Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Jim Cuddy: Toronto Mike'd #1097

Episode Date: August 11, 2022

In this 1097th episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Jim Cuddy about all things Blue Rodeo and more. Toronto Mike'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.

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Today, live from the woodshed, making his Toronto Mike debut is Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy. Hello, Jim. Hi, how you doing? I'm glad you stuck it out through that long intro. It was great. It's great to be here. I got what i think is like a an amazing invitation to come do this on your turf like normally i tell people you got to come to my studio but we're at the woodshed it's cool space man yeah it's a good it's a great place we've had it for quite a while

20 years or 20 years plus and uh made a lot of music in here other people have made a lot of music too there's like ghosts of uh albums past you can sense and there's bobby or i'm just checking it out i did take some photos so people can go to toronto mic.com and i'm going to post some cool photos but yeah this is just this is like a creative space i feel like even i could uh write a write a great song in this space you think it's that easy no well there's a first time for everything. So the very last time that I took this show on the road to chat with a musician was when I set up behind the C&E bandshell to chat with Chuck D.

So Jim, you're in some rarefied air. It's you and Chuck. Wow. So, you know, be honored. You're not just an FOTM, but you've got a special spot in the history there. And I was trying to think, have I ever gone this far? Because, you know, Sini Banshell's West End, not too far.

But I did set up at the Opera House to record for the Party for Marty, for Martin Streak, 10 years after his passing. All his friends got together at the Opera House. And I set up in the lobby there and just captured stories about Martin Streak. So that's the last time I think I recorded in the, uh, well, you're a little further East here.

So a little further. So this is the new record. Awesome. Okay. So quick story for the FOTMs, how this episode came to be. And then we're going to hear a lot of Jim and a lot less Mike, but,

uh, Steve Waxman came on the program. Do you know Steve? Oh yeah. Long time. Steve and Kevin Shea came over together. We were sharing stories, basically, from all their years with musicians and stuff.

And Steve Waxman told a story about how he emailed me one day about Jim Cuddy coming on Toronto Mic'd, and I ignored him. So I heard this, which is ridiculous, because I would jump at the chance to have Jim Cuddy on Toronto Mic'd. And I knew that wasn't true.

But so very quickly, I proved to him because I don't delete an email that proved him. Like, I don't know what you're smoking, but it wasn't Canada Cabana. Shout out to Canada Cabana. But then I think he felt so bad about, you know, falsely accusing me on the program that he made arrangements with the current Warner rep.

And here I am. So thank you, Steve Waxman. Thanks for ringing wrong. I never knew he was ever wrong, so that's pretty good. That's pretty good. First time for everything. Mike Boguski, by the way, played Diamond Mine in my backyard a couple of summers ago, maybe last summer.

Really? Yeah. He came over, set up his like... Tobacco Boys. Yeah, well, he went to Michael Power, so did I. Oh, okay. I knew his brother,

actually, Mark Boguski. Oh. So, yeah. And came over, set up in the backyard. This is during COVID. No one could come inside

and he was in the backyard of his keyboard or whatever and he just did this great... All the neighbors were collecting in the backyard. It was like, we were so hungry for live music.

That's great. So, let's just let everybody know that you guys are going to play. When I say you guys, I mean Blue Rodeo. Blue Rodeo is playing the Budweiser stage on August 27th. This is like an annual event. Is it safe to say you guys have the Molson Amphitheater slash Budweiser stage record for most appearances? I can't imagine anybody else has played more frequently than we have.

How close are you to the Massey Hall record? Not close because Gordon Lightfoot played, I don't know, 70 some odd times. He would do multiple, he would do these long stints, right? 20 days in a row. And then below him would be Sharon Lawson-Bram. Sharon Lawson-Bram would do multiple shows in a row. And then below him would be Sharon Lois and Bram. Sharon Lois and Bram would do multiple shows in a day.

They'd pad the stats. Yeah, so, you know, and they'd be our shows. But still, they have the record for the number of times being on that stage. And then would come us. Okay, not bad, though, to have the record in one venue, and to be, like, third place in another

important... Contestant. Contestant. I'm going to go check the archives. one venue and to be like third place in another, you know, important contestant contestant. I'm going to go check the archives, but I'd say that's pretty damn, that's pretty damn prolific and pretty awesome. So if I don't think it's like, I think there might be like a couple of lawns left. I didn't check, but there,

if you want to go see blue rodeo, the August, I saw you guys last, I don't know what, if it was the summer, cause it was at COVID delay or whatever, but I saw you last summer at the, uh,

Budweiser stage and you guys are always, uh, it was, it was, uh, it was the, um, it was at the end of the summer in the regular time.

