Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Peter Asher Encore

Episode Date: June 23, 2025

GGACP celebrates the birthday (b. June 22) of Grammy-winning producer, British Invasion rocker and former Apple Records exec Peter Asher by presenting this ENCORE of an interview from 2017. In this episode, Peter joins the boys for a fascinating discussion about the genius of James Taylor, the profound influence of the Everly Brothers, the rivalry between the Beach Boys and the Fab Four and the 50th anniversary of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Also, John Lennon meets Yoko Ono, Peter “inspires” Austin Powers, Linda Ronstadt teams with Nelson Riddle and Peter and Gordon play the ’64 World’s Fair. PLUS: Spike Milligan! Del Shannon! Jackie Gleason acts out! Chad & Jeremy meet the Caped Crusaders! And a “rejected” Beatles tune lands Peter at the top of the charts!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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through Muskoka or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, Volvo Discover Days, enjoy limited time savings as you make plans to cruise through Muscogee or down Toronto's bustling streets. From now until June 30th, lease a 2025 Volvo XC60 from 1.74% and save up to $4,000. Conditions apply. Visit your GTA Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca for full details. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santo Padre and we're once again recording at Nutmeg with our engineer Frank Verderosa. Our guest this week is a singer, guitarist, recording artist, manager, Grammy-winning record producer, and eye witness to some of the most important and defining musical events of the last half century. As one half of the

British pop duo Peter and Gordon, he scored nine top 20, including I Go to Pieces, Lady Godiva, and a million-selling number-one single World Without Love, penned by his longtime friend, Paul McCartney. After splitting up with partner Gordon Waller in 1968, he went on to scout and develop new talent for the Beatles Apple Records label, discovering and signing a twenty-something songwriter named James Taylor. He produced over a dozen Grammy-winning recordings and worked with artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, Elton John,

Randy Newman, Ringo Starr, Billy Joel, Bonnie Rayett, and even Steve Martin and Robin Williams. And is responsible for such hits as Fire and Rain, You've Got a Friend, Shower the People, You're No Good, When Will I Be Loved, and it's so easy to just name a few.

You want more? He's also a former child actor, a member of Mensa, and the first person to ever hear I Wanna Hold Your Hand when a young Paul McCartney and John and played it for him in the basement of his mother's house. Wow. Please welcome a man of multiple talents and our first guest to be appointed a commander of the British Empire, the legendary Peter Asher. Wow, what an intro.

I should take you with me everywhere. Thank you very much. That's amazing. It's like a whole opening act. Peter Asher. Wow what an intro I should take you with me everywhere thank you very much. It's like a whole opening act. Now before anything else, your grandfather was Lawrence of Arabia's lawyer? Yes he was. He was also an amateur playwright and a musician, but he was a solicitor and one of his clients was Lawrence Varebia. It is true. Fantastic. And did he go to his office on a camel? No, I don't think so. No, but he did show up. My mother met him when she was little. Wow, your mother met T.E. Lawrence? My mother met T.E. Lawrence. She was around

Wow, your mother met T.E. Lawrence? My mother met T.E. Lawrence. She was around 17 or so. And she did tell her father how incredibly handsome she thought he was. And there was a way, and she couldn't remember exactly how he told her, but he made it clear that she was, that was not what he was interested in. That an attractive, young, 18-year-old woman was not what Lawrence was looking for in life. And I've always wondered exactly how you explained it back then because you didn't go, oh he's gay, that's for sure. But she was apparently tactfully informed by her father not to get her hopes up. Wow. I just keep seeing Peter O'Toole in my head.

Of course, because we don't really know the real T.E. Lawrence looks like. We could look it up, but most people... No, he was handsome. He was extremely handsome. He was handsome. There's photos. He was a very handsome man in captain's uniform and everything.

Right. And the other thing is, if anyone listening out there looks up the name Peter Asher, early photos, and looks on YouTube for one of his earlier performances, you are or were Austin Powers? Well, no, not really, but what is apparently the case and what my eyes has confirmed is that there were some photos of me back in that era that definitely informed the look of Austin Powers to a considerable

degree. Because I did have the bad teeth and the square black glasses that I was copying Buddy Holly and so on. There's a thing that TMZ did where they actually lined up some photos of me and Austin Powers to make the point, which do look remarkable. As they put it, the poor guy really did look like Austin Powers. But the character was not based on me. I think it was based on a DJ called Simon Day, I think, and a few other people.

So not that I wasn't Shagadelic, I'm sure, but I was not the role model, but I was apparently, to some degree, the visual inspiration for the look ever talked to my Cliers about it. I did once I mentioned to him and he kind of nodded. That's fun Yeah, because when I look at those photos, it's scary. No, it is He definitely there was one particular picture, you know where you can really see that they he kind of went Well, maybe you should have that look, you know Before we get into Peter and Gordon I want to talk you brought your mom up and I wanted I want to mention to Gilbert just before we turn the mics on that your mom, you not only

come from a musical family, but your mom was a teacher. She was in the London Philharmonic? She was a professional musician. She played in various orchestras, in the Hallé Orchestra for a while and with first to Thomas Peecham and I'm not sure which other ones and then she was Oberprofessor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, yes, and also taught privately, taught at the academy and gave some private lessons. And did she teach George Martin? Do I have that right? That's one of the strange coincidences, yeah. Wow. But by the time I met George Martin in a completely other context, he had actually,

he went to the Guildhall School of Music where she was a guest professor and he was one of her pupils, yes, he was an Ober player. And here's a question I always ask people who knew George Martin. Do you think the Beatles could have made it as big as they did without George Martin? I don't know about as big but the Beatles would have made it whatever. They were that good. I mean there is a certain there is a level of talent that is undeniable and unstoppable in my view that whatever happens it would have made its mark on the world.

Did George help the Beatles records be even better than they would have been otherwise? Absolutely yes. Does the genius of their records owe George a huge debt of gratitude? Absolutely yes. Is he one of the best record producers in the world? Yes. Would the Beatles have happened without him? Probably yes, but it might have been different.

You know, it's hard to say, you know. But in the same way, people have asked me that question about James Taylor, you know, would you have made it if in the answers? Yes, absolutely. You know, so it's not... Well, you certainly helped. But I helped. Exactly. I was proud to help. But I mean, I was just amazed when I heard him and when you know, this is your colossally good You know, this is insane You know, it's you actually get to the point where you can't believe nobody else has that gun

This guy's brilliant and signed him up made a record I would just happen to be there first and George was the first person to do how good the Beatles were and Recognize it. I love that George also worked with comedians that he did he work with the goons I was telling you about the background That's one of the things that recommended him to them and to me I mean when we were the reason we all knew George Martin was cool wasn't the music records he'd made thus far Yeah, it was the fact that he produced Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers, which you were our heroes Sure, I saw an interview with you and you said it all comes back to Spike Milligan

It does every time I love British humor entirely goes back to back to Spike Milligan and he's not that well known here but he's of course a hero to all of us to Marty Python and to every all the comedians who came after. And the Beatles. Tell us how you made the connection with Paul McCartney. Oh well that's, I can't take the credit for that, but what happened was my sister you know was and is a successful actress in England. And Jane Asher. Jane Asher. And she was she was kind of a celebrity and still is. And and and it was in that context, I think, that she was invited to go and see this band.

It was the Radio Times who invited it, which is kind of like our TV guide, except we didn't really need a TV guide because we only had one television station, which was The BBC which was only on the night and but anyway, so this was for radio programs And they were doing an article in the Beatles and they asked her to go and see them and kind of do a review So she went to see them in London and Met them after the show, you know, she thought the band was incredibly good

She met them afterwards, thought they were funny and cute and charming and everything. She liked them, they liked her. One of them liked her in particular and asked her out and so on. So she ended up going out with Paul McCartney for a few years. And it was in that context that I met him.

