Club Random with Bill Maher - John Fogerty | Club Random with Bill Maher

Episode Date: April 21, 2024

It’s a Creedence Clearwater Revival. Bill and John Fogerty on John’s goal of making songs that sound good in a car, when John sang on The Ed Sullivan Show, the subversive messages in John’s songs, John gives Bill his signature flannel shirt Fortunate Son, the working class appeal of certain music then and now, the incredible longevity of Mick Jagger, the leap from popular band to legendary band, the Woodstock that broke bad, John’s love of the Grateful Dead, and much, much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Hey Club Random Fans, guess what I did? I wrote a damn book. It's called What This Comedian Said Will Shock You and it's available for pre-order now where you get your books or at simonshoester.com. You were at Woodstock? Yeah, they called me and I said, all right, but it's got to be the prime spot.

You went on at three in the morning. Yep. When did it end? When I met my beautiful wife, Tule. Probably the moment I laid eyes on actually. How are you? Good. How are you?

I'm just thrilled to meet you. Nice shirt. I wore it for you. are you? I'm just thrilled to meet you. Nice shirt. I wore it for you. Oh, thank you. I swear to God. I was thinking, you know, like Jerry on his coffee show, he like picks out a car for people. You know, that's the show.

Like he thinks of a car that would be appropriate. I think, well, sometimes I do that with the clothes. Like I was like, this is my John Fogarty shirt. That works. Because it was like, this is my John Fogarty shirt. That works. Because it's like, you know, real American, but there's a little glitch to it. It's got a little sparkle there, as I always thought you did.

I mean, in a good way. I'm totally not a gay way. Right, my wife is the one responsible for the shirts. She makes the shirts, right? But I feel like you always had that look. And, well thank you, yeah, going way back, but you can't get those anymore. I mean, and your accent, you know,

was very middle of the country, shall we say. I mean, I always thought, like when I, as a kid, when I was worshiping all those singles coming on the country, shall we say? I mean, I always thought, like, when I, as a kid, when I was worshiping all those singles coming on the radio, my little tinny radio that you, you know, you did this kind of songs that the Beatles used to say, like, has to sound good even on a shitty radio. You know, and all your songs were in that category. Well, thank you for that.

I actually tried to make the songs so they would sound good in a car. And that was sort of my- Even harder. Even harder. Well, my take on it was, because there were certain songs growing up that were fantastic in a car.

And basically the car, you know, you wanna hear the voice, you want to hear the guitar, and you want to hear the beat, you know, the drum in other words. And that's about all you need in a car. That fills it all up. The other stuff is sort of in the background. No, you need a good song. Yeah, I just thought about the sonic version,

you know, that sound quality. I know it's impossible to say why you like a song or not. I find that. I mean, I either... Oh, no, I'm pretty opinionated. No, I am too. I'm just saying to put into words. Like, you could play me, Proud Mary, or any one of your great songs, and then a song that sounds, you know, if you were just describing it,

you couldn't tell the difference. Great guitar, blah, blah, blah, but one works and one doesn't. One just works and one doesn't. I mean, sorry, all the two million people putting out music on Spotify, and they all say, why, we're not getting equal play. Yeah, because you suck.

Because we are the consumer, Spotify and they all say, why we we're not getting equal play yet because you suck because we are the consumer. We're going to go toward the super talented, great music and I can hear it immediately, but I couldn't tell it to somebody. You just said it. It sucks. I know. It's like you can't say like, we all know what like a supermodel looks like.

And we know what a very, you know, there's no ugly people in the world, let me get that out very clear. Oh boy, PC, PC. Like, okay, so describe it between like a supermodel and some other woman who's attractive but just not a supermodel. You can't put it into words. They're, you know, it's not like one.

Well, you can, but that may not. Go ahead. Translate. You're so funny because when I was around 11 or 12, my brother Tom was older than me and he'd already made a, he'd been with a couple of different bands that he knew. You know, he was in another orbit. So Tom is older than you.

Yeah, about four years older. So you're like this mother's brothers where the younger one was the leader. Oh my God, you've just opened a whole. Right, you know this mother's brother? Yeah, of course. He just died. I know him. Tom, yeah.

I know him really well, but pretty well. And. I don't think. But he. I don't think we met, but he sent me a couple letters back in the day. That's up in your, they were up in the northern part

of the state, Tom and Dick. I didn't know that, they were TV people to me. Right. But Tom especially was rebellious and liberal. But he was also the talent. Not that Dickie wasn't good, but Dickie was a straight man. And Tommy was the guy who, you know, he was the leader of that show.

I mean, that's why the show got canceled because Tommy was a revolutionary. You know, he was a rebel. He was not going to be stopped and he was not going to be at a certain point abided by CBS. When Pete Seeger came on TV, wasn't it on their show? Everybody who was on the wrong side. Yeah, but there was a moment there when Pete came on

and sang Big Muddy, I'm pretty sure. And that was people taking offense. You know, he was talking about the Vietnam War. They were criticizing the Vietnam War when that was still controversial. And of course, this is Sunday night. It was controversial. I believe.

Until, or controversial, until we left. You know, that last helicopter got pushed off the aircraft carrier. I mean, it never stopped being controversial. In the sense, you mean that there are people today who think we absolutely should have fought the war, the Vietnam War. I mean, there are still people who think that.

I am more sympathetic to the... How'd we get here? Boy, it didn't take long, did it? Why? Why? What are you saying? It always comes back to Vietnam? Uh, no, but, you know, there was an Iraq war. I'm sorry, I got to go here. There was a war in Iraq, and I wrote a song called Deja Vu. And now...

Yeah, I know it. I've heard it. I was just, you know, I was flown to New York. I was going to do it on Good Morning America. And suddenly, I mean, we're probably in the afternoon, the day before, they're pushing back, saying, oh, he can't sing that song, right? Iraq, Vietnam, I mean, it's great. Yeah, oh, I get it.

Yeah. Sleepless nights, that song? Is that about that? No, no, it's a song I wrote, it's a song I recorded about 19, or excuse me, 2004. So go back to Iraq though, so you're saying. And I was about to be on and the show was saying, he can't come on and sing that song.

Oh wow. And so, well I'm not gonna come on and sing something else. That was the whole what we're doing. So finally they thought about it for a few hours and decided that they didn't wanna, look, I can't read people's minds, but it just seemed like if you make such a big stink, you're actually making it worse than just doing it.

Right? They always do that. And so, you know, you get up very early in the morning to go do those morning shows. And Charlie Gibson, he was not happy that I was there because he was supporting, he was, you know, in the fine tradition of people who think they're supporting the flag and all that kind of stuff.

I mean, we're all Americans, right? Not just the ones who wave the flag all the time. Yeah. So, he was very unhappy and he made it a point to try and, he was really trying to embarrass me with questions and making it look like I was a lazy, rock and roll privileged, overpaid, you know, musician, and he's probably right, but...

I had a little pushback and I think we came out even, but he was really unhappy that I was there. And, you know, since he's owned the show, I mean, he was the dude. He got to say a few things that... without the other side retorting. At the end of the deal though, we're all standing watching through that window

or something, you know, he comes over and kind of, I don't know, I felt okay about it. He shook my hand and I just, I accept that, that's cool. Because he was trying to embarrass me on camera. But did you? Because I rolled a sword and that kind of was kicking the, you know, the can about this war we were getting into. So is that war okay now?

Can I ask you a question? Yeah. I have a clear memory, but I know that the mind, my phrase is the mind moves the furniture. Like over the years, you can swear that you remember, but I have a clear memory of singing you sing Fortunate Son on Ed Sullivan. Am I wrong? No, I'm pretty sure that happened. You sang it on Ed Sullivan. Sure. Right. Okay, well that to me, I mean I was 14, this would be 1970. Yeah. Yes. 14, you know, just thinking about the, youugs, you know... Adults think you want to be an adult. So, like, they're... And, of course, these were times,

very politically explosive times. So, like, that band, you know, singing that song on Ed Sullivan, that was not quite Smothers Brothers territory, but I don't think that's what Ed would have mostly wanted. I mean that that was a show for everybody Sunday night and this is a very corrosive you know America sucks in this manner song yeah which is not really what you got in 1970 on Sunday night. Yeah somehow. You remember any memory of that? Yeah, we were on the band, Creed and Clearwater. Ed didn't come backstage and go,

why don't you sing that song about the proud Mary? That's a... Should I? Right here on our show, for you little chickadees, the Beatles! What is this rummage sale? Exactly. These are family shows. We don't want that.

Well, I think that's generally true, but I think it's also Ed's producers. I think his son-in-law was the actual producer of the show, so I met who I met and was very, they were just into entertainment. What about after the show? There was no outcry, there was no, like, why are you having that subversive message?

I think, it's before we had TikTok and all that sort of thing. So the outcry would have been all of the old people, not the young people. But there's a song that came out last year that was a giant hit. I'm sure you know it, I can't remember the guy's name, but he was not a professional musician.

I think it was Oliver Anthony maybe is the name. He was like just a regular guy, he put it on TikTok. It was called Rich Men North of Richmond. Yeah. You know that song. Yeah. It was a giant sensation. That to me is very similar.

You know, the feel of that, fortunate son. You know, I'm not the fortunate one, I'm not the fortunate son. We're living here and just getting by America. And these Northmen, they tried to make it a racist thing. I don't think it was. Northmen, North of Richmond, North of Richmond, he means Washington, D.C. He means the government.

Of course, or New York even, you know? Yes, maybe, but I think he meant the government. North of Richmond is Washington. Right. Okay. So, but I feel like there is a strong spiritual connection between the lyrics of Fortunate Son, you know, the house, when the taxman come, the house looks like a rummage sale,

but they're spending money. And that whole working class thing, I feel like was recapitulated a lot in the Oliver Anthony song. Do you know the song? I don't know it intimately. I know, I just know the furor that it caused. And perhaps other folks, what's the word,

appropriated the song for their intentions rather than what the... Of course they did, because that's all we do in America, is appropriate everything for your cause or your intentions. Exactly, there's no honest... President Trump, while he still was president, was campaigning and at the end of his rally,

as he got into the jet and flew away, he was playing Fortune as son. It's a great song. You kinda go, I mean, that's a jaw dropper, isn't it? Because had I been able to, I would have written the song about him. But of course I was 50 years ahead of that. Yeah.