And there was a, I think there was a capacity limit, but, uh, oh yeah. It didn't seem like that. And there was a storm just because I know, uh,

it was delayed. I remember thinking, oh, I hope this can happen. It was just a bit delayed. And, uh, storm just because I know. It was delayed. I remember thinking, oh, I hope this can happen. It was just a bit delayed. And then the skies cleared up and it turned into a beautiful night. It had been a rough summer because COVID restrictions kept coming and going. And I had one show, lightning is your enemy.

Rain, thunder, not your enemy. Lightning is your enemy. It's like playing slow pitch, right? You can play through the rain, but when that lightning shows up, everybody off the field. You've got to get off the field. Yeah. So didn't they have that at a festival recently? I think there was a big festival that they had to clear the ground.

I mean, it was 15,000 people, and there was nowhere for them to go. It's an absurd thing. But I did one show canceled because of lightning, and there was another one that was delayed and didn't look like it was happening. So I didn't even pay attention. I remember being in my dressing room and my wife came up and said, oh my God, have you looked at the weather? And I said, you have to go. And I'm not looking outside and I'm going on stage within half an hour of our appointed time. And it all worked out. I got to say, though, I was biking to that event, and I left, and it was okay. But I actually had to hunker down underneath the Humber Bay Bridge. Like, literally, because it was like a typhoon, man.

Like, the winds were sideways. I don't know why they were 95 kilometers an hour in the rain. And I remember I was under there for a good, felt like about a half an hour or so, that I was literally, like, trying to like trying to stay alive underneath this bridge. And I'm like, you know, I guess Blue Rodeo is worth it. And then, you know. Were there other people under there with you? Yeah, a few other people under there.

And the wind was sideways, right? So it was like the bridge wasn't always helping you. But we kind of looking at Bobby Orr. It was kind of like the wind was coming in sideways like Bobby Orr. But worth it. And you guys are back August 27. So we'll remind you at the end of this chat. But check out

Blue Rodeo August 27 because Blue Rodeo always kicks ass and take names. Alright Jim, we're going to go. I'm going to play a little audio and we're going to go way back. You ready? Oh yeah. Hop in the time machine with me. Here we go. Who are we listening to, Jim? I believe that's the high fives.

That's the high fives. That's the high fives. That sounds pretty proficient. I think that we'd only been a band for six months by the time, because the other side was I Don't Know Why You Love Me, and that was actually played on Q107, and I'm sure it was about six months after we became a band. So who is in the Hi-Fis?

Well, the Hi-Fis is Greg and myself, and then it's Malcolm Schell on bass. And then that is probably Jimmy Sublette on drums. But it could be Geordie Sharp. It was very funny because Geordie Sharp was our first drummer in the high fives. And he had a Jeep, and we're like, nobody had money. Like, we didn't have any money at all. He'd drive around in a Jeep. And then he's paying for beers.

I'm like, what are you doing? Where are you getting all this money? He said, never mind. I don't even talk about it anyway he's he's he was izzy sharps kid right wow yes but we had no idea we had no idea and jordy was a very talented musician and you know did did a bunch of stuff in life but i don't he wasn't our drummer for very long i don't think he was our drummer on the recording okay well by the way sounds great in the headphones like doesn't it yeah like what's your thought i wish i don't have normally when you're in my studio i got cameras on you there's nowhere to hide but here there's no cameras on us

but i was checking out your reaction and i think you're hearing this and you're digging it well i think that this this the playing sounds proficient like there's no way we could play like this every night no way but i love all the clipped vocals. It's just such of its era. Look what you've done. What era are we? Just help us out. This would be 78, 79 probably. Okay, late 70s.

Now, when I announced you were coming on the program, you know, a bunch of people, FOTMs like yourself, by the way, you're an FOTM, friend of Toronto Mike, welcome to the club. Okay, thank you.

