David Crosby -Talks about For Free Lp, M.McDonald,J.Baez,Touring & more - Radio Broadcast 26/07/2021

David Crosby -Talks about For Free Lp, M.McDonald,J.Baez,Touring & more - Radio Broadcast 26/07/2021

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it's Kyle Meredith with David Crosby you know some people will see you know legendary  I feel like this little crotchety old curmudgeon   of a guy but uh I'm you like the record I love  the record me too I'm really happy about it and   and I've I think I've been saying that for  this amazing run that you've been on check   this out this Legendary Run that you've been  on for the past handful of years you've put   new artists to shame just you know the way it's  going in in it and the quality is so good every   time and I don't know why I'm surprised by that  but I but I think I am I am too it's not common   most people uh are struggling to get good songs  and so they are limited in the amount of stuff   they got and they kind of tend to put some filler  in there and uh uh you know how I feel about it   first place I've been so lucky uh with the songs  no the songs are really the only significant part   of what we do the all the the infighting and the  personalities and the and celebrity and fame and   money are all [ __ ] they have absolutely nothing  to do with the central issue at all Central thing   is the songs well what's been happening is I'm  still able to write but I really like writing   with other people and I've been incredibly  lucky uh my son James who uh [ __ ] he was a   good writer right off the bat first thing we ever  wrote was Morrison which was a really good song   but he he's grown as a producer and as a writer  he he wrote the best thing on this record   it's that last song that I I won't stay for long  [ __ ] man that thing made me cry I have friends   who've called me up after listening to it crying  on the phone it's a [ __ ] wonderful song uh   I I can't tell you how it makes me feel how  good he's turned out you know how what an   incredible Talent these turned out to be  but I've been lucky over and over again   man Michael League the the producer  of the other band The Lighthouse band   same thing incredible writer composer band leader  for that jazz band snarky Puppy brilliant guy   Becca Stevens one of the best writers I've  run into uh Michelle Willis great writer uh   Michael McDonald pretty damn good writer uh  damn good writer Donald Fagan won half of the   best pop writing team in history the best  absolutely the best big words right there   too yeah oh man who's better than Steely Dan  nobody nobody really has my favorite band my   first very favorite band was the Beatles and  then the next one was Steely Dan and they're   still there I don't think anybody's touched that  level of work hearing how you're talking about   this how you're feeling you know about just being  so fortunate to be surrounded by these people   um hearing how that makes its way into the songs  I was I was listening to that song I think I   Happy song and you know and I love the message  well at least the message as I take it I should   say that you know we're all drifting we're all  just kind of sometimes aimlessly and sometimes   you're hoping for the best but it seems like in  this song like you recognize that but you found   confidence to say no I know where I am right now  I know where I'm going at this point it's a very   truthful song I Feel pretty okay about how things  are going I you know I've had to look at my life   man and be very unhappy with some of the choices I  made I wasted a lot of time being a hard drug user   now it's time is the you know a finite resource  you don't get more and so that was that's a regret   but I think now I'm making good choices I'm I'm  making good music and I'm making a lot of it uh   and I don't see everybody else doing that uh which  you know gives my little competitive self a thrill   I think it's luck on my apartment and I think I'm  very very lucky to have the writing partners and   the producing partners and the singing partners  of the friends that I have because it's really   all friends they're all people that believe  in me and they're people that I believe in and okay I'll say something a little Cosmic  and hippie okay it was true to my roots uh   I think the world's in pretty  shitty shape pretty hard shape uh   I think music is a lifting Force I think it  makes things better uh it makes people happy   I think that I don't know how much time I have   I could have two weeks I could have ten years I'm  sort of towards the end of my life we know that   however much time I got isn't really the  significant thing it's what I do with that time   right and it looks to me that the only  contribution I can make the place that I can help   is to make more music and do it really  well and spend whatever time I do have   trying to make it better trying to make  more music so that's what I'm doing I'm   old and and confused and you know crazy as I  always was and stoned on top of it but but uh   I'm pretty happy and I think I'm making good  choices and I you