You're saying he doesn't quite see the irony. Oh, you've asked another question. And I'm- Well, you know what it is- Without getting really whatever, I wonder about that. That's the best I can say. I don't know that he does or that he doesn't. I think he just, I think there's some things that are instinct.

I'm capable of that myself, by the way. You just, later people tell you, hey man, that was so astute. And you go on, what? Because you didn't, you just were, it comes from inside, whatever that art is, or that moment, right? And I think in the case of Trump using different songs,

I think he's just, I like that song, I'm gonna play it here, you know, and it- Of course, he doesn't think about anything. People always overestimating him. Really, overestimating. I understand he's very successful in this quest he has to overturn the government. But there's never any planning in it.

It's just he fumbles forward constantly. You can't take your eyes off him because he's insane. Insanity photographs. You know, you can't take your eyes off him because he's insane, insanity photograph. And that's, but whenever they ascribe to him any sort of planning or any sort of scheming, it's like it's that's. I think it's day to day.

It's just exactly, it's just reacting, it's pure id. And you know, we'll see how it comes out. But. You know what, you mentioned my shirt, and I brought you a gift. My wife makes these shirts. Her company, Howard Company, is called Fortunate Son. Of course.

Wow. Thank you. She has several different plaid designs. I like it. That one's a really pretty one, I like this color. So you are in a clothing, in the shmada business now? Shmada? Shmada, I love it.

You don't know anything about the Jews, do you? I'm not even Jewish. Shmada is like the rag, the rag industry. Right. I think. How it really came about is that I couldn't find, that's like the rag industry. You know, I think. How it really came about is that I couldn't find, you know, going to the store.

There are Western shirts, but not many, especially at that time about 15 years ago, I think, a plaid shirt, particularly just this. And for this one, she took an old photo of me, you know, at 24 or something, I had an acoustic guitar on. And I said, yeah, I used to wear that shirt all the time. Luckily it was in color. And so she got it duplicated, and I get to wear that shirt now,

which I lost, you know, 50 years ago. Boy, you aged well. It is interesting when you have the rockstar gene that you're sort of given these other things. You know, like Mick Jagger, he's like 89 years old or something and he has a 22 inch waist. Yeah. And he always did and he always will

and he'll never die because he is the devil. And actually, it's Keith. Yeah, but a charming one. I think Mick takes care of himself pretty... He does, I'm kidding. Of course. Yeah, but Keith doesn't. So, Keith is sitting there going, look at that guy, he's working on... I think it's what Konseko said on the A's.

He said, you guys all, I just take steroids, ha! But Keith Richards did clean up his act. Did he? Yes, recently, I'm pretty sure I read that. I think including smoking, which like. Really? Yeah, I think so. I don't smoke, but I did.

So did I. Oh. Oh, of course I'm happy, but really I. Oh. Of course I'm happy, but really I want a faint disappointment. You know, it's like, Keith, oh Keith! You know, oh man. If you want to go to an NBA playoff basketball game or a summer concert, you have to be smart about getting the best seats in the house. You either have season tickets or know some rich guy who will take you.

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and our good times. Oh my God. If when people ask you that question, like what's the first concert you ever saw? Concert, yeah. You know what mine was? You. Not just you.

There was something called the Concert for Peace at Shea Stadium. Do you remember doing it? Yeah. You were on it. Yeah. It was like 20, I don't know. Sha Na Na was there.

Sha Na Na was definitely there. You do remember. Yeah, but Paul Simon was there. I remember talking to him about early rock and roll, especially Ooby Dooby, which he liked. I had just covered that, but, God, there was a ton of people there. A bunch of, Janis Joplin was there.

I remember she came off stage, I was walking back. Wow. You know, it was a stadium, Shea Stadium. Shea Stadium. And she was sitting up on, you know, it was so blurry, and I was a kid. I went with my sister. And she was sitting up on, you know, it was so blurry, and I was a kid. I went with my sister. A train going so fast, right?

And I walked by these stairs and I went, hey, that was Janice Jatt. And she was kinda sitting on it like this. I don't think she had a bottle of hooch in her hand, but you'd heard all those stories. I mean, in a nanosecond, I processed that, kind of walked backwards. I looked up and she hadn't moved. She was still likeosecond, I processed that, kind of walked backwards, I looked up,

and she hadn't moved, she was still like that, and I kind of went... You know, and, because I was, it was a character, it was almost like shtick, and she was just this tiniest little, you know, that she understood what I was doing, because she hadn't moved, right? Wow. Sure, a lot of folks were. Wow.

That was cool. Was that 69 or 70? I think it was 70. Okay, right, I was probably 14. Listen to this, I went to this concert with my sister in a Nehru jacket. Yeah, sure. A Nehru jacket.

Sure. You remember the Nehru jacket? Yep. Nehru jacket. Yeah, sure. A Nehru jacket. Sure. You remember the Nehru jacket? Yep. Nehru was the, for the kids, kids, God, who remember this? Nehru was, I was even not around for this.

He was the first prime minister of India, and he wore this cool fucking jacket with like this little, it almost looked like a priest thing, but not with the white collar underneath. And it was kind of- It wasn't really cut- Yeah, the real person wore that, yeah. Real person wore that.

And then for some reason, of course, it was the late 60s, we're all hippies. It became like a thing. And they got me one, like I never got clothes. For like one Christmas, like I guess I was, when I was 14. Yeah, but that was a very symbolic, I believe, if you trace it, it probably started

with the Beatles going to India. Right? And then, so things happened. I mean, eventually, you were seeing people on Laugh-In, with Nehru jackets on, right? Goodnight, Dick, good night, whatever. And that was all the thing, and then medallions and all the rest.

By the time that started to happen, that's when the kids probably dropped in. Yeah, but it was not a smart thing to wear on a hot August night. I should have worn a snapshot in time. I mean, they never came back. But I think you headlined. I think CCR was the headline, Niack.

I mean, I can't imagine a bigger book that would have been a hit. I mean, I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. I think it'slined. I think CCR was the headline knack. I mean, I can't imagine a bigger band at the time. Not in America, obviously the Beatles, but maybe the Stones, but I mean,

as far as American bands, this is before the Eagles. Little bit before the Eagles. Led Zeppelin, they started in 69. They started about the same time as Proud Mary. Yeah. Right? So we'd already had 68, a hit and a half a hit. Suzy Q and I put a spell on you. Yeah, I call that the starter hit.

Like the Beatles had Loved Me Do. That's a starter hit. Right. It's not my favorite. Right. I'm sorry, neither is Suzy Q. You've got so many dozens more, you know, but you're young.

Yeah. And people liked it, so great. And you had your hit. But I mean, where you grew from there was like leaps and bounds. Just to proud Mary. And then, long as I can see the light and, you know, who'll stop the rain, all those songs that are just, I mean, you made that leap from just having the kids like you to

making an adult like me, super adult, like you. You know, that's something a lot of pop stars don't do. You know, those are much more, you were a grown ass man a little bit more. And it shut... Well, you know, I've always thought, of course I didn't know any of this then. But I'm telling you. But there was that thing when you're a kid

and you discover a new band, new artist. It happened, I think, more with bands. And they make a record, as you call it, the starter hit, you know, and maybe they go along with a couple of those. They've caught your attention and they're pretty cool. Right? And then they're going along and suddenly they do... Hey Jude.

Or they do Satisfaction. You know, it's a leap up, right? And because you'd already liked them and they were pretty cool, ah, Beach Boys, you know? And suddenly the Beach Boys do... I gotta stop you up for it. Okay, Hey Jude and Satisfaction came at very different points of those two careers.

Satisfaction came at fairly the beginning, that was 1965. Again, they had a. Well, I knew the Stone pretty well by then. I'd already seen them a couple of times. Yeah, they started in 62, they had a starter hit with a Lennon and McCartney song, I Wanna Be Your Man. Yeah, I didn't really know about it. Exactly, starter hit, not that good.

They did Carol, I think they covered a Chuck Berry song. I think that was their first... Oh, by the way, I had this argument with someone before the show, Brown Eyed Handsome Man. Yeah. That's Chuck Berry, when you're citing him in that song. Yeah. I knew it. Absolutely. Exactly.

Well, because he wrote in Brown Eyed Handsome Man, through several different verses. Called himself that, and had a song called that. Right, but the different verses sort of... And this was Chuck Berry's genius. He... It's one song, but he's got seven stories in there. One of them was about a woman walking across the sand, what is that, flying across the desert in a TWA.

I saw a woman walking across the sand, right? You look down from your jet from 35,000 feet. I see a woman walking across the sand. She'd been walking 30 miles en route to Bombay to meet a brown eyed handsome man. Chuck E this saw you from 30,000 feet or through the peephole in the bathroom. Okay, I mean he had some issues.

I'm sorry that human beings are so effed up. Let's just say spatially he was all over the map. Right, but anyway in this song, two, three, the count, with nobody on, he hit a high fly into the stand. Round and third, he was headed for home. It was a brown-eyed handsome man that won the game. It was a brown-eyed handsome man.

I mean, I... Oh, yeah, because I love baseball anyway. But that was only one of many stories in that same song. Incredible. I heard that they play center field on a loop at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Awesome. Wow, I got the gold there. Not for the security guard.

Yeah. You know, I'm just saying. I was fortunate enough to be invited to, they had a 50 year Hall of Fame ceremony in 89 and I got to go there and, you know, act like, hang out with baseball players. It was pretty cool. And then at some point they inducted the song, Center Field, into the hall of, yeah. I mean, I grew up really loving baseball. And the Giants, the San Francisco Giants?

Giants were first, but before that was the Yankees actually. Really? Yeah, I was a little kid. Me too. Three, four years old, my dad, well, there were no teams out here. Really?