One note came in, I'm going to kind of sprinkle them throughout the convo, but Gare Joyce. Alright. He says that you are the unlikeliest UCC student besides himself. Well, there's a difference. I think Gare was probably a graduate. I was a two-year,

had a two-year sentence, which was actually extremely good for me, because I had moved to Toronto from Montreal for grades 7 and 8. And 7 and 8 in Toronto, you're too young to know this, but that was when they were starting this notion of the free school, like choose your own subjects, eight-day schedule. Like a tourney? Well, it wasn't really a tourney.

It was all the schools. I just went to a normal middle school. But it was so free, and Montreal was so restricted. It was all sort of... I mean, I wasn't in a Catholic school, but it was always like this overbearing religious program. So when I came here, I just got lost for two years. And then my mother said,

you've got to go to Upper Canada. And I went to upper canada and it just sort of i could catch my breath so for two years and then i went back to public school but a more mature boy is is ucc upper canada college is that where you met yes no no no no i met greg when i came when i came back to north toronto collegiate institute uh i was in i guess i went in grade 11 and then 12 greg moved from montreal and he uh he was a former hockey player a hockey player with a huge attitude jeff merrick told me a story once well keeler keeler honestly i love you greg but he exaggerates his stories but he did he did he was here for a tryout with the Marlies,

and that tryout with the Marlies, which didn't go well, obviously, but he was, the Marlies were followed by Team Canada on the ice. So, you know, you can do the math. It doesn't entirely add up. But he was a very good goalie, and then he decided to play for our school team, and he was way too good for our school team and he was disruptive. But is

the story something to do with the 72 Summit Series? Okay, I guess it is the 72 Summit Series but how is that possible? Because again, I guess it's true. I guess it makes sense because they would have been doing a camp in the fall and that would have been doing a camp in the fall,

and that would have been when Greg had come to Toronto, although he didn't really come until the winter. Huh, poking some holes in the stuff. No, it's definitely true. It's definitely true. But it's difficult sometimes to get the timeline right. So the 72 series does take place. Keillor doesn't move to Toronto until the winter,

and then he comes into our class. He's sort of a split 11-12 class, and he's in that class, and that's where I get to know him. But, you know, he came in as an unusual character. He's remained an unusual character. Well, when I finally get, you know, Greg Keillor

on the program, I'll get to the bottom of that story that Merrick has been telling. It is true. I'm not discrediting it. It is true. It was a Marley tryout, and then the Marleys were followed by a skate around by some of the aspirants for the 72 series. Right. So it would have been early, and he said,

one of the things he said that was really interesting is that he said, he said, they just casually shoot, but their shots are so heavy. You know, they throw your, they throw your, uh, your glove into the net. And Greg was a, he was a formidable goalie. You know, he was a very good goalie. Okay. Um, because I want to drain the Gary Joyce swamp here before I move on. Uh, we're going to, so the timelines, I will keep it chronological, but we are jumping around a bit cause this is Toronto Mike, but, uh, he wants,. But he points out that you took the cover photos for the Cowboy Junkies albums?

Not the albums. How many? Their very first record, I think, was called Whites Off Earth. And we were friends. Greg knew them from Montreal. This is all about Montreal, right? But the Timbersons from town Mount Royal. So I got to know

them here and, um, they were at their parents' place and their parents had a pool. And I was a, I was a, um, prop and set person for TV commercials. So, and then those days you did everything on a Polaroid camera. Like that's, that's what we did. We'd take pictures of stuff, show them to directors. And so I was just messing around with it. And if you take a Polaroid picture of somebody really up close, it distorts their face in a beautiful way that people are sort of messing around with on iPhones now. But that was what it was. It was their kind of distorted faces.

And I had no idea. They didn't ask me or tell me about it. Not that they needed to. But I just was in a record store and somebody said, hey, your photos are on this record. I was like, what are you talking about? I look at it, there's all these Polaroids. That's wild.

Okay, last Gare Joy's fun fact. He knows I love the fun facts. He says, this is wild if it's true, you're going to confirm right now, that your social insurance number and Greg's social insurance number are the exact same for the first eight digits? No, ours are eight digits apart. So they're nine numbers. The last two of his are 82 and the last two of mine are 90.

Now that's remarkable because also we would have gotten those in different cities. Right. So we were just in the computer. It's just a complete fluke to be eight digits apart, which is just mind-blowing when you think, what are the odds you guys would meet each other, but not just meet each other and become friends, but become bandmates that are still rocking out today.