And, because shortly after that, one of the functions of that relationship was that he was hanging around our house all the time. And eventually our parents kind of took pity on him and offered him the guest room at the one of the functions of that relationship was that he was hanging around our house all the time. And eventually our parents kind of took pity on him and offered him the guest room at the top of the house when they weren't out on the road. And so he moved in and he and I shared the top floor of the house and then, you know, we ended up becoming friends. And one time he invited you to listen to a song he wrote. Yes, there was in the basement of the

house there was a small music room where my mother would give private oboe lessons occasionally, but not very often. So she had said to Paul, if you ever need to use a piano, because he plays piano very well, he's one of those people who can play everything very well. And she said, if you need a piano,

use the one in the basement music room. So John came over one day, quite soon after he'd moved in, this was early early on and they were down there for a couple of hours interestingly with no guitars the guitars were up in his bedroom in my bedroom on the top floor and They were down there for a couple of hours. There's a small upright piano and a little sofa in a music stand it was a tiny room and And then Paul called up the stairs and asked if I wanted to come down and hear the song that they had written So I came down and sat on the little sofa and they sat side by side on the piano bench

and played I Want to Hold Your Hand for the first time. Freshly minted. Wow. And asked me what I thought. So you were like the first person in the world to hear I Want to Hold Your Hand. He was. Other than the composers, yes. Yes.

Did you have an ability at that tender age to recognize a hit song? Oh yeah, I think we all would have. I mean, you kind of go, am I losing my mind or is this one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life? And of course what you really do, which is what I did, is ask them to play it again. And they did. Because that's what makes, we all know, it's like when you used to buy 45s in the minute, the needle got to the big old fat grooves in the middle, you'd yank it back to the beginning.

Because that's the great thing about a hit record, you just wanna hear it again and again. I miss those days. Didn't he also write yesterday in the house and you weren't home at the time? That's right, he did. I think my mom was the first person to hear that. But you probably know the story,

but he woke up with the melody completely formed in his head and was convinced it was an existing song. He wasn't going around saying, listen to this song I've written. He't going around saying, listen to this song I've written. He was going around saying, what is this? He sang it to my mom and to various people saying, this must be something, it's melody stuck in my head. And eventually, by process of elimination,

he realized he'd written it inadvertently. And did he originally call it Scrambled Eggs? It originally had no lyrics. And then they were looking at some point, as I say, I wasn't there, so I didn't witness this, but at some point during that day, the temporary lyrics that he was looking for, da da da, and the first da da da that apparently came to mind

was scrambled eggs. So at one point, it was something about scrambled eggs, how I love your legs or something. Yeah, it's fascinating. But his initial reaction was, someone must have written this. This must exist. It's the only tune apparently where he woke up with it

completely done as a melody. I love that. And, but, I mean, nobody knows really where songs come from. The people tend to get a bit mystical about it. But that was an extreme case to wake up with one of the best songs ever written. Of course. Pre-written. Without having to make any effort. Of course.

We should all be so lucky. Oh, what an ability. And you're a member of Mensa? It's true. Well, I took the test. We don't go in any order here, Peter, as you can see. I took the test a very long time ago, so at least they don't make you retake it. There's no readmission qualification.

I'm sure in 150 guests we've never had a Mensa member in here before. I probably did it when I was about 16. But I've worked on my brain cells pretty vigorously since then so who knows what's left. Luckily they don't make you recheck your IQ. Gil, you're not in Mensa? No, no. It's so political. But also I do like those kind of logic things. I mean I read philosophy at university and so I do like, I like maths and logic and stuff. Before we get into British invasion. They wouldn't let me near the building. I'm sure.

I'm sure you were banned. Before we get into Peter and Gordon. But I've been to a couple of meetings and they're pretty weird. Really? I've been to like two in my whole life. Now are the people, are a lot of the people in Mensa a little bit on the crazy side? Yes. Yeah.

Yes. That's interesting. So in what way? Are they just like out there like they came? No, it's just a bunch of people but you know, I'm not sure what you, I don't really know what it's for or what you'd expect. You know, they're all going to get together and solve the world's problems in ten minutes over dinner. But no, it's...

IQ is we all know measures a particular kind of thinking about it. Sure. And there may or may not be any use. Don't go away. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor. No Frills delivers. Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at No Frills dot C-A. Gilbert found this interesting too. We want to get into the British invasion too. To Gilbert and Frank, it's them that you soon will thank.

Gilbert found this interesting too. We want to get into the British invasion too. There's so much to cover with someone like you, Peter, but also you were a child actor. I was. You worked with one of Gilbert's favorites, Alistair Sim. I did. We were in a film called Escapade together. Fascinating.

Yeah, it was a good film actually. I saw it not long ago. They had a revival of it in LA. They were talking about some particular period of British filmmaking. I can't what they called it and some film research body was doing the screening and they Figured out I was not dead and you know, it's the only person in the film left So they said will you come and talk about making the movie? I said, yeah, and you worked with Claudette Colbert I did Claudette Colbert played my mother Wow a great picture of me kissing Claudette Colbert very vigorously It happened one night and you worked with this actor Jack Hawkins. Yes

Sure. He was my he was my father in the same film that Claudette Colbert played my mother We were in the outposts of Malaya fighting the commies on behalf of the British Empire I love the film we won in real life. Not so much. I was just saying like years ago We were in the outposts of Malaya fighting the commies on behalf of the British Empire. In the film we won, in real life not so much. I was just saying like years ago I was watching a talk show and Jack Hawkins had just had his vocal cords removed. Yes, he did quite a few films after that. I mean even with some lines that he would do with the you know buzzy thing which they're getting better anyway.

And it seemed like he was talking about it And the way some people burped the alphabet he would burp the word yes Yes, that's what there's two ways they do it either they swallow the air and kind of talked over the burp or they use those buzzy things like electric razor and they and He would he got really good at it and could actually You know he was actually in a couple of films where he had short lines and he would get away with it. I'm just curious about... He was a terrific actor.

A very nice man. A terrific actor, Jack Hawkins, yeah. And then I did a film with Cecil Parker. I don't know if you remember. One of my favorite British actors. I don't know that name. Oh, look him up. You'll know him.

Okay, Cecil Parker. He's in everything. I know Cecil Kelleway. No, look up Cecil Parker. He was in everything. Okay. How did you and Jane get in acting in the first place? I mean your dad was a physician, your mom was a musician. It's odd. The stories I'm told, I can't really remember, but apparently some agent or somebody spotted the three of us. I've got two sisters, Jane and Claire. We all have red hair, so it was like, and we were all graded by height and looked evidently, you know cute or whatever and so somebody said, oh, you know You make some money out of those kids Working and and anyway, we so and some agent expressed interest and we went yeah sure, you know and and We never did it do anything all three of us together. Jane and I did do one thing together

If that because I did a number of the old Robin Hood series, if you remember that, with Richard Green and the black and white, which is a very interesting story by the way, that's another thing we could talk about for hours, but it was all created by blacklist Americans who'd gone to England to find work. Hannah Weinstein put the thing together, it was the first episodic TV ever made in Britain. She would do a show a week. Blacklisted writers who had to go overseas. Anyway, I was Prince Arthur in a number of those episodes. But then later, after Prince Arthur had disappeared for a while, I came back as a peasant child with Jane as my sister. We were two peasant children trying to free their oppressed father from the clutches of the

sheriff of Nottingham. That's the only thing we ever did together, but you can you can find it. It exists. I didn't know it was I know the series, but I didn't know there were blacklisted American writers but behind it. Hannah Weinstein is the producer and I don't think she's related to the Weinstein's as we know them, but she was a blacklisted producer, left-wing Jewish producer from LA who'd gone to London to work.

