Recently I had the
pleasure of interviewing singer, songwriter, guitarist extraordinaire
Richard Thompson. Richard is famous for his long career that started with
the founding of Fairport Convention in the 1960's. He is a critically
acclaimed songwriter and musician. He is well respected among songwriters
of the highest stature. I want you to know that interviewing Richard was
quite a honor and pleasure for me. He has a keen sense of wit and when
you read this interview I hope you realize that many of his comments were
stated in a wry way. I have not included all the times he made me laugh.
Hopefully we will get an audio version of this interview up on our website.
- Paul Iwancio, of the Baltimore
Songwriters Association
Paul: I loved Mock Tudor and I saw you on that supporting tour
in '99. I think that album is a masterpiece. Great production, I believe
it's your "Sergeant Pepper."
Richard: Thanks, thank you very much.
Paul: You said it was fun working with Tom Rothrock and Rob Schapff
as your producers on that album. What made it fun?
Richard: As producers, they gave me the record I wanted. Which
all producers should be able to do. You can have a record that sounds
like a producer's ego trip or you can have a record is basically a producer's
piece of work-like a Phil Spector record. Tom and Rob put me in the middle
of my own record, which is the highest praise that I could give to a producer.
They allowed me to express myself.
Paul: And the sound you were looking for?
Richard: Yeah, and it was a great studio, the players were right,
the producers were right. It was just a lucky record I think. It doesn't
always go that well. And it was hard to throw tracks away. We had 14 songs
and there wasn't one we didn't like. Which is very unusual. On a record
you usually get a couple of clinkers to chuck out with the bath water
you know.
Paul: All the songs that made the record are very strong in my
opinion.
Richard: I was pleasantly surprised at every turn.
Paul: I'm assuming that you sought them out as producers?
Richard: A bit of both really.
Paul: I guess at your stage in your career and with your stature,
producers might seek you.
Richard: It happens. A good example of how an A&R department
works. The A&R guy at Capitol Records Ken Buey said, 'I've got these
guys who would be perfect. Have a go with these guys." So it was
a good piece of A&R work really.
Paul: Are there any artists of today that your'e listening to?
Richard: I listen to Beck, I think he's interesting. I like Radiohead.
I think their new album is terrific. There's this English band called
Moloko that are really really good. An interesting band, a kind of jazzy
funky groovy. A really nice girl singer, not just nice looking.
Paul: At this point in your career, do you see your influence in
other people's work? I know some people quote you as an influence.
Richard: People say that but I can never hear it, honestly never.
It's not something I think about, lying awake at night about. But I don't
know what I sound like.
Paul: You don't know what you sound like?
Richard: I don't have any perspective on it.
Paul: It's hard to be objective.
Richard: Yeah, I just don't do it.
Paul: Yeah, who goes and listens to their albums over and over
after they've made them.
Richard: Paul Simon.
Paul: He does?
Richard: He claims he does.
Paul: Well, he does seem to be a bit of a perfectionist, maybe
that's what's going on.
Richard: An analist.
Paul: Let's talk a little about the songwriting process. When you
write a song, what comes first for you....lyrics or melody?
Richard: Neither. (Both laugh) No, I don't use lyrics or melody,
it's a new approach (Paul laughs). What comes first? Well, anything comes
first. It doesn't really matter. It's a tough business, songwriting, I
think. A song might only last 3 minutes but it might take a year to write.
So I'm happy to start anywhere. I start with lyrics or melody. Or a general
feel, or a title, or a riff, any starting point really. Or some sense
of a groove or some other sensibility that you're trying to achieve. It
can be something quite abstract, or it can be something very mundane like,
"I need a song by Tuesday and it's got to be in 3/4 time."
Paul: Absolutely, those are all valid ways of attacking it.
Richard: "I need a song that I can jam over, it has to have
3 chords but it has to be different."
Paul: I can relate, I've used all those methods.
Richard: A lot of songwriters do the same thing.
Paul: I'll have to start rephrasing that question (Paul laughs).
Do you have any writing routine?
Richard: I do. If I'm on the road I don't get stuff finished, I
really don't. I get ideas or a few lines. But the numbing experience of
being on the road prevents me from finishing stuff. When I get home, I
like to do office hours, and put together a lot of days, even weeks where
I'm doing the same thing every day. And I find that is the most creative
time for me. That definitely leads to the most results.
Paul: When you're writing a song, do you envision the full band
arrangement then or do you wait til you get in the studio and talk it
over with your producer?
Richard: It's fairly open. I think you can start with a band playing
in your head. You might be playing acoustic guitar but you can hear everything
else. You might know from the outset that it's a rocker. But other songs
start out acoustic and then at a later point you might think it would
be good with other instruments. Sometimes it comes right of the box and
other times it develops.
Paul: Let's try some philosophical questions.
Richard: Oooh. I love these.
Paul: You're songs are as fresh as ever and you've had a long career.
What keeps you going after all these years?