know my family thing is real   good and I'm very I'm in a really good place man  it's a weird thing when you get this old you're   kind of waiting for what's going to break is it  going to be my liver or my heart or my kidney I   just my my kidneys are feeling kind of sensitive  this week you just don't know you know but nothing   has broken and I'm here so what the [ __ ] you  know I'm I'm doing the best I can I'm ruining your   radio show that's exactly what I I yeah I want to  have the great conversation with me because you're   right I mean I also want to say that I don't feel  like you know you putting joy into the world with   music is any kind of new thing and I don't think  you're trying to say that either I mean even when   I look back on you know that first little record  if I could only remember my name I mean um of   course I'm kicking myself because I'm blanking  on the the title right now but you kind of   kick things off in your solo life with with just  talking about music and love you know it's it's it   is the the great connector it is that and I wish I  wish Garcia was still around if he was we would be   making this record together but the uh I'm having  a joyful time doing what I'm doing man and uh and   that I think I that's how I feel I feel like I can  see a clear path I I'm really distressed with the   shape the world's in I'm really distressed  with some of the things that are going on   but I can see my path pretty clearly I know  what what I know what I can do and I can't fix   everything but I know what I can do and I'm doing  it well like I said you make some great musical   choices through all throughout this record I  mean you're already brought up I will bring   up some friends that you got on here too because  uh Michael McDonald does make the appearance um you talk about you know considering voices that  you've sang with Through The Years your own voice   as we say you know one of the greatest voices  and music that's ever happened what makes him   fun and special to sing with well I mean  we all know that's an iconic voice that   comes with Michael McDonald well yeah he  was a duet partner yeah he's uh Michael's   been my friend for a long time I love the guy  he's a wonderful human being he's a Family Guy   he's sober guys really really wonderful cat Okay  and uh talented beyond belief great player great   singer great writer he's great all the way  across the board I've been seeing for a long   time that he and Stevie Wonder were my two  favorite vocalists alive I thought they were   the two best singers I knew Stevie's getting  old he's probably not as good as he used to be   but uh Michael isn't Michael is I think the best  singer I know in in period I think he's the best   singer in America uh I don't think anybody can  touch him and I I know he only does it for friends   like me I only do it for friends too but it's  such a joy to sing with him man I got to tell   you when you do it you feel like you you feel like  you've been stuck with an electric wire it's just   really good it's it's wonderful so so you write  with your favorite band of all time you sing with   one of your favorite singers of all time and you  cover one of your favorite songwriters of all time   I mean I really think you're playing favorites  I talk about Joanie with that one of course yeah   absolutely I did all of that you're playing  favorites here is what's going on that I am and I as as such and having been one for 50 years  I judge the Johnny Mitchell is the best of us   she's uh she's as good a writer as anybody  she's gonna pull it as Bob a lot of people   obviously covered Joni and so there's some iconic  you know versions of cover songs out there too but   I do think that there's something special when  you do it and maybe it's because that you knew   each other you've known each other so well all  of your lives but there is something different   I mean there's something deeper like I you do  it best is what I'm trying to say ah man thank   you I I would argue with that I don't think I'm  the best one I think uh Eva Donovan doing coyote   is probably my favorite Joni song Oh god listen  to ifo O'Donovan do it she did it with uh Chris   Healey and that and that band from the TV show yep  unbelievable look it up on YouTube man it's it's   if anything it might even be better than joining  it's it's mind-blowingly good but I yeah I've done   some I did uh I did uh what's her name the pilot  lady uh song of Jones Amelia Amelia yeah and I did   that one because I loved it I think it's such a  beautiful piece of work I love Tony's work and I   love this song because I love what it says right I  it's kind of a backhanded dig at the streamers you   know because they don't pay us they really don't  it's like you did your job for a month and they   gave you a nickel you'd be pissed and that's  why we're pissed uh the proportion is wrong   uh I wouldn't mind if they weren't making  billions but they are making billions of   dollars and they're not passing along to the  writer so it's bad for me but it's much worse   for the young people that are trying to