How about that, Gil? Wow. Along with a lot of cool writers who went there, too. So all of them, the whole crew was basically blacklisted. No, the crew probably was. Not the crew. I'm sure the union crew had to be. But the creators.

The creators. The writers. Certainly Hannah Weinstein was the key figure, and they used some blacklisted writers as well the right episodes I gotta dig into that. Yeah, so how did music you're always musical? It was a musical family, but you obviously decided at some point not acting Yes, I'd like to think I made that decision, but it could be that the acting community made No, I mean by the time I got to, see Jane quit school when she was about 15. She knew acting was for her and she didn't need school.

But I went to Westminster, which is a serious, what in England we call a public school, which isn't really public at all, expensive and hard to get into. And it was a very serious school, in the middle of, founded by Cooling Elizabeth I and all that stuff. And so they would never give you time off

to go and be in a film or anything. So between that and the fact that I probably wasn't getting as much work as I was, I just started taking school seriously and I could combine school and music, but not school and acting. And at the risk of getting the wrath of Beatles fans, the world's over, you introduced John Lennon to Yoko Ono.

I was responsible for that meeting. Yes, I started a bookshop and an art gallery with some friends. Two friends of mine, Barry Miles and John Dunbar. Miles ran the bookshop, John ran the art gallery, and I was the third partner and also put some of the money I thought I was the third partner and also put some of them the money I thought I was making in pop music and that it wasn't really Into the bookshop and the art gallery called indica named of course after the plant cannabis indica, maybe some botanists Yes, exactly and so we were trying to be like the city Lights Bookshop or something. It was, you know, it was effective. We, you know, William Burroughs came over and did

a reading, Ginsburg did a reading. Yeah. I saw that in the research. And then we opened this art gallery and John had heard about this Japanese American artist who we thought sounded wacky enough to be in our cool avant-garde gallery. So John got hold of her and asked if she'd come and do an exhibition. She said yes. We took an ad in the paper and she came over and everything.

The way these things work, you'd have an opening night for the press and everything with wine and cheese or whatever. But we sometimes had a pre-press opening that we would invite friends to. By this point, the Beatles were amongst my friends. So we invited everybody and one of them came and that was John so that's that's where he and Yoko met. And a lot of people have this very easy answer that it was Yoko who split up the Beatles. No I don't think so I mean you know they were arguing about

a lot of different things and you know I think yes some of them got annoyed about Yoko but in the end it was Alan Klein that they were arguing about you know when they they agreed that they wanted some serious businessman to come in and rethink the whole thing because by then it had expanded into numerous areas beyond music Apple Records was one thing but it was films and electronics and clothes and this and it was going a bit nuts they just couldn't agree on who that person should be and John was determined that it should be Alan Klein and I think he was mistaken. I knew about Alan from New York and I knew him essentially

to be kind of a crook you know and and turned out to be true turned out to be true and and and so Paul was vehemently against Alan. John, Alan Klein somehow talked John into it the way these people do. Maybe he told John he was gonna make Apple great again or something. I don't know. Whatever it took. But whatever however these crooks talk us into electing them. But it didn't work you know. And anyway that was what I think if one thing brought Paul and John to a point of departure from each other that was it. And you were at Apple then, so you were in the middle

of some of those arguments. The minute they chose Klein, I resigned. So by the time John arrived, I had left. And took James Taylor with you. By the time Alan arrived, sorry, I had left. And the relationship between Yoko and John, what did that, how did that, your opinion? I wasn't there that much at the time.

I mean, it was very close. He valued her opinion on everything. And she's a very smart woman. She's an eccentric woman, but a brilliant woman. And I think the Beatles, it was new to them because the rest of them had wives and girlfriends. They would leave and go to work. And Yoko was part of John's life partnership in every in everything and I think they found that disconcerting but I mean no she and John

loved each other very dearly no question about that but I wasn't there enough to comment beyond that. Let's talk about Peter and Gordon and meeting Gordon you met Gordon at Westminster school? Met Gordon at school yes we were I mean essentially we were both you know we were the only people we ran into also play the guitar. By this time, I got a guitar. I played various instruments badly. I'd never kept up with my piano lessons

or anything musically. Both my sisters are much better musically than I am. They both read music much better than I do. Which is probably why I'm the only one making a living in the music business. It's ironic. So, but eventually I got a guitar and I had a skiffle group like we

all did, that's all other programs. Lonnie Donigan. The skiffle movement, exactly. Lonnie Donigan was great. We talked to Billy J. Kramer about that very thing. Yeah, he was such a big deal. And most Americans don't get it. Jack White is a huge Lonnie Donigan fan. There are a few outposts of Lonnie Donigan fandom in the US music. What was the song, Does Your Chewing Gum? Well, the good one was Rock Island. Rock Island. And the the song? Does Your Chewing Gum? Well the big the good one was Rock Island Lime. Rock Island, that's right. And the bad one was Does Your Chewing Gum. That was the novelty one that we got in the states. Loses his flavor. Well no Rock Island Lime was number one. What? Yeah. Which is a Lead Belly song. And then Does Your Chewing Gum Loses His Favor

on the Bedpost Overnight was also sadly. I guess I was a child so that's the one that I remember. Right. So Gordon played the guitar and sang as well. So we tried doing it together just really because we were there. And it sounded OK. We'd work up some songs. And he was a bit more of a rock and roll. He was a big Eddie Cochran fan, big Elvis fan. You were more the folky.

A bit more folky. And we were sort of a folky-ish duo. But where our tastes totally overlapped was the Everly Brothers. Like all duos throughout history, whether it's Salmon and Garfunkel or John and Paul or us, the Everly Brothers were our inspiration. Everybody wanted to be the Everly Brothers, you said. Everybody wanted to be the Everly Brothers.

We did. You were both big fans of American pop music. Yep, for sure. I mean, again, this is a big subject because it goes beyond pop music. What you want to understand is we were big fans of America. I mean, when we grew up in, you know, people often ask me why the sixties were special in England and why it was different. And the answer is in the fifties, because the fifties in Britain and America could not have been more different. Fifties in England were black and white bomb sites, depressing.

We still had rationing until 1956, you know. And we'd look across the Atlantic and there was this miraculous land. If we were black and white, they were technicolor and glossy and perfect teeth and huge refrigerators full of exotic foods and these silly cars with giant fins on them. You had a poster of the New York skyline. I did. I had a poster of the New York skyline I did I had a poster the New York skyline on my wall. I had copies of downbeat with the jazz clubs I'd go to the minute. I got to New York. I knew I would you couldn't wait to go I didn't know how and going back and forth then was a very big deal now people go for a week's holiday in Florida

Like there's nothing to it. It's cheap tickets and then it was a very big very expensive deal and on top of all that, you know America we could see was taking over This whole British Empire thing was, you know, which was people are still on about in England. It was clearly not happening anymore. You know, it was clear to all of us that that was yesterday and tomorrow was America. And on top of that, to clinch it, all these American cities that we knew about from movies and television, New York and LA and New Orleans, they all had amazing music, which we loved. So we were obsessed with American music. So it wasn't just the Everleys, you were listening to Little Richard, you were listening to Fats

Domino, you were listening to anything you can get your hands on. Of course, and we all were, and I mean the Beatles were a cover band, that's how they began, they were doing all American songs. I used to go and see, R&B was huge. I used to go and see, you know, R&B was huge. I used to go and see the Rolling Stones every Monday night. They were playing at a place called Studio 51, which was a R&B night on Mondays. It was Ken Colley's Jazz Club the rest of the week.

And they, you know, they were playing all, you know, in that case, it would be like Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters. But nobody was playing their own songs. It was all a tribute to American music. Right. And so Peter and Gordon, when you guys formed that, that winds up becoming your ticket to America. We did a bunch of R&B stuff and we did folk stuff and we did everly stuff.