Like that, like it's mind-blowing. We virtually have the same initials too. He's JGK and I'm JGC. So I'm James Gordon Cuddy. He's James Gregory Keeler. Okay. There's a lot of, there's a lot of crossover. Shout Gordon Cuddy. He's James Gregory Keeler. Okay. There's a lot of, there's a lot of crossover.

Shout out to the James. My firstborn is a James. Nice. Shout out to James. Okay. So now we're kind of working our way through the high fives, but what exactly is the Blue Rodeo origin story? Like,

does it just, what happens? The high fives, give me the story, Jim. How does Blue Rodeo come to be? So the high fives played 78 to 81. And we were sort of, we climbed a mountain very quickly

with that first single. And then we started the precipitous slope on the other side down. And it was a time when, in the Toronto music scene, when there was a lot of confusion as to what kind of bands were playing what bars, and everything started to just go downhill. I mean, the punk bands weren't doing it anymore.

Pop bands weren't doing it. So bars, you know, when The Edge closed, The Edge was one of the premier outlets for modern music, and when it closed and the Garys went off to do bigger things, that was a big loss. And then the Horseshoe became kind of a, you know, they had a reggae night, an open mic night. So the number of places to play dwindled to almost nothing.

Everybody in those days had it in their mind to go to New York. So Greg and I pretty much, we just folded up the high fives, but they reached a natural end anyway. And we went down and got a band in New York and stayed there for three years. And at the end of those three years, we didn't have any success and we pursued all kinds of record contracts.

And I mean, we have millions of stories about the futility of that. But we decided that we no longer wanted to chase anything that was contemporary on the radio. We didn't want to do anything that was British sounding or hard rock sounding. And what we most naturally did was just strum guitars together

and write these songs, just pop songs. So we got a band called the Drongos who were illegal aliens New Zealanders in New York. And we just did a tape of some songs with us just strumming guitars. Wow. And that had tri and it had rose colored glasses and had all these songs on it.

And we sent it around, um, uh, to American places. And then we came back to Toronto, came back to Toronto and came back to a place that was happening. Like all of a sudden there was, so this would have been,

um, 84 and, uh, and 84, all of a sudden there was, so this would have been 84. And 84, all of a sudden there was a Queen Street scene led by Handsome Ned. Handsome Ned was kind of a neo-cowboy, lost highway guy. So there was a lot of these guys that had been in bands in the late 70s were starting to come out and be in these neo-punky country bands. And it required a lot more skill than it ever required to be in a punk band. To play guitar in a neo-country band, you had to actually play. You couldn't just chug bar chords. And so everybody had learned how to

play and there was the scene and people were coming down and we just naturally fit into that. And believe me, it was just a fluke. We wanted to have, we, we'd been seeing in New York, um, bands that were doing very unusual versions of country music. Uh, they might have a tuba instead of a bass. There would be people that had played in, you know, with Patti Smith. And there was a guy named Ned Sublette and Ned Sublette was doing these crazy great songs. You know, cow Patti Smith. And there was a guy named Ned Sublette. And Ned Sublette was doing these crazy great songs, you know. Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other and these kind of songs. And we thought, this is the scene that we fit in. But we would like to do something

that has some jamming in it. So what kind of name would suit, you know, a cowboy band that had jamming in San Francisco? So so we came up probably greg came up with uh blue rodeo so when we came back as blue rodeo we were a bit notorious because we'd been in new york and that was a big deal to torontonians so our first shows were were absolutely packed like we had no idea and we hadn't played honestly we'd never played to success prior to that so that's a long time and And where were these first shows? What venues? Very first show.

Well, the very first show on our own would have been the Rivoli. Okay. And it's funny, you mentioned, I want to drop this fun fact before we go too far, but you dropped it, but the New Zealanders in New York recording music, that's the plot of Flight of the Conchords. Oh, God.