come  along as writers they can't they're sleeping on   their mother's couches because they can't get any  money at all from records at all that's streaming   but I like making records for fun I  like making because I love the music   and I've been I've been incredibly lucky that  way you know the the people that I've gotten   to write with and the people that are coming to  sing with Jesus really fun well that's what you   know when I was listening to uh to you and  Sarah to Rose uh do this song and thinking   you know uh you've covered it before and and  the way songs change over time like when I first   heard it it was just like oh they're they're  covering the Joni song it was until of course   the song ends I'm like oh right because this song  makes complete sense again in a new way as great   songs do unfortunately in those Bittersweet  ways yes exactly so well spoken my friend   it's a great song no matter what man in whatever  context it's a great song and Sarah just killed it   she's a fantastic singer and she's been doing you  know Harmony since she was in a bluegrass group   at like nine years old or something she's really  good really an amazing singer made that record of   hers man World on the ground holy yikes yeah is  that a good record I agree I remember seeing her   really early on in Austin she was playing with a  friend of mine Ben so Lee and it was like here's   this new or I mean and just seeing what she's done  I mean that's y'all are good oh yeah all there uh   and while I'm bringing up your old friends  there's another one that kind of makes a a   um an appearance here too with uh Joan Baez right  I mean did I read that she did the artwork so   that's something I was trying to see like I'm  going to try to say this not too confusingly   how do you see that she sees you well she's known me since I was a teenager okay I  fell in love with her and her sister both but   she did a series of paintings of people  that she likes uh in show business all right   other singer-songwriters particularly and uh I saw  the picture I saw a picture of the picture and I   immediately called her up and said hey John can I  buy that picture and she said sure it's not even   that expensive the whole show is for sale and I  said no no can I also buy it to you as a cover she   said really I said yeah she said sure no problem  just carry your wallet in half and send it over and she actually was quite reasonable and  very nice about it and it's a great a a   great painting it it it's again evocative  definitely you look at it you know hmm   that's good that is that but is that that that's  of course that's what I was it was the hmm part   you know and I think the here's two people that  have a lot of history together yeah well just a   hero of mine but just to think of what she was  thinking when she was right painting that you   know yeah I guess I don't know she knows that I  I tell this story a lot man back in the days of   the Vietnam War she would go over to Oakland to  the intake terminal where they would take where   you would actually walk in you'd already  been drafted and you would walk in and   actually go in she would be outside and where  the line was and she'd say you don't have to go   uh you can be conscious objector and we've  got lawyers and we'll do whatever is necessary   and she would get yelled at she  would get spit on she'd get cursed   get threatened should get arrested and she'd go to  jail and they would humiliate her every way they   could and then she'd go home she could bailed out  go home have a meal get new clothes take a shower   and go back to the terminal and do it  again now that's a brave human being   and I have been uh a fan of her bravery along  with her musicianship for a very long time   and she's one courageous woman so it's a great  connection for me it worked really great yeah I   um Pat I passed an abortion clinic on the way in  every single day and to see the [ __ ] out there   you know doing something you said kind of reminded  me so much of just the people that are trying to   put the buffer in between the [ __ ] and and  the women you know you know that's um the world   needs more Joan baez's there's brave people  doing it volunteers doing that you got to love   the volunteers man and you keep writing about  stuff like that and I say this in another sort   of unfortunate way uh shot at me is on here which  is a really poignant song I mean here's something   a subject that you know you could have written  anywhere in the last 50 60 years or something   like that but it but it keeps rolling around  what was this time what brought this one on a   guy I met in a bar in an airport he was  getting drunk and he had haunted eyes   and I said what's going on bud he said I'm  just coming back from here from uh Afghanistan   I said you look uh bummed out he said I am foreign we were on a patrol a bunch of vehicles going  down the road they started taking fire from   a little town we shot back turned into a pretty  good firefight there was a few of them in there   we called in smarty leveled the place but before  we did I got