Richard: I think I'm a twisted human being to tell you the truth.
(Paul laughs) There's something behind it (Richard laughs) I don't know.
I think I'm driven by something or somethings to make music. I love it.
I love all the process of doing music, except doing jingles. There's something
that pushes you, or there's some deep guilt or frustration at the bottom
of it all. (Richard laughs) perhaps we shouldn't pry into that too far,
pretty ugly down there (both laugh).
Paul: You turned 50 last year.
Richard: Yeah, probably. (Both laugh)
Paul: Has it changed your outlook on life?
Richard: Yeah.
Paul: How so?
Richard: Well it gave me pause you know. Turning 40 didn't really
do much. I didn't stop to think, I was too busy. And I felt the same,
you know fit and everything, so I didn't really think about it. But turning
50, I thought ooops this is old'. I used to think of 50 years as really
old people. And now I'm a really old person. And a few friends passed
away and you start to think that mortality is a fragile thing. So I think
it is a big change. Just the number is a bit scary. I mean it really is
abstract and you are as young as you feel, or you're as young as the woman
you feel. (Paul laughs)
Paul: That reminds me, this is a good segue. How could a happily
married man write songs about so many other women?
Richard: Well,. I wasn't always so happily married. (Paul laughs)
There's a bit of rehashing of old stuff. And what I do is write stories.
They don't start out to be about me. I suppose some of it is.
Paul: Right, even if it's first person, it may not be about you.
Richard: Or you take a bit of an abstract view and collate experiences
into something that makes a good story. It's not necessarily autobiographical.
As much as it might be metaphorical. Sometimes a song about sex is about
love, and songs about love are about drugs, and songs about drugs are
about politics and songs about politics are about sex. And the circle
goes around again. In a sense I'm not necessarily looking for the autobiographical.
I really sit down for fun to write stories. And what comes out sometimes
is exciting, sometimes quite disturbing. But it's always entertaining.
And often the fun is that you don't know the end. You start verse one
and you don't know what verse five is. And the correct approach leads
you down interesting avenues. And if you're lucky, it's places you haven't
been before.
Paul: That's well said. Speaking about avenues and paths, would
you mind saying something about your spiritual path, and how it might
influence your work?
Richard: Well sure. I've always been a bit of a spiritual person.
When I was 23 or 24 I got interested in Islam. And I've been studying
and practicing it ever since. It's not something I shout about because
it's fairly misunderstood in the West. And when the Palestinians start
throwing stones I keep my head down. Because things aren't always representative
of what they claim to be for instance. Anyway, it's a personal thing.
I think whatever you believe certainly influences whatever you create
for sure. Even if it's in an overt or covert way, unavoidably. You know,
I'm an English guy, and I live in America and I practice what's considered
to be a Middle Eastern religion. And how the songs turn out I don't know.
But I think whatever you believe is in there.
Right. I can understand your wariness, especially given what's going on
in the world. And I see how the press and public took off on Cat Stevens.
Richard: His case is 10 times harder than mine. Because he was
famous and adulated. He wanted to draw a line, and say I've had enough
of all that stuff. I've had enough of being a rock star, I want to be
someone else. And it's hard to do that because people won't allow you
to do that. Celebrity is quite a curse really. So I respect him for trying
to close the door and get on with a different cycle of his life. But he's
under a lot of pressure.
Paul: Speaking of which, do you feel like a celebrity?
Richard: No, I don't really.
Paul: You have this cult hero status though.
Richard: Well, cult's ok, yeah you know (Paul laughs). I can deal
with it, it's no problem really. Would I like to be more famous? Not particularly.
Would I like to be less famous? I don't really care. It doesn't bother
me. I can handle it. If it got silly then I might have problems the way
famous people do have problems. But I don't think that's going to happen.
But who knows? Unless my record with Shania and Mariah ever comes out.
Or if I did a song with Britney and Whitney. (Paul laughs)
Paul: You've done a lot of interviews Richard, over the course
of those, is there any question you wish they'd ask you but never have?
Richard: Not at all. I'd always rather say less to tell you the
truth. It's in the music. It's hard to talk about music. There are some
aspects you could say that chord was actually a G7, it wasn't just a G
or you could say this is a slightly convoluted song. I should actually
say that this is about World War II because otherwise you might not realize
it because it's slightly clouded. I think there are some things you can
explain because they need clarifying. But I think otherwise there isn't
a lot to say. Having said that, I'm always really interested to read about
writers and their work ethic and all that stuff. It's really fascinating.
But I understand how they feel because they're reluctant to talk about
it and so am I. But it is interesting.
Paul: Let the songs do the talking.
Richard: Well, that's the idea. But I think you're always interested
in the people behind the writing, whatever the writing be, whether it
be novels or songs or filmmakers, you're always interested in the people.
Paul: Right. Well,. We're about out of time. Thanks so much for
your time Richard.
Richard: Well it was a pleasure. Good luck to your group.
|
|
|