Yes, exactly. And that's what got us signed. You know, we were spotted in playing in a club. Right. And A&R got signed up. And and they were you said in an interview that everybody would confuse every single one of the English groups and duos together. Well you guys were confused with Chad and Jeremy. Duos particularly, Chad and Jeremy,

which was kind of weird really. We knew each other, you know, we actually took over one gig from them. They were playing one bar and they were leaving to go play somewhere else As a residency and they the bar asked them if they could recommend someone else they recommended us So we helped each other out But it was kind of odd because the two duos in both cases the tall handsome one sang the low part

the short nerdy one with glasses So I mean it was and what would happen is they did things that we didn't do. They did like the Patty Duke show. They were on Batman. Oh, sure. Because that's a show and the Dick Van Dyke show. Right. And people would congratulate us. But we but they never were never on Ed Sullivan and we were. So that's great. But so what happened is, you know, we would do it Sullivan they people congratulate them and you can It's that was the one where they had They they had so many mobs of people chasing and they had to stay with the pet tree. Yes. Yes. Oh, that's it Yes, and they were playing another myth mythical English duo with different names. I believe so

They weren't even Chad and Jeremy makes no sense exactly At all looking back. Jeremy is still a very successful actor Yes, he's in a play in London. Yeah, we're talking to Billy J about as is Jane, but she's my sister's in the London version of an American in Paris. Oh cool, which is great with the original guy from here You know the lead guy whatever his name is his name is amazing and brilliant and plays Madam Somebody or Other. And after those years of the New York skyline, tell us what the experience was when you finally got to New York. It was brilliant. I mean it was astounding. One of our first gigs was playing the World's Fair.

What's the sphere thing called? Oh, the Unisphere. You played the 64 World's Fair? We did. That's cool. That was one of our very first gigs. And first of all, just arriving in New York, we knew exactly what it was going to look like. And it did, you know.

It really looked like the sky. Lived up to expectations. And then, of course, to arrive and be chased around the city by teenage girls trying to take your clothes off, can only improve these things. You know, it's the only way to travel. I recommend it highly. How much opportunity do you ever come it highly. We wouldn't know. And we played, playing the Unisphere, they had a sort of a moat thing filled with water between between us and the audience. And of course the minute we came on they all jumped in the water and swam across. It was like a wet

t-shirt contest. Wonderful. So it was all very exciting. So you enjoyed your career over the years? I did. I enjoyed every moment. You lived every minute of the British Invasion fantasy out there. Absolutely. That's great. I continue to enjoy it, by the way. So how did World Without Love happen?

That was obviously a game changer. It was. Well, what had happened was we got signed up by this guy, Norman Newell, who I think was thinking of as kind of a folk duo I think we were kind of like Britain's answer to the Kingston trio the Kingston duo as it were Interesting Peter and Paul without Mary and and so because that's it was a song We did a version of 500 miles that he particularly liked and so on so he said they auditioned they signed us

But he said we're doing 500 miles reading this we're doing that. I'm gonna go look for a couple of songs, but if you know any other songs you'd like to put on the list, let me know. Now, cut to a few months before that, I'd heard this song, Well Without Love, that Paul had written, and I said, that's a really good song. And he said, yeah, but I'm putting it aside,

I'm not finishing it, we're not gonna do it. John doesn't think much of it, and I'm abandoning it for now. And apparently John really didn't like it. And I've read later, I didn't witness this, but I've read later that John would actually interrupt Paul when Paul would start to transcell in the song, because the first line is, please lock me away,

and John would go, okay, I will, the song's over. And so anyway, so when Norman said, you know any other songs, I kind of went of went maybe I do and I went back to Paul At home that not that very evening and said is that song world that love still an orphan and he said yes We're not doing it. I said well, can we turn work up a harmony version of it because it's pretty cool and He said yes happily. So by this time it had only had the two verses but no bridge happily. So by this time he had only had the two verses but no bridge. So he wrote out the the two verses for me on a piece of paper which you better believe is safely locked in my safe. I saw that you still have that. Oh yeah, so the minute

the music business collapses completely I can run to Sotheby's as fast as my legs can carry me. I would. But anyway, and he made a demo on my Reel to Reel tape machine. And then before the session came around, I had to nag him a little bit to write the bridge. So I wait and in a while, which he did, and it went on the list and we recorded it that very first day. And by the end of the session, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that was going to be a single. We weren't folkies, we were going to be pop stars. And it came out only a month later and Went to number one in the UK number one in all over Europe and eventually to our

disbelief and incredulity number one in America in fact it was the first British invasion Number one in America after the Beatles we after I won a whole jam stopped being number one We went up there, which is insanely great though the only snag for me was by that time I'd left Westminster, Gordon was still there, cause he was a year younger, I was at university doing philosophy, and in England, you know, they don't let you leave and come back, we don't have these mysterious credits that you have over here.

You're supposed to just start, you know, get your degree. So I had to go and meet with the head of the philosophy department and explain this problem. And finally I convinced him this was a completely unique opportunity and he gave me a one year leave of absence to go and get all this rock and roll nonsense out of my system and come back and get my degree. And tragically of course I have to admit to my shame that I'm still on that one year's leave of absence.

Well, you had bigger fish to fry. Well yes, exactly. Now, I just have to absorb certain things here you're the first human being to hear I want to hold your hand and You have songs being just handed over to you by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It's true It's true. It was a leftover song But what's interesting is when they because people go how did you get all those other songs? And we didn't do any getting at all. They took songwriting seriously. I mean, if you read any interviews with the Beatles back then,

one of the questions we all got asked is, what are you going to do when this is all over? Because the assumption was, confident assumption, that two years was the max for a pop career. And they would always say, we will be songwriters. because they didn't just want to be Eddie Cochran and Elvis and Buddy Holly they wanted to be Leigh-Burn Stola. Oh and Bacharach and David. Bacharach and David. Wow. Pomus and Schumann. They knew that they looked upon it as the sort of a separate career. And songwriters I mean if you have a big hit single you make damn sure you write the follow-up. You don't want somebody else cashing in on you know on your success

So when we came back from our first trip to America promoting well without love the second single nobody I know was written with a bridge, you know So so we didn't have to do any begging, you know, that's what songwriters do they they they give you the songs you need What's the moment like and there there are only so many people on the planet that could answer this question, the moment that you find out that you have the number one record in the country? Well, it's insane. And number one in England was insane.

Number one in America meant more to us. And it's the same when The Beatles got the same phone call six months earlier or whatever it was. I Wanted to Hold Your Hand was number one, because they knew they would get to go there, and that's what we knew. It meant we were going to America. It was a phone call, the news came to you in a phone call? Yes, came to you in a phone call. And you know, that was like the irrevocable proof that we were going to get to go to this land that we dreamed of going to. And we did. You know, it's funny to think,

You know, it's funny to think, because you told us about how the English had this dream worldview of America. And when the English invasion was starting, America looked at everyone coming from there thinking, oh, this is the hip spot. I know. Isn't that weird? And, you know, as I say, that's what people ask is why was why were the 60s so cool? And it is it was a reaction, you know It's reaction to the bleakness of the 50s because you know that they everyone tried to crown a new queen and said it's a new Elizabethan age and blah blah blah, but eventually it wasn't till the young people kind of went we're gonna school us You know everyone in the 50s tried to dress like a grown-up You know that you tried to look older than you were.