Oh, that's right. Yeah, so baseball was a mythical thing. So my dad would talk about, baby, so you're talking about the 50s. This was probably 1948, 49. Wow. Yeah. Wow, you look great.

What are you, 80 now? Gonna be. Fuckin', wow, that's great for me to know. Because I'm, no, I mean, you know, like I don't, as you get older and older, you meet less and less people older than you. So it's good to know when you meet one that like, oh wow, that's a good thing to shoot for.

I mean, you don't advertise 80 at all, at all. So that's all. I don't think about it. I probably think about it more than I used to. Look, you're almost the same age as Biden. But you, I mean, you just don't, like some people project age and some don't. This is the problem with Trump.

He could be a million and he's just this brand. You know, it just, the age doesn't matter. It's the shock of yellow at the top, the red tie. It's like McDonald's, red and yellow. You know, you just see this thing, this brand, it could be a million years old. Well, if you wear dark glasses, a hat, and you have a beard, you're gonna look the same at 90

that you did at 24. Yeah, but who wants to do that? No, exactly, I mean, I'm just saying, you know. But anyway, back to Hey Jude and Satisfaction. Well, all I meant was there's that... No, no, no. I mean, Satisfaction was... It's your show. No, no, no. Satisfaction was 1965.

It was the Stone's first mega hit like that. That's what you're talking about. Hey Jude was 1968. We had already had Beatlemania. We had already had Sergeant Pepper. They were coming to the end. They had like another, basically one. Oh, I didn't think so.

At that moment, I didn't. No, at that moment you didn't, but I'm saying, Hey Jude didn't make people go, whoa, the Beatles are good. That had happened. Well, I agree with that, because that was the point I was trying to make. Whereas with The Stone, satisfaction was like,

I mean, I was nine, I wasn't into music yet, but I know from the history and their greatest hits route, that was their big, big breakthrough hit. Before that, it was good, but I can't remember a song from that from the Stones. Was like Ruby? Oh, they had Tell Me. Tell Me, don't even know that. That's the first album.

Yeah, I don't think that was like a giant. God, that was really great. It was one of their originals, even though that first album was a lot of blues. Well, you're fucking old, so you know this shit. I don't. Well, I had the first album, and I thought the Stones were incredible.

I'd already seen them a couple of times. But all the point I was trying. No, I'm kidding. Well, I had the first album, and I thought the Stones were incredible. I'd already seen them a couple of times. But all the point I was trying to make, and I think your Sgt. Pepper example is way better than what I said, but God, if I could think of some other bands like that, were there a certain way that you've accepted, and then suddenly they do something really magnificent, and you go, whoa, did then suddenly they do something really magnificent, and you go,

whoa, did they dare to do that? And you realize that that's where they are. Well, Cosmos is one of those albums that, like, there's probably only, I mean, I've been collecting music, like, into music since around that, exactly that time. That was really my first big year, I was 13 and 69. My first book you went and it hit you.

You hit puberty, music gets in you. Before that it was Little League, you know? And it wasn't girls. Now it was girls and music, they go together. Okay, so that was, so that's a very long time. And like, are there 50, maybe 100 at most albums where like all the songs are good? Because usually albums was like, sometimes it was one song

and then you were like, oh thanks the American Breed. Yeah, I like Bend Me Shake Me, but the rest of this sucks. Now see, if had they done that other thing where you... I just wanna say, I hope none of the members of the American Breed are offended by that. But, come on guys, how many people even know what the fuck I'm talking about? But you might, you remember Bend Me Shake Me? Sure, of course, remember the song.

I like, right, only that one and I had the album and it bugs me to this day. My point is, like every song was a winner. Right. You know, that, there are some songs like that, the Beatles did it. Of course, well the Beatles. But not always, there's some shitty Beatles songs.

Yeah, but you know, that's like seeing, I don't know, getting obsessed with the birthmark on the beautiful woman that's Miss America or whatever. That is exactly what I would do in a bad way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just, music producers, I'm sure film, same thing. Music producer, oh, hear that, oh my god, and here's this magnificent thing, and one little, and oh, we gotta do it over.

Because in the old days you just go, are you kidding, just leave it. You know I often thought you could put out an album called The Worst of the Beatles and it would go to number one. And you could pick like. Bill you are opinionated, you know that? Well you could pick like,

and I'm the biggest Beatle fan in the world. Me too. But yeah, but there are... I don't like Love Me Do. I appreciated it's like... Yeah, I appreciated it's different. But it was not going to be in my playlist. It sort of got reversed. They were children when they wrote it. Yeah, it got pulled along because of what happened later.

I mean, just the lyrics are embarrassing, because you're a child. I don't want to listen to children's music, especially when they made 250 better songs. But... You would probably say that about, do you want to know a secret? No, I mean, that's not the greatest,

but I love George's accent, and it's... I mean, it's just, there's something charming about it. You know, the thing that you were, you almost said, though, I don't think you could make a 12-song LP out of bad Beatles songs. I don't think there's that many. Oh, I do. 12, yeah.

12 that I really don't, I don't need to hear Honeydont. I love Ringo. Oh my God! Really? Well, Honeydont is George. No, that's Ringo. No, that's George. Wanna bet?

Yeah. Okay. I've always thought it was... I'll punch you in the dick if I'm right, and you get to... You're probably right. It's just that I stood next to George doing that song. I couldn't be wrong. And I kinda went, oh, is that George?

Anyway, whoever it is, it's not them. It's not their fault, I just don't like the song. Yeah, see that was one of the top ones for me. The Beatles did 18, top, Honey, don't? Oh, Honey, don't. You probably don't know this, but Carl Perkins played that song. Yeah, they loved it. It was the other side of Blue Suede Shoes. So what?

I mean, I'm not that, I mean, Blue Suede Shoes is another one where, okay, it's a little better than a few of these. Do you know the song Mystery Train by Elvis? I certainly know of it and I'm sure I've heard it, but I can't recall it. But I think it's probably one of the... If I don't know it means... And I'm a huge Elvis fan. Huge. Huge. If it's not... If I don't know it, it means I heard it because I tried to get everything he ever did,

and I did not put it in my iPod, in my collection. Fortunately, they remastered, reprocessed Elvis's early stuff, and it existed that way from 1970 or so. Actually, I'm gonna say it was 69. 69 until somewhere in the late 80s, RCA went, oops. Look over there. There you go, yeah. That's from an album.

That's Elvis an album. That's Elvis from Vegas. A lot of these things around this room, I had, I saved from when I was a kid when they came in LPs. This one, look at Prince. Is that a poster in an LP? Yeah, exactly.

Wow. And you, I don't think you guys ever put a poster in an album. Not a poster. And it's been burning me up ever since. That's why I wanted you over here so I could finally get you in this chair and say, fuck you, John Pogany, for not giving me a poster. And it's been burning me up ever since. That's why I wanted you over here so I could finally get you in this chair and say, fuck you, John Pogany, for not giving me a poster.

Well, of course, it wasn't my call. I'm fucking with you. You know, it's like the guy with the cigar, well, I own all your songs, and I'm not gonna give you a poster either. I said, okay. Well, I wasn't gonna bring you. Speaking of that guy, I'll just say that, you know,

I had to sit and listen to certain platitudes of wisdom from an older person in the record biz, who owned the label that Credence was on. But I did go in once and I said, you know, they're starting... It was at this time around 1969, they were starting to promote... It was before KTEL Records, if you've ever heard of that. Of course. at this time around 1969, they were starting to promote, it was before KTEL Records, if you've ever heard of that. Of course.

Okay, it was before that, and they were selling like polka records, things like that, on TV. Okay. There was, you know, somebody would, and you also get, roll out the barrel, you know, and the idea struck me, I said, wow, they're advertising music on TV. I said,

you know, that would be a great thing. And I went in and had a meeting with the owner of Fantasy and I said, you know, explain to just what I said to you. Said, I think it would be great if you, you know, advertise Credence on television, Maybe had some kind of special or something where you get, I probably said, where you get two albums for the price of one and a half or something, if you do it on, and he said, people who watch television don't buy records. Yes, we do.

I just looked at him, I went, I just wanna say, we do. What? Right. That was the dumbest thing I ever heard. Especially since in that era, 100% of people watched television. So I'm guessing-

And there were only three channels, so. I'm guessing a segment of that also listened to music. Yes. But you brought this up, but I've always been curious about this. You know, Ted Williams. Yeah. You do know him?

Didn't know him, but. All right. Gee. Could have held every record in baseball, but he went into the service for World War II, lost his best four years. Went into the service again for Korea. Korea, right.

I mean, wow, that kind of patriotism. By the way, he didn't watch television. He thought Ted Williams. He said, I need my eyes, that will hurt my eyes. Wow, they used to say on a fastball, he could read the label on the baseball, the Rawlings label. 406 in...

Yes, 1940, last person to hit 41. I thought, last person to hit 400, and he did it on the last day of the season, he was at 400, and he could have sat... I think it was 399, actually. No, no, no. Oh, right, you're right. Because he could have just sat. No, I think they were gonna round it out. I think that was $399 actually. No, no, no. Oh, right, you're right. Because he could have just sat.

No, I think they were gonna round it out. I think that was the story. It would technically be $400. No, no, he had either $400 or $401. In other words, the point is he had the record. All he had to do was sit. And he said, no, that's not the way I roll. Double header went six for eight., that's not the way I roll. Doubleheader went six for eight.

Yep. And that's way on. So my reason I bring this up out of the blue is, you're like, I always think of him when I think of you because I thought, wow. Wow. He gave up a lot of his good years. Yeah.

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plus 20% off your next box. That's code random50 at factormeals.com slash random50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next box while your subscription is active. Okay, I'll be at the Arizona Financial Theater May 4th in Phoenix, Arizona, May 18th in Borgata. My old place at the Borgata, May 18th, that's down in Atlantic City,

and May 19th at the Palace Theater in Albany, New York. I never really understood the business machinations of it, and I'm sure it's boring to you at this point, so I don't wanna go into that. But when did it end? When I met my beautiful wife, Tuli. That's not when the business part of it ended. The part that mattered ended probably the moment

I laid eyes on her, actually. Wow. You know, it was literally, I actually, you know, and I've only said this once in my life, that's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. And I was like, and I may have said it out loud, right? She was across the room and all that, and I just... Wow, you just...

