast,
and there have been times where you've taken
your set on tour.
Is that true?
- Yeah, yeah, that's very, very true.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah, why wouldn't it be?
- What is that you took it on tour?
- It just goes around in a circle, you know?
It's in a building here that's, I'd say,
45 feet by 30 feet.
And I moved it over from America.
It took three months to get in.
It's gonna take about seven months
to get it up, working, and looking amazing.
Look at it online.
You won't believe it.
You'd think it was the real thing.
- Is the part that you've taken it on tour
with you true?
- Yes, it's very true, yeah.
- So it sounds like it's, is it--
- Let me tell you, let me tell you.
- You have to set it up.
Yeah, break it down for us.
- This is how it works.
- Yeah.
- I build a project.
Say I've got a, you know, in my layout,
there's skyscrapers that are five foot tall,
in HO scale, to scale.
So I would pack all my cases, paints,
carpentry, stool, everything that I need
in big cases and take it on tour.
And the hotels would set up a room separately
with a dining table, right,
for me, especially to continue with my hobby.
It is wonderful.
You know, a lot of guys on tour,
they stay in bed all day,
or they're masturbating or whatever.
(laughing)
Going out to the theater.
Well, there's nothing wrong with that either,
but it's such a wonderful, a wonderful hobby.
Three dimensional hobby, I love it.
I work every day on it.
- And so part of like the joy of doing it,
it's not merely, 'cause some people just collect,
but you like to actually put it together,
paint and really make it.
- Build everything, yeah, build everything.
Everything, the detail is ridiculous.
I have a couple of girls work for me
who just put in blinds in windows.
- Wow.
- Skyscrapers, and there's thousands of them.
And before that, they have to put the windows in,
little tiny windows.
- There's pictures online of your whole setup?
- Yeah, yeah, look up, it's too small.
- That the listeners can check out.
- Yeah, you'll see it.
- Have you traded notes with Neil Young?
- No, do you know, Neil is like what you said, my friend.
He connects the rails up and he bought a big railroad company,
a toy company.
What they call it, he bought it for his autistic son.
- Lionel?
- Lionel, yeah.
Yeah, so Lionel is more of a toy-like thing.
You don't have to do anything,
just put the lines together and run the trains.
It's a big difference between that
and scale model railroading.
- I have a hot tip for you.
If you're ever in Chicago,
have you been to the Art Institute of Chicago?
- Oh yeah, the layout there.
- Well, in the bottom floor of that museum,
there's an incredible display of miniatures.
- Yeah, yeah, I've been there.
- Yeah.
- They're in New York as well.
- Incredible.
- Yeah, I've heard about them.
Well, I love Soul Street.
Is it Soul Street?
Sal Street?
S-A-L-L-E?
- I don't know what it's called.
I forget.
It's someone that spent decades making these
and they're all on display
and they're just the most meticulous recreations of buildings
from different historical eras.
- Oh God, I've got to see that.
- I think you would love it.
- What's it called?
Should I look it up?
- Well, it's at the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Art Institute of Chicago.
- Yeah, if you went there,
it would be in the bottom floor.
- Well, I'll look at it online first.
- And so when you're building this,
you're not building any city in particular.
You're kind of, it's an imaginary city with buildings from all over the world?
- No, no, no.
It's purely American railroads.
The turn of the, about just after the war
when steam was being phased out
and diesel trains were coming in.
And it's a cross between Chicago.
You know, when I'm on tour, I'll take pictures of buildings
and say, right, I'm going to try and build something similar to that.
So it's a cross between New York and Chicago.
It's even got a little rubbish in the streets.
- Whoa. And people?
- Oh yeah, thousands of them.
- It's kind of like a work of art.
- You could say that.
Mine is considered up there amongst them.
Get back to me.
When you have a look at it,
then you'll understand how good it is.
You know, it's hard for me to describe.
- Right.
- It gives me so much pleasure
and it's such an alternative to what I do for a living, you know?
- Right. Oh, it's amazing.
- Roger Daltrey is also a model railroad man.
Do you know a guy called Jules Holland?
- Oh yeah, of course. Yeah.
- Jules Holland. He's as fanatical as me.
- So you guys can trade notes?
- Yeah.
- Amazing.
- I love these classic rock icons who are into trains.
Daltrey, Stewart, Neil Young.
- Yeah. Roger is very much into it.
But yeah, it's a wonderful hobby.
- Do you go out of your way to ride trains when you travel?
- No, no, I don't go that far.
- No?
- I don't do train spotting.
- So the new album, like we were talking about,
you've always had this great knack for writing your own songs,
but also choosing well.
The title track, Tears of Hercules.
What's the story with the guy who wrote it?
He's somebody that you've dug into his work before, right?
- Mark Jordan.
- Right.
- He wrote a song for me called The Rhythm of My Heart
and we remained friends ever since.
- Oh yeah, huge song.
- Yeah, and he found that one of his.
It's a gorgeous song and I love the title.
And that's why, you know, they said,
"Well, why do you call it out in Tears of Hercules? Why not?"
It sucks you in straight away.
What does he mean by that?
I mean, grown men who should be able to cry.
- I was actually wondering about that
because it's a very evocative phrase.
And as I was listening to the lyrics of the song,
it seems like it's about a guy
who's kind of walking through a city
and kind of reminiscing.
And then he sees somebody that he used to love and says,
"Then I saw your face across the street
through the tears of Hercules."
- Yeah.
- Your interpretation of that is that
it's like a strong man showing emotion.
- Yeah, yeah.
Now I don't know what, you know,
maybe I should ask Steve what he meant by it.
But that's how I read it.
People ask me.
- No, it's cool.
And of course, with lyrics,
there doesn't have to be an obvious answer.
We just often go really deep
talking about lyrics on this show.
I just wondered if maybe there was like a pub
called Tears of Hercules.
I just, I'm just curious.
- Oh, what a great name that would be.
That would be fantastic.
- Because English pubs have these crazy names.
Like that wouldn't be that weird
to have an English pub called the Tears of Hercules.
- Oh God, I feel like opening a pub now.
That's the best idea I've heard today.
- That'd be perfect.
- Please do.
- Yeah, because I thought maybe
the guy's walking down the street
and then he looks through the window of the pub,
the Tears of Hercules,
and he's, I can't believe it's my ex-girlfriend.
Whoa.
That's kind of how I interpret it.
Anyway, just whatever.
- No, that's the great,
that's the wonderful thing about songs.
You can interpret it any way you wish.
- Oh, absolutely.
♪ So it goes, history shows ♪
♪ Deserts must expand ♪
♪ Camels sail like wooden ships ♪
♪ Like women on the strand ♪
♪ There's a sand on Second Avenue ♪
♪ And the wind blows like a train ♪
♪ Taxis line up like a string ♪
♪ Of pearls around the block again ♪
♪ I remember everything ♪
♪ And every windowpane ♪
♪ Every word came back to me ♪
♪ Like I was so lame ♪
♪ But then I saw your face across the street ♪
♪ Through the Tears of Hercules ♪
- So you've popularized many songs,
and you've made these very successful songs,
where you're digging to the American Songbook,
things like that.
- Yeah, I told you lately that I love you,
Van Morrison, "First Cut" is the deepest.
- Oh yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
- Yeah, I've done many success.
I've done, you know, "Downtown Train," Tom Waits.
- Yeah, love it.
- One of my favorite writers.
- Yeah, absolutely. Love Tom Waits.
So has there been much music that,
because you have such a great ear for songs,
have you ever been tempted to record something
by a younger artist,
or are there any newer songwriters
that have kind of like caught your ear at all
as you've been looking for songs?
- I like Bob Ezra.
I like his voice.
I like the way, I like his lyric writing.
I like the way he presents himself.
You know Bob Ezra?
- Yeah, I've heard of him.
♪ I'll be like a shotgun underneath the hot sun ♪
- He's English?
- Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah, I've heard of that.
- Otherwise, no.
- Understandable.
Tell me if this line of reasoning,
if we've exhausted it,
but just back to the songwriting thing,
you have so many peers who,
you've written songs as good as anybody
of your generation,
but it seems like there's so many people
who get so caught up and competitive
about songwriting,
or people want to make an album
where they wrote every song themselves.
Are you just like too cool to care?
You know, like you've always been,
you've never gotten caught up in that game?
- I'm unaware of any game about,
you know, you must do all your own songs or else.
I mean, I just, as I always say,
I've got such a flexible voice.
I can more or less sing anything, you know,
hence the great American songbook.
So, but you know, you should record
what pleases you, what makes you happy.
You know, I record what I think my fans want,
and what they want is what I want.
I'm not going to try and, you know,
record half-bloody pop songs
just because it may be a hit.
- Right.
- Stick by your principles
and stick by what you believe.
- Absolutely.
I know you've talked about this at length
many times, including in your book,
but people often talk about a big moment
in your career is with the success of
"Do You Think I'm Sexy?"
There was also a kind of critical backlash
because they couldn't understand
why you're doing disco.
I just want to say,
having revisited that song quite a bit
before the interview, I want to say
that song still goes very hard.
It sounds great.
What do you think was the big reaction to it
back then?
- Well, there was a big reaction
to all disco music after a while.
I jumped on the bandwagon.
I'll be totally square with you.
I wanted to make a disco song.
You know, I hate that word, disco.
I wanted to make a dance record.
I'd just come back from Brazil
and I heard this song in my head.
(singing)
And turned it into a song six months later.
Unfortunately, someone else
had already written that song,
so I was done for plaguism.
