The Questlove Show - QLS Classic: John Densmore

Episode Date: August 2, 2026

In early 2021, Questlove and Team Supreme sat down with The Doors' John Densmore for a revealing, fun, and spirited conversation. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer reflects on the 1960s Los Angeles scene that gave rise to his legendary band, discusses sharing songwriting credits, and explains why The Doors resisted the temptation to recruit a high-profile new singer after the loss of Jim Morrison. Densmore, who recently released DoPE with 2026 QLS guest Chuck D, also shares his admiration for another later QLS guest, Stacey Abrams. John is as cool as he ever was. Enjoy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You fully improvised, not just words, but a song. Well, I thought you were all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia, AEO, rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist, Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up, y'all? It's your girl Sam Jay. And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports,

a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka, showing out. Shoutouts to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashan Rocks, boxing journey. She looks good.

Her combos are swift. And the stories everyone's talking about across women's sports. Because everyone watches women's sports. Listen to everyone watches women's sports on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. All right, so this season we had Chuck D. for the first and some popping conversations that I hope to have ongoing with his platform and mine.

Chuck just released an album, Dope, with no other than John Densmore of The Doors. And John has already been on QLS back in 2021, where he spoke to myself, Laiio Fonte, Sugar Steve, and on Dave Bill about music, politics, and the creative process of the one-and-only Jim Morrison. So check out John and Chuck's album And also check out this classic episode of QLS. Enjoy. Oh, there's Jeff. It's happening already.

All right. Oh, let's go. How you doing? Hey, man, I'm good. Good to be here with you. Oh, hey. I don't know if you can see this. My wardrobe?

I see it. Oh, look at that. Thank you. He sat in with us. Yes, I remember. I remember. Is it because of COVID that the roots are paired down? Yeah, it's because of COVID.

We can't. State law says that only six people out of 11 are in formation. So that's how it is. I got it. Okay. Well, I used to love that the tube of duplicating the baselines that sent me right to Norland. Right. Nice.

Optive lower. Yeah. That's cool. crap since we're already talking let me start the introduction uh ladies and gentlemen this is quest love supreme my name is quest love we have team supreme with us we got fine take hello hello sir what up happy new year happy new year happy new year this this is also the time that i'm uh not pluralizing the word year uh i always say happy new years and i've been corrected one too many times um sugar steve hello hello how you doing everybody hi

John. It's kind of weird for me to say hello to you because I see you every day. Yeah, I'm pretty sick of you too. Let's move on. Okay. Yeah. He's really excited. This is so cool. Unpaid Bill. Happy runoff. It's going to be the sugar Steve really is a live episode. Yeah. I'm pay bill. Yeah, man. With us as well. How you doing? Good. Happy runoff day. Good. Yeah. Happy. Whatever you said day.

Yep. And Laya is as well. That's right. Happy 50 is month, my friend. Oh, you're right with. me there's okay you're still 19 yeah no i'm i'm not yes i'm right with you as far as our birthdays on the same day but it's y'all 50 but not 50 you know what i'm saying yeah anyway all right so our guest today y'all uh our guest this is huge man yeah very huge he's a member of the rock and roll hall of fame um and he's literally from one of the most influential bands of all time um the doors have sold over one million records. That's nothing to stop at. Their music and their influence still resonate to this

day. Yes, I don't know if you know that, John, but you can go over 100 million records. Those were actual records, too. I better check my royalties. Yeah. Yeah. We're on the verge of an ASCA payback. Today, it would be good for John. Not to mention our guest is also an author, actor, playwright, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and recipient. And we are extremely honored to have him talk shop with us today in his illustrious career. Please welcome to Quastelove Supreme John Dinsmore, drummer of the Doors. Yes, sir. Hey, hey, hey, yo, thank you.

And I'm not dead, you know? Yes, you're very much alive. Yes, a good start, yeah. Congratulations. Thank you, thank you. That's an achievement. We're all alive right now. Where are you right now?

I'm in my office slash rehearsal room, you know. Okay. I mean, like, in what part of the world are you? Oh, I'm in L.A. Okay. Where I was born. My mom was, my mom was born here in 1904. But we're not native.

The Chumash Indians are the first people's. Got to get that right. You've got to credit. You better get it. Yeah. So listen, I want to say, I'm really pleased to be doing this because, you know, Quest and I are in the same tribe. A tribe called drummers.

Yes, we are. You know? Nice wordplay there. Yeah, I love that, you know, you're the leader of the roots, and not a lot of drummers or leaders, and it makes me think of you and Lionel Hampton or Art Blakey and the jazz messengers, you know, who I saw many times,

or Chico Hamilton, who I stole the ride symbol bellbeat from, you know. Wait, how did you? you pulled out. Time out. Please tell our audience who Chico Hamilton is, please, because nobody ever talks about him. He was a wonderful jazz cat in the early 60s, and I saw him as a teenager. I think Charles Lloyd was playing with him. And man, you know, I heard a real cool thing, and later I put it in the end. You know, you steal from the best, right? Exactly. Laddery. I was going to say, though, you told me at Fallon that you're,

your weapon of choice wasn't initially the drums. You started out, you said, as a piano player. Yeah, yeah, that's in my new book. My mom is the first chapter because she encouraged me to play piano, and I just was crazy for music, and I wanted to play any instrument. And then I got into junior high, and there was no piano in the band or the orchestra. and I chose clarinet because I thought, you know, Benny Goodman's cool, whatever.

And I had braces on my teeth and they said, no, no, no, you can't do that. You're trying to push them back and they're going to come out with that instrument. So drums, yeah. So I owe my career to the dentist. Really? Oh, so you're saying that adults encouraged you to play the drums? Because normally in my situation, adults, drums are always the lights. Drums are always the last resort of every drummer that I know.

Because their parents don't want them to make noise or anything. I got you. Now, my parents were okay with it. But, Quest, did you have one of those black rubber pads, a drum pad? You know, they bounce back, but they have no sound. And that's what you got to do when you're too loud. Right, exactly. Well, even that, I'll say like my first two years of taking drum lulls,

lessons you know my teacher had like this the shiny ludwig drum set and also a practice pad next to that drum set and we would just walk to the practice pad and I would ask him like wait when when do I get to play to those yeah and he's like you're not ready yet so like for two years I had to play on that practice pad almost like it was like torture for you know to sit there in front of that drum set and not even touch it for the first two years. Yeah, no, same deal with me. I was told if I took private lessons, I'd get better. And so I did.