I think God does that. There's an internal or a heavenly telegraph, a telepathy or whatever that you... In other words, that was the code for me. This is the one that's meant for you, John. And so I stood there like a... And so she walked up to me because a couple of her friends or she had dared them,

hey, that's John Fogerty. I'm gonna go shake his hand. Yeah. But I was on the other end just being a guy, I wasn't John Fogarty. Where was this event taking place? It was in Indianapolis after I had done a show there. And it was in a little club around the corner from the hotel I was staying in.

And the club was called don't ask Oh, yeah, I was around the corner from don't tell yeah, yeah great place So I gotta say you just wet and panties all over this country because like the idea of a man Fielding a question about his business life with the answer Doesn't matter, I met the most beautiful girl in the world. That is going to cause orgasms somewhere. Someone's gonna send this to somebody and say,

you think there's no good men left, well here's an 80 year old. Bill, the point being. What year was this? That was 1986. 1986, so right after Center Field. Well, the point being. What year was this? That was 1986. 1986? So right after Center Field. September 14th, if I remember correctly.

I'm sure you do. Because you'd be in hot water if you didn't. Wow, that's very romantic. You're an ultimate romantic. She allowed me to be. That's absolutely, I'm not sure what I was before then. I, you know, read a couple of books and seen some cool movies in my life. And she allowed me to be that guy you just said.

And I became that guy. 100%, 110%, you know, flowers and all that kind of stuff. Still. Never failing to say, oh, and which is how I feel in my heart, honey, you look beautiful. That is so beautiful. I love you. And I, because I even tell her that,

you let me be that romantic guy. Okay, so in a lot of ways in business, I got F, right? But the point is, I ended up with the golden ticket. But you're okay with, looking back, you're okay with how you handled it? You have no regrets. Oh, I remember hearing Sinatra or somebody saying, oh man, I wouldn't change a thing.

Are you kidding? I'd change everything. Right, I always say change a thing. Are you kidding? I'd change everything. I always say the same thing. People who go, no regrets. I'm like, I have regrets every single day. It's almost what it basically means to be a human, is that you're always moving forward, which is the dark because we haven't been there yet.

Behind you is lit, because you've seen it. Right. So of course, it's full of regrets. Now, as you get older and wiser, you do get wiser kids, your regrets become fewer because you've seen more. Because the dark is somewhat less dark. Sure, and you also don't step out into the elevator shaft that doesn't have a car in it.

Right. You know, you look and, you know, because you're older, you're kind of a little more wary about things. When I think of some of the things I did that could have killed me, I remember we got this stuff that I see now. Ha, did you just say I did some stuff

that could have killed me? Totally. Yeah. I remember we got this stuff. We did every drug that came along. That was, I see now, looking back, it was poppers, what became very big in the gay community. It was amyl nitrate.

But we got it in this form. It was a little body. Don't they give that to leopards when they're trying to? It looked like this. It looked exactly like this. And you'd take the top off and go. Careful.

And, yeah, but this isn't it. And you would turn beet red and laugh hysterically for two minutes and then it was over. Obviously it was something really bad for you and like what if I had a brain fart because we were all so stoned and drank it, I'd be dead. Shit like that.

You know, that's why I like being older because the pain from the stupidity was almost too much. And could have killed you. Anyway, bad moon rising. So... Wait, one more, and I just wanted to reemphasize that point. That even though I got effed, right, in a lot of ways, and a lot of years...

What are you, a Christian? You can't say fuck? When you... I just don't... Man, if I'm gonna use my chip, I'm gonna use it in the best place I can use it. That's so old school, I kinda love that. You're right, it is overused, you're right. The fact that I found this gigantic gold nugget that everyone else is looking for, and here I was, you know, a shipwreck dude on the beach

with no shoes and his pants ripped up to here. I'm stumbling along and found the gold nugget. Wait, what are we talking about? My wife. Oh, okay, okay. Right. And I realized it. You lost me on the island with the pants.

The point being, I knew it. I knew what that meant. And as I started to tell her, probably a week into it, or something like that, said, you know, honey, meeting you and one day with you is worth the 20 years in hell. Holy shit. And that's the truth. That is just such a beautiful story.

Yeah, but see, what's important in life? Is all that stuff you're gonna smoke up or eat up or throw away worth losing the love of your life? Of course not. It's such a profound point, and it's something that has been a theme in my life ever since I was, no, I'm serious, because when I was 17 years old, I had my first girlfriend, I was very shy.

So when I was masturbating furiously, and a couple of girls could've, they liked me, I knew I was so shy I couldn't move on it, very tragic. Anyway, so when I finally got a girlfriend when I was 16, and then she dumped me when I was 17, it was so devastating that I remember thinking at the time and ever since, like where do you put your eggs in life?

Do you put it in love or do you put it in career? And I think because of that elementary moment in my life and the pain that it caused at 17, I always put it in, no, career. I can control that. Another person, I can't control in, no, career, I can control that. Another person, I can control. They could leave me, they could die, I could change, they could change,

but career, I can control that. I just signed a new deal with HBO, I just thought I'd throw that in. Ah, right! No, but I really think that that is the fulcrum that is so important to so many people's decision making in life. Where do you put that energy? Do you put it in love or do you put it in your career?

Because Freud said it, he said there's work and love. That's pretty much all there. No, he said that. Yeah. What did he do? He got fucking jaw cancer and died. But other than that, he's a father of psychology. I'm very skeptical about psychiatrists. I don't know how you feel about psychiatrists., I mean, he's a father of psychology. I'm very skeptical about psychiatrists.

I don't know how you feel about psychiatrists. But, I mean, when I... Julie was my psychiatrist. Holy shit. Boy, did I walk into that one. Here, do a few. No, no, no, no, no. But the point being, I did go to a couple of shrinks,

one of them actually on the advice of Julie, right? And I will- Oh, she wasn't your shrink? No, no, no, no. You mean like in an off, well, No, no, really went and met with a doctor guy, you know, in a room. Isn't a wonderful woman who loves you

and understands you the best shrink there is? Yes. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. But I mean, that's my point. But there's another weird- Do down on the corner. There's another weird thing you said

and I do wanna address that. Cause I, you know, also in this day and age, you know, oh boy, this world we live in these days with all this stuff on the phone and everything. I'm just so glad I don't, I'm not out there trying to find somebody. It's just scary. Julie and I look at each other that way,

I say, oh my God. But you did say something about 20-year-olds. And I wanted to address that. But I must say, among 80-year-olds, I feel like you could do almost at the very top of the percentile. Among 80-year-olds. I mean, what I'm saying is like if women of almost any age

had to pick among 80-year-olds, I feel like you would do very well. I mean, come on, look, I just do. You want me to be ridiculous. No, I'm not kidding. You know, not only is she gonna say, what do you mean Sinatra, who's that? Who's the beetle?

Who's El, who's Credence? Who's, who's Madonna? Who's, you know, that 20 year old's gonna say, I like Billie Eilish. May I rebut that? And, may I rebut? May I rebut? Yeah, of course.

Okay, first of all, there's the but. 20 year olds have great buts. Now, here's my rebuttal to that, which is, one, first of all, I like to learn about Billie Eilish, and that's the only way you can, is by actually talking to somebody that age, and I don't have kids. Yeah.

Okay, secondly, ignorance and stupidity are two very different things. Stupidity means you can't learn, because you're fucking stupid. Ignorance means you just don't know something. But somebody who's very smart and wants to learn, then it can be kind of a joy if you get the opportunity to, like, watch Casablanca together

for the first time, you know? So I'm agreeing with you because I've got one of those too. She's 22, she's at NYU, she's my daughter, Kelsey. And from the time she was probably eight or nine and loving music, I got to, I did this with all my kids. I even used the freight. I get to see the world through their eyes. I do too. I just didn't have them as children.

Right. Well, yes it has, Phil. Y'all got it? Now, boom. I just, I have some friends who have that formula and it, gosh. What formula? That formula of dating people who have that formula and... Gosh. What formula? That formula of dating people that are 40 years younger

than you. I don't... Well, I never saw it as a formula, but now that you mentioned it. Um, you know what? People use the term appropriate relationship all the time. You know it's an appropriate relationship, one that works.

If yours works for you, great. If mine works for me, I don't expect or think I should have to abide by any judgment. We all are attracted to who we're attracted to, and I could find fault with almost any types of pairings. So whatever works. I mean, we certainly think that nowadays with cross-sexual relationships. I mean, we certainly think that nowadays with cross-sexual relationships.

I mean, we're certainly past the age where we think gay is any different or worse or more abnormal. It's just different. And so with trans, and I say, great, go whoever. Go girl, go boy, go they. But that should apply to me too. Or anybody. For, we're not talking about children, but, you know, people of different ages. And again, why is it okay when Kate Beckinsale does it?

Why is it okay when Madonna do it? Because it is. Share? Yes, share. Yeah. Yeah. If it works, it's appropriate. Yep.

Yeah, and also, everybody's, you know, may have different goals, and that's okay, you know, may have different goals. And that's okay too. Exactly. Right. And let's be honest, the orthodox model is more often a failure than not. I mean, you're one of the lucky ones. You met someone many years ago,

you remain steadily in love and obviously attracted. I mean, that's a great story. It's not the usual story. It's just not. There... So, you didn't ask this question, but I... We were talking, Mom and Dad, meeting my wife and I,

a couple of days, a little while ago, and she said something about rock star or something. And I said, you know, I wanted to be a rock star. I certainly wanted to be a great musician in rock and roll. But I didn't want to live rock star life, whatever that means. There's a few people we could probably think of that have very long and glittering careers that way,

meaning I certainly was around all the drugs and drinking and all the rest. I'm not gonna say I never did any of that. I'm just saying that how my brain worked, it didn't seem like a long-term discipline. Right. You know? It just bothered me.