(laughing)
It was a song by Ben Jorg.
- Right, but so when you--
- I took the tribal and I heard it,
you know, and I went over it in my brain
and I turned it into a song.
- And when you found out that you'd
subconsciously taken the melody,
you just, you said, "Oh, no problem,"
and you just gave him some publishing?
- Hands up, take me to prison.
Yeah, I wasn't going to try.
I wouldn't have done it.
(laughing)
You know, I think we both agreed.
I said, "Listen, I'll give you
"one of my songs on the album.
"You can keep all the publishing,
"but we're going to give all the publishing
"of 'Do You Think I'm Sexy?' to UNICEF."
And he was great and he agreed.
So every penny from that song
was going to UNICEF.
- Oh, every penny?
- Yep.
- Oh, wow.
I'm sure that's made quite a bit.
♪ Girl, you've got my body
♪ And you think I'm sexy
♪ Come on, shiver, let me know
♪ If you really need me
♪ Just reach out and touch me
♪ Come on, honey, tell me so
♪ Tell me so, baby ♪
- Obviously, that song was a huge hit,
so did the fact that a handful of critics
who wanted you to keep doing
every picture tells a story type music,
did it bother you or were you always
just having too much fun to care about
that kind of stuff?
- Yeah, it bothered me at the time.
I mean, it wasn't just a few.
It was every critic.
Everyone hated it.
The public loved it.
But you know, you still,
it's nice to have the critics on your side.
I mean, it was like walking around
with a pink lavatory seat over your head.
(laughing)
It was just ridiculous.
People loved it.
You know, they absolutely,
they still love it.
We closed the show with it
and it just brings back all the,
music is meant to do that.
It's bringing back the memories of 1979,
you know, and that's what we're up there to do.
Entertain people, send them all home happy.
The problem I have,
and I think everybody has this problem,
trying to bring new songs into the act
when all they want to hear
is "Tonight's the Night,"
"Hot Legs," "Stay With Me,"
and "Killing It, Georgie,"
and on and on and on.
But I try.
I say, "Lisa, but please give this one
a big round of applause.
It's a brand new song,
and this is what I'm going to say,
and it's called 'One More Time.'"
And they thought,
"God, give it a big round of applause."
- No, that's a great song.
And how many,
so when you're planning like the new show,
how many songs do you think you can bring in
from the new record?
- Oh, I'll put two at the most.
- Two at the most.
- Two at the most, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
'Cause it's a huge repertoire of songs.
I mean, I could do three set lists,
and every song would be known, you know?
- Yeah.
- It doesn't worry me.
I mean, I just like getting up there and singing.
It's been so long.
It's been so long off.
- Last question, guys.
- Oh.
- Yeah, I have to go train my football team.
My under 10s.
- Well, maybe just tell us about that.
[laughs]
- Yeah, I coach an under 10s football team,
soccer team at my house here,
'cause I have an AstroTurf pitch and floodlights.
- Oh, cool.
- So we got training Wednesday night
with the boys' play on Sunday.
It's my life.
- And so you're actually like telling them
to run drills and pass them.
- Yeah, that's what I was doing this morning
at 10 o'clock, running drills with a medicine ball.
- And you've been playing soccer your whole life.
And so you're still out there running around with the kids?
- Yeah, I can't play competitively anymore.
Too many injuries.
You know, I've got a knee replacement.
I can still kick the ball.
- Right.
- But I can't get into a 50-50 tackle or anything.
So I've got a knee replacement.
- Okay, you know what?
I think just to end on the football/soccer note,
I imagine you being somebody who loves playing football,
living in L.A., a lot of British expats,
all sorts of people coming through.
There must have been some legendary football matches
in L.A.
Can you tell us about any of them?
- Oh, yeah.
We formed an exiles, we called the exiles.
And we're pretty well known around California
because we used to win all the cups.
And actually got to the semifinals
of the national, U.S. National Cup.
- Were there any other musicians in the mix?
- No, I don't think there was.
No, can't think of any.
Not at that level anyway.
- Not Ron Wood?
- Well, he can't kick himself out of bed,
let alone a football.
Or Elton John, or any of them, no.
No, I can't think of anybody that was...
I'll tell you who's a good player,
although he's put on a bit of weight now.
He's Robbie Williams.
But he's done his back, he can't play anymore.
But he was a really good player.
- So you and Robbie Williams may be the only
true, actually good players
in the last 50 years of English music?
- No, I can't think...
You know, there's all the bands.
There's a lot of bands can play.
You know, they're all good, like Westlife.
They're really good.
Boys to Men, they've got some good footballers in there.
- Really? Wow.
But on the Exiles, these were people who had played
professionally or semi-professionally before?
- We had three players who were actually in the USA team
at that time, playing for us.
- Wow.
- It was such a great standard.
- And then you.
- And then me.
- Yeah.
- It's called the Exiles, the LA Exiles.
You look up, they've got trains to look up,
and the LA Exiles.
- And the new album, Tears of Hercules, your 31st album.
Rod, it's been incredible having you on the show.
Can't wait to go catch a show next year
when you're on the road.
- Yeah.
- And congratulations on the new album.
- Take well, guys. Merry Christmas and happy New Year.
- Great talking to you.
- All right.
- Merry Christmas.
- Nice meeting you.
- Have a good one.
- Bye.
♪ When the rain came, I thought you'd leave ♪
♪ 'Cause I knew how much you loved the sun ♪
♪ But you chose to stay, stay and keep me warm ♪
♪ Through the darkest nights I've ever known ♪
♪ If the mandolin wind couldn't change a thing ♪
♪ Then I know I love ya ♪
♪
♪ Oh, the snow fell without a break ♪
♪ Buffalo died in the frozen fields you know ♪
♪ Through the coldest winter in almost 14 years ♪
♪ I couldn't believe you kept a smile ♪
♪ Now I can rest assured ♪
♪ Knowing that we've seen the worst ♪
♪ And I know I love ya ♪
- Well, what can you say about that?
- Sir Rod.
- Sir Rod. You had some great questions in there, Jake.
- Well, so did you, bud.
Tears of Hercules.
- Tears of Hercules.
I'm kind of glad that we started out
asking him about the Crypto.com arena
'cause that obviously set the tone.
Who gives a shit?
- Exactly.
- I don't give a fuck.
'Cause actually, sometimes I think
when somebody comes on the show,
actually, a lot of the questions,
it's actually more just something
I want to talk about with you.
You know, there's some questions
that are appropriate to ask the people,
and then there's some that's more just like
you and me just talking about music.
'Cause really, as I prepared for the interview
and I was just kind of listening to his music,
it's like, I guess I already knew the answer.
If you're Rod Stewart, you wrote "Mandolin Wind."
Beautiful song.
I know that's one of your favorites, Jake.
- I wanted to ask him something about "Mandolin Wind"
or who he co-wrote "Maggie Mae" with,
but it's sort of like, I just didn't get the sense.
He'd be like, "Yo, I wrote it."
- I read about that a little bit.
The guy that he co-wrote "Maggie Mae"
and "You Wear It Well," two great songs.
- Yeah, Martin Quinton.
- And it kind of seems like,
I don't know exactly what happened,
but that guy apparently left music
and moved to a small town in Wales
and it says on Wikipedia
he suffered from mental health issues.
I don't know what the story is,
but it's like, yeah, I don't know if we need to say it.
And he died, if we just need to say Rod.
What's that guy you co-wrote those songs with?
It sounded like the rest of his life was really weird.
- I had that written down.
I had, 'cause I've always wondered about that guy.
And there's a great video on YouTube
of them playing "You Wear It Well" on top of the Pops.
And it's all Rod Stewart and Ron Wood
in full '70s peak empire mode.
And then there's this one guy
that looks like a librarian wearing a sweater
who's strumming-- - And that's Martin Quinton?
- And that's Martin, yeah.
And I was like, what is the deal with it?
And then, yeah, it says on the Wikipedia page
that Rod asked him to join the Faces
and then he was like,
"I can't hang with this rock and roll lifestyle."
Anyway, I wanted to ask him about it,
but I'm also like,
it just didn't seem like it would go anywhere.
I don't know.
Or it seems sad or something, I don't know.
- Yeah, yeah.
But it is a fascinating story.
Maybe we'll have to do some original research on our end.
- I want to do.
- But, yeah, but also, I do love these stories,
'cause I can picture it two ways.
Either you're somebody who was kind of heading somewhere
in music and then something derails you,
a personal issue or something,
and then you go live in a small town
and then you're just like,
next thing you know, it's 20 years later
and it's like Rod Stewart just touring stadiums
and you're just like,
"Whoa, man, what went wrong?"
Or the flip side is actually very cool.
You're somebody who just enjoys a quiet life.
You got a farm in Wales and people are like,
"Hey, man, so what's your deal?
"Do you have a job?"
And you're like,
"Oh, it's funny you should ask.
"I co-wrote Maggie Mae and You Wear It Well
"in the early '70s,
"and I make minimum 200,000 pounds a year off that,
"and I just (beep) chill.
"I take long walks.
"I was never one for the rock and roll lifestyle.
"Man, (beep) could have joined the Faces,
"but you know what?
"It's not bad, huh?"
And they're like,
"You know, that is pretty cool."
- Yeah.
- And I guess this question
that I kept trying to get to with him is,
and I think I already knew the answer,
is that, so you're this dude, Rod Stewart,
you've written hit songs,
and you've written deeply moving songs
like Mandolin Wind.