And I was surrounded by drum sets on the damn practice pad with the teacher. Who's your North Star as far as drumming was concerned? Like, you know, because, I mean, you were the rock era, the modern rock era. So it wasn't like you have tales of seeing anyone that modern musician see now. So who was your North Star as far as like, like, who would have been your Beatles on Sullivan moment as far as like, that's what I want to do for a living? Elvin Jones. Wow. Great. I got my fake ID in Tijuana and went to Shelley's Manhole, which the doorman looked at and said, this is fake, but come on in, you know. And I saw Coltrane many times. Oh my God. I was.

I wanted you to say that your fake ID said Elvin Jones on it. What was that like to see, like, people that we take for granted. I don't think we've ever had a guest on the show that. It's all culturing. Yeah, that scene like gods. And you knew they were gods then. So what was that like for you to see? All right.

Well, you can read all about it. Nay. New books. The second or third chapter is on Elvin. So, you know, I knew there was magic. I mean, I didn't know that I was seeing iconic, that people were going to be just legendary, you know. But I sensed just, I don't know,

there was fire and energy like I couldn't believe the conversation Elvin would have with Coltrane. They'd just be, you know, he'd keep the groove, but he'd be riffing off him all the time. And, you know, it gave me a little courage now and then to riff off Jim Morrison, you know, and fuck around with what he's saying and, you know, keep the groove. But, you know, Elvin, he's my man.

And so after Coltrane died, I saw Elvin. Well, let me back up. All right. So my idols are in the dressing room at the jazz club. And the bathroom is right next to the green room. Green room. And so I went to the bathroom a lot. Because they were right around the corner, you know.

And I. And I was afraid to say anything, but later, after Coltrane died, I introduced myself to Elvin. And then I had three self-centered memoirs. And the first one, Riders on the Storm, I gave to Elvin. And I quickly said, hey, man, I wrote in here, you gave me my hands, you know, worried that he would be condescending this jazz giant. And he was so warm and friendly. And I saw him many more times, and I took his symbol bag to the car towards the end of his life. So we're talking a real mentor, you know.

What was it about his playing? Because a lot of homies I went to school with that were in the jazz department, they all just swore about Elvin Jones. So if you could explain to kind of a layperson, what was it about his drumming technique that just made him so amazing? I think they called it polyrhy rhythms. You know, I mean, he'd have the pocket. You have to have the pocket, of course. But he was continually playing triplets and all this shit all going on all the time,

like churning up a rhythmic egg-beater. And it sounded like he was going to fall into his kit. He was just, but he didn't, you know. I don't know. That's how I describe it, you know. That's what's up. With your clear love for jazz, did you ever actually play jazz in a serious way? Yeah, a few years back I had a group called Tribal Jazz, which was a jazz quartet or quintet with two African drummers, which was really fun because, you know, I'm trying to integrate Senegalese rhythms into a drum kit, you know.

So it rearranged some brain cells. It was good. And what about back when you were younger? Did you play any jazz then? Well, as a kid, like crazy. And then I stumbled into this rock band. I say it worked out pretty good. No one's ever heard of.

Well, let me ask because, yeah, like was there musical snobbery in the 60s to the level of where, you know, like it was a big deal for like Leonard Cohen to say like, I actually like the Beatles, like that sort of thing. Oh, I see. Was it was it a struggle back in to win respect? Like did you care as much or just were you unaware? Back then the whole country was polarized into four and against the Vietnam War. Kind of like today's kind of polarized, you know.

And, you know, rock and roll was. against the war and a sort of a liberal bent. And so you were either for that or, you know, I would say that country music kind of represented the other side. But the last chapter I got in this book is on Willie Nelson. And, you know, I'm looking for the soul in any genre. You know, I can get fed by if you're saying something truthful. And if it's in a simplistic,

form, it doesn't matter, man. In fact, in my old age, I've learned that if I put the right symbol crash in the exact right spot, it can be as powerful as, you know, in my 20s when I showed all my shit or when I had more chops. You know what I mean? What was the, what was the, the modern music scene like in Los Angeles in the mid-60s before? before you guys really got established. Like was Whiskey a Go-Go a thing sort of before you guys came along? Or like what was just the modern scene like? Exactly.

Now the whiskey was Mecca. And we were playing in a little club a block down from the whiskey. The night we were fired because there was a fight, which we did not cause, but they blamed it on the band. The Booker from the whiskey dropped in and saw us. And she hired us as the house band at the Wist's. And it was heaven. I mean, every night the streets were packed with hippies and music freaks and every band that came in, I don't know, let's see, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, Van Morrison, etc., etc.

The birds, all of, you know, they had to deal with the opening act. Wow. I don't mean to, well, that sound a little self-serving, but we were different. You know, we were the undeclared Vietnam War. We were not singing about peace and love. We were singing about, this is the end, beautiful friend, man. Things are, there's a lot of lying going on. And so, you know, we play Light My Fire and everybody danced, and that was really cool.

And then we played the end, and it got very quiet. And then people had to follow that, the other bands, which, I mean, we were friends with them all, but it was a really cool scene. Well, what were your thoughts on like the post-mod kind of movement of music? Like people that weren't that political, more poppy, like, I guess I still want to know, like, were there different tribes or different cliques of, did you guys mess together at all? You know, the British invasion was kind of poppy, you know. But then we all started experimenting with then legal psychedelics. And the Beatles' music got a little darker like ours. Did you appreciate it at the time?

Well, appreciate their contribution at the time. You know, it's from a person from my generation, will be quick to lump like anyone that came from the mid to late 60s in the same bowl, you know, whereas I'm certain that three, four decades from now,

you know, somebody will look at my band or Fonte's band and, you know, just think like, oh, okay, well, you know, Kanye West, Alcass, you guys are all the same. Right, right, right. Right. We've talked much shit about each other and that sort of thing. So, like, you know, were you, what were your thoughts on your contemporaries at the time?