I had a lot of trouble with alcohol for many, many years. You're very wise. I mean, you saw... Well, I learned the hard way. Well, you saw where it was going, probably because in your generation of stars, like we lost that famous thing about age 27, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, who were some of the, but like.

I think Robert Johnson, matter of fact, the old blues band. Oh really, was 27? From heroin? He was poisoned. Poisoned? Messing around with some guy's wife or woman. You sure it wasn't? Yeah, that's a famous story.

Anyway, yeah, in Greenwood, in Three Forks, Mississippi. Yeah, but he was famous for womanizing, but he was a kid, yeah, but he was part of the 27 Club. Yeah, and there were, I mean, Jim Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, I mean, those were like three of the giants. Kurt Cobain, I guess.

Kurt Cobain, yes. I mean, it was almost like the big bopper, Buddy Holly plane crash, except they weren't all on the same plane. They were all doing the same. Right, that year, it was 70, I guess. Yeah, it was like, there was, and, you know, that probably had an effect on you. You probably, how could you have not seen that?

Those were your peers at the very moment you were peeking. Yeah, every place you'd go, you know, you'd be backstage at the Fillmore. Uh, I mean, I was young, and I don't know, also, I was competitive about my band. I was trying to keep... keep my band... uh, relevant. You know, powerful.

Right, exactly. And these people would come through back, say, hey, man, I got a handful of... These are yellows or greenies or, hey man, I got a handful of, these are yellows or greenies or, you know, and I didn't know what. I would look at the hand and I go, how the hell do I know where that came from? Could have been, you know, maybe in a toilet somewhere, right? Well, I mean, I wasn't going to take it.

I wanted to go out and do a good performance, right? That's just terrible. See, that's something else that's wrong with me. It was that. It was that not wanting, it wasn't about me getting to have a, you know, go on vacation, in other words. I wanted to be a musician, and I was trying hard, hard as I could just to rise to a certain level.

And the fact, I mean, I knew drinking made you drunk, and I knew that smoking pot made you altered, and I wouldn't probably be able to remember the chords or words to the song, therefore I would be bad. And I sure didn't want that, right? It was a competitive thing. Very competitive. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I mean, and you guys were like beyond the songwriting, which, let's be honest, is 90% of it. But it was a tight little band. Like, like, when you did that, for a time. Like, I have this song of yours, which has been the number one song on the top of my playlist, because it's 11 minutes long. So like like, if you're, like, waiting for people to, you know, it didn't, but it's always been one of my favorites. Your cover of Heard It Through the Grapevine. Which, like, really highlights that.

I mean, to go through 11 minutes and not be boring, you know, it's just a great jam. Because that's not an 11-minute song. No. No, and that was my point about the jamming thing. Jamming was, you know, became a big deal. Why did you do that? Why did you do an 11-minute version of that? Well, you know, obviously, it started out that way.

Suzy Q was a jam, but it was organized. You know, it wasn't just, I'm waiting for you to have an idea. Oh, I was waiting for you to have an idea, oh, I was waiting for you to have it. And everybody's going plong, plong, plong, plong, but nobody's really playing anything, right? Now, I sure didn't want to do that,

and I did not want to be in a band that did that. I'm just saying, it always struck me as an odd choice, as much as I love it, because it had already been a hit. Oh, that song. It had already been a hit. Oh, that song. It had already been a hit for Gladys Knight. Yep. Then it was a giant hit for Marvin Gaye. Okay, in 1968.

That was my first year listening. Okay, that was like right at the time when that was at the top of the charts. Hey Jude was probably the next big number one hit, 1968. Hey Jude was probably the next big number one hit, 1968. But, so to cover it a third time for 11 minutes, and yet you did, I mean, you did something to it that I'm still playing it. Yeah, it's a great fucking jam song,

and it never gets boring for 11 minutes. It's really good. Well there's stuff being played, stuff happening to, you know, there's a new scene. There's a new actor comes into the focus or something, you know, stuff. But did you ever do another cover at all? After that, I don't know.

There was a few cover. I covered Ooby Dooby. I covered My Baby Left Me by Elvis. Oh, you did? Oh, really? That's also on, those are on Cosmos Factory, both of them. Huh, see, I don't remember those. Because My Baby Left Me.

Yes, my baby. Oh, I know it. Da da da da. Yeah. I know it. Yeah. Just not one of my, I mean it. Da da da da. Yeah. I know it. Yeah. Just not one of my, I mean that, yeah, that was an Elvis song.

Yep, that was the other, that was actually a defining moment in my life, hearing the Elvis one. I was up in, my family was up in this place called Winters, California, Northern California, near where the Pouda Creek is, which is the little creek, the little river, that I named Green River and made a song

about all of that life, right? And I'm in this thing that was kind of a general store, I'm about 10 years old, and there's a tube box, believe it or not, it's like a grocery store that has fishing bait and poles and maybe various stuff. Suddenly, this song starts playing and what? There's a jukebox. I'm hearing this incredible guitar thing and some guy going,

''Yes, my baby love me.'' Wow. I didn't know what it was. So I ran over and I'm like, yeah, I'm a guy going, yeah, my baby love me. Wow, and I didn't know what it was. So I ran over and I'm finding a, looking, okay, okay, it's A11 or whatever. And I look on the thing and it says Elvis Presley, my baby left me. And I went, oh, it's Elvis. And I finally figured out it's the other side

of I want you, I need you, I love you, which was Elvis's second big song after Heartbreak Hotel. And I was, I just stood there, hypnotized, transfixed, I don't know what that is, but that's what I wanna do. And I made up my mind right then, which is, that's why I covered it. See, I like Elvis's starter hit, which is Heartbreak Hotel.

At least that was the first one on RCA. He did record for two years before that on Sun Records. But I don't think they were. But nobody really knew that. Were they even released nationally? I mean, we have them now as archival. But the first big hit, he went to RCA, released Heartbreak Hotel, January 1956, the year I was born.

And that was like, I like Heartbreak Hotel. There is something timeless about that one. That's kind of an amazing record. Then you lose me. I mean, I want you, I need you, I love you, all that blah blah blah. I didn't get back to Elvis. I mean, a cake.

But the third one was Hound Dog. And don't be cruel. Hate that, hate that. Oh my God, really? Don't be, yes, that 50 shit, I'm sorry. It's just not for me. It's all love me do shit. Well, because you didn't experience it when it happened? No, because it sucks.

Because it's not sophisticated. I experience it now. I think Jailhouse Rock, which was 1957, that's a good hit. I mean, that's a good, that's a much more sophisticated, it's just a better song. And then- That's Lieber and Stolle. I mean, yes it is, exactly, that's probably why.

Return to Sender in 1962. You like that one? Yes, I like that one. But most of them were just travelogue songs from his stupid movies. Then you get- Oh, well that's a whole nother, sure. I mean, go ahead, sure.

Well, then you get to 1969. He's your year again, the year of Credence and all this great stuff. And we have suspicious minds. He tells Colonel Parker, I'm tired of the travelogue movies, I wanna go back to touring, Vegas and, you know, the jumpsuits, that look.

And then you get great music for about another five years, I think, that's my favorite Elvis period. Suspicious, yes, when he was a grown ass man and he demanded grown ass music and he did some great fuckin' tracks that people, I was talkin' to Sheryl Crow was here recently, I'm talkin' about Any Day Now, Burt Bachrach song, it's on From Memphis to Vegas,

one of his great double albums, Elvis. You know, both places he was working at the time. And yeah, that was great stuff. I could, I would love to sit with you and just listen to my iPod on shuffle and see what comes up over 40 something years of... Elvis? No, not just Elvis, of everybody!

Oh. Like everything I've ever liked. That's why I like the old iPod, because I can just make the playlist, not even playlist, shuffle, just put it on shuffle of all the songs I've collected from 1968 to now. Because Frank Sinatra would come on, and then next thing would be Talking Heads.

You're talking about the musical experience of your lifetime. Exactly. It's Bill Maher Radio. There you go. But I bet you, you would like a lot of them. Or maybe some of them you would go, what the fuck is that? I think that's... That's just a description of your life,

the time period that you live in and experience. Well, you added a lot to it. For something in a super competitive business, where, I mean, not to, again. Well, I like some of the things I did. The American breed, bend me, shake me. I mean, they did it once, but you know, you did it a lot. And not that we're trying to like shit on the American Breed tonight.

Not at all. They did a very fine record. But I'm just saying... I'm amazed you remember that that's the name of that band. Wow. Because I have the whole album. And I spent $4.99... Oh, you see, to a kid, that's... Yeah, what a disappointment. It And I spent $4.99. Oh, you see, to a kid, that's, yeah, what a disappointment.

It probably cost me $3.99. For crying out loud for one... Plus 14 cents tax. Yeah, for one song. For God's sakes. I don't know, I mean, obviously I love music, love and loved music. And the really great things... Still on tour.

Just, huh? You're still on tour. Just, huh? You're still on tour, right? Yeah, going out there all the time. This summer I'm playing a lot of shows touring with George Thorogood. Wow. So we're gonna have a lot of fun. That's a great bill.

Yeah. I've known George for many years. So you're doing this. This is the first time we're actually touring together. So you're doing this, this is the summer? Yep. The summer, man, is there anything like the summer rock tour? Oh, it's great.

You know, Kid Rock has that song about, you know, with the girl on your shoulders in the second row. I mean, there is something about that experience, especially outside. Also, you know, I've often wondered, boy, you pass through a thing. You do something at Woodstock and you're 24. Oh yeah.

And that's, you know, and maybe by the time you're 30, you go, I wish I hadn't done that. What was Woodstock like? But then by the time you're 60, you go on, hot damn. Yes. I'm really glad I did that. You should be. Yeah. You were at Woodstock. Yeah, hot damn. I'm really glad I did that. You should be. You were at Woodstock.

Yeah, I was. It was. What day? The middle day, Saturday. So it started on Friday. Who played on Friday, you remember? I only heard about it. Sean Anon was there too.