There's this lines in it where it's like,
"I felt ashamed,"
just deep emotional music about memory
and love and all the classic themes of great music,
and then you kind of look,
and you're like,
"But then this guy just, you know,
"he would cover all these other songs,
"and he never really wrote more
"than two or three songs per album,
"and sometimes barely any."
So yeah, what's the story with that?
And I think obviously the story is,
he didn't give a (beep).
- Yeah.
- He's cool.
He didn't feel the need to be like,
you could picture another guy--
- A precious artist, right.
- Yeah, who would have been in the mid '90s,
would have been like,
"I'm gonna make my Harvest Moon.
"I'm gonna do a Back to Basics album.
"I'm gonna write every song."
Because you know what,
it still (beep) bugs me that the critics (beep) on,
"Do you think I'm sexy?"
You wanna see Rod get into his mandolin mode,
here you go.
10 songs of pure, rootsy, Celtic Americana
from Rod Stewart.
I wrote all the (beep) songs.
Jeff Beck's out here playing guitar.
But the truth is, he doesn't need to.
- He already did it.
- Yeah, and also,
I was thinking about that too,
that era, he was so prolific.
He's putting out one solo record
and one Faces record a year.
Between the late '60s into the mid '70s
when his career shifted,
he's co-writing with people.
There's other songwriters on the Faces records.
- Yeah.
- He's a front man.
He said so in the interviews,
he's like, "Listen, even before I started singing,
"I've been a showman."
So I think maybe he wasn't burdened
with this psychology of being an important artist
with a capital A.
- He basically had unbroken decades of success.
He was having platinum albums in the early 2000s
when he was covering show tunes.
- The songbook, right.
- In the Great American Songbook.
So you could imagine him looking at the Rolling Stones.
You could picture another person
looking at the Rolling Stones,
a guy who came from that milieu
but then went a little pop.
You could picture somebody looking at the Stones
and be like, "They're a cool rock band," whatever.
But you could picture Rod Stewart
probably looking at the Stones in the early '80s
and just be like, "Tough luck, fellas.
"I'm selling a lot more records than you.
"And you know what?
"I don't have to split it five ways."
You know what I mean?
- Footloose and fancy free.
- Just killing it.
And his '80s work is great too.
Actually, one of the first Rod Stewart songs
I really loved is Young Turks.
It's like new wave songs.
And truly, like he said,
he's actually, I don't want to gush about him too much
and knock it in his motor.
Like, "Yeah, you know,
"we talked to him for 35 minutes once.
"He's actually a very humble guy."
But even with that interview aside,
I always got this vibe from him that he is like,
he's kind of like, "Oh, I got a great instrument.
"I was lucky.
"I got a great voice.
"My hair is pretty good.
"I know how to work a crowd."
Just like, I love that.
Just like showbiz vibe.
- Yeah.
- I did the Faces stuff,
dropped some disco, got into new wave.
You know what?
I just (beep) sounded good on all these records.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Like.
- I know, I thought maybe at the end
about asking him about Forever Young,
which is another great '80s number.
- And another subconscious plagiarization.
- I mean, well, Forever Young
is such an iconic Bob Dylan song.
Obviously, like,
it couldn't have been that subconscious.
I was just curious about the origin of that song.
- Right.
But it's funny 'cause it's not exactly a cover.
It's like he took the lyrical conceit
of Bob Dylan's Forever Young.
- Totally different music.
- Applied it to a new, catchier song.
I mean, obviously more of like a hit song.
Yeah, I also love that vibe.
And actually, I love the vibe too
of just being like, again,
this impression that I have of him,
of just, yeah, like you said, Jake,
footloose and fancy free,
being like having this big hit disco song.
And then the guy in Brazil is like,
"Wait, wait, what the (beep)?"
"I just dropped a song with that melody."
And then Raj Sreer is like,
"(beep) I was just in Brazil.
"Oh, that, oh, (beep)."
- My bad, dude.
- "Take the money, let's give it to charity, whatever.
"I don't give a (beep)."
You know what I mean?
Like, just, I like,
what did he say?
He just said, "Guilty as charged."
Obviously the listeners can't see,
but when we were talking to him,
he put his arms up,
"Take me to jail, guilty as charged."
Just a great vibe.
♪ May the good Lord be with you down ♪
♪ Every road you go ♪
♪ And may sunshine and happiness ♪
♪ Surround you when you fall from hope ♪
♪ And may you grow to be proud ♪
♪ Dignified and true ♪
♪ And do unto others ♪
♪ As you'd have done to you ♪
♪ Be courageous and be brave ♪
♪ And in my heart you'll always stay ♪
♪ Forever young ♪
- I also love, too, the last thing I'll say,
and I know, Jake, you love this stuff, too,
that his early work,
anybody, especially if there's anybody listening
who doesn't know that much about his work,
go back and listen to "Every Picture Tells a Story."
I mean, that's the epitome
of the tasteful palette of the '70s.
In fact, Jake, when you made--
- Oh, yeah.
- The tasteful palette of the '70s playlist,
isn't Maggie Mae like track one or something?
- I think it's on there. - Doesn't that epitomize
the tasteful palette to you?
- I do remember when we were talking
about tasteful palette years ago on the show,
I remember saying,
"Maggie Mae is like one of my favorite recordings."
- Right. - You know?
- Because you said at that moment,
you still had like the warmth of the '60s,
but the recording quality was slightly better,
but it hadn't turned the corner yet
into what you feel to be the kind of dead, sterile--
- Colder. - Colder stuff, yeah.
- Well, yeah.
- Like, you know, when we listen to like a top five
from like 1981,
like how depressing that palette is.
- Yeah. - And like, yeah,
if you were a band in 1971,
I think you have the highest odds
of making like a good sounding record.
- Yeah. - Like compared to any other era.
- I love that there's this kind of,
his early work,
whether the songs that he wrote
or songs that he chose,
his first solo album is called
"An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down."
Like all those early albums,
they have this like deep kind of like sepia tone nostalgia.
And it's funny, like he almost presented himself
in those years as like a rumpled old raincoat or something,
just like, "Oh, I'm Rod Stewart."
Like almost like a man out of time.
Like, you know, a guy with like this deep,
sentimental nostalgia for like the old times.
But then at the same time,
he very easily transitioned into like
being like a '70s sexy fashion icon too,
like very cutting edge.
He's an interesting mix.
- Yeah, I mean, I think he's a bit of a chameleon.
'Cause I think in the early '70s,
that's what was fashionable.
- Right, right, right.
- Rootsy kind of country rock, you know,
influenced by like the band.
- And Crosby, Stills, and Nash,
he was probably like, "Oh yeah, that's a good vibe."
- Yeah, and I think like he and his buddies were into that
and that's what the faces sounded like.
That's what those solo records sounded like.
And then he definitely moved
in a way that's kind of unusual
for how successful he was for so many decades.
He moved with the times.
- You know who I'm kind of realizing
might be the Rod Stewart of our day?
- Hmm.
- Anybody want to guess?
- Solo artist?
- Solo artist, yeah.
Not that ginger bloke.
- I love that.
- No.
Sam Hunt?
- No.
- I don't know.
- The person I'm thinking of is actually The Weeknd.
Because--
- Okay.
- You know, hear me out.
Because if the early Rod Stewart
was kind of like the critics loved it
and it was kind of had this like nostalgia
that was fashionable then.
When The Weeknd first came out
and he was doing like the kind of like hazy,
weird, beach house sampling R&B
and everybody's like, "Whoa!"
He kind of came out in the same era as like Chillwave.
Not that he was a Chillwave artist,
but it was this era where there was like this type of nostalgia
for kind of like woozy sounds and recontextualized stuff.
And The Weeknd, like, you know,
those early EPs, like critics loved them.
They were like super cool.
And then he kind of just like kept going
and just got bigger and bigger.
He did like that song from Fifty Shades of Grey
that's like a kind of like a throwback orchestral song.
He's kind of in his like new wave era,
just like a pure pop star.
I could picture him like in 30 years
coming on a Time Crisis, Time Crisis Junior,
when me and Jake hang it up.
And somebody being like, "Yeah, like, so, you know,
when you came out, you were kind of like seen as almost like
like this hipster thing.
It's funny to think that you were like this hipster,
like critic thing.
And then you went on to be this like huge pop star.
And like The Weeknd's just like,
I don't even know who his peers would be,
but he would just be like, "Yeah, I mean,
my voice sounds great on everything.
I have a very flexible, durable voice.
Been there, done that with like the hipster sh*t.
I make hits and I have a great time.
You think I give a sh*t about that, like,
hipster runoff stuff?
Like what the f*ck are you talking about?"
You know, just like, "Yeah, I have a good time."
And I bet he probably plays soccer too.
And he'll probably end up doing a Vegas residency.
Oh yeah, probably a bit sooner.
Now you can do that much sooner in your career.
Yeah, you could totally see like The Weeknd.
I mean, you know, obviously we're in this weird
end of history phase where people keep returning
to the same things, but like in 10 years,
if like The Weeknd dropped an album
doing like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett type songs,
and that was like a huge hit,
like that would make sense.
It all makes sense.
Totally.
The Weeknd is our Rod Stewart.