Like the stones, the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks? Let me break it down. You know, in the beginning, I was a jazz snob, but I was certainly aware of the roots of rock and roll, Chuck Barry and Little Richard and all, and Elvas and whatever. Then I saw these four mop tops on Ed Sullivan. and I thought, wow, man, are they gay? What is this? You know? And then I noticed, I noticed their melodies. I thought, wow, you know, because melodies, man, are the key. I don't, I don't care if it's heavy metal or country. If you got a beautiful melody with a cool lyric,

they got to be wedded together. Wow, you got great songs. So, you know, I knew the Beatles had great songs. And we looked up to the stones and like that. Were they of an older generation to you? Because even in my world, like someone that came out four or five years ago, I'll see that as, in hip-hop terms, like someone that made their debut in 2010 even is kind of old. Even, even though they're not old school. They're considered old school. So, you know, because of the, of the years between you guys, them starting in 61, 62, was it still the same fraternity or were they seen as older statesmen? Not older statesmen, but that's what I'm asking. No, they were just a few years older. So they weren't an entirely different genre, you know. And then as you go along,

Can you keep making records that are important? And a lot of folks followed by the wayside. And we managed to do okay. Even though Jim, you know, he started drinking so much that it got quite difficult. You know, like I got a chapter in this new book on Jim and one on Janice, two cautionary, Janice Joplin. Yeah, Joplin. Two cautionary tales, you know.

Self-destruction and creativity coming the same package with them, but not with everybody. Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.com for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam J. And we're the host of everyone watches women's sports, a new podcast from

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We've played a lot of iconic characters over the years, but today we're showing up as ourselves to tell you about Podlandia, AEO rewatch, our brand new podcast. Each week, we'll revisit an episode of Portlandia from the very beginning, breaking down the sketches, exploring the backstories of our most iconic characters, revisiting the Portland locations you know and love, and opening up about our creative process. How did any of this get made? Why do we think that was a good idea? We're ready to talk about it. And we'll also be joined by the people who helped bring it all to life. guest stars, collaborators, and friends, including director Jonathan Chryssel, the mayor himself, Kyle McLaughlin, legendary musician Amy Mann, and many more.

Kyle is going for it here. You fully improvised, not just words, but a song, a melody. I thought he was going to write. I thought you're all going to write a song. I remember you thinking that. Listen to Podlandia. Ayo rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jake Brennan.

And on the Disgraceland podcast, I explore the wild lives of rock stars and unbelievable true crime stories from music history. These are the stories you haven't heard, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. Like the time Paul McCartney spent in one of the world's most notorious prisons. Imagine that. You're Paul McCartney. It's 1980. You're an ex-beetal. And you're doing time in one of Japan's worst prisons right there alongside Yakuza gangst

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The man who had given her that ride she barely escaped from was Ted Bundy. Listen to Discraseland on the Eyeheart Art Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're really good friends with, uh, uh, Shep Gordon. Oh, yeah. Who told us a lot about the scene in LA, especially at the hotel. Um, I forget the, the hotel on sunset where.

Yeah. Oh, where they were fighting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Everyone just hung and whatnot. Like this book of, uh, the group love and, and, and, and all.

all those things. Were you directly like a part of that scene like offstage where you guys sort of? Not quite that scene. I'm trying to think of the hotel too. But once you played the whiskey, Mario, the door guy, let anybody in. So we would all go see each other when we were not playing. And so was a fraternity, you know. And we love, for example, man, they really liked them a lot.

They were so different. Forever Changes is a masterpiece that album. Yeah, forever changes. Forever Changes is a masterpiece. It's, you know, that's from the summer I love too. I mean, there's just like, there's a few, there's a few albums from that era that are just, yeah. I want to get on the soapbox for a second.

Over here, let's go. I get pissed off when people diss the 60s as a failure. Wait, who does this is a 60s as a failure? doing that. Oh, good. Okay. All right. Life based on everything from the 60s.

I mean, there's no progress without the 60s. I never mind what I was going to say. Oh, no, I want to hear it. No, somebody out there is feeling that way. So go ahead. Talk to him. Yeah, well, there is a perception that like post-69 that there was not diminished returns per se, but everything was over and everything that was fought for and built was sort of just,

washed away. So, what were you saying? Well, yeah. The seeds of civil rights, the peace movement, feminism, all were planted in the 60s. Right. And maybe these seeds take like a long time, 50, 100 years for full fruition. So don't dis, you know, we're on the shoulders of all folks before. And so, you know,

Yeah, progress is not as fast as we wanted, you know, like, gee, Obama got elected, so there's no more racism. Yeah, right. Not quite. You know. So, but anyway, and speaking of which, I was hoping sometime during this podcast, I could do a five-minute poem for Stacey Abrams. Oh. Because I've been thinking about Jesus.

All right. Now I'm going to prove. You never had that before. I'm going to prove I'm the drummer, not the singer. I've been thinking about Georgia, oh, Georgia, no peace of fun. You're on my mind. They're voting today.

Georgia's definitely on our mind. Yeah. So everybody's mind. Hopefully by the time this air is we'll have the results that we want. Yeah. Yeah. But we're going to get that poem too because I want to hear that. old to stay yes yes yes I was curious to know man do you have to give us kind of a parallel

the band that the doors and kind of what you guys represented when you guys came out who would you say is probably the closest modern day contemporary and by modern day I mean it could be anyone from the last you know 20 years whatever but that you think kind of embodies the spirit of what you guys were about oh putting me on the spot I mean, Nirvana would be my guess. Really? Yeah. It was weird, though.

I always thought the doors were, doors are really kind of, I feel like the doors are hip-hop, as far as their rebellion is concerned. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, that's good. That's good. Okay, let me, let me tell you something.

Way back, Jay-Z asked for, um, um, five to one. Five to one. Yeah. You know, and I was just coming on board. I didn't know what was happening. And I went, wait a minute, you know, what, huh? It's all bitches and hoes? No, you can't have it. And he writes me a letter and he sends me a

team rock jersey and he breaks it down for me and says, man, you know, we're doing what you're doing, fighting the establishment, going for truth. And I got it. Believe me, I got it. Okay. Along those lines, the doors is one of the only bands that I can think of that didn't have a bass player. And while Ray played bass in his left hand is one of the few bands that didn't have like a legit bass player. Can you talk about what that was like? Because that's

not a thing. It's not a normal thing. A lot of work. I mean, usually the bass player and the drummer or the rhythm section, you know, holding down the groove in the basement and it was me and Ray's left hand. Wow. But

But he played simplified sort of boogie-woogie baselines with his left hand, which turned out to be gold. Like don't, don't-d-don-d-do-do-do. It's just hooky stuff. And so fortunately, we felt the same pocket. Actually, the first tune we played together ever was all blues by Miles Davis. By Miles Davis, yeah. Yeah, which is in three, you know.

And then I knew Ray knew some shit. Then we played the blues, and we were sort of laying back on the groove, as you do with the blues. And then we started writing our own stuff, and then we kind of found our pocket. So were you and Ray the kind of the start of the doors? Were you the primary songwriters? How did that work? Well, Jim had all these words and melodies and couldn't play one chord on any instrument. We're talking gifted here.