off one of the best shots that I'd   ever gotten off now I'm using an assault rifle  around damn things inaccurate as hell she said but   I nailed a guy at about 200 yards I nailed him it  was a good shot it was the best shot I ever made   so I went over to see and he looked up at me  and he looked at me right in the eye and he   said and was a 12 year old boy and they just  kept looking at me and you could see the pain and uh yeah that's where that song came from  it's a bit and war is like that word doesn't   just kill the people who volunteer and know that  they're soldiers and know the risk they're taking   it kills hundreds thousands of people who are  just there they didn't do [ __ ] to anybody   they just happened to be in the wrong place  wrong time so you know that's my B for board   and we just keep going in circles yeah again well  there's a there's the Foo Fighters song you know   uh that he basically says uh you know all my life  I've just been waiting on a war like because it's   another One's Gonna Roll back I don't know if  that's how he meant that that's again the way   I'm taking it but it's like yeah you're just  because you know it's gonna happen again he's   just waiting on another War you know I don't like  it that's uh another time I I think I was trying   to draw the parallels of past and present a lot  when I was listening to your new record when the   opportunities were there it did remind me of  one of their names again from you know that   the your first solo record I mean is it similar  context yeah you know I have a conscience I try I would think so I would really hope so well  if you don't mind while I'm talking about sort   of the past a little bit I just wanted to say  something uh it's the 50th Anniversary this   year of a four-way Street which is one of my  all-time favorite live albums and I gotta say   I can remember I'm a few years younger than  you so I didn't hear this until the 90s but I   remember when I heard this for the first time and  it just blew my mind this little record right here   and to this day I think it's one of the finest  live albums I have ever heard so thank you man   I like it myself of course I would for whatever  that means uh on the live stuff I know it's hard   right now are you all able to plan on the touring  stuff I've heard you talk a little bit about   residencies which has been a really great thing  for some artists is has that gone any further no   it might happen I don't know if I'm ever gonna  play live again man uh I can't do bus tour   you just can't do it I can't can't sleep on the  buses anymore and so I just can't really do it uh   I might be able to do residencies if  they'd have to come up with a lot of money   uh because it's a real expensive way to do  it but uh I don't know I did a benefit thing   for uh questions kid uh for band and crew members  uh uh San Francisco thing and and it was good   and I listened back to the vocals  and I I was saying good and uh   and I love doing it man you know that I love it  so Never Say Never it's possible but I I don't I   definitely will not be doing a regular tour like I  did for the last 50 years yeah well something like   um like I would travel to see you do a thing like  Springsteen on Broadway you know like that's been   going on I mean heck I'd even I don't know if you  don't know if you've seen uh Dylan's new uh live   stream I don't know you call it like vignettes  or something like that I mean seeing you kind   of venture into that world as a fan I'm saying I  would eat that up I just got uh told by uh Steve   Silverman a friend of mine uh that the Dylan thing  was excellent and he sent me a link to watch it   I'm going to watch it when I get done with this  he said his personal and very very easy you know   he's not uptight he's obviously comfortable in  delivering uh and I love Bob so I'm probably   going to want to do that beautiful vignettes  the whole way through and and the songs I mean   let's see kind of plays them straight forward  it's kind of um surprising in a way in that so   um I gotta compliment you again though for  free again it's it's a beautiful record what   you're doing I love what you're doing and and  I hope you continue doing that for you know   another album every year the way you've been  going if that can keep happening uh I I say   selfishly I will be right there for it we have  two more plans already two more planned yeah I'm   you want to know how bad it is with me and  James we don't even have this record out yet   and we're already writing the next one   and I've been writing another uh Lighthouse  record with uh with Becca and Michelle and uh   Michael League over the Internet uh getting ready  to do another one of those too I can't wait to   hear them I mean I'm still digesting this one but  I can't wait to hear him David thank you so much   for continuing to do what you do we so appreciate  it thank you so much for taking the time to uh to   talk about it too thank you man I hope we do  it again yeah I'll see you around take care

2023-01-30 23:51

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