♪ I saw the fire in your eyes ♪
♪ I saw the fire when I looked into your eyes ♪
♪ You tell me things you wanna try ♪
♪ I know temptation is the devil in disguise ♪
♪ You risk it all to feel alive ♪
♪ You're offering yourself to me like sacrifice ♪
♪ You said you'd do this all the time ♪
♪ Tell me you love me if I bring you to the light ♪
♪ It's like a dream what she feels with me ♪
♪ She loves to be on the edge ♪
♪ Her fantasy is okay with me ♪
♪ Then suddenly baby says ♪
♪ Take my breath away ♪
♪ And make it last forever babe ♪
♪ Do it now or never babe ♪
♪ Take my breath away ♪
♪ Nobody does it better babe ♪
♪ Bring me closer ♪
♪ Want me to hold on to your time ♪
I wonder if Rod Stewart knows anything about The Weeknd.
He seems like pretty happy just to do his thing.
Yeah.
That's also kind of what I figured too,
is like I had a feeling too,
even just asking him about new artists,
the most likely thing is that he's gonna be like,
"I don't really give a (beep)."
You know, like what are you?
It would have been funny if we were like,
"Rod, but do you know what crypto is?"
Yeah.
That's for the next time.
Also, it crossed my mind too,
that we could just like make a list and just be like,
"All right, Rod, we're gonna name like 10 things.
Do you know what they are?"
But that might come across as like condescending,
but I should be like guided by voices.
No, absolutely not.
I think the truth is you should just be like,
"No, what is this guys?"
Like...
I thought maybe if there was the right time to be like,
"What do you think of punk rock when that came out?"
'Cause he would obviously know.
Yes, that's a good question.
You know, but you know.
But even that's probably like a question
that he's probably answered.
So like he...
He'd probably be like, "Yeah."
He probably has a stock answer.
Yeah, that's what I...
Like where he's probably like,
I mean, I can start people like,
"Love the energy, but you know, it's just rock and roll."
That's what so many of those dudes say.
It was, you know, it's just rock and roll.
They're just playing punk rock, man.
(laughs)
Rod, what'd you think of Oasis in the 90s?
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Great group, fun lads, some really good songs.
Like...
Yeah.
Cool.
Next question.
(laughs)
And actually, I don't see Rod Stewart covering like Wonderwall.
No.
He probably could, but anyway,
we could go on and on about the legend that is Rod Stewart.
So Jay, you got a pretty tight email.
Do you still get the occasional TC email?
Yeah, years ago on the show,
when people started emailing us,
they found my email and would just email me.
And then Seinfeld started the official TC account.
But I do get the straight email.
And we got an email from a dude that's been listening.
He's living in the past.
He's been listening to the show from episode one,
which was in 2015.
Oh yeah, it's amazing that people do that.
That's like...
That's really weird.
I can't even imagine what that would be like,
but it's not the first time I've heard about somebody doing that.
I mean, we're really getting...
Because what episode are we on right now?
161.
Oh my God.
To start Time Crisis from the top is like next level.
It's a huge time commitment.
And shout out to anybody who does that, because that's deep.
But why don't we just read the email?
Jake, you want to read it?
Yeah, yeah.
Let's go to the Time Crisis mailbag.
Time Crisis crew.
"I'm a 42-year-old guy living in Memphis, Tennessee.
I rarely listen to any new music outside of a handful of bands,
one of which is VW."
Hell yeah.
"I actually heard about VW's first album in the nerdiest old guy way possible
from an album review on NPR.
Only got to see them once in concert in Nashville a couple years ago,
and it was great.
About six months ago, I heard about Time Crisis.
I wasn't sure if it was something I would be interested in,
but as I scrolled through the episodes,
I saw a lot of mentions of The Grateful Dead.
As a longtime Deadhead, I was stoked about that.
And I listened to the Bob Weir interview and really liked the show.
I decided to go back and start on the first episode.
I usually listen to about two or three episodes per week."
So he's doing four to six hours a week, folks.
And it's crazy to hear you guys talking about things
that you don't know about yet,
especially when you guys thought Trump even entering the presidential race
was a joke.
Oops.
I mean, it's not a joke, guys.
He's going to win.
And I'm on about episode 60 right now,
so you guys are completely clueless that three years away is COVID.
"I'm about the same age as Jake, and we have very similar tastes in music.
And I think, like Jake, if it wasn't for Time Crisis and maybe Uber rides,
we would not hear any of the music from the top five.
But I did want to get your take on something.
When you guys do comparisons with the top fives from the '60s, '70s,
and even '80s, I know probably 90% of the songs.
Do you guys think that 30, 40, 50 years from now,
people will still know all the top five songs from this era?
The Chainsmokers, Ed Sheeran, etc.?
My guess, no way."
I disagree, but yeah.
You disagree?
I think people will still--
I mean, when songs are hits,
they usually have a better chance of lasting.
I mean, we're going to remember some music from this era,
or maybe we won't.
I don't know.
I can't tell.
I mean, lately, I used to always kind of take the point of view,
"We celebrate this music from the '60s.
It's important."
But again, that's because we grew up in the '90s,
so that was like 30 years earlier,
and it held this kind of importance.
But as time goes on, people will look back to different eras,
and that partially happened.
In the 2000s, I think the '80s took on more significance.
In the '90s, they were kind of looked down on.
And then suddenly people are like,
"No, the '80s is actually almost as important as the '60s
in terms of new ideas and important artists and new archetypes."
So, you know, I can see it both ways.
But I will say as I get older and I watch more come and go,
I do think there is something uniquely durable about the '60s.
Maybe it's because we've seen how the '60s artists
didn't really get replaced by anybody from the '90s.
Like, the Rolling Stones are like a bigger touring act
than basically any band from the '90s or the 2000s.
And like the cultural hold of the Beatles,
I went to a screening of a preview of that Get Back, by the way.
I'm very psyched to see that.
It's so deep to see them in the studio and just horsing around.
And it's pretty wild.
But even just watching that,
there's just something about the Beatles still--
it does seem like the Beatles will always have this kind of stranglehold
that'll never go away, which maybe seems obvious.
And people are like, "Yeah, no, s*** the Beatles."
But again, picture Rod Stewart in the mid '70s being like,
"S***, I got to make some money because who the f*** knows where I'm going to be."
He's probably thinking, "Imagine the year 1992.
Jesus Christ, I could be a f***ing bum on the street of, you know--"
"I'm going to be coaching football at a community college."
"On Mars."
[laughter]
"1992? Can you imagine?"
"1992, God."
"Yeah, I'll probably be on a spaceship singing with a jazz band."
But anyway, yeah, it was hard to picture what might exist.
So you could also imagine that in the '90s, people were like,
"Mom and Dad, you guys have the Beatles. We have Oasis and Blur."
"What's the difference?"
"And then our kids, they'll have Oasis and Blur. We'll be there, the Beatles."
"And then an as-yet-unknown band will be their Oasis."
"And so it goes."
It wouldn't be crazy that somebody might think that.
I think a lot of people assume that.
That generation does have a stranglehold.
They outlasted the pretenders to the throne.
Which is not to say that nobody had success or anything,
but it's not linear or something.
It's not like they got bumped down a few pegs,
and then we got Nirvana and Mudhoney or whatever.
Truly, those bands loom large.
So anyway, that's all to say that I don't think it's that crazy to imagine
that there might be songs from the '70s that still cast a longer shadow
than stuff from the past 10 years.
Of course, there's always going to be generational nostalgia,
but we're just entering this weird phase.
I don't know how to describe it.
I guess all I'm saying is we just don't know.
There's a lyric--I'm going to quote my own lyrics.
There's a lyric on the latest Mountain Brews EP that goes,
"The '70s, '80s, and '90s, they came to an end.
For 20 years it's been a blur, sliding downhill, my friend."
Now that could apply to a lot of things,
but I think it definitely applies to the conversation we're having now.
And I think a lot of it has to do with--we've talked about this.
This is classic TC.
I mean, in the '60s and '70s, the art form was new.
It was a fresh art form.
A lot of the basic big ideas that have been regurgitated in rock
the last 40 years were explored between the late '50s and the late '70s.
From Elvis to punk, that 20-year run,
most of the idea--in terms of rock music,
most of the ideas that we are still contending with were explored first then
in that 20-year run.
And after that, yeah, it's going to be diminishing returns.
Honestly, even when you get to dance music and hip-hop,
you can make a pretty strong case for some significant ideas
being established by the '90s.
It doesn't mean that there's actually nothing new under the sun,
but it just means that that era will always have this type of--
it's going to loom large.
The empire.
Hide of the empire.
Anyway, back to the email.
The other thing I love about the show is that Jake is honest with his opinions
of this new music, and nearly 100% of the time I agree with him
when he says something sucks.
I think I used to be--because he's listening to older episodes--
I think I used to be a little more dismissive and harsh.
I think I've mellowed in my old age.
[laughter]
I really wish I was in the studio with you guys so I could hear Ezra's real opinion
when the mics are off, because he never says anything sucks.
But as a music industry professional, he's probably scared he will run into
one of those guys at a music industry professional event.
Understandable.
Thanks for understanding.
I feel like you've become a little more candid, maybe.
Yeah, maybe a touch more.
Yeah, I think you have.
Also, I know Jake is a big fan of corporations.
[laughter]
That is a very oblique, weird statement, but let's just--
let's just take that for what it is.
Jake's a fan of corporations.
Large and small.
I've always worked at small companies, but for the last 10 years,
I've worked as an executive at a large, publicly traded Fortune 500 company.
That's a big shot.
Yeah.
That sounds like a big deal--executive at a large, publicly traded Fortune 500 company.
I wonder where he works.
I thought it was going to be terrible when I started it,
but it has actually been great.