So he would sing Acapella And you know Roadhouse Blues Which we played with I played with you guys You know is a blues That's not too difficult

But he would sing these complicated Before you slip into Unconsciousness I'd like to have another kiss Like wait a minute F sharp What the hell You know

He just had to shit his head So wow You know So what were the those songwriting sessions like? Like he would just, would it start with him and his words first and you guys figure out where he's going with it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We'd figure out the groove, then we'd stop and change chords or say, oh, man, we need a bridge or a solo here or whatever. So that's why he said, hey, let's credit all the songs written by the doors, not lyrics by me, you know. Wow. And let's split all the dough. Really? Wow.

Wow. Can I ask a question? Because you talked about this and you touched on it, but I got to know, you said you were kind of like in your own snobby sense when you were an early musician, and somehow you met him, and he convinced you to go to this route

because it sounds like you weren't even trying to go this rock and roll route. Like you had this jazz mind. So what was that moment that he convinced you? You know, I was passionate for music, but I never thought I'd make a living at it. You know what I mean? What did you think you were? Join the club.

You know how. And then when the doors got going, I thought, oh, God, man, you know, if we can pay the rent for a decade, wouldn't that be a miracle? Well, let's see. I'm 76 and it's, wow. 50 years later, I'm still talking about this damn band. Was it a conversation that you had that convinced you that I'm going this ride because I know that this is going somewhere or was it something that he's saying or something?

Yeah, yeah. Good, good, good, good. All right. So after we play all blues, and I'm noticing this guy in the corner, and Ray says, this is Jim, the singer, he's never sung before, and he can't play any instrument, but look at these lyrics. And he hands me a crumpled piece of paper. And on the paper, it says, day destroys the night. Night divides the day, tried to run, tried to hide, break on through to the other side.

The other side. Oh, okay. Right, right away. Right. Rhythmic stuff starts. That's, that pulled me in immediately, you know. Wow. Was I always wanted to know, was that song somewhat influenced from Ray Charles's

what I say? Oh, wow. It's funny, man. We're past the Statue of Liberty. Oh, that's good. No, I used to play that. What did I say? Only I couldn't do it with one hand.

I had to have both hands on the bell of the ride symbol. Didn't have the chops yet. Anyway, what was going on was Basanova was coming up from Brazil, big time, big time. And so this little, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-go-man-epan. And I'm digging the groove. It's real light. Okay, I'm going to make it stiffer and harder and faster. And so I copped the whole thing and made it rock and roll.

But break on through is kind of a rock and rock. Basanova rock or whatever. Basso rock. Basso rock. Can I ask a question? Getting back to what Bill asked you about playing with Ray Manzarek and him playing the bass with his left hand. So that's that's the main, that's the door sound basically.

but on later albums you did use actual electric bass players on certain things. Really good question. On the process of records, yeah. Yeah, I just, I mean, my question is actually, you know, as the drummer, from the drummer's perspective, what's the difference being, you know,

half the rhythm section with somebody who's playing it on the organ and somebody who's playing it with a guitar? Well, first of all, when we played, live, when Ray would take a solo on organ, he'd get excited. And the bass player would speed up, holy, moly. There's no more frustrating. Yeah, that happening. I got to pull the reins back. Okay, so this was before Moog synthesizers were even invented. So we knew that the keyboard base he had, a Fender Rhodes keyboard bass, it kind of was mushy. and it needed a little more punch.

And so even on the first record, we had Larry Nectal studio bass player overdub on Fender, Electric Base, raise exact bass lines to give it the pluck of the string gave it the punch we needed, you know. And then later we did have bass players. And, you know, God, Harvey Brooks was on Soft Parade. Great bass player played with Dylan and the electric flag.

So that was a lot of fun for me, you know. Elvis's bass player played on L.A. woman, Jerry Schiff. And that was cool. He even said that he put a little line from, let's see, L.A. woman, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. He stuck a little bit of it in an Elvis recording session. So that's cool. Oh, really?

So we can just finish up this thought. playing with Ray versus playing with Harvey Brooks, you know, from a rhythm section sense. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I could almost play one-handed because when there's a separate bass player plucking and concentrating on the groove, you know, he's your brother helping. It's easier, you know, and you play off each other and whatever. And Ray was playing sort of simplistic lines. But it kind of gave space. There was more air and openness in the sound, which was quite cool and unique. You know, we auditioned bass players way back.

We even had a girl for a minute there, but we felt like, we sound like another white blues band, the Rolling Stones or something. And then we discovered this keyboard bass and went, oh, man. And the guy who made all the LSD in San Francisco. I can't think of his name. You can't think of his name. Of course you can. What was your name?

He made it. We were playing one of the psychedelic ballrooms. He comes back, Owsley. That's his name, Owsley. He comes backstage and says, hey, man, you guys, you're great. You got a hole in your sound, though. You need a bass player. He leaves, and I turned to Ray, and I said,

we're making the acid king nervous. I think we're on the right track here. I have a question of, I can't think of another, besides the look of love, I believe that Light My Fire, the most covered song ever. It's probably, no, no, no, even more than that. I feel like Light My Fire is probably the only song in which you cannot be. drop the ball as far as covering is concerned. And billions of people have covered it.

Do you have a preference of the many covers that... Yeah, good. Of that song? First of all, Quest, thanks for putting Light My Fire in the same category as the look of love. Who saying? I'm just saying, I've never found a bad cover of Lighten Fire, man. Who's saying it? I never found a bad cover of Light My Fire.

never found a bad cover look of love. Like it's impossible to drop the ball on that song. Who sang Look of Love? The original was God, who was the original? Was it Beyond Warwick? Birdbacker. I know it was Birdbacker rack.

It was Birdbacker. Right, right, right. What's cool is somebody covers your song and finds a new way to interpret it. That's really cool. I mean, it's cool to get any song covered even if they copy your arrangement because you get the writer's share. But. Facts.

But Jose Feliciano takes my fire. He makes it a ballad. And we all went, oh, that is beautiful. What did you think of Al Green's version, man? I think that's probably my favorite one. I bet I can't, I didn't hear it. Give it to me. Really?

He did it? Were? You never heard Al Green's version like my first? Jesus Christ. Can we play it for, please? Oh, my God. Oh, wait a minute. This is fair use. This is fair use to podcast.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fair use. We talk about it, is journalistic. Just even the spoken part is the, come on, man. Right, right. There's a, have you, uh, have you ever heard, uh, John, have you ever heard the free design? Have you ever heard their version of it?