Were they? Yes. Yeah, I don't know who was on the Friday. Who was on your day? I've only reconstructed it later. And later is the operative word here. Well, you must know who you followed. Cause that's always in an artist's mind.

You had to ask that, didn't you? Really? Because isn't that so important? It would be to a comic. Like I would remember 40 years on. I remember 50, 60 years on, sure. But like who you followed is, to me, would be the big question.

You don't remember? So I had agreed to do this show after seeing a bunch of billboards up and down the East Coast, probably about March, April of 69. That thing we've all seen with the guitar, actually a bass, there's a little birdie singing on it.

There's a bird on it, yeah. Three days of peace, love, and something. Sex in the mud. Yeah, probably. And so they called me and I said, all right, but you gotta give us the prime spot on, we said, we want you to be on Saturday. Okay, but it's gotta be the prime spot. That would be eight o'clock or possibly nine o'clock.

Okay, John. You went on at three in the morning. Yep. Really? Yep, so we get there by a World War II helicopter, which can only take two of the band at a time. Really? You know? Land in this thing in the afternoon.

I mean, you come up over a hill, you know, you're in this little thing that's shaking. And then you see the biggest crowd of people you've ever seen in your, I mean, you didn't even know there was that many, you know, it was like out of the Bible. You'd only take one guy, who'd you take? Two of us from the band, plus the guy flying.

So you could take one guy with you. Who was it, I bet not the... I can't remember, I think Doug was sitting with me, but I can't remember for sure. I bet it wasn't the drummer. No, I'm fucking. That was the drummer. I'm kidding.

And then I actually went out and walked around in the crowd. I had a little hat on, and I think I had a scarf or something, and I remember somebody was selling, it was either a quart of water or a gallon for, I think it was a dollar. I wanna say $5, but it was probably, and I was just upset that people were selling water.

It's like a staple, right? And I just, yeah. Well, if you remember or if you've read about Woods, they ran out of food and they ran out of water. And there was a dire, right. And I'm looking at all these people, I didn't know half a million, I just knew it was the biggest crowd of people.

And I thought, if they stampede, if something goes bad here, a lot of people are gonna die. They looked happy. They ran out of food, they ran out of water. They did not run out of cum or mud or acid. True. You named the movie that followed.

Right, I mean, the... Yeah. But what's interesting is, if you've ever seen the documentary, and if you haven't, I recommend it highly, on the 1999 Woodstock, because they did a tour. I've heard about it. It's not good.

Yeah. I mean, the movie's good. The situation was not. Right. I mean, what people had become was just curdled. I mean, people were much more materialistic, rapey, misogynistic. We were supposed to have advanced, not in 1999. See, and you weren't even a hippie in the 60s

with all those things, you know, you came along later. No, I was 13. So I was just that kid at the, you know, with my nose pressed up against the window thinking, wow, I wish I was old enough to go to Woodstock and see CCR like I did at Shea Stadium. Well, I guess that would be the next year when I think about it. See, but you're saying there's a little bit of ownership there.

You're saying that in 99, all these people didn't get better, they got worse. They got worse, they did. I mean, it was more commercial. I mean, when you look at that documentary, it's ugly. It's ugly, the kind of like... you know, masochistic bro kind of vibe that was in the audience.

Well, the audience and the bands, I heard that they were, you know, they were trying to... It was the age of metal. Yeah. Yeah, so there was a lot of that. But I don't blame the bands. If. See, but what you're doing, if that scene or the movie you're talking about was about Attica or something, you know, St. Quentin,

you would have been okay with it. But the touchstone being, here's Woodstock in 69 with peace and love and all that, and then here's Woodstock again, and it's like, ah! John, I think some of the people in Attica are there for a reason the kids of Woodstock were just going for a concert I mean you're comparing them to that's all I've that was the point I was making your but deep But these this Woodstock is not like that Woodstock

Right, but neither one is in a prison It's really I well, I just meant a place that was, you would expect bad stuff. I know, but that's a place where there's a reason we expect bad stuff, because it's where they sent the criminals. Yeah. I mean, it's remarkable that Woodstock of 69

was as peaceful as, you know, those kids put up with a lot of... It is remarkable. Yeah, I mean, they ran, you know, those kids put up with a lot of... It is remarkable. Yeah, I mean, they ran, you know, mud, no protection from the elements, ran out of food. They actually had the airdrop. And what about bathroom issues? All that stuff.

That to me, maybe... I didn't experience that. I was sort of in that afternoon, left. But I know... Early in that afternoon, left. But I know. Early in the morning. I'm just saying, like, bathroom issues, to me, would be the worst of it. Like, I could go four days without food.

I do fast. Yeah. But not having a place to go, or having maybe the residue of people going somewhere where I was. I don't even know what was the story on that. Was there not enough port-a-potties? I'm sure there were not.

Would we guess that they had no. 500,000 people? No, I just think it was bad. But anyway, that's really, I'm sure, not the memory of Woodstock we all wanna have. But so what was your memory? So you don't remember who you followed? Oh, of course I do.

Oh, I asked you that. Yeah. Who? The Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead! Never liked them. They were never my kind of band. I'm sorry, I'm sure they're great.

I was kind of, what's the word? I was, there was a natural, you know, here's what's funny. I'm sure you killed. Politically and philosophically, absolutely in the same place as The Grateful Dead. Yeah, but the music is different. I didn't change the, imbibing the drugs at the same time as the music like they did.

And that kind of bothered me a little bit. I thought it affected the music like they did. And that kind of bothered me a little bit. I thought it affected the music. Well, you know the old joke about the Grateful Dead, don't you? Like what did the Grateful Dead fans say when the acid wore off? Woke off, yeah. This band sucks.

Yeah. I'm sure they're great. Look, like I said, you can't argue with people about music. You either like it or you don't. I'm sure they're great, but they're a jam band. That's not my thing. Sure. Well, you know, if the right-

Traveling band, two minutes and one second. James Brown, man. Get in, get out of here. Two minutes, Proud Mary, three minutes on the dot. It was like the Nazi's one. Actually, I think it's 319. Really? I thought it was, okay, maybe I'm thinking a honky tonk woman in three minutes.

But like, it was all the Nazis were in the control room. Like, V will make this record, you know. Oh, that was, you know, if he went, bam, bam, bam, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, and if you did that three times, out of here! Cut that out! Forget it! But I love that. I mean, it's just like, you know.

Beatles too. Like, just get to it. I mean, that's another reason, I talk about this all the time, I'm sure people think I'm nuts, but another reason why I love the old iPod, because you can edit songs on the computer. Because the songs are on your computer,

then you load them into the old iPod. That takes like, oh, 30 seconds, so God, we can't have that. Rather have streaming where I don't get what I want. But you can cut off, you can edit. Yes, yes, nobody knows this. I'm trying to get the word out. You can edit, you can get rid of the beginning or the end.

You can't do the middle. But you can cut off, people have like phone messages on the beginning of their stupid songs, you know. You just like fade it in? No, you just go to options and it says, where do you want to start the song? You want to start that you play it? Oh, I see.

At second 45, it gets to be the song. I can cut off the other bullshit. Of course, sometimes people are talking at the beginning of their song. There's clapping at the end for 30 seconds. I can cut all that off the beginning or the end. Wow. Yeah, man.

Fuck yeah, man. You can be your own DJ. Not a DJ, editor. Okay. Even better. See what you've hit the nail on the head. I think, how can I say it? A record is a presentation.

It is. That's not the same as a jam. I mean, like, not to always go back to the Beatles, but like I said. They were great. They were, of course, they're the patriarchs. Okay, like even songs that like, like I've said this many times,

they're not, they have some great lyrics and some are just silly because the music is so great. So I bet you we both know Hello Goodbye, right? Okay, the lyrics are nothing. They're just really just Hello Goodbye. That's the whole song. But how does it start? Let's do it on, I'll say one, two, three,

and then we'll start. One, two, three. You say yes. I say no. We're into it already. Okay, no bullshit. We're into this really good melodic song that means nothing.

But we don't care because the song is so good. You know, I'd rather have both, but I'd always take the song. I mean, I still listen to Hello Goodbye. It's still a great song. I think I've gotten the message, hello goodbye. Right, but don't you appreciate, especially with the Beatles, they understood entertainment. Totally.

They were capable of writing heavy songs, but they didn't just, everything's important. It's so important every day. And when they did, when they wrote one about how important things were, it's one of their greatest revolutions. Yeah. Still, what an amazing record.

Just as a... Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. You know, it just kills you right there. Yeah, when you go carrying signs of chairman, ma, who did it, right. This is a different world we live in, but I was out on tour in 86 when a Nike ad came on TV using Revolution.

I was staying in a Holiday Inn. The trash can in my room went all the way across the room and missed the TV by about that. I was so pissed off. The Beatles in a commercial, no, no! Oh God, I was angry about that. Not their fault. Not their fault.

They didn't do that. No. Michael Jackson did that. Is that right? Of course. Is that where that came from? You remember that, he bought. Yeah, Paul advised them to do it, so he did. I didn't say my songs, mate. I mean, they should have been watching the store better,

but they, talk about getting fucked over, they did too, not like you, not on that level. They were always able to record, but they, you know, everybody. A lot of their songs were owned, you know, Northern, I think was Brian Epstein and some attorney, I've forgotten. There's two things I know about the music industry.

And they are somewhat related because they both use the word fuck. Everybody gets fucked financially. If they can, you have to fight for what you. Yep, sure do. And two, this is something someone I know who was in the music industry, an attractive woman said to me once,

she said, I've never known any men in the industry who has not tried to fuck me. Some of them do it more elegantly, some of them are rapists, but they will fuck you financially, and they will try to fuck you sexually. Oh, you thought a woman said this. Yes, a woman, yeah.

Although I'm sure it happens to men too. I'm just saying, and I don't wanna cause trouble, of course I do, I'm Bill Maher, but like the Me Too movement went through movies, went through television, went through finance, went through Garrison Keillor and the Senate, Al Franken, and boy, the music industry, the epicenter of it.