At the end of the day, even the largest companies are comprised of people,
and if the majority of the people are good people,
it ends up being a great place to work.
Well, that's heartwarming, considering we are being broadcast
on one of the largest corporations' platforms.
Yeah, but the only thing--
Apple is definitely a publicly traded Fortune 500 company.
I guess the only question is--
[laughter]
--are we--
This could be a psy-op.
--are we executives?
Technically speaking--
Wait, Seinfeld, can I get a number cruncher?
Me and Jake are technically Apple executives.
Now, now, now, now, now, now, let's get a number crunch.
Brought to you by Seinfeld 2000.
Yeah, you definitely are in the C-suite.
You're Apple executives via Time Crisis,
and I congratulate you on years of executive service.
Because we're president and vice president of Time Crisis,
which is an Apple company.
So, all right.
But also, I feel this point too.
Increasingly as I've gotten older, too,
I've kind of felt like the--
You can't put the genie back in the bottle.
Can't step in the same river twice.
The world changes.
It's not hard to make a case that it's changing for the worse.
Of course, I'm sympathetic to that interpretation
of the flow of history and culture.
But truly, whenever you get dropped into history,
certainly the last--
Let's say the last few thousand years of human history,
there's going to be all sorts of weird things
and things seemingly trending in the wrong direction
and some weird mix of living in a golden age
and also a dark age.
And I think he's right.
It's an important skill to have
to be able to look around and say, "You know what?
I may be under some nasty fluorescent lights.
I may be in some weird kind of soul-crushing environment."
And yet, never forget,
as long as you're around other human beings,
there is something you can unlock in yourself
or whatever, I guess you call your humanity,
and be like, "You know what? It's all good."
I always think we've all been in these positions,
being at an airport.
What's worse than a big airport?
Truly, that's the epitome of soulless,
modern life sucking.
And yet, if you're with a group of people,
it smells weird sitting in a nasty chair by the gate.
But if you're with a bunch of people that you like,
your family, friends, whatever, you have a laugh,
it goes by in a flash.
It's people, folks.
Plus, you're like, "I'm enduring this airport hang,
but I'm going to be 3,000 miles away in six hours.
How crazy is that?"
Yeah.
I definitely do that.
Focus on the positives.
That you focus on the positive.
Yeah.
Well, I definitely am like,
"I hate traveling and I hate airplanes,
but man, when you get to the other end,
it is worth it."
That's right.
Very basic statement.
That's beautiful.
Let's finish this email.
Finally, you may find this interesting.
Air travel and people.
For everybody out there who thinks life is meaningless,
just remember, air travel and people.
That's all we're going to say.
Technology and humanity.
Right, guys?
Hell yeah.
Finally, you might find this interesting.
I have an internal only podcast for our sales team,
and we are in the roofing industry.
And at the end of each episode,
I play a song with the word "roof" in it.
And the very first episode we listened to,
"Mansard Roof."
Man, this guy really buried the lead, man.
Yeah.
Internal only podcast for your sales team
at a Fortune 500 roofing industry company?
Yeah, what?
First of all, roofing...
I'm surprised there's a roofing industry company
that's in the Fortune 500.
It must be like a...
It must sell shingles.
It must be some giant...
Yeah, or it's just like such a giant company.
Wait, I think I got it.
Yeah.
I think I found it.
Well, don't dox him.
Should I dox this guy?
I'm not going to dox him.
Wait, wait, don't dox this guy.
I won't dox him.
But there is a publicly traded Fortune 500 roofing company
that exists.
Straight up roofing?
It has roofing in the name.
That's all I'm going to say.
We're not going to dox you.
If you're here this episode,
know that you weren't doxed.
Is it roofing supplies,
or is it actually like offering the services of roofing?
Like, we will clean your house and...
Okay.
I don't want to blow this guy's...
I really just assumed it would be like
a division of whatever.
Yeah, like maybe these guys are like,
"Well, actually, yeah, the company is Disney."
Wait, Disney has a roofing division?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, man.
Have you ever been to f***ing Disney World?
You know how many f***ing roofs they have to build globally per annum?
Oh, yeah.
Cruise liners have roofs too.
Never thought about that.
That's right.
I mean, Walt Disney actually personally started the roofing division
because when Disneyland was built in the '50s,
I mean, the suburban explosion in Orange County
was incredible at that point.
And he saw an opportunity.
He didn't slap the Disney sticker on it, but...
Oh, and by the way, you know who builds roofs for Netflix?
It's Disney.
You think Disney gives a s*** about the streaming wars?
It doesn't matter who wins.
They're building the roofs.
Oh, my God.
I didn't realize that.
Well, what, you think they made all that money off cartoons?
Dumbass.
All right, man.
I get it.
I see a mansard roof through the trees.
I see a salty message written in the eaves.
The ground beneath my feet, the art garbage and concrete.
Now the tops of buildings, I can see them too.
[drums]
I see a mansard roof through the trees.
I see a salty message written in the eaves.
The ground beneath my feet, the art garbage and concrete.
Now the tops of buildings, I can see them too.
But also, this idea of an internal only podcast for our sales team,
that's like how many people could possibly be at the sales team
of, I guess, the big company?
A couple hundred?
Two hundred? I feel like probably under a thousand.
I mean, I guess that's just like, that's the, you know,
back in the day people used to make like a newsletter for like a tiny company.
Or it's almost just like doing like college radio.
Yeah, we got about 11 people listening.
All right.
That's the audience.
It's 11 people.
Cool.
Call in.
You know how like record collectors, especially in the 21st century,
have gotten really into digging into the past for private press recordings?
Yeah, yeah.
Like, Jake, you've gotten into some like private press new age music?
Oh, yeah.
I love hitting the bins in SoCal.
There's so many weird--
Self-release.
Yeah, self-release private press new age records
that were put out in California in the '70s and early '80s.
Maybe in the future it'll be like this thing where,
I guess you'd have to be a historian or just like a podcast obsessive,
this being like, yeah, yeah, yeah, everybody's listening to Joe Rogan
or whatever, but I actually have very particular tastes.
And I scour the internet trying to find internal only podcasts.
And it's actually so amazing.
You just [BLEEP] throw that on in your pod and just vibe out.
It's like you're there in 2021.
I found this one.
It was so weird.
It was for the sales team of a roofing company.
And they made a podcast for it.
And I was listening to that.
It's like, whoa, [BLEEP] glass from the past, man.
It's like you're there.
It's crazy.
Yeah, there's a Reddit forum with the passwords
to all of these weird internal corporate podcasts.
Somehow, I don't even know how to tie that to NFTs,
but I'm sure there's a way.
All right, let's get into the top five.
It's time for the top five on iTunes.
We're doing 1969 versus 2021.
Why 1969?
Because that's the year that Rod Stewart dropped his first solo album.
The number five song--
I'm curious.
I don't know this artist.
The Flying Machine with "A Little Smile" for me.
Oh, I love this song.
I wonder if I'll recognize it.
Oh, it's a weird version.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
It's a weird rerecord.
Jake's got a real ear for those rerecords.
Oh, yeah.
I was trying to get into my Once Upon a Time in Hollywood mindset
because it's the perfect kind of song
that could have been innocuously in the background of one of those scenes.
I was like, "Oh, that's-- Here we go."
Oh, it's slower.
I like the ear check.
The Flying Machine, we're from rugby in England.
This sounds weird, too, but whatever.
Is this a cover?
Apparently, there are like 10 versions of this song on Apple Music
and under-labeled.
Yeah, this is not the definitive version either, but that's okay.
They keep getting slower.
Oh, this sounds more '60s.
This is slowed down.
This is not the definitive version?
God, did someone dose my coffee?
I'm like, "What is happening?"
Every version has gotten slower and in a lower key.
Right.
Classic kind of '60s, unique woman's name.
Smile, little smile for me, Rosemary.
It's kind of also like, "Just walk away, Renee."
Yeah.
All right, I get the idea.
Weird how slow that is.
The number five song in our era, 2021,
Summer Walker and SZA, "With No Love."
This is from Summer Walker's sophomore album, Still Over It.
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ If I had to bet ♪
♪ I wouldn't have did all that ♪
♪ I would have played it just how you wanted to play it ♪
♪ You didn't yet see my worth, so you tried to play me ♪
♪ But I was so in love ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ That I just got a little bit too complicated ♪
♪ But if I had you back, all I wanna do is ♪
♪ Get drunk, take two ♪
♪ All I wanna do is ♪
♪ Get drunk, hop canes ♪
So this song is about all lust, no love.
All right.
So it's a, "If I had you back, we would just have sex, no love."
Straightforward.
Song's called "No Love."
You, like, break up with someone,
and then you start hooking up with them,
like, a few months after the breakup,
that kind of scenario?
That's kind of how it sounds,
but this is almost like just imagining that scenario.
If we got back together--
No, I guess I'm saying we would never get back together.
At most, we would just get together and have sex again.
I mean, in a weird way,
it is a nice companion piece to "One More Time."
Right, 'cause "One More Time" does seem about, like,
having sex one more time.
Yeah.
The sex was immense.
Maybe we just gotta throw in "One More Time" real quick,
'cause we've been talking about it,
we've been hearing a little bit about it,
but we haven't done a breakdown of it.
This is very highly unusual, but I might skip a few songs.
Yeah, we could-- yeah.
Guys, I actually gotta roll.
I have my first meeting of the day in two minutes,
so see you guys.
All right, Seinfeld, we hope you come back one more time.