Jesus Christ. Oh. Yeah, free design. They body. They, they, they just, they just, they, they're like the mom's and the popas on LSD. Yeah, they take chromatic

like ninth harmony chords to another place. I'll say the free design is probably my go-to version, even though I love the Al's version. Actually, it's funny you mention

Jose. Jose actually doubles down because even on many Ripperton's version, Jose shows up and does his riffing at the end. Yeah.

Light by fire, light by fire, light, my fire, right, exactly. Exactly. Oh, Minnie Ripperton, wow. So, okay, I got to know this, because the one thing that I know that you're a big one, which, you know, which, you know, it's, it's weird because even though with the rebellion of the first wave of modern rock, not modern rock, but, you know, the, the 60s rock, cats. and hip-hop cats is this rebellious spirit to the system. But somehow, I will say that in hip-hop terms, our relationship with capitalism slightly different from the 60s rock generation.

In that licensing songs and commercial uses, you know, rappers are about that all day. I made a commercial. Whereas, you know, I often hear the 60s generation sort of like, I'm not selling out and da-da-da-da-da-da-da. So you're world famous for your thumbs down on licensing. You turn down a lot of paper, man. Which, you know, I'm like, that must be nice.

But I see it from all sides. I mean, you know, Tavis Smiley said to me, you're either really great or you're crazy, you know, about that. But, you know, what can I say? If you're trying to pay the rent and you get, do it commercial, pay, you do it, man. It's hard enough out there. What happened was that we got this offer. Come on, Buick, light my fire. Oh, no.

That ain't. No. No. Yeah. See, that's not in the article. That's not on the Google. Like, if the Google said that, it would be a very different thing. Everyone would understand why you told him to fuck off.

Yeah. So Jim was out of town. It was a lot of dough. And we were kind of drooling. And he came back and he said, yeah, let's do it. And I got a really good idea. for a TV ad. I'll smash a Buick on television with a sledgehammer.

That's a great idea. Okay. And light it on fire. That's a no. And so, all right. Jim wrote one line in Light My Fire. Robbie Krieger wrote all the lyrics. And Jim added,

Our Love Become a Funeral Pire. A Funeral Pire. Or Morrison-esque. And so this guy is so upset about a song he didn't write. I'm like, wow, he cares about the whole catalog, everything we're doing. And, you know, I'm a little hard ass, but he's passed. He's my ancestor. So I'm trying to stick to what he wanted.

But, I mean, you know, I get, hey, you know, I get hip hoppers doing. I get it, you know. It's just we're different and it was back a ways and I don't know. In a modern context, they might offer you a lot more money now for something than you were offered for the Buick ad. And it would be kind of a no-brainer to take the money. And also, too, to be fair, I think now it may be, I think now you have people in position who understand kind of the spirit of what you guys were about and would do it in a very tasteful way as opposed to a cheese. way like you know like my bea or whatever the hell you know I think people now you know I'm saying actually I would like to see so what set of beauty going fire all right let's see

break on food or a new deodorant no yeah right I think but the thing is is that I I think the common denominator for the average creator is avoiding erasure. And yes, the music of the doors, I feel, is the ripple effect and the resonance of it all. I have no doubt that the songs, you know, riders of the storm still sound, every time I play it, people, you know, oh my God, what is that? Like it's brand new or something. Yeah, thanks. So, you know, it's timeless.

But does it ever, do you ever have thoughts that, you know, one day? Because, you know, I will say that when songs are placed in, and this is me as a DJ speaking, when songs are placed in a movie or placed on a television show or in a commercial, it just extends the life of it just a little bit more. So I'm one of those guys. And again, as a DJ who, maybe. mainly use this as DJ sets to educate people and stuff. It kind of makes my job easier.

Even though I have to, you know, correct them like, no, this isn't just the song that you heard in the blah, blah, blah, blah movie. Like, this is where it comes from. But do you ever have thoughts of like, if you clutch too tight to the pearls that there's a possibility of erasure? I know the Beastie Boys are going through that right now. Like they just recently kind of loosen the reins a little bit to allow one of their songs to get licensed for a commercial. Yeah.

Even though they took this hard stance like we will never ever do that. Right. Like integrity. Yeah, I got you. I mean, you know, Bob Dylan's certainly making me nervous. Man, man. He sold all his shit. I was about to say he been doing it for a while, right?

Yeah, but he can't take it with him. So you might as well just. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like. Okay. So first of all, I don't, we okay movies, TV shows. It's just a specific product selling, which makes me twitch a little.

I mean, like, and also we are pretty established. And there's a lot of people who say to us, oh, man, you know, I was in Vietnam. You guys helped me. first time I made love, the first time I had a joint, whatever. And so it's sort of like the soundtrack to people's lives. And so I kind of, well, Vietnam, for example. Recently, Robbie told me, I didn't know this, that the lyric, Love Me Two Times, he wrote, he goes,

Love Me Two Times because I'm going away. He was thinking going away to Vietnam. But that's not in the lyric. And so how about Love Me Two Times because I just took Viagra? Mm-mm. It's true. Some, some commercials have seriously ruined certain songs forever, you know, where they're known more for the commercial than from the original album or from...

Yeah, I was going to say, hot chocolate's U-sexy thing is definitely ruined Viagra. Yes. Yeah, but I, you're right. I'm, you know, I'm going to be erased, I don't know, in the next 20 years or so. Anyway, so I got to think of it. about this. No, stick to your guns. I vote stick to your guns.

Yeah, stick to your guns. How, I was going to know how accurate or what were your thoughts on Oliver Stone's filmed the doors? Yeah. He was in it. Yeah, no, no. Yeah, I was in it for a second there. No, I liked it.

Okay. It was primarily about a tortured artist. And Oliver, you know, kind of fits that category, brilliant, and kind of out there. And I wished it had been a little more about the 60s and the climate of the times. There was a documentary called When You're Strange that Johnny Depp narrated. And that has more of that. And I think the two of them together really represent our whole career. but I got to say Val Kilmer, man, he gave me the creeps.

I thought Jim was back. Y'all. Yes, he looked just like him. He sounded just like it was. I mean, I didn't know him like you did, but it gave me the creeps watching him play that role. These actors are amazing the way they transform their bodies and everything. Yeah.