I mean, you saw they raided Diddy's house. I don't know what's going on there. But it's... We don't know yet. No, we don't know, but I'm just saying, the music industry, are you kidding me two people? That's the Wild West. It's the epicenter of the problem, okay?

And you fucking left it alone, because we all love music so much. The only reason I can think of is that- When I was young, I thought that there was some kind of structure to all the things in entertainment, that you know, and that you get to this level and click, you know, kind of like the military. You become a second lieutenant,

and then you become a, I don't know, a major, and a colonel, I mean, I thought there was some sort of, I'm saying it in a weird way, but a structure that everyone followed. In show business? I was a kid, I was a kid. It seemed to be what I saw from looking at records and watching TV.

And then there were gatekeepers. There were gatekeepers, which there are not now so much. I suppose. In other words, you had to be signed to a record company. That was probably your only way through to the, eventually it was your only way through. How did you get signed? By knocking on the door.

You personally? Yes. Of who? I was 19. I knocked on the door of Fantasy Records. You did? Yeah. I had seen it. Where were they? When you were about the only label in the Bay Area, they were in Memphis. Oh, I see. They were in the Bay Area. Yeah. I had seen a. Where were they? They were about the only label in the Bay Area. Oh, I see, they were in the Bay Area.

Yeah, I had seen a TV program with three parts. Your brother didn't do that? No, I did it. I went over and knocked on the door and walked in and started talking to a man named Max Weiss. There was this thing about the song, Vince Giraldi, Cast Your Bait to the Winds,

and that was their one and only hit. They'd accidentally had a hit record that was on top 40 radio. It was an instrumental piano song. And so this Ralph Gleason, who was a jazz writer mostly in the Bay Area, had overseen a little special about it called Anatomy of a Hit. And so I finally, you know, I made up my mind,

I'm gonna go over there and knock on their door. And I walked in, there's this guy, Max Weiss. They were in San Francisco? Yep, one of the owners of the label. But I had to, you know, it's a telling story. I had to wait down here in the stairwell because there was another guy up at the top of the stairs talking to... Where in San Francisco?

I'm very curious. It's on Treat Avenue. Where is that near? Huh? Where is that near? I know San Francisco pretty well. Below market somewhere. Below market.

Okay. Yeah, not a good... It's warehouse section. Right. I know the area. Yeah. So anyway, up at the top of the stairs is Max Weiss' character, who is one of the guys I saw on the TV show.

There's another guy talking to him, and the other guy, this guy's a songwriter or arranger or something. He's an older guy. I mean, I'm 19. He looks like he's 35 or something. Oh, yeah! Well, I got a song, you know, Johnny Mathis is covering my song that I did, and this guy, and he's gonna do my song, he's telling all this to Max, and I'm 19,

I'm looking up there, they're, what the fuck are you doing here? You know, and this little, that's exactly what I said to myself. I got up there, and of course, Max called me Colonel, or Bright Eyes, which he had just called that guy the same thing. And that began a very long and tortuous...

Did you have a demo? Huh? Did you have a demo with you? I just wanted... I think I had some instrumentals on tape. Because this was an instrumental, they're hit. They were a jazz label. You may remember, they were the ones that made

the colored LPs, yellow, blue. Did you have none of your famous songs yet? Oh no. No, I was barely out of high school. Then why did they sign you? Oh, we kept knocking on the door. This wasn't the first, this was only the first time. It's really funny.

The week I happened to walk in there that week, and I had a little tape that had, it was real, the real had maybe four, three or four rock and roll instrumental kind of songs, cause their hit, the Vince Girodli song, was an instrumental. So that's what we took over there, right? I had grown up in, through high school,

with my little band, the Blue Velvets, mostly playing instrumentals, many of which I wrote, but a lot of covers, Dwayne Eddy, The Ventures, you know? Yeah, anybody that, that, um, that, you know, played rock music instrumentally, I probably, Honky Tonk by Bill Doggett, right? And The Ventures.

I don't know any of this shit. Oh, okay. I mean, this was, to me this is like you. Well those are my founding fathers. Yeah, this is your apprenticeship. Yeah. I don't care about that. Then you learned your craft,

and then you created these masterpieces. And that's when me, the consumer, the guy who can't do anything musically, but appreciates music, was able to get so much pleasure for 55 years. I thought of it today, that I've been playing your stuff for 55 years. It's sobering that where did those years go? But it's also really interesting that when you think about 1969 to 2024 and all of your stuff,

and this stuff of Bridge Over Troubled Water is still played and lots of stuff from that era is still played. That's a great song. Lots of great songs. But if you went back from 1969, what's 25 years before that? It's...

The war? 1914. Nobody in 1969 knew one song from 19... Did you say 25 years or 45? 50, 55. Oh, oh, oh, I see. The same from 69 till now. I get it.

I'm saying the songs from your era, including yours, are still played and still widely known today. Nobody knows anything or knew anything in 1969 from 1914. What was the song? Alexander's Ragtime Band? You nailed it! Okay, that's like in the history books. I don't know how it goes. Oh, let's do a cover of that. The funny thing about that song, that's Irving Berlin. Is that Irving Berlin? Yes, The guy lived to be 100 years old. Yeah, that... Wow. You're right.

And that must have been one of the early ones. Somewhere in the 70s, because my mom used to talk about some of these songwriters, right? One of which was Irving Berlin. But there was a point in Irving's life, because of the way the copyright laws were in the old days, he lived long enough that that particular song went into the public domain.

He didn't own his own song because of the laws of America. I mean, that's just a really weird anomaly of... And Irving Berlin wrote, didn't he write God Bless America? Yes, I think so. Not this was I go better, that was Francis Godkey, but God Bless America. Did he write White Christmas? I'm dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I-

Irving Berlin wrote White Christmas sitting on the beach in Santa Monica. Exactly. And you know, I can sing the intro to the song, which is never done. One guy did it, Robert Goulet. Would you like to hear it? Because you're right, it was written here in California, about being in California during the... And nobody ever sings the intro. I'm going to treat you now, John Fogarty.

Please. The sun is shining, the grass is green, the orange and palm trees sway. There's never been such a day in Beverly Hills, LA. But it's December the 24th, and I am longing to be up north. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Yeah, yeah man. I've been robbed.

I've been cheated my whole life. I'll send you it. No, it's because we know, I'm dreaming, you know, ba-ba-ba-boo, and the snow's coming down. But there was that intro, the exact kind of thing. I'd cut off in my fucking iPod using the edit function. No, that one actually is good. Well, it tells you a whole different thing

that I never knew until much later in life. No, no. I'm telling you, we've got to listen to my shuffle together. This is Bill Maher's iPod of the universe. I'm telling you, we gotta listen to my shuffle together. Because I just- This is Bill Maher's iPod of the universe. Well, it does encompass like 68 to today. You know, I mean not that, look, I'm not gonna lie, there's not as much from later years

as early years probably, but there's stuff in every decade. Every decade produces great music. Good for you. from later years, as early years, probably, but there's stuff in every decade. Every decade produces great music. Good for you. I've never been a fan of people who think that we need to subsidize, government subsidize the arts. The arts will always out. I didn't need any government subsidy.

You didn't need any government subsidy. The arts will always. Maybe at some point. Did you? I never got it, but... You never got it and you never needed it. The cream will rise to the top. And artists cannot be suppressed. You know, there was a point you made that it's important to me.

You talked about learning your craft. You know, and I was talking about the playing covers. Like I'm talking about in 1958, 59, the ventures, the whalers, believe it or not, a band from Seattle or the Northwest. Edwain Eddy was a big influence. These are all instrumental people.

And learning that, and then, of course, I mean, I was paying attention to songs with words, obviously. Um, by the way, when I was a little kid, about three and a half, one day, my mom came home, brought me home from nursery school, and sat me down, gave me one of those little yellow kid records, and she explained to me, well, first she played it. And one side was, oh, Susanna,

the other side was Camp Town Racist, right? I'm three and a half. And she explained to me that Stephen Foster wrote both of those songs. Now, I'm a little kid, I might have thought that I'm hearing Stephen Foster on this record, why wouldn't I think that? But the important part was my mom had explained to me,

there's a songwriter that created those two songs and his name is Stephen Foster. I can hear Camptown Races in some of your stuff. Do you know that I still, when I'm wandering around the house, right, the dog is over there and needs to be fed, hey, come on, Cree-D, come on. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do.

You know, I'm doing a little ripping. Let the midnight special. Right. Shine the light on me. That was another influence from my mom, by the way. Shine the ever... Right? I mean, that's not that... It's just updated and bettered. Well, I think what I was trying to get to is

she planted the seed about the songwriter. And I started paying attention to people like that. She loved Hoagy Carmichael, so I ended up loving Hoagy Carmichael for sure. And began trying to write songs very early, you know. I can actually specifically remember one when I was eight years old, because a guy, it was the Rhythm and Blues radio station before school and there was some commercial and they used to read these things.

They weren't big produced things. And the guy was saying, do you have the wash day blues? Well, you should try and I'm sure it was some detergent for washing your clothes, right? But what stuck in my head was wash day blues because I love blues. I was listening to the blues station. Right. All the way to school, I was trying to write a song about Watch Day Blues. And of course, blues,

and right around then is Muddy Waters. Uh, we, I didn't know his name then. Willie Dixon was a songwriter, but the riff was... -♪ Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. You gonna... -♪ -♪ Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. I got the Watch Day Blues. I'm not a songwriter, but the riff was, dun dun dun dun dun. You go, blblblblblblbl. Dun dun dun dun dun. I got the watch, they blew. Dun dun dun dun dun.

Somebody help me, help me. You know, that sort of thing. I did that all, I was, in other words, writing a song. And I did that forever, I kept doing that. And I mean, I wrote a lot of really bad songs all the way through the rest of grammar school, high school. And I told a lot of bad jokes.

That's how you get where you're going. Yes. You know, you gotta be bad before you're good. Right. That's right, and you got to try. You can't just go, someday I'm gonna write great songs. No, you gotta be doing it. And it's so satisfying when you put in those do's

and you go through all that pain and then you get to the place where, oh, now they are good, I know they're good and the audience knows they're good. I mean, that's jokes and songs. I mean, there's nothing I love more than my job, my real job at real time on HBO. I love delivering for the audience.