♪ I've got a beauty in your eyes that I've been missing ♪
♪ Oh, the sunshine in your smile ♪
This starts off--
Yeah, it starts out really good.
It's very similar to the Bob Dylan song,
"Mama, You've Been on My Mind," that he covered.
Yeah.
Then that, like, Mumford & Sons drum kicks in.
♪ I'm just a rambling man ♪
♪ I'd rather be out rocking with my good old country band ♪
♪ Yes, I would ♪
I'd rather be out rocking with my good old country band.
♪ It was great while it lasted ♪
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
Then it goes real poppy.
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ There's just one more thing to do ♪
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ I know that I can keep a secret, baby, can you too? ♪
♪ One more time, baby, one more time, baby ♪
♪ One more time, just for old times' sake ♪
♪ One more time, baby, one more time, baby ♪
♪ One more time, just for old times' sake ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Now, if we have to separate and find somebody new ♪
♪ It's hard to imagine somebody else with you ♪
♪ You taught me how to nasty and nosey, naughty high-heeled shoes ♪
♪ The devil wears Prada ♪
The devil wears Prada.
♪ We were lovers for a while ♪
♪ Then it all came crashing down ♪
♪ The sex was immense by good old country now ♪
Okay, wait, pause it for a second.
That is my favorite line.
That's great.
There's so many lines in this that I like.
Well, first of all, I do think, like,
he could have done a version of this that was, like,
basically on some "Every Picture Tells a Story" vibe.
But it is interesting.
There is, even through all these eras,
there is a classic type of Rod Stewart song
that has, like, just that hint of, like, Celticness.
He grew up in London, but he famously--
his family is Scottish,
and he feels very tied to Scottish culture and that stuff.
So he does have that kind of nice,
"within that rhythm of my heart" kind of vibe,
and you definitely feel it here.
But, yeah, I'm not sure when this is taking place,
but I guess he basically is saying,
in that kind of, like, charming way
that only, like, Rod Stewart can do,
I think basically he's like, you know,
"We had a great relationship.
The sex was fantastic.
My family doesn't like me, and, you know, whatever.
This was never gonna last anyway.
It was great while it lasted.
Together we smashed it.
So there's only one thing left to do.
I can keep a secret, baby.
How about you?"
I mean, the secret part kind of implies
that maybe they're both, like, married now,
where he's just kind of like,
"They did move on," and he's just like--
It's a little bit unclear when it's taking place.
Maybe they broke up, like, a few months earlier.
- No, I think it's, like, years later,
and they've, like, run into each other
in, like, the lobby of, like, a hotel.
- Mm.
- You know, and it's truly like,
"Whoa, this is, like, a unique little window here."
- And Rod just looks at her and is like,
"I can keep a secret, baby.
How about you?"
"One more time!"
[laughter]
- "One more time for old times' sake."
- "For old times' sake."
[laughter]
- I mean, I love how straightforward--
It is for old times' sake.
I mean, that's the definition of "old times' sake,"
is you do something that doesn't really, like,
fit in anymore, but you're doing it
just 'cause it's something you used to do.
Let's keep listening.
- ♪ You'll always be on the speed dial ♪
- Speed dial.
- You'll always be on speed dial.
- ♪ It was great while it lasted ♪
- ♪ Oh, yeah ♪
- ♪ And together we smashed it ♪
- ♪ There's only one more thing to do ♪
- ♪ I know that I can keep a secret, baby ♪
♪ Can you too? ♪
- ♪ One more time, baby ♪
♪ One more time, baby ♪
♪ One more time for old times' sake ♪
- You got a fiddle coming?
- Yeah.
There's some really tasteful playing on this.
- ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
- ♪ Just one more time ♪
- ♪ One more time ♪
- ♪ For the old times' sake ♪
- There's someone else.
- ♪ One more time ♪
- No, I can't.
- ♪ Just for old times' sake ♪
- I really shouldn't.
- ♪ Don't leave me like this ♪
- ♪ One more time ♪
- ♪ I'll never forget you, baby ♪
- I gotta say, like, it really just feels like authentically Rod.
Like, obviously, the synths sound nothing like the early music,
but I do feel like the character in the song just feels like pure Rod.
- Yeah.
- It actually does kind of feel like the same old dude
from back in the day, just, like, kind of horny,
twinkle in his eye, kind of like a rap scallion.
- Oh, yeah.
- But, like, fun.
- ♪ Forever ♪
- ♪ Slurred upon thy eye ♪
♪ It's your farewell ♪
♪ While I'm growing down in Woodstock ♪
♪ In my beat-up Jaguar ♪
♪ There's no regrets ♪
- In my beat-up Jaguar.
- ♪ But maybe we should move on ♪
- I think he's going to Woodstock.
- Maybe just, like, the town.
- Like, upstate New York? - He's got an upstate house.
- Yeah, he's just going upstate.
- But it's such a loaded, iconic town from...
- Oh, 'cause he's, like, the old rocker.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- ♪ I know that I can be ♪
♪ The she-could-be-me-can you too ♪
♪ One more time, baby ♪
- Whoa. - ♪ One more time, baby ♪
- Keechan.
- ♪ One more time, baby ♪
- I encourage everybody to watch the video, too.
It's also a good example of, like, Rod's, like, mid-70s,
and he's still just kind of, like--
he really is a great performer.
- Yeah, that last verse, he's like,
"I hope you find what you're searching for,
"someone to cuddle and kiss you
"as you walk through the door,
"and honor you with children
"and stay together forever, forever."
- So it's "Bon voyage, farewell, au revoir."
He's like, "I'm going to Woodstock in my beat-up car."
Like, I'm not marriage material.
- "I'm a horned dog who likes rocking with my country band."
I also gotta say, like, truly, that really is a--
I don't know if he wrote all the lyrics by himself.
I think there's somebody else credited as a co-songwriter,
but that turn of phrase is, like--
is pretty, like, deep to say,
"I hope you find what you're looking for,
"someone who will honor you with children."
- Mm-hmm.
- That's, like, just such a kind of interesting way--
and kind of, like, deep way to put it,
where it's, like--it's almost like Shakespearean.
You know, in all those sonnets,
when there's--there's always, like, talk about, like,
"Your beauty will be kept alive by your--
"the next generation." - Mm-hmm.
- They're always talking about, like, children as, like--
"Even as your beauty fades,
"your beauty will live eternally through your children."
And there's something interesting about Rod saying that,
just kind of like, "Your beautiful woman,
"sex with you was immense.
"I cannot honor you with children,
"but that is an honor that you deserve."
It's, like, very classy, kind of.
- "Someone else should bestow you without honor."
- It's almost like a horndog version
of "I will always love you."
[laughing]
Except it's, "Let's have--
"Let's have sex one more time,
"and I'll always remember how good it was."
[laughing]
It's a hit.
- I liked when he was talking about "Tears of Hercules,"
and he was talking about, like--
he almost got Solibowski.
He was just like, "Grown men also cry."
- Oh, yeah.
"Tears of Hercules."
- "Strong men also cry."
[laughing]
- That's right.
The album runs the gamut
from the horndog on the road to Woodstock
to the kind of wistful strong man
with tears in his eyes.
31 albums, man.
What an achievement.
Unbelievable.
Vampire Weekend's made four albums.
[laughing]
- You gotta pick up the pace, bud.
- That'd be tight.
Just, like, in the local newspaper
in some, like, village in the English countryside,
they're just like, "Rod Stewart's opened a pub,"
and they just, like, go to interview him.
Just like, "Where'd you get the idea?"
And he's like, "You know, it's the strangest thing.
"I was promoting my last album on this show, 'Time Crisis,'
"talking to these two guys, Ezra and Jake."
- The number four song this week in 1969,
"Blood, Sweat, and Tears," and "When I Die."
I've never really had a handle on "Blood, Sweat, and Tears."
No few tunes.
Are you a "Blood, Sweat, and Tears" fan, Jake?
- No.
Interesting.
Written by Laura Nero.
- Oh, yeah.
Beloved songwriter.
- I mean, it's, like, blue-eyed soul.
It's, like--right?
It's sort of, like--it reminds me of, like,
this era, like, Elvis.
It reminds me of, like, "Suspicious Minds."
- ♪ I'm not scared of dying ♪
♪ And I don't really care ♪
♪ If at peace you find him dying ♪
♪ Well, then, let the time be near ♪
- Kind of like a Joe Cocker, but, like, less edge.
- The singer kind of reminds me of, like, Tom Jones.
- Oh, yeah.
- Like, he's a good singer.
- Oh, for sure.
- ♪ Way down there, yeah ♪
♪ Crazy cold way down there ♪
♪ And when I die ♪
♪ And when I'm gone ♪
- But they're a band?
- Yeah, I think so.
They had a lot of big hits.
- Yeah, wait, "Spinning Wheel," right?
That's the one that I know.
- ♪ Spinning wheel ♪
- Yeah.
♪ What goes up ♪
- I think they also had the,
♪ You make me so very happy ♪
- Mm.
- ♪ I'm so glad that ♪
You know that song?
- I don't think you do.
- No.
This kind of sounds like, like, Nintendo video game music.
- Yeah.
- "Bugs Bunny's Haunted Mansion."
I like all these tempo changes.
- "Blue-Eyed Soul, Prague."
- We should start a band that can dip
into both the "Blood, Sweat & Tears" fan base
and the BTS fan base called "Blood, Tears & Sweat."
[laughter]
We'll get booked by accident so many times.
"Hello, we're Blood, Tears & Sweat.