And suddenly everyone went, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna wear a suit like my dad. I'm gonna wear these absurdly silly clothes and velvet and flowers and bell buns. And it changed everything. And then America fell in love with it. I mean America was doing it too with the whole hippie thing. But there was something radical that happened in England

which was a distinct reaction to the bleakness of the 50s and there was reaction to the 50s in America too because they were a bit conventional and certainly sturdy but but they weren't miserable like they were in England you know. Are you feeling brave Peter? I think so. Since we're talking about World Without Love Yes. And he's been excited about this. He sang Wichita Lineman with Jimmy So I'm told. I didn't consult with Jimmy before I came up.

You should have. I probably should have. Perhaps you should have. Jimmy is a good friend and I'm a huge fan. He's the best. But, uh, yeah. That's one thing I failed to do was, oh, should I let him sing with me? Well, we always ask. Alright. I'm gonna have to carry you sirish. Exactly.

Don't worry. You follow the script and I'll join you on something. Follow his lead. Okay. Here we go. Please lock me away And don't allow the day Here inside where I hide with my loneliness I don't care what they say I won't stay

In a world without love Birds sing out of tune And rain cloud-tie the moon I'm okay, here I'll stay With my loneliness I don't care what they say I won't stay in a world without love. So I wait, and in a while I will see my true love smile. She may come, I know not when.

When she does, I know. So baby, until then, lock me away. And don't allow the day Here inside, where I hide With my loneliness I don't care what they say I won't stay in that world without love So I wait, and in a while Second bridge, second gilbert. Well then, lock me away And don't allow the day

Here inside, where I hide With my loneliness I don't care what they say I won't stay in a world without love One repeat I don't care what they say I won't stay in a world without logs. And an instrumental. Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da Brilliant. Brilliant. Peter and Gilbert. Who needs Gordon? Brilliant. Peter and Gilbert, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you very much. That was fun. Birds are not the only one singing out of tune. Oh yeah! And the interesting thing is, there's these weird lyrics floating around, which, when she does, I lose, which came from God knows where. It's on the web in places, but it's wrong. It's when she does, I'll know.

Oh wow! I apologize for that. No, it's quite right, but every now and then you look up the lyrics and they say lose, but if you listen, we're definitely saying no, and he wrote no. How strange. I have the handwritten manuscript to prove it. When she does, I'll know, so when she does, I'll lose.

Right, right. That's kind of insulting. Yes, I should have known. When she finally turns up, you go, uh oh. I'll start proof reading the lyrics going forward Here's another thing. I like about Paul living in your house Is your dad had arranged for an escape route for him? Yeah, my father found a way over over into a neighbor's house on the roofs so that Paul could escape because of course it became known eventually he was there the weirdest part of course must have been for you know

Because my house was in Wimple Street, you know, which is that whole Wimple Street, Harley Street medical zone. So my father saw patients there too, it was his consulting rooms as well as our house. So he would have patients come and there'd be like a crowd of girls on the doorstep. We never explained. There's only a doctor in England with groupies, you know. This is the only doctor in England with groupies, you know. Now a strange thing in your life that brings me, reminds me of a movie that I saw. What's that? Oh, you were the best man at the wedding for Marianne Faithfull. I was, I was, yes.

Now Marianne Faithfull did a strange movie. Go on a motorcycle? No, I think it was Irina Palm. Ah, okay. Where she's a grandmother. Oh, this was more recently. Yes, yes. Not young, beautiful Marianne.

Oh, no, no, this is the older. Old, old, cool Marianne. Yes, yes. She's great. I love Marianne. Anyway, no, I don't remember that. I haven't seen it. She's a grandmother who's retired and

said, you know struggling for money and has a Handicapped son and the movie is how she just falls into a job where she with guys go to a place put their dicks through a hole in the wall and Go to a place put their dicks through a hole in the wall and Marianne faithful on the other side jerks them off where did you see this? This is a movie? It's actually not a bad film Well, there you go. I wasn't aware of that's a showstopper That's very good. Yes, and it wasn't like a sex comedy or anything. How strange very serious. I have to have to research that. Yes, I have not seen it.

I could bring it out with Marianna, I suppose. Maybe I wouldn't. Tell us about part of the experiences you just mentioned, playing The Sullivan Show. And what was that like? It was great. I mean, it was, I'll tell you an interesting story though. The reason we weren't on The Sullivan Show when we first got here was Indirectly Alan Klein again. Oh, I'll tell you why not being evil actually being clever He had set up a system whereby the the when the all the new English singles came out He would have shipped immediately that week the new hot releases straight over to New York and occasionally would cover them new hot releases straight over to New York and occasionally he would cover them and on his label Cameo Parkway and Bobby Rydell did a cover of World Without

Love the minute it did come out in the UK before ours came out in America he put his out went in the charts and and then when ours came out it we luckily knocked him out of the charts and ours went became the hit but meanwhile when we got here and our agent tried to get us on at Sullivan, they were going fine. But they said, we're going to sing well with the other one. No, you can't do that. Bobby did that song last week.

So bad times. He was a regular on the Sullivan show. So we didn't get on Sullivan till later when we with another McCartney song called I Don't Want to See You Again. Right. But that was that was why we weren't on was that what was Ed like to to you You didn't meet him mr. Sullivan was mr. Sullivan, and you didn't really meet him, but what they did tell you when you finish and bow Look over and mr. Sullivan And if he puts his arm out you walk over and shake his hand, but if he doesn't you don't

But he did of course I wouldn't be telling the story From England the two London youngsters who met while they were attending Westminster School developed the top flight stars, ladies and gentlemen, Peter and Gordon. I don't want to see you again Why they ask, love is banned How can I understand When someone says to me I don't want to see you again Why I cry at night Something wrong could be right

I hear you say to me I don't want to see you again As you turned your back on me You hid the light of day I didn't have to play Broken hearted Oh, I'm brokenhearted Oh, that later on, after love's been and gone I'll still hear someone say, I don't wanna see you again

As you turn your back on me, you did the light of day I didn't have to play, I did brokenhearted I know that love is grand, how can I understand When someone says to me, I don't want to see you again. I don't want to see you again. I don't want to see you again. I'll tell you one person that was a bit of a surprise. When our agent got all excited when they said that they'd got us on the Jackie Gleason show and and

We'd never heard of him because we We didn't get we got very few American we got sergeant Bilko That was about the only American TV we got we got we loved Phil Silver's We didn't get the honeymooners so we had no idea idea and everyone's going Oh Jackie will Jackie Gleason This is amazing, you know, so cool. You're on his show. So we were quite excited. There was this legendary guy So we went this when he had a variety show in down in Miami sure after honeymooners They would do a bit of a recent show. They did a bit of honeymooners in the middle. That's right So we went down there, you know, I'm walking on the set and there's this obnoxious drunken asshole of a man

Being really horrible to everyone not to us He didn't even speak to us, but the crew the cast it was to me this guy's a complete shit You know and and that was course was the immortal Jackie The great ones then I what the honeyburners learned it all by heart I recognized he was a complete genius that every right to be as asshole-ish as he wished. But he certainly was using that right to the fullest on this particular occasion. Amazing! But then we did Red Skelton and he on the other hand was not drunk and not unpleasant at all.

He was very nice. Did you do Milti's show too? No, we never did. Oh, okay. Oh, that saves the question. Red Skelton. The internet cannot be trusted in certain respects. Maybe we did do.

They have you guys playing the Burl Show. Maybe we did. We did a few. I don't remember meeting him, but I know, I don't remember. Maybe we did. Who knows. So Peter and Gordon. If it's on the internet, it must be true.