I can't stand that show. Oh, really? Oh, I can't stand it. I can't handle it. I my my son's like it i don't know if my daughter it's hilarious i've heard that a million times and i try to listen to it i think these guys are so dumb i can't watch this i don't know just and i like dumb humor sure get me wrong that's okay i it's funny uh big fan here but that's so i won you. You know, to each his own. But yeah, you mentioned that. Oh, and the scene,

you mentioned Handsome Ned. Can you name check any of the other artists when you came back to Toronto who were part of this Queen Street scene? I just love hearing who was there playing at the time. Name check anybody. Okay, so there would have been, Jack DeKaiser would have been playing,

and he would have been playing the Bobcats, but maybe they were starting to slow down by then. There was, Handsome Ned had a lot of splinter bands that came out from Handsome Ned. There was also, there was alternative scenes. Molly Johnson lived in the Cameron then, and she'd come down and do her Blue Mondays, I think it was called, and she'd do kind of early holiday stuff.

There was, there was still, there was, Oh God, what's the name of the place? It was down the street from the horseshoe, but they, they still did sort of Caribbean music. And so there was the satellites that would play there. Oh my God. So many others that I'm forgetting. Well, that's cool. That's cool.

Now, a question for you. Where did you meet Bob Wiseman? So when we were in New York, we... There's so much cross-pollination here. I love it. So we came down to New York. My wife was... Well, my girlfriend at the time, she was already down there goingination here. So we came down to New York. My wife was,

well, my girlfriend at the time, she was already down there going to acting school. I came down, then she had lived with a woman named Joanna Speller in Toronto, rooming, you know, like they rooms in a house and Joanna was coming down because she was a dancer and she was going to pursue a career in dance. So she came down and her boyfriend sort of was Howard Wiseman. And so Howard moved down and there was some, she had, she had a, she had a, uh, complicated love life. So there was some, you know, sometime we're answering the phone, don't answer the phone or don't say I'm here. And, but Howard came down and then they lived together just beside us. Serena and I got an apartment in Little Italy and, and Joanna got from the same, same landlord apartment just up the street. So Howard became a good friend. So we were down

there for, I don't know what, three years. And Howard became a good friend. And when we moved back to Toronto, I think Greg might have moved into Howard's. Howard had a rental on Major Street and Bobby, his youngest brother, lived there. And Bobby played, you know, Bobby was, I think, just pretty much recently out of the York Jazz Improvisation School. Now, I don't know why he was interested in us, and he ultimately wasn't interested in us. But he started playing with Greg, and then we got the band together very quickly. Like, we were out on the town when we came back, and we ran into Cleve Anderson,

who we knew from his previous incarnation, the Sharks. So the Sharks were an extremely popular band, and they were an edge band, and managed by the people that ran the edge. And they'd had some troubles, you know, recorded a record and didn't work out, and so they all split up, or maybe they weren't split up at the time,

but Cleve and his buddy bass player, Basil, was gone from it. So we ran into Cleve, and Cleve was celebrating the birth of his son, Tristan. And we said, you know, we're starting a band. Isn't it like in every bar in North America, somebody's going, we're starting a band, want to be in it? And he said, yeah, sure.

And he'd heard about us coming back. Like I said, being in New York made you notorious. Right. And then he said his buddy, Basil, who he hadn't talked to for quite a while, was not in a band right now. And so we put an ad in the Now magazine that Greg conceived, and it said something like, if you've lost three or four years to drinking,

done acid at least 25 times, and can still keep time, give Jim or Greg a call. And Basil did answer that ad. Wow. And again, in comedic history, my wife answered the phone, still my girlfriend. No, I think she was my wife at the time, but she wouldn't take a message. She said, just call back when he's not here right now. Just call back. She says, no, just take my number. We just take my number. So funny thing is I still have that phone book with Basil's name written there

and his number from his house, right? Because she never really passed on the message to me. But Cleve got in touch with him, and it was immediately apparent that we gelled. Like as soon as we got together and started playing songs, it was immediately apparent that it was working. And then shortly after that, Greg said, you know, this guy, Bobby Wiseman, is a good piano player. Why don't we think of incorporating him? And Bobby was the essential element that, you know, made us different because he played his instrument different and he improvised all the time. He's

an amazing musician. Someone referred to Bobby Wiseman as the George Harrison to your Paul McCartney and Greg's John Lennon. Yeah, I think, I mean, I have great admiration for George Harrison, but I think that that underplays Bobby's abilities. Bobby was a very, very skilled musician, Bobby's abilities. Bobby was a very, very skilled musician. And he was able to really create a musical bond with the rhythm section and do very outside things that nobody else was doing.