Can we talk about like drummers from your era and the African influence, the Ginger Baker's and the Middle Arts and like dudes like that? I feel like, like, I got that, when I was a kid, but I was, I'm not the same thing, but like, was it the same, was it, my experience was, it's like everything sort of began there, so it made sense to figure out that shit and how to bring it into your own thing. Like, what was, why did you get into it? And how did you apply it to the doors or whatever else you're doing? Well, the African stuff I primarily got into later. Right. But, but I will say that we were recording, um, hello, I love you. And we're

struggling with the arrangement. And Robbie, the guitar player, said, why don't you turn the beat around like ginger does in sunshine of your love? You know, da, da, da, da, da, uh, oh, uh, yeah. And I, so I go, okay. Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. Hello, I love you. Uh-uh, uh-uh.

So I copped a couple bars of ginger. Ha, ha, ha, ha. And here we are. Bossa Dova Copping and Ginger Copping. Here we are. I was going to ask the recording of that particular song has such a distinctive, like, modern, made-for-FM radio sort of recording technique to it. Were you guys aware of that as far as, like, because there's a clear difference sonically

between the recording, that particular album and what came before it? So were you guys aware of the sort of transforming of AM radio? AM radio being the, I guess the destination point of most music and then slowly morphing into FM radio at the time? Yeah. Because there's just such a clarity to it that sounds super modern. Like even if you listen to it now with the synth work, and even the way that your drums are,

are tuned on that song, like a deeper, a deeper sound. Yeah, you're right about that. It could have, like, it's almost like the, you hear the seeds of what talking heads, like Devo's second record, even Gary Newman's like first record. You hear the seeds of that in there. Well, you know, our first single was Break on Through, and it was too sophisticated.

You know, it got to number 13 or something. That was due to us calling up. the station saying, hey, this is Fred Schwartz. Will you play this? Wait, break on through, it was not a top 10 hit? No, but later it became just, you know, everybody just is crazy for it. So, okay, okay. Light My Fire was six minutes. You know, we had that long jam. And then we, we cut it to three minutes and then it became a hit. But then FM Radio started bragging about playing the long version, which was really cool. So, you know, we had some hits. I guess people are strange, I think,

was the next hit. And then in the studio, we were struggling and Paul Rothschild, our producer, pressed us on, Hello, I Love You. He said, man, we got to make this a hit. And fuzz tones, it just came in on guitar, you know, fuzz boxes and we just worked on that and worked on it. And frankly, I thought it turned out a little too poppy for me. But that's just for me personally. But I always was just absolutely crazy for Jim's lyrics. Oh, my God. And what about Bruce Bonnick, the engineer?

What was his special sauce? He did all your albums. Yeah, he did all of them. And he worked at Sunset Sound and all the great studios as a teenager with the Supremes and Phil Spector. And he knew what he was doing. And each time, you know, CDs, streaming, whatever it is, he keeps us up to date sonically. You know, he's on it. Yeah.

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Most will say that, of course, you know, when you think of historic concerts and events, everyone, of course, makes a big deal of Woodstock. However, I feel like enough has not been made of the Olive White Festival that you guys did in 1970. Do you have any particular memories of that? You know, because the lineup was... Yeah. To me, just as crazy.

Yeah. That year, it was Hendricks. Joni Mitchell, The Who. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Moody Blues. Sly on the Family Stone, 10 years after. Yeah, yeah. Chicago.

Usually, you know, I know that for a lot of artists, this, for a lot of fans, this is always a disappointing question, because, you know, the festivals are a spectator thing. And usually artists are just getting in, doing the gig, leaving, really not soaking in the atmosphere. Were you able to really soak in the festival at the time, or was it just like you showed up and did your thing and left? Yeah, I took a hit off of Roger Daltry's peppermott schnop's bottle, you know?

I don't know what was in that bottle. I didn't know they made peppermint snobs. I only had peach snobs. Oh, yeah. Pepperman was the first, I think. Shit. The Isle of White, we were under a lot of stress because Jim was on trial in Miami

for supposedly exposing himself, which he did not do. But he was drunk, and he got real political and said, you're letting him shove your faces in the shit of the world, wake up. And that didn't go over well. I don't know how to translate it to exposing yourself.

That's crazy how they translated that into that. Well, I got the climate at the time was this polarized country. And we were, you know, the hippies and we were the dirty doors. And so Jim was targeted. There was a rally for decency at the Orange Bowl. 30,000 people showed up. Nixon sent a letter. Anita Bryant presided, and it was because of us, you know.

Christ. Yeah. Well, back to the Isle of White. The Isle of White, so Jim was kind of subdued in his performance. I was trying to make up for it, playing really strong. But it's pretty good, but the whole festival had the feeling of the end of the era, the end of Woodstock. there was some dispute about the ticket prices and they busted down the fences and people came in, which, you know, was all right.

It was just kind of a chaotic festival that had incredible lineup, like you said, but it kind of didn't get the attention because it was sort of the crumbling of the outdoor hippie festivals, being the ultimate, you know. And just for clarification, for nobody, people who don't know the concert and the venue, this is an island right close to London where they exclusively have this big festival they've been doing this for like the last 40, 50 years, right? Yeah, correct.

Right. Yeah, yeah. Are you more of a touring person or a studio person? Either one, either one. I mean, at first, I was frustrated. I didn't understand it's kind of cool to muffle the drum heads in the studio. You know, I thought you just play live and make a record.

and, you know, and so it was a learning curve. I like both. What would your weapon of choice in the early part of your career? What drums were you using? Oh, my first set was Gretsch. And then I, Ludwig, I went crazy for Ludwig.

Ludwig's silver snare drum. Ah, yeah. I always kept a little kit. I had rivets in my symbol. I saw Oscar Peterson's drummer, Ed Figpin. He had a lot of rivets. And I went, oh, man, that's good. You can hear that on riders.

There's kind of rivet sound in the ride. Yeah, it rings forever. Yeah, exactly. Do you, have you kept a majority of your drum sets or like the sort of iconic sets that you've used to your career? Yeah, I'll be taking them over. Thank you. Some, not enough.

damn it. Like the floor tom, it's the floor tom that's barking back in the hello I love you. But it a bow, boom, bum, bum, bum, bum, boom. I like it when the heads are tired and rancid. And then when they break, I have to get a new one and I hate it. It's because I like the personality of it talking back, you know. I see. Do you still have that Tom, Tom, Tom? No. Oh, okay. That's what I was asking. Right. You're about to ask you to send it to you. You're saying. My address is.

To go in your snare collection. You have a Tom collection, too. Yeah, I'm just saying. Is this a dumb drummer question? Y'all can tell me if not, if it is or not. But my father's drummer, he always has to say that he likes, he prefers playing with brushes. Is that a thing where you have a certain kind of stick that you prefer, like mallet versus just regular stick versus brushes versus whatever else is around these days? Because I haven't been checking the latest drummer magazine.