It must be true. I also want to ask you about one other hit. I want to ask you about I Go to Peace, written by the great Dale Shannon.. Yeah, what was what was he like? I mean, it's he was great talent who came to a Saturday. Very nice I mean that was another one we sort of picked up off the floor in a way because we were on tour with the Searchers another great English band and Dale Shannon and and he'd written this song that he thought would be right for the Searchers and Inexplicably into my mind mistakenly they turned it down they They said thank you very much. It's done these right for us

There she could have made a good record of it, but we'd overheard it and kind of went oh well, if they're not doing it can we have and and He we worked out a version and said look, you know hold that song We'll cut it as we get back to England and we did great track And so you get when Peter and Gordon finally split up in 68. Yeah, you you decide to go in different directions Well, we did the interesting things. We didn't actually split up. You didn't you didn't officially we know I mean, we never said this is our last gig. We never had a big row We never had an every brothers punch up on stage or anything, you know

We just drifted into a kind of hiatus and I confess when hiatus went on for 10 years 20 years 30 years my assumption was hiatus went on for 10 years 20 years 30 years my assumption was Of course you did Gordon I got back together after 38 years thanks to Paul Schaeffer thanks to Paul Schaeffer But to go back to where you where you were? When were you again? Oh, yes, that's when I went off and well, you know, I decided paths I wanted to be a record producer. I knew that right I loved the process of making records from the day we first went in the studio. And so I did. And that's a career I deliberately went after.

And you were sort of like at one point not as excited about performing as you are about being in the creative process. Yes. Well, performing that was very different too. I mean, we had fun. We had a great time. But it's like, you know, know you probably saw eight days a week and when the Beatles... It's great by the way. Yeah it's recommended. Oh yeah terrific. Ron Howard's a great friend and a brilliant filmmaker and but you know you couldn't hear yourself, they couldn't hear you really. I mean it was an experience but music now now, it's great. You know, the technology's changed everything.

People forget they were singing through the PA system when they would play arenas in those days. Monitors didn't exist. The word monitor didn't exist. There were jobs that we have now that didn't exist. Front of House makes it, didn't exist. Guitar tech didn't exist. I mean, not all that stuff.

And monitor makes it, no monitors. You were using whatever PA was in the building, including like the same thing they announced the score over was what you saying they play candlestick park that's what they're singing crazy and then you just had big amps on stage nothing was mighty except the vocals it was crazy so you couldn't yourself you couldn't hear anything they couldn't hear you it's kind of annoying and and I I loved the studio you know completely so I decided I wanted and then got lucky enough to find an artist I believed in.

That's when I became a manager as well. And you said that in an interview that how much it's changed being on the road. Completely, yes. What are the changes? Well, as I say, some of it is the technology. Some of it's the fact that it's organized now. It was chaotic then.

I mean, everyone was making it up as they went along I mean there's there are aspects of it that have maybe become too corporate and too organized on a grand scale You know with crazy three hundred dollar ticket prices and you know All that stuff. It's just got very elaborate now, but You know, so the set there's a certain Homemadeness that one misses but there's no question. Now when you go to a show now you expect to be able to hear everything and see everything and get a real production and you do.

And it's great and it's exciting. So it's changed radically. It's stunning to think that this- Even on our level, even when I play clubs, you know, I still go out and I do a memoir show thing with a band. And then I've lately been doing a bunch of gigs with Albert Lee, a genius guitar player, so you may know him. Absolutely. Who played with the Everly Brothers.

Who played with the Everly Brothers, my brothers, and Emmylou Harris for years and all that stuff. But even for us, it's completely different. I mean, we can hear ourselves. The audience can hear everything perfectly. You know, you can really make a show sound good. Your guitars sound like real guitars. And back then, none of that existed.

And I think the Beatles were getting tired of that not being able to hear themselves completely I mean Ringo says it was only by watching the their behinds that the back of their whole backs and movement that he knew what song they were doing I mean a combination of bad tech and and screaming yeah exactly nation of bad tech and screaming fans right I mean that scene in eight days a week when we were coming down he's trying to stop the drum rise of falling over before he climbs on it it's fascinating it's insane yeah I mean I remember we had one guy on the road you know doing everything and I was kind of

when we toured with the Beatles I went well this will be different they had to you know but now a band like the Beatles would have a hundred of course and semis and you know the change is beyond measure. So you went your separate ways. Paul asked you to take a job at Apple and you went into A&R and you were scouting talent. He started off saying would you produce some records for Apple because he was aware of my production work and he played on a couple of things that I had produced so he'd watch me at work and I said yes and then he said why don't you be head you be head of a enough the label jumped at it? Yes, and then mr.

Taylor and came into your life came into my Danny Korshmore Yes, Danny Korshmore had been in a you know We used to get assigned a band to back us up on different legs of a tour in America I mean admittedly you only had to work up 20 minutes of songs so but the bands varied a great deal in quality and but Danny was in a good band called The King B's and they backed us up on two tours I think and Danny and I became great friends in that time. Then he was subsequently some years later in this band The Flying Machine with his

childhood friend James Taylor. They'd grown up on the vineyard together and so that band was in New York and having a hard time and a couple of them were strung out and broke and this and the other and the band broke up and James decided he would go to London he had a girlfriend he thought he could stay with in London Danny gave him my phone number just said you know here's a friend of mine in London if you're gonna be there give him a call so he called me up out of the blue came over and what did you hear which which song would you do something in the way she moves something's wrong knocking around the zoo

Not Caroline in my mind. He wrote that a few months later That was probably Soak around the Sun. I'm not sure what else but you knew you knew straightaway. I was knocked out. I mean Everything I mean he had played the guitar brill, this finger-picking style that obviously owed something to classical playing. He'd been listening to Segovia and Julian Bream and stuff and not just, you know, folkies. But then he was using these kind of jazzy Manhattan's records, kind of chords, but singing with this beautiful folkie tenor.

And of course, in that era, the term singer-song songwriter hadn't been invented if you had long hair and played the Guitar you were a folk singer didn't matter if you never sang a folk song That's interesting if you wrote every song you played you were still a folk singer and and that was that that was what he was but I'd never heard anything that good and I Had the strange conversation that really was kind of I said look I've got this new job I'm head of A&R for a new record label that really was kind of, I said, look, I've got this new job. I'm head of A&R for a new record label. Would you like a record deal?

And he said, yes, I'd love one. And so within two days, I had him in the office meeting the Beatles and signing up. And they responded too. They loved it too. I played them something the way she moves in particular, and they all agreed. What's not to like.

What's not to like. And so he was the first artist signed to Apple. And that gets us back to another subject we brought up on this show. Which is? Songs that mention other songs in them. Well I believe and I hope this isn't bad information too but that something in the way she moves in some way inspire George. Well we have to assume so. Right. Yeah George certainly heard it and liked it. Right. And then wrote a song with

oddly similar lyrics. Yeah but James in response heard it and liked it. Right. And then wrote a song with oddly similar lyrics. Yeah But James in response to that when people say, how do you feel? You know, did George adopt your phrase? The answer is that in that song there's James keeps putting in I feel fine, which he said he thought of because of the Beatles. Oh wow. That's great stuff. She's around me now and I feel fine. When he says holy host of others standing around me, too, he's referring to the Beatles. That's cool. That's been Carolina in my mind. That's pretty cool, too. Yeah, he wrote that after he'd met them, we'd signed to Apple.

He went away for a week or two of holiday to Ibiza, and that's where he wrote Carolina. It's great. I'll tell you, I've seen interviews and listened to interviews with James Taylor recently. He gives you a lot of credit for being the person that believed in him. I did. I mean, because essentially when we moved to America, neither of us had any money. I was betting my career on his. I dropped him off on the East Coast for a bit of rehab. He was in the mood for it at the time.