I know what you expect me to do and I'm going to do it for you, and fulfill your expectations. Same thing in music, you fulfill their expectations, you rise to the occasion, you give them what they want because if you don't, somebody else will. Tell me if this is true or not. It certainly is for me, most of the time. When I work, I mean, I'm talking about nowadays,

I've had the process happen quite a few times and I understand the process. I've experienced the process and therefore I know what, I'm talking about one that's good, by the way. So you get to a point, you put in the work, you've probably written a lot of garbage first, then finally you have, and you know it. You know it before you even go there.

The audience is your vindication. Right. Right. They react, I mean, you're laying it out there. Your pants are down, so to speak, and you're not really sure. But when they come back at you like that it's good, that's okay. But you must have had one or two

that you thought were great and they didn't. Well, have I done that? I'm asking. Hmm? I'm asking if you ever had one where you thought, oh, this is great, and the audience just went no. Because I'm thinking of like, Yeah.

Well, I don't know that the song had a chance, but I know there's a song I wrote called Mystic Highway that was on an album. Yeah, there are a lot of songs that are great. I thought it was really good. Yeah, I bet you it is. I mean, I make a- And I get requests for it, but you know,

that gets into the, what do you call it, the homogenation of all the numbers. Well, there's a few people in- I make a hobby of collecting those songs. People are always saying to me, like, wow, you have the best playlist. Where'd you get that song? I'm like, I listen to all the stuff,

and people miss this one, but there it is. That's one that I felt like it slipped into the cracks. The rascals who were ascendant at the same time as you. A little ahead, yeah. Yeah, a little ahead, but also like. at the same time as you. A little ahead, yeah. Yeah, a little ahead, but also like... At the same time, People Gotta Be Free was... People Gotta Be Free was a huge shit in that era, okay. And then the last two, I bet you they thought were great,

and I still think are great, but the audience never liked. They put out a single called Heaven. Oh. You remember that? I don't, no I don't. Exactly. I just know that there are bands, I did it too. Right.

Yeah. What? You reach that end or whatever, and then in the cliff, you know, and they just, for some reason, that's that. Sometimes it's just like, musically it's better. It's like more sophisticated, but the audience is left behind.

I mean artists have done that for me. Like you left me behind. I'm sure it's great and I'm sure you and your musician friends think it's groundbreaking, but I don't give a shit. I'm just the young man in the 22nd row. I'm just the audience. You said it perfectly. And you can 22nd row. I'm just the audience. Yeah, I'm just the audience. And you can be somewhat ahead.

I like that. I like something I've never heard before, quite. But you can't leave me that far behind. That's absolutely the truth. And that happens to a lot of musicians. They get too into their own heads. Oh, I think it happens to every human being. Yeah, in a way.

And especially musicians. The point, there's a thing, look, I've been my own worst victim of this. When you're doing something and instead of you just resonating with your own likes and dislikes, your own filter, you know, your own value system, you're going along, you know, so and so is think, this is really great. And that rock critic over there is gonna, you know, or Betty Lou is gonna, you know, whatever. You're doing something, and it's for cockeyed reasons

that you're doing it, and you end up with this thing that seems like all the buttons are pushed in the right place, you know, but it wasn't really you. And what normally happens to that stuff the buttons are pushed in the right place, you know, but it wasn't really you. You gotta please yourself. And what normally happens to that stuff is exactly what you just described. The band hits that wall, it's like, what do they do? Why'd they do that?

You know, what's with the trombones in the middle of the violin solo? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, did you ever see the hysterically funny movie that Judd Apatow did called Walk Hard? No, it's so funny, you gotta watch that one,

you'll love this. Get your girl tonight, dial up Walk Hard, you'll laugh your ass off. It's like, remember they did a bio of Johnny Cash? Yeah. Called Walk Tall, I think, or whatever, what was his cat's name? I Walk the Yeah. Called Walk Tall, I think, or whatever. What was his cat tracer?

I Walk the Line. I Walk the Line. OK. So this is like, it's kind of like doing a parody of that. But it's like the musical history. And when they get to the 60s, like the guy who has been a big star, and he just goes off on this thing where he wants

like tribesmen coming in hitting a gong and all this crazy. That all sounds so familiar. Really? And you had that kind of syndrome around you? No, but I've seen it. Yes, you've seen it. You know, in bands that you loved even,

where it's suddenly, oh, no! Right. Yeah. I know. And sometimes it's just because they probably run out of material or they fight. You know, I always quote that Timothy B. Schmidt in the Eagles special when he says,

I have never known a rock band that wasn't always breaking up at every moment. Yeah. And I, you know, I have never been in a rock band, but you know, I know what they fight about. You didn't like my song and you took that girl. Yeah. Right? Yep. I mean, your didn't like my song, and you took that girl. Yeah. Right?

Yep. I mean, you're a brother. Didn't you fight with your brother horribly? Like all rock bands where there's brothers, they fight. The Oasis dudes. It was that way, it was internal. What?

It was internal. What does that mean? Well, I didn't, how can I say? It's been such a long, hard thing to understand. Especially because Tom passed away. And as an adult, I reached a point, I want to say this part first, I reached a point where I finally, as best I could, understood his emotions

or his very human and understandable desires, I guess you'd say, right? And jealousies. I mean, come on. But see, boom! You can't, I mean. When it was all, when the, 1970, 69, 70, when Creedence started to really get tense.

And yet we were on top of the world. I mean, that's what the song, Have You Ever Seen the Rain is all about. Really? It's the brightest blue, wonderful day that we all dreamed about and it's fucking raining. What are you guys so unhappy about? And I never knew.

Oh, that's interesting. I never knew that. And Tom was, Tom got really quiet, you know, instead of being the normal, he was really quiet, but there'd be these, you know, little jabs every now and, verbal stuff, right? And then the band broke up, and I mean, the whole time, you know, to follow Timothy B. Schmidt's

phrase, it was the last year of it, or a year and a half, was like, ah! And I couldn't, I think, what is this? Just like in a relationship. When you're walking on eggshells, it's just the worst fucking place to be outside of a Hanoi prison camp

in 1979, I mean, 69. It's just, I've been there. What, whatever kind of relationship it is, when you like know whatever you say, you have to like, you have to be like a White House press spokesman. Everything you say has to be so lawyered so that it doesn't offend.

It's just the, it's like, who can live like that? And I'm sure that's what it is in a band. Because it is a relationship. And so all those years later, that's 1970, 72-ish, and it still goes on. I kind of look as I still see Tom now and then, family stuff and all that. Then I meet Julie. That's 86.

Somewhere around 80 or 89 or 90 or 91 I'm talking with. You know, we're driving in the car. We kind of know each other pretty well. We've been together two, three or four years. Something like, you know, it's really easy and delightful and stuff. And probably another time I'm telling one of those stories and she chose, I mean, she says, well, they're jealous. I went, what? They're jealous.

It's so obvious. Yeah, but I didn't know that word and I didn't know the, I didn't understand any of that. I just wondered, what the hell? Proud Mary's been number one for 72 weeks. Why are you mad? Because, I'll tell you why, because, and you may fight about a million things,

but people don't fight about what they're really fighting about. What they're really fighting about is, God gave you the talent, and I'm your brother, and why wasn't it even? Why didn't I get half of it? Why did you get all of it? You think it's easy being this guy?

Everybody knows. What? You sound like the Smothers Brothers. Well, it's similar. But certainly, definitely in groups. But you see, the point there is I wasn't jealous. I didn't know there was a problem.

You shouldn't be jealous. You have the talent. The person who has the talent is not the jealous one. It's the person who wants the talent who doesn't have it. Not that he wasn't talented. I think that's the point. But like it was obvious from the beginning like it is with so many bands. I mean, is it...

Of course. Was Justin Timberlake ever not going to go out on his own? No. Okay. It's just obvious. There's one person with the talent and there's three other people. There are exceptions. I mean, the Stones are a team and the Beatles, blah, blah, blah. But in a lot of bands, it's just one guy

and as nice and as talented as the other three or four are, you could get along with three or four other people. One person is doing all the work here, Simon and Garfunkel. I mean, why did they break up? It just, I think there's a documentary on it right now, and it's just, there's just something very uneven that was in that relationship

that was always going to explode. It was just always going to explode because it's not a, it's not a situation that lends itself to stasis. Yeah. It's explosive when it that lends itself to stasis. Yeah. It's explosive when it's uneven like that. The thing is, I think if a person is, let's say, has less understanding or less talent for doing that thing,

then they probably should figure out how to do something else. I'm talking about still music, still a song, but figure out another way that isn't directly... There is no other way. ...competitive with that thing. Well, there is no... Nothing else is as competitive as being able to write 25 great hits, okay? That is sui genera.

No... What else is he gonna do? Write songs and then paint them? No. I mean, you're either, you either are... I didn't mean it quite like that. You either are or you ain't. You know? And if you're the ain't, it's not good. And it's just always eating away on you in the inside. And you're fighting over a million things, like you took that girl and you ate your last Oreo

and you did this and you did that. But that's always what it is. Mom liked you best. That was the Smothers Brothers catch bit. Mom always liked you best. And, you know, ironically, it was twisted around because Tom was the one who really ran the show. He was the... Anyway.

Look, I could talk to you all night. I'm so glad I met you. I gotta go back to my day job, but man, I just gotta say before we end this, you have given me so much pleasure. That is the thing about music, it never gets old. The songs you listen to for so many years, including all the stuff you did as a solo artist,

such pleasure you have given me. And I just have to say thank you, because, you know, I mean, I'm never. Well, I enjoyed this, I wanna hear your iPod. Well, we gotta do it. Yeah. You live still in California? Yeah, just down 101 a couple of blocks. Thank you, Bill.

Thank you. Enjoyed this very much. All right. Club Random. Thank you, sir. That was this very much. All right. Thank you, sir. That was so much fun. That was cool. You can't believe you got to meet one of my musical heroes.