That's not a dumb question, like. Okay. That's a real good question. Back bands don't play with brushes. That's a true statement. But he's a snob. You know what's weird, Lai? What?

So when I was working on Welcome to Detroit, up in Studio A, where Dilla was, he only played with mallets. and at the time I thought all right, that's dumb. Not that's dumb because by then anything he did I declared like What was this?

Oh, I'm sorry. It's my Elvin Jones is a producer from Detroit. His name is Jay Diller. Oh yeah, yeah, sure. He knows. John knows. I just can't hear at my age.

Okay, I'm sorry. Yeah. Jay Dill is a actually to bring it back to five to one the okay I won't say that I know you're going to say the original producer

that was Jay Diller but he would I'd ask him like why are you using mallets instead of traditional traditional drumsticks and he just wanted a different texture than that

of what when sticks hit the skins yeah so I think at the time I scoffed like Eh, that's whatever. And then I caught myself doing it a lot. So I actually like the texture of it. I'm curious. What size sticks do you use?

Now we're getting into it. Damn. That's the shit. Here it is. I'm a 7A guy. Oh, yeah. However, however, my sticks are a little bit unusual because I learned through well Steve

Steve is like one of my long time music engineers so I had to I learned about 20 years ago that the softer at least for my purposes the softer that you play the better

the mixing options are because I use a lot of old ribbon mics so I used to like power play like in my mind you think like take like Bonzo like John Bonham from Zeppelin like you know everyone thinks that they have to play like animal from the Muppets. And, you know, and that really destroys the sound because the compression and the microphones,

like it just, it just crunches. It's not good. So I learned the softer you play, the better it is. So I, when I got my deal with Vic Firth, I told them to make me 70 drumsticks, but I made mine two inches longer. Oh. So that way, I could put my wrist on my legs and not. move my hands at all.

What? Most non-drummers would look at what's his name? Food Fighters, Nirvana. Dave Grohl. Yeah, they'll look at Dave Grohl and like smells like teen spirit and think like that's how I should be drumming like

like modern animal. And for me, I get the best results when I do the least. Just, you know, the quietest. So I made 7-8 drumsticks two inches longer so I don't have to move. my arms at all. Wow. That's what I was saying about playing the right beat in the right spot

as much power is all that animal shit. But, you know, what's so beautiful about your playing is the way you sit. You know, you don't slump over the kit and you seem relaxed, you know. It's just beautiful. A little too relaxed. Sometimes Jimmy complains. Whatever. John, you didn't answer that question for yourself, but that's all right. Yes. No, it's, no, No, 7A. Seven A. Okay. Oh, okay. They're thin.

They're thin sticks so I can play faster, but they break all the time if you're playing a big concert, you know. So, you know, you just throw them in the audience and grab some more, you know. Speaking of throw them in the audience. You think that's rock and roll, but it's just trash. Speaking, yeah, speaking of throwing them in the audience, would it dismay you to watch Keith Moon destroy a kit occasionally? Like, is that blasphemous to you? It was over the top. I understood the anger because, you know, we were pissed off about the establishment and everything's going on.

I get it. He was bizarre. He was the most unusual drummer I've ever seen. I watched him on stage at the Isle of Wight, stood next to him. You know, the way he hits the sticks, he's like conducting or something. I don't know what it is. Yeah. but speaking of brushes

this is what this is what I'm going to accompany myself with on that poem listen I didn't forget either John I didn't what I would want to ask you is not

not which Doors album is your favorite or not which one you think is the best but which one do you think you're playing the best on oh that's a good question all of them I'm just besides a Talk this year

See, that's why you got to start with Gun to your head No, because you know I'm just trying to make a point I think like the first door's album was recorded in just a few days or a couple weeks or something like that And other albums later down the line

Probably took longer and yeah Yeah yeah But you may think that you're playing On Light My Fire is your Is your absolute pinnacle or something like that No, I don't know A good question All right.

Thank you. So first album we're trying to learn How to make records you know, and we only did a few takes, but it, you know, it's, second album, we're getting more relaxed in the studio, like using the studio as a, as another door and fooling around with backward tracks and shit and having fun experimenting. But then, you know, we have to make our own Sergeant Pepper,

so we get to soft parade and do, put strings. Software, I was going to say soft parade is probably that record. Strings and horns and all the shit. And that was fun. and people got angry with us changing our sound, but touch me was number one. Yeah, it was. It is.

Then Morrison Hotel and then finally, L.A. woman, we get back to the garage and the blues. And L.A. woman is, I like it a lot. It's just a few takes. I said to Ray, you know, Miles live at Carnegie Hall, there was a terrible trumpet note at the beginning of So What? And the engineer said to Miles, I can fix that. And he said, no, it feels good.

See, there it is. That's the key to L.A. woman. It's the first punk album. We're going to fuck the mistakes. We're going to go for it in a few takes, put as much passion as we can. See, there you go. It's like a jazz album. I mean, that's how a jazz album is recorded.

Well, you kind of pre-answered. I was going to say that with the soft parade, was there a pressure to suddenly deliver, like, the highest art? I mean, based on the kind of atmosphere that brought upon like pet sounds and Sergeant Peppers and even with their satanic majesty's request and all that stuff. Well, I know people laugh at that, but I feel like one day. Some generation is really going to hold Satan. No, it's not going to happen. No, I'm telling you. Thanks for playing, though.

Look, I'm a guy who love, I know critics hated black and blues by the stones, and that's one of my favorite records. So I feel like somebody's going to find the wrong record and make it their record. But what I was asking was with the Saw Parade, was that the intent to show that we're just as artistic and just as experimental as our contemporaries? Yeah. No. Okay. Thank you.

John Desmore for the win. That was fantastic. Ray and I had talked about before recording the first album, man, someday if we could ever have some like, horn solos, tenor sacks, and, you know, that'd be cool, some jazz stuff. And so we finally got to that by Soft Parade.

Actually, I think Sergeant Pepper and Pet Sounds, they were out kind of around Strange Days, our second album. And that's when we were like, wow, man, we, this is a challenge, you know. But a turn on, too, you know.

The thing about the doors, though, is like, I never, I never think about them in comparison to other bands because they have this. Exactly. Their own world, you know, they created, they're one of these few bands or artists that can create their own sonic universe. And it's like pointless to compare them to other bands almost. Well, keep talking. I feel helium-rising. No, it wasn't a compliment. I'm saying you're weird.