We do the music of 'Blood, Sweat & Tears'
in a modern K-pop style."
[laughter]
All the lyrics have been translated to Korean.
The number four song, 2021,
"Kid LaRoy & Justin Bieber's 'Stay.'"
Sorry, "Kid LaRoy & Justin Bieber,"
you got bumped for Rod Stewart.
The number three song in '69,
well, here's a big one, "Something" by the Beatles.
[upbeat music]
- I forgot it had that drum fill as the intro.
That's sick. - Yeah.
- ♪ Something in the way she moves ♪
- I'm very excited about this get-back.
So did you see, like, a six-hour version
or a two-hour version?
- No, we went to, like--
Peter Jackson put together, like,
a hundred-minute kind of preview
where he showed sections of it.
- Uh-huh.
- So what we saw had the whole rooftop concert.
- Hmm.
- And then just, like, a lot of studio footage.
- So how long was that rooftop concert?
Was it, like, 40 minutes or something?
- That sounds about right. - Huh.
- It's amazing how they cut that together,
'cause they had so many cameras going,
so it's like--
One thing I didn't realize is
the rooftop concert was actually them recording.
So there's two or three songs
that they recorded on the roof
that are the studio version on "Let It Be."
- Is the "Don't Let Me Down" that version?
- On "Abbey Road"?
Yeah, they're also-- - Oh, no, no.
- At that time-- - "Don't Let Me Down"--
Was it just, like, a single?
- No, no, "Don't Let Me Down," I think,
is on "Abbey Road."
- No, it's not. - Really?
- "Don't Let Me Down" was a single
that was not on a record,
but I just feel like I've seen the footage--
- Wait, do you mean "Don't Let Me Down"
by the Chainsmokers?
I'm just Googling it,
and that's the first thing that came up.
Oh, no, you meant by the Beatles.
Yeah, that makes more sense.
- I did mean by the Beatles, yep.
- Okay. - But I just--
I remember seeing footage of them doing that,
and it sounded exactly like the recording.
But anyway, so that's what you--
- Oh, so maybe it is.
But, like, yeah, I think the "I Dig a Pony,"
it's live-- - Oh, wow.
- It's on the rooftop.
- That's such an incredible version.
- Once you see it, you realize, like,
"Oh, yeah, it does sound kind of, like, raw,"
but it's, like-- there's no, like, wind sound.
The mics really work great.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
The number three song this week in 2021,
Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak,
a.k.a. Silk Sonic, with "Smoking Out the Window."
- ♪ Wait a minute, this love started off so simple ♪
- "Smoking Out the Window."
- ♪ And now she got me ♪
♪ Smoking out the window ♪
♪ ♪
- ♪ Must have spent 35, 45,000 up in Tiffany's ♪
- Oh, no!
- ♪ Got her bad-ass kids running 'round my whole crib ♪
♪ Like it's Chuck E. Cheese ♪
- "Chuck E. Cheese" reference.
- I love Bruno, man.
- Yeah? You're sold?
- Yeah.
- I mean, I like all these Silk Sonic songs.
They're just, like, fun throwback.
- ♪ Got me playing around, playing for trips ♪
♪ Diamonds on the neck, diamonds on the wrist ♪
♪ And here I am all alone ♪
- ♪ All alone ♪
- ♪ I'm so cold, I'm so cold ♪
♪ You got me out here ♪
- ♪ Smoking out the window ♪
- ♪ Smoking out the window ♪
- ♪ Singing, how could she do this to me? ♪
- ♪ How could she do this to me? ♪
- ♪ Oh, I thought that girl belonged to only me ♪
♪ I was wrong, 'cause she belonged to everybody ♪
- This drummer's getting a workout.
- Might be Anderson .Paak.
- ♪ Just the other night, she was gripping on me tight ♪
♪ Screaming "Hercules" ♪
- "Hercules." Oh.
- ♪ Got me in the club looking for a new love ♪
♪ Somewhere help me please ♪
- ♪ Help me please, help me please ♪
- ♪ Baby, why you doing this? ♪
♪ Why you doing this to me? ♪
- ♪ Girl, not to be dramatic, but I wanna die ♪
- I pause it.
They're having a lot of fun here.
Did you catch that, the last line of the second verse?
He goes, "Not to be dramatic, but I wanna die."
This is like, it's like borderline parody music,
but it's-- - I love it.
- It's like Weird Al level of funny, but--
- It says they went into the studio to see if they could
turn backstage in-jokes into songs.
The first thing they wrote started with one of them
saying the sentence, "Smoking in the window,"
which is classic, like whatever some dumb catchphrase
you have with your butt piece, you turn that into a song.
- Let's make this a song, yeah. - Yeah.
- The first verse, "Must have spent 35, 45,000
"up in Tiffany's, buying her a lot of jewelry,
"got her badass kids running around my whole crib
"like it's Chuck E. Cheese."
[laughter]
Strong. - That's a great start.
- "Put me in a jam with her ex-man in the UFC."
- Oh, wow. - Like, uh-oh.
Can't believe it, I'm in disbelief.
And then the pre-chorus goes, "This b---- got me
"paying her rent, paying for trips, diamonds on her neck,
"diamonds on her wrist, and here I am all alone.
"I'm so cold, I'm so cold, you got me out here
"smoking out the window."
Is he saying that I buy her all these things,
but she controls me to such a degree
that I can't even, like, smoke in my house?
Or is he just smoking out the window?
'Cause he says, "I thought she belonged only to me,
"but I was wrong, she belongs to everybody."
I guess, why is he smoking out the window?
'Cause he found out she cheated on him,
and now he's depressed and smoking out the window?
Or he's smoking out the window 'cause she won't allow him
to smoke in his own house?
- I don't think he wants to smoke in his own house.
Like, he wants her to come over,
and she couldn't, or she didn't want to.
And he's in his huge mansion.
- Or she's cheating on him. - Or she's cheating,
and it's 2 a.m., and he's just up, and he's just like--
- And he's just reflecting, "I bought her so many things,
"I put myself in dangerous situations for this woman,
"I let her bad kids run around my crib
"like it's Chuck E. Cheese, and here I am all alone."
Yeah, so basically just smoking.
- He's having a late-night cig.
- Yeah, I guess, you know what the reason my mind went there
is you know that famous clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger
smoking a cigar?
- I don't think I do.
- Oh, really? Matt, can you dial this up?
I have no idea what this footage could have been for,
but Arnold Schwarzenegger is smoking,
he's like sitting in a chair on a movie set,
and he starts talking about how he smokes wherever he wants,
and he starts talking to you,
you know, the you of whoever's watching it,
and says, "When you want to smoke,
"your wife doesn't let you smoke in the house.
"You have to go sneak a little smoke outside,
"but me, I'm a stud, I smoke wherever I want."
And he does this whole thing about how basically
you're not a real man, your wife tells you where to smoke,
but Arnold Schwarzenegger is a true stud,
and a true stud smokes where he likes.
So that kind of put this thing in my head.
I don't smoke, so I don't really relate to any of this.
Have you heard this, Jake?
I mean, are you familiar with this concept?
- I think it tracks in the '70s or the '80s,
even into the mid-'90s.
- But today, even a true stud
wouldn't want to get their house all smoky.
- I don't think so. I think a true stud is--
that's a great question.
Of the true studs who are smokers in the year 2021,
what percentage of them are smoking indoors
because they want to?
They don't care what the house smells like.
They don't care what the couch smells like.
- Yeah, 'cause now it's considered so gross and stale.
It's like you wouldn't say, "I'm a true stud.
"I [bleep] on my own carpet."
You'd say, "That's nasty. That's disgusting."
You're not following the rules, but also at what cost?
So, Matt, can you play us the Schwarzenegger clip?
- Because after dinner, everyone ought to have
a cigar.
So I tried it.
Well, the rest is history.
I'm still smoking Stokies. I love it.
And he introduced me to something really good.
And I know now the next question.
Knowing you,
being the interviewer that you are,
digging in deep all the time,
you would say now, "What does your wife think about that?"
[woman screams]
Let me ask you something.
When my wife's father
has introduced me to Stokies,
what is she gonna say?
She's not gonna say my father made a mistake,
because her father never makes a mistake.
So therefore, it is okay.
I can smoke Stokies around her.
I can smoke Stokies in my house.
First of all, because her father introduced me to Stokies.
And second of all, because I'm a stud.
I'm ballsy.
I don't take no [bleep] from anyone.
I smoke my Stokies anywhere I want.
I don't have to find a hideout place like you.
[laughter]
That is...
I mean...
The governor, man. I mean...
Unreal.
I forgot that he kept saying Stokies.
I don't have to find a hideout like you.
Man, he was feeling himself there.
Holy [bleep]
I'm ballsy.
He got the pass from the father-in-law.
So is he married to Maria Shriver at this point?
He's gotta be, right?
Who was her father?
Sergeant Shriver.
Who the hell was that?
I don't know. Her mom was a Kennedy and her dad was...
Was his name Sergeant Shriver?
Sergeant Shriver. Here we go.
He was the former U.S. ambassador to France.
He's a politician.
He was a Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the '72 presidential election.
Oh, he was the guy that replaced...
I mean, he got blown out. He was with McGovern.
That's so funny, man.
He was introduced to it by Sergeant Shriver.
What's my wife going to say?
I can't do it. I'm doing a French accent. That's terrible.
Also, the fact that his logic...
The way he's talking is so crazy.
His logic is airtight.