I mean, it was what we hoped for. But we were not entirely capable of it ourselves at the time. But Bobby was. Okay, so I'm trying to get the timelines right here. Outskirts. So where at the time, but Bobby was. Okay, so I'm trying to get the timelines right here. Outskirts, so where in the story, is this where Outskirts is now to be recorded? No. No, okay.

Because 84 is when we get together, 85 is when we do our first gig, and that's in February of 85, and that's at the Rivoli. And then we're very disillusioned by the record industry. Like, we've, you know, the funny story is we sent our tape around to everybody in New York.

And in New York, it's much easier to get to in our people than it is in Canada. In Canada, you'd think that they all live in, you know, secure locations that you're not, you shouldn't be privy to know where they are. And we'd already had a rejection from all the songs that ultimately were on our first record but that's doesn't matter interesting so there's this guy named uh steve rubowski and he's the uh he's the anr guy for cbs and he he calls us and says i i love your tape that's great when are you playing like dude

we are gone we live in toronto we don't we're not down in new york he said look just do one more gig for me one more gig i'd love to see you guys this is great stuff so we you know like charlie brown kicking the football we get all our staff to our first gig or maybe our second gig and we put all our stuff in greg's dad's pinto we drive down at cbgb's where we're one of four bands on the bill. Right. Three bands have Steve Hrabowski on the guest list. Three bands.

He's promised to come see. And he doesn't show. Oh. Right. So we play this show. I think, okay, that is great because now we are truly done with this stupid industry. So we come back to Toronto really not wanting to have anything to do with the recording industry, just wanting to play live.

And that's pretty much what we did for the next three, two years, two and a half years. And we really kept going even after we made a record because we didn't really, you know, we'd seen so much of the dumb and dark side of the recording industry. We just never thought it was possible, especially in Toronto. There was no Canadian bands, and there's certainly no bands like us on the radio.

You know, that was Van Halen time. Right. So, okay. Now, wow, let me see here. I want to talk about, here, let's play the first big jam most people remember hearing from Blue Rodeo and talk about that and then a little outskirts talk.

And then I want to get back to Cleve Anderson here for a moment here. But this is actually, just so you know, Jim, when I got married in the distillery district to my beautiful wife, Monica. Hi, Monica. There was a dance for mother and son. And so my mom and I, and this was our song. Oh, nice. was our song. Nice. That's sweet. Don't tell me I'm wrong

Cause I've been watching Every move that you make Oh, you steal And you make up the heels Trouble for the man that you date. Every time you walk in the room, I couldn't ever be sure of a smile. You were never the same way twice. I'm falling in love, oh not after nine. I could listen to the whole thing, but I have Jim Cuddy here, so I'll bring it down.

You guys know how to find this song. Okay, what can you tell me about writing this song and recording this song? Well, the song was written in New York, and it was written as more of an R&B song, but it didn't really work that way. So when we slowed it down, it did work well. I think one of the things I noticed is that my singing style has totally changed. At this point, I'm holding notes.

I'm trying to articulate different things with notes as opposed to the clip, like, look what you've done. And that sort of, I think that that whole change for Greg and I to be more natural, to do something that was more natural to us was just, that was the biggest thing that, biggest alteration that we ever made, but not to try to chase anything this song

You know obviously we we used to play it in our bar set and it was a song that everybody asked for twice so We would play it twice a night You know we played in the set and then somebody would say you got that song again So we play in the third set so we were pretty sure that we had something going nobody sang like this and nobody did falsetto so that was pretty unusual and uh when we recorded it wasn't the first single off outskirts outskirts was the first single off outskirts and it didn't do anything which we didn't really expect it to we thought, we're just going to be a bar band, so it's fine. And then this came out.

And back in those days, there was a lot of mail strikes. I mean, enough mail strikes that our drummer, Cleve, was a mailman. I was going to bring that up. Well, we'll go there in a minute. But anyway, they put it out during a mail strike. Nothing happened. So our manager at the time, John Caton, forced them to re-release it. And when they re-released it, then it went through the roof. And it was really weird for us because we had never, we'd tasted bar success and we knew what that was like. We knew what it was

like to have people come line up to see us. That was something we thought was great. We were accustomed to that. But we had no idea what a radio song did for you. And I was still working at the time. I would be doing props. And there used to be this thing on the AM radio station. And that was the most powerful station, single station. It used to be the 7 at 7.