Then went out to California and made a record deal. Looking back at those people, and the people that you that you assembled I mean Danny, but Randy Meisner Carol King Russ Kunkel No, hold on. That's that's not the Apple album. No. No, I mean later on sweet baby James. Yes, we baby James Yeah, well what they mean they were very distinct because we the Apple album was just people in London So, you know Paul played on it, but but other than that we had a little put a little band together of English musicians Right. I jumped I split I split when you went to LA. Right you know sorry sorry but I thought you said yeah my mistake but then when we got to LA I decided to make the album much simpler and I wanted to put a band together by

this time I'd heard the demos Carole King had done of all the great songs she wrote you know the demo of you know up on the roof or whatever and and I loved her piano playing so when Danny coach mind reduced me to Carol I said would you consider just being the pianist on this project? I'm doing and she came over to my house where James was staying and they met and sat down and played together and Russ Cunkerland never been in the studio before he wow I heard him in a John Stewart rehearsal John's used to be in the King's King's the trio. Yeah, and I loved the way he played. He was the first person I'd heard of who clearly hadn't been listening to Hal Blaine but to Ringo, you know what I mean?

All other kind of drum fill. And so I hired him to do those sessions. And how did you find Linda Ronstadt? Somebody, I was in New York and somebody said you have to go and see this girl, I don't remember who it was, have to go and see this girl. I don't remember who it was. Have to go and see this girl playing at the bitter end. She's amazing. She's got the greatest voice you've ever heard in your life. She's brilliant and she's unbelievably beautiful.

She sings barefoot and it was all true. And I went there and met her afterwards. And we didn't actually start working together right away because I had just started working with Kate Taylor, James' sister, and I thought managing two women might be complicated, but in the end, Kate decided to take some time off, and at that point, Linda and I got together

and I started managing her and producing her. And the first album I produced with Linda, she'd done a couple of other ones, but I produced Heart Like a Wheel. And the thing that eventually had her stop performing, Linda Ronstadt. Well, she has Parkinson's here. How's she doing, by the way? She's, I mean, as well as anyone with a very unpleasant disease can be doing.

She's fine, you know. She always worries about her brain, you know, because she goes, I feel my brain turning to Swiss cheese. But she's so brilliant. She's one of the most smartest women ever met incredibly well-read and best girl singer I've ever heard in your life of her. She is it's amazing that those two things would apply to the same person, but they do Yeah, she's she's no reason they shouldn't but it's you know very fortunate when someone's an amazingly good singer and and is Incredibly smart and well-read and fascinating so I've treasure as a singer and is incredibly smart and well-read and fascinating. So I've treasured her as a singer and as friend. But yes, so Parkinson stopped her singing and

you know she can walk a bit and stuff but it's a very annoying disease. We're fans here and those albums, Prisoner in Disguise, Heart Like a Wheel, I mean Simple Dreams, Living in the USA, they're wonderful records. Thank you very much. And if our listeners, we have about a million people now a month listening to the show. If our listeners do not know these albums, by all means, run out and get them. And also the James Taylor. She's one of the greatest interpreters of songs, because she's not a songwriter. But she herself, I mean, I didn't know about Warren Ziva until she came to me and said,

we're going to do several songs. We're this brilliant guy. And she was right. Well, all those songs. The McGarrigal sisters, she rescued this brilliant guy. And she was right. Well, all those songs. The McGarrigle sisters, she rescued. Elvis Costello, she does Alison. Yeah, it's funny. And then Elvis was incredibly rude about it,

but she subsequently apologized. Oh, interesting. Oh, how was he rude about it? Oh, because he had to be. He was a punk. And so, he did a Rolling Stone interview when he kind of derided Linda's version as awful. Meanwhile, of course, it made him more money than he'd ever made in his life so far because

it was a big hit. But he did. I love Elvis very much. We've become friends and he totally acknowledges that he was being a bit of a deliberate punk. Well also this... In the musical sense. That's funny. I'm glad he apologized.

The songwriting, I mean not just Z-Von and Elvis Costello, but I mean that you guys were picking, you know, Stones covers, Orbison, Buddy Holly, I mean you went to the best places. We did. I mean Linda and I were fans of a lot of the same people. And so we did that. Yes,

it was fun. I love when I grow too old to dream, which on living in the USA, I don't know which one of you decided to pick that one, but it's it is that is an absolutely that was Linda I think I'm not sure generally I'm the one usually picking some of the rock and roll ones because Linda would make an all slows album given the choice She likes singing slow songs and of course when we did the Nelson Riddle albums, which was completely her idea. Not mine I I it supported her in it, but I didn't think they would be successful.

And of course, they did unbelievably well. They're great records. The first one sold it three or four million, more than her preceding rock and roll albums. And working with Nelson was a thrill to us. I'll under a huge debt of gratitude for that. My hat's off, those records are wonderful. And Elvis Costello since then, of course,

has become a hero of mine. He's one of the best songwriters in America. And our friend Jimmy Webb turns up twice. And Jimmy Webb. On Get Closer. Yes, he does. And then we did that Cry Like a Rainstorm, How Like a Wind album. That's right.

Three Jimmy Webb tunes, I think. Adios and gosh. I can't think. I know The Moon is the Heart's Mistress. The Moon is the Heart's Mistress. That's a great song. Yeah. No, Jimmy's amazing.

There's nobody like him. He's great here. And how did you get involved with Robin Williams and Steve Martin? Quite differently. Robin, I think I met through my wife, who was new Robin, my wife Wendy, knew Robin before I did. And so we met and hit it off and became great friends and we would hang out together a lot.

And when he was talking about filming and recording the tour, I had some ideas about how we could make a record that would be a different thing than what the DVD of one show. The DVD was the HBO show essentially. But for the album, we recorded every show and took all the best bits and he also would do different bits every night about the city he was in so we had a separate CD with all those put together so I you know I was explaining to him what I thought he could do and he said you know why don't you produce it and come with us on the road and I said yes please my Robin and his wife Marsha who helped very much put that together

how does one produce a comedy album well Well, in this case, it really was a question of note taking primarily. Remembering where all the best bits were. You guys won Grammys. We did, we won a Grammy. We won best comedy album, not one I counted on winning. Congratulations. And then Steve Martin was different

because Steve also is a friend and I was having dinner with him here in New York and he was telling me about this stuff that he was working out with Edie Prickel. He'd written some banjo melodies, he'd given them to her, she'd written these amazing songs kind of on top of them. He thought that she was just going to put lyrics to the banjo melody instead of which she wrote a whole counter melody. We were brilliant. And I heard those over dinner at Steve's house and again we were talking about, I said, you know, these are really good. You should make an album. And here's how I think you could do it.

So it wasn't strictly a bluegrass album, but make it a little more adventurous than that. Put some other instruments in it and real strings and not just a fiddle and so on. So, and the same thing kind of happened. I was actually on the plane home the next day that Steve emailed me on the plane and said, do you want to produce the record? And he said I said yes so basically I'm always out hustling for

work. You're the busiest person we've ever had on the show I was looking at your website. I did those two Stevie Nidi albums and then of course they turned that into a Broadway show, Bright Star which is a show which ran on Broadway for a while not long enough to officially be a hit But we did a hundred and some shows so it was and it's opening in LA This fall at the Armitage and I so it was music supervisor for the show and then I produced the cast album Which we were nominated for Tony's and Grammys and all that stuff Which was exciting so have your hands in everything I do I work with Hans Zimmer a lot. Yeah, you're doing movie music Yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, I like to keep busy

I'm not gonna take up golf and move to Florida or anything Couple just a couple of last questions Peter we know you we know you got to go and you've been you've been such a sport Oh, it's pleasure and full and just filled with information. I have in addition to recommending those those Ronstadt albums I'm gonna tell our listeners to to to get those James Taylor albums, for God's sake. I mean, they're wonderful. Gorilla, JT, In the Pocket, Walking Man, they're all wonderful. And everybody, you get to hear everybody on there.