He's one step ahead of the interviewer.
And I know, okay, because you're thorough.
Next thing you ask me is, "What does my wife think?"
He basically said, "First of all, moron.
My wife's father introduced me to stogies.
Of course, my wife's father can never be wrong.
Therefore, she cannot say..."
I'm going French, too. Oops.
I like that he said, "Therefore."
He really thought about it.
But then the fact that he...
I forgot that he said "stogies."
And then just at the end, just so out of nowhere,
"You know why? Because I'm ballsy.
I smoke in my house.
You have to find a hiding place."
Anyway, you can understand why I was confused by this song.
And my first thought was that this man,
the Bruno Mars Anderson Pack collective man,
was not a ballsy stud and was being told
that he couldn't smoke in the house,
so he had to smoke out the window.
You know, that's what I thought.
I think if this song had come out in 1987,
then you'd be right on the money.
I think cultural norms have shifted.
Right. Nobody wants a smelly house.
It'd be great to interview Arnold now and be like,
"Where are you at with stogies?"
Maybe he's even doubled down.
He said, "I don't listen to anything that a woman tells me.
I'm ballsy. I smoke my stogies indoors.
I s*** on the carpet.
I pour spaghetti sauce onto the floor.
I don't take out the garbage.
I don't do the dishes.
I wear the same clothes over and over.
I don't shower."
He's like, "Damn, man. That sounds nasty."
He's like, "No, I'm a stud."
My man cave.
My man cave.
His wife s*** made him build an additional wing to the house.
It's so disgusting.
There's animal s*** everywhere.
I have stacks, decades worth of newspapers
going up to the ceiling.
I have old milk cottons.
He's like, "Damn, Arnold, you're a hoarder."
I'm a stud.
I'm ballsy.
The door is hermetically sealed.
Arnold, no.
No odor is emitted.
You're a weird dude, Arnold.
The number two song in 69, RB Greaves,
"Take a Letter, Maria."
Oh, look at this. Another song that's "Bah, Bah, Bah, Girl's Name."
Oh, my God. Donna Jean of the Dead.
Sing it. Sing backup on this.
Yeah.
Well, you don't think of her as actually a good singer.
She was in one of the house studio musicians
at Muscle Shoals where this was recorded.
Wow.
I got my cool, I ain't no fool.
Let me tell you what happened then.
I packed some clothes and I walked out
and I ain't going back again.
So take a letter, Maria.
I press it to my wife.
Say I won't be coming home.
Gotta start a new life.
Take a letter, Maria.
Oh, he's leaving his wife for Maria?
No, Maria's his secretary.
He's telling his secretary to--
He's dictating a letter to his secretary.
You've been many things but most of all
A good secretary to me.
And it's times like this I feel
You've always been close to me.
Was I wrong to work nights
To try to build a good life?
All work and all play
Has just cost me a while.
Maria, Maria, Maria.
Maybe he's in love with Maria but it hasn't been revealed yet.
That might be the reveal.
Oh, you know what?
We missed the beginning.
He got home last night and his wife was cheating on him.
Oh, I totally missed that.
Yeah, the beginning.
Last night as I got home about half past ten
there was the woman I thought I knew in the arms of another man.
Oh, right.
When a man loves a woman
It's hard to understand
That she would find more pleasure
In the arms of another man.
I never really know.
Donna's in that group?
Yeah.
That's amazing.
If it just so happens I'm free tonight
Would you like to have dinner with me?
Oh, so then he asks his secretary out.
Oh.
Secretary's like, "Man, you just got dumped by your wife
and now you're asking me out like the next day?
That is so weak, dude.
You have no game. At least give it a month or something."
I would have liked it more if he just was like
one day, just like Don Draper style
was just like, "I'm out."
And just like, "I'm leaving my wife."
You know?
Right, it was more like existential.
He's sympathetic because he finds his wife cheating.
But if it was just sort of like, "You know what?
This is tedious.
You know, I'm not happy. I'm leaving.
Dick, take this letter."
"You know what? It's 1969.
I fought in the Korean War.
I've been working on Madison Avenue all these years.
I think I'm ready just to disappear into the counterculture.
My family is square.
I'm leaving this job.
Maria, this will be the last thing I ever ask you to do.
Tell my wife I'm leaving her.
Tell the rest of the company that I'm moving to San Francisco.
And, yeah, one more copy for my lawyer.
Got that, Maria?
Thanks. Peace.
The number two song right now,
we already talked about this one, "Adele - Easy On Me."
Oh, right, the big ballad.
Have you seen the video for this, Jake?
Are you following the Adele rollout?
No.
Are you an Adele fan?
Do you have like a favorite Adele song?
No, not really.
Do you have a favorite one?
I mean, kind of.
I like the one that Arielle produced when we were young.
I remember I liked the chorus on this one.
Like the way she sings "easy."
Yeah, yeah, with those melismas.
Kind of like descending melismas, yeah.
But I can't bring myself to swim
When I am drowning in this silence
Baby, let me in
Go easy on me, baby
I was still trying
It kind of reminds me of one of those really slow,
like, journey power ballads, like "Faithfully."
Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally.
But in a good way.
Yeah, I love those journey songs.
Great balladeer.
The number one song this week in 1969,
"The Fifth Dimension."
Another song written by Laura Nero.
Or, no, Niro. How do you say it? Niro.
It was Laura Niro, right?
She was out there just writing big hits for everybody.
So she had two songs of hers in the top five.
"Wedding Bell Blues," she wrote this in 1966
for her debut album.
Then a few years later, as was often the case in the '60s,
it was covered.
And she also wrote "Stone Soul Picnic,"
which was also a big hit for them.
Mm-hmm.
♪ Bill ♪
♪ I love you so well ♪
And this song was addressed to a guy named Bill.
Wow, Bill Maria Rosemary?
♪ I look at you and you show me the passion ♪
♪ Eyes of May ♪
♪ Eyes of June ♪
♪ Oh, what am I ever gonna see ♪
♪ My wedding day ♪
♪ Wedding day ♪
♪ I was on your side, Bill ♪
Slipping in Bill.
It's like musical theater.
♪ I was on your side, Bill ♪
♪ I'd never scheme or lie, Bill ♪
♪ There's been no fooling ♪
♪ The kisses and love won't carry me ♪
♪ Till you marry me, Bill ♪
Oh, yeah, that part sounds familiar.
♪ Till you marry me, Bill ♪
I guess she's asking Bill to marry her.
She wants to hear those wedding bells.
Oh, yeah, the name I just assumed
is somebody who doesn't want to get married.
♪ Oh, what am I ever gonna hear ♪
♪ My wedding day ♪
It's funny that this is '69,
'cause it's like the last two songs are so
like early '60s, the sentiment of like--
Yeah.
This is a song about a woman
begging a man named Bill to marry her.
"Come on, marry me, Bill."
"Damn it, Bill, I need a ring on this finger."
Then the other one is about a man
telling his secretary Maria to draft up--
draft up a note for his lawyer.
So, so '60s.
We've talked about that, like,
how often the top fives from the late '60s
are still so square.
Right, yeah, '69.
Although, yeah, you're not gonna get--
Flora Nairo is pretty like--
I thought she was a little more like counterculture,
but maybe that--
Yeah, she was having fun with this song.
She had written these songs like three years prior,
which in that era was like a lifetime.
Right, yeah, true, yeah, truly.
And from '66 to '69, a lot changed.
Yeah.
The number one song right now in 2021,
we're definitely gonna be able to listen to this,
is Taylor Swift's "All Too Well" 10-minute version.
Now, the--
Wow.
We were talking about this a little bit on the thread
because somebody made a joke,
is Taylor Swift a jam band?
Right.
So we talked previously about how she's re-recording
a lot of her old albums
so that she can regain control of her masters,
which seems like she's doing a very good job of.
But she's also like having some fun with them,
and I guess this song was a fan favorite.
So we gotta assume that the 10-minute version
just has more verses.
Have you heard it?
No.
10 minutes?
It's like a folk song, just with a lot of verses.
It's like "Desolation Row" or something.
Yeah.
♪ In your drawer even now ♪
So she performed the 10-minute version on SNL.
That's cool.
Listen, whether it's adding extra verses or jamming,
always gotta support a blank-minute version of any song.
Especially double-digit.
It's gotta be eight minimum.
Yeah.
Ten, even better.
♪ Autumn leaves fall down ♪
Oh, so it says she originally wrote a 10-minute version,
but she didn't want to have a 10-minute version on the album,
so she cut down a lot of verses.
All right.
Oh, I see.
Okay, well, time to wrap it up.
I think we should go out with one more Rod Stewart song.
Let's go out with "You Wear It Well."
Shout-out to Martin Quittenden.
Quittenton?
I don't know how to say it.
Thank you so much to Rod Stewart for coming through.
That was great.
We'll be back in two weeks.
Good seeing everybody.
Peace.
♪ I had nothing to do on this hot afternoon ♪
♪ But to sit and watch you now ♪
♪ I've been meaning to phone you from Minnesota ♪
♪ Yeah, it's been a very long time ♪
♪ You wear it well ♪
♪ A little old-fashioned, but that's all right ♪
♪ And I suppose you're thinking I'll bet he's thinking ♪
♪ Or he wouldn't get in touch with me ♪
♪ Oh, I ain't there for losing my head ♪
♪ I sure do want you to know that you wear it well ♪
♪ There ain't a lady in the land so fine ♪
♪ Oh, my ♪
"Time Crisis" with Ezra Koenig.
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