Oh, you guys are amazing. You know, we try. Thank you. I guess we are. I do have to ask for our listeners and for myself as well. Like, what was, how long did it take you guys to come to grips after Morrison's death on whether or not you should continue or not continue? and the creative direction. Yeah.

First of all, I mean, is the idea of a group really kind of an illusion that's not real? Like, is it really everyone gets their equal say? And if one doesn't agree and it's not unanimous, then we don't do it? Well, that's how we were. But, um... Okay, so absolutely everyone... A lot of groups have singer-songwriters, Lenin McCartney, Keith Richards, and,

Mick and they're kind of the dominant force. Whereas Jim not being able to, you know, how do we write songs? But I got all these words and melodies. We were really more equal because of that, you know. Y'all was translators almost. Yeah, beautiful. That's it. Yeah.

So, yeah, as far as the meeting with you guys in what direction to take his work, Well, yeah, I mean, can you just talk about that period of the decision to continue on? Oh, yeah, that's good, man. You don't let me off the hook. All right. No, no, no, no, it's good. Okay, so Jim dies and we're working on stuff. And we first entertained replacing him.

And I said, excuse me, who's going to fill Jim's leather pants? I mean, that's a tall order. So then Ray and Robbie tried to sing. We made two albums because we had this material and we were tight. And after those couple albums, we realized, wait a minute, this is ridiculous. Our focal point is gone. And let's do, you know, we wanted to do individual stuff. And so it naturally kind of fell away.

We went our own ways. We came back later and we did a poetry album It was pretty cool American Prayer way out there Jim's words, you know, he had died And we wrote all this music and that was fun I wonder if you think that Queen pulled it off Since I was trying to think of another band Who actually has done that with their lead singer

Who's passed And I'm like Adam Lambert Yeah Pretty close, I don't know Yeah Yeah I get it

I mean, for nostalgia's sake, I mean, you know, Lambert is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Also big leather pants to fill. Yes, huge. Different kind of leather. You know, like my second book was called The Doors Unhinged. It was about my struggle with Ray and Robbie playing. And I love their playing, but they were going out as the doors.

Right. Well, wait, you know, Ian asked me, Barry from the cult is fine. But, but it's like the police without sting, the, come on. Call it, call it, founding members of the doors or whatever, you know, but. Earth went and fire without Maurice. Well, that's how it is right now.

I know, I know. Yeah, but. I mean, I understand people want to hear them play, like, hear Queen and Earth went and Fire. I get it. You know, I get, you know, where we are today. Does it irk you a little bit that somehow not only did we wind back at square one were kind of way, like damn near Neanderth all times, that we took 48 steps backwards?

Like just as a person who had ideas in the 60s to, you know, to fight against the corrupt system and push us forward just to see us come back to the place where we now have to struggle all over again like it was the 60s like does that dismay you like was it like was your work for naught oh man love you promised us bro yeah where's the peace and love you see there it is oh my god big questions you know I mean this country was founded on racism that part say that

and so you know I got a piece in Rolling Stone asking Obama to pardon Leonard Peltier Native American who's been in jail friggin 50 years you know there was a shootout an FBI guy died and nobody knows who did it

but they had to nail somebody and whatever so in that article I also said oh God You know, it wouldn't be a bad thing if we could apologize to the first people's, the genocide, and then we can move on. And there's a, that's how you go forward, admit shit, you know. They'd be there a long time admitting and apologize. That doesn't work. I know.

But I guess I'm an eternal optimist. I mean, we got Agent Orange out or any minute now, right? Yes. We are all counting down. He's out. According to this recording, he's out. Yes. Now we just wait and see what Georgia's doing.

We're just waiting on Georgia now. And, you know, between you and me and your zillions of listeners, you know, Biden is, he's like me. He's another old white guy. We wish he'd like you, though. We hope that he's like you. Well, hey, hey, you know what? Okay.

Here it is. Hillary loses and I go, God damn it, I'm going to see a woman president before I die. And I'm up there. And now I'm like, whoa, wait a minute. I might see a black woman. Say what? Yeah. Two for one.

And I, you know, and she's, I love her. But, you know, I don't want, I can't idealize her like Biden either. You know, she was a prosecutor. Holy she. Oh, my God. Everything you stand for, John. She's a beautiful, you know, she threw me in jail, but she's a beautiful woman. It was her job.

You know, but I still, we're just, it's slow. It's slow. But we're going forward. Here it is. Leonard Cohen. democracy is coming to the USA. It's not here. We're working on it, you know?

Always. There it is. You can't let her go without this book. Yeah, I was going to say, before you close this out with this poem, that's also want to remind our listeners that you're, the Seekers is your third book, correct? Correct. Okay, yeah, the Seekers' meetings with remarkable musicians is available.

came out late 2020 and it's you exploring the creative process of modern artist and yeah yeah we want to thank you for doing this so could you please bless us with with this poem in closing my thing on mute till it's time for my snaps okay okay so yeah this goes out to stacey abrams and i'm gonna play it i'm gonna play it i'm gonna play my j jazz brushes on my doomback, which is crazy, but so what? And what can I say? All right, this is a poem by Etheridge Knight, African-American poet who I think he won the National Book Award or was nominated. And Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer poet was his mentor. Yes. And so, Etheridge wrote this for his daughter when she was. 14. Now I'm going to move this mic down in the front of my face so I won't drown out the vocal. We'll see if this works. It's called circling the daughter. You came to be in the month of Malcolm and the rain fell with a fierce gentleness like a martyr's tears on the streets of Manhattan

when your light was lit. And the city sang you welcome. Now I sit trembling in your presence 14 years have brought the moon blood The roundness The girl giggles The grand leaps We are touched tender

In our fears You break my eyes with your beauty Oh baby I love you Okay There it is ladies I'm out of claps Listen With the brushes

That is the Legend, John Dinsmore, orange brushes, poet vibes, Questlove Supreme. You, man, I was watching, I was thinking, yo,

they need to get John Dinsmore and cast you as Joe Biden on S&L. Yes! That's funny. You'll be the, I think you, Jim Carrey can't do what you could do. There you go.

You know, if this damn virus gets better, maybe next year my paperback will be out and I'll get to sit in with the roots again. So, ladies and gentlemen, this is Questlove Supreme. We like to thank John Dennis Womberd blessing us with this interview, very informative. The performance. We got bring the performance back. Yes. So on behalf of Team Supreme, Montego, I'm Pay Bill, Sugar Steve, and Leah. This is Questlove. We will see you on the next go round. Thank you.

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