I mean, Paul and Linda McCartney show up, Art Garfunkel's on there. Yep, David Crosby, Graham Nash, everybody. Yep, it's true, it's true, it's true. And I will plug my shows with Albert, if I may. Please do. We're doing a bunch of shows With Albert Leo here on the West on the East Coast starting with the cutting room this Sunday, but but Yeah, do come if you can and celebrity biography and I'm doing the celebrity bar feeling which is which is a great show keeping my acting

career going Because that's you know, I've actually my T-gridrid does does every now and then pop up again. I did a Film I had a small role in a film called Darson Bernard. I don't know if anybody's know who's in that HBO movie Okay, my friend Bob Balaban. Oh, yes, who I'm actually having dinner with tonight. Oh Directed it and I'm there again hustling for work We're big fans and They did this great movie about Doris Duke. You know Susan Sarandon played Doris Duke and Ray Fiennes played the butler who has this peculiar confusing relationship with her throughout the

whole movie. In order for Ray Fiennes to get the job the old butler has to get fired. So I was the old butler in pages one two and three serving Susan Sarandon her watermelon at the wrong temperature for breakfast and getting fired. Yeah I was just I was so without me without me Ralph Fiennes couldn't have got any. And you are in the Ruddles movie I'd also like to point out. I'm in the second Ruddles movie. Yes yes yes Eric Idle is a dear friend and a genius. And the great Neil Innes. Yes and Neil Innes. So we have to ask you this real quick. Yeah. I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I'm a great guy, I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I'm a great guy, but I don't know if I Operation that was fun to do with James Taylor Oh Elton Elton's on there Don Henley Elton John Linda Ronson Bonnie Ray everybody get that one, too Yeah, so and what just the last thing this is the 50th anniversary of sergeant pepper

So we'd be remiss in not just asking you about it. I mean even if it's just Well, I I remember visiting the studio a couple of times so I'd heard little bits, but not much I mean I wasn't in the studio Hardly at all. I mean people wasn't in the studio hardly at all. I mean people, I think, if everyone who says they were at a Beatles session was actually there, it would have been as big as the Albert Hall. But the... But what I did do was hear the whole thing when it was finished.

I remember distinctly when Paul brought home a metal lacquer, you know, they just assembled it all and put it together for the first time and played it. It was just in our dining room at home on an ordinary old record player, you know, the guy with the lid. And it sounded amazing, just the mono lacquer straight from the studio. And I was blown away. I realized that albums were never going to be the same again. They were talking about that, I think on PBS recently, the making of Sergeant Pepper.

There was a great special on PBS. Yes. Wonderful with a musicologist. Yes. Who really takes you through the... How impossible it was to do that then. Yeah, because it was all four track. I mean, the technology was fascinating.

I could go on about that for hours too. But yeah, no, that's a new... I've been working with Apple records, you know, that Apple, quite a a bit lately indeed. I also have a radio show now. Tell us about that I have a radio show every every Thursday night at 8 p.m On the Sirius XM on the new Beatles Channel They gave me a ask me if I could do an hour show once a week and I get to play Pretty much whatever I want because it's supposed to be beetle related right of course include everything that influenced the Beatles and everyone they influenced That's everybody right so right so I tell I try to like this tell a story a thread that goes through it all and and and you know

include some some some cool music that people might not have heard and I heard that's the Thursday nights at 8 Thursday nights at 8 on what's where do they where can they get that serious sex on the Beatles Channel okay that's great now I'm gonna listen to that for sure go ahead you know I just heard that the Where can they get that? Serious XM. Serious XM. On the Beatles channel. Okay, that's great. Now I'm going to listen to that for sure. Go ahead, Gil. No, I just heard that the Beatles, they had like sort of a rivalry, creative rivalry with the Beach Boys.

Yes, they did. I mean, they both, I think they both realized, I can't remember what the order is anymore, but was it Sgt. Peppert, then Pet Sounds, then Pet Sounds, or the other way around? No, I think Pet Sounds came out when the Beatles heard that. Pet Sounds is first, but don't go over it. So, yeah, one way or the other, you know, Pet Sounds maybe inspired Sgt. Pepper and then Beach Boys. But I think it was definitely a case of somebody doing something brilliant and their big rivals going,

oh shit, you know, how are we going to beat that? And so, you know, it was an amiable musical competition. Absolutely. And just, you know, everyone trying to be better than everybody else, which is what show business is all about. I think McCartney had heard pitch sounds. You could be right. And he couldn't believe it. Yeah, I don't remember that specifically as an experience of mine, but certainly I know that took place and we've all read about it. And the last thing I want to ask you, and we'll throw the plugs in again at the end but did you've been

asked this before did you did you know that this music was gonna have the permanence that it's had the the lasting effect that it's had was there any way to know? No I don't think I didn't really think about it I mean as I say the perception at the time was being a pop star is it is an extremely short ephemeral career. Because nobody took the music seriously. The record companies certainly didn't. I mean, EMI looked down their noses at it.

They took their classical music seriously, their radar business seriously more than pop music. But no, and that's why, you know, in the Times of London music critic wrote that life you know, life-changing review of The Beatles where he took the music seriously and reviewed it as music and said it was brilliant. And that was kind of the beginning of a total change of attitude. And now classical musicians, jazz musicians, rock and roll musicians are all thought of in their respective fields as equals. But before that, you know, the jazz guys and the classical guys looked down their noses

at everything pop. As if they, as if, oh, I could do that if the classical guys looked down their noses at everything pop. As if they, as if, oh I could do that if I want to do, but of course they couldn't. Right, right, right. They're each of them a very particular arts and now pop music's given the respect it's due. Great. We know you got a fly, do you have time to do one more with him? Um, sure. Ha ha! She's a lady strip tease, playing for a little breeze.

Her long blonde hair, falling down across her arms, Hiding all the ladies charms. Hey, hey, hey, take it away, there you go. Lady Godiva, she found fame and made her name A Hollywood director came into town And said to her, How'd you like to be a star? You're a girl who could go far Especially dressed the way you are. She smiled at him, gave a pretty head a shake. That was Lady G's mistake.

Hey, hey, take it away! Lady Godiver! He directs, certificates, and people now are craning their next PCR Cause she's a star, one that everybody knows Finished with the scripty shows, now she can't afford her clothes her long blonde hair is lying on the bobber's floor she doesn't need it anymore hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey We can die by our... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Oh, thank you! Give us the plugs again. If you look on PeterAsherMusic.com there's a whole itinerary in there. We'll send people in.

Come to a show if you can. Because the nice thing about playing small plays is I get to say hello to everyone afterwards and hang out and stuff, so do come and say hi. Well, I'll tell you what, we're going to put up to the video that our friends have just been taking here and we'll put it up on social media tonight just to get... Absolutely. That should be deeply embarrassing, yes. So, I'm Gilbert Gottfried. Absolutely. That should be deeply embarrassing. Yes.

So I'm Gilbert Godfrey. This has been Gilbert Godfrey's amazing colossal podcast with my cohost, Frank Santo Padre. And we've been here talking to my fellow Mensa graduate, Peter Asher. I doubt that. Peter, this was a treat. Thank you very much. You are someone we could talk to for seven hours. Oh yes I won't. Thank you for doing this. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you gentlemen. I tell my arms they'll hold someone new Another love that will be true But they don't listen, they don't seem to care They reach for her but she's not there enough

Go to pieces and I wanna hide Go to pieces and I almost die every time I remember what she said when she said goodbye baby We'll meet again soon maybe but until we do All my friends are gone, I'm gone, I'm gone I'm gone, I'm gone, I'm gone, I'm gone We'll meet again soon, maybe, but until we do All my best to you I'm so lonely, think about her only I go to places we used to go But I know she'll never show

She hurt me so much inside Now I hope she's satisfied And I go to pieces and I wanna hide Go to pieces and I almost die every time My baby passes by Go to pieces and I cry Every time my baby passes by Go to pieces and I cry

Every time my baby passes by