Which station? Was it 7? Top 6 at 6 with CFTR. No. 680 CFTR. Oh, 680 CFTR? Okay.

At this time, yeah. Because they don't flip to all news until like 93 or something. So then it's CFTR. So it's top 6 at 6. So when I was working in props, we'd be on the set, right? And then everybody'd stop at 6 and they'd make bets, right? And everybody's betting against me. Like, Tri's not going to be there. You suck, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I said, okay, I'll take all those bets. And it's always there. Like, it was there for weeks and it was climbing up, climbing up. One, two, one, two, three. And I thought it was a game. I thought it was a joke. And it's doing it at radio stations across the country. And we don't really realize until we start traveling.

We get an offer for Calgary. We get an offer for Halifax. And people are going mental. And you're just like, well, for one song. Okay, so we have radio. And I'm going to have a follow-up radio question. But what about much music? Okay, so that's the thing that makes the biggest difference

is because John, oh, please, let me remember his name. Anyway, John, who ran much music. Martin. John Martin? John Martin. Yeah. John Martin. John Martin ran much music, and he put the video into high rotation.

And we found out really not that much later, because John's very open book was an open book. And always found it at the bar across the street. I know. He was a great guy, and he was very imaginative, and he turned that thing into what it was. Sure. He hated the video, but he loved the song.

So he said, I don't care. Play the video. I hate the fucking thing't care play the video i hate the fucking thing but play the video so uh so of course that that changed because that gave a visual and it was a cool looking video and again it was aided by the fact that i worked at a film company that did tv commercials and michael buckley was a brand new south african um cameraman that came in and he directed that video. And it's beautiful. It's shot on film. I mean, all our first 10, 15 videos were all shot on film. And I was very lucky, you know, that was Roseanne McWaters that owned that company and just did a huge,

a huge lift for us. Amazing. And I will tell you, i was one of those people who was listening to the top six at six on cftr back then and i remember hearing it and then much music was a big deal to me like so that's sort of it's like try i don't remember outskirts being the first single i remember you wouldn't because it get in it got it got featured play on cfny that's it so who would you do you have any memory of which show and cfny featured it do you have any memory oh no absolutely not no we didn't even know what feature meant feature just meant they would play it once in the middle of the night right right right okay they probably had a local uh a mandate to play some local stuff there whatever okay cool so radio wise those we can talk about the big top

40 stations in this country but i was told that uh ckln was a big supporter of blue rodeo before the you know the standard stations the typical big msm stations uh clued in with you know try breaking uh like i don't even know like maybe tell us a little bit about you know hearing yourselves on ckln for the first time and and is there an like is there an equivalent today in 2022 as we chat to that kind of community radio, finding a local band and playing it before, you know, the big Rogers-owned CFTR and all that caught on? There was, again, Handsome Ned had a show on it

called the Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor Show. And he would bring on the local artists, the Queen Street artists, and and you know, you'd chat and play and he'd play your record if you had one or whatever. But he kept, he created a profile for all those artists. And there was, it was really kind of an amazing time because Queen Street, those bars, there's a lot of bars and a new one opened, the Holiday Tavern opened, and it was another 400 seats. And there was no limit. There was no point at which, oh, we have too many bars,

too many seats, you can't fill it. People just kept coming down because it was such an active and enjoyable scene. And there was also a bit of a fashion thing. People would come down in kind of neo-cowboy garb. But he was, CKLN was very obviously community oriented and they did a lot of things. They did a lot more than just music. They did dance, they did art, they did everything. DJ Ron Nelson, that was the first guy to play like hip hop music.

Is that right? On CKLN, yeah, the Fantastic Boy. Oh, okay. Well, I didn't know that. So they were, they created a Toronto arts profile. And I think they also had, did they have a picnic or was that Ryerson Picnic? It might have been a Ryerson Picnic sponsored by CKL. Anyway, there was also that over on the island. There was this big picnic. And not the one the Garys were putting on.

No, no, no, no, not the police picnic. This is like a bunch of local acts and, you know, big stage. But I think that that... See, that was part of where we got this idea that we didn't really want or need a record company because we liked what was going on. We really enjoyed playing the bars.

We liked being popular. We were making a little extra money, which was nice. And there was this adjunct to it that was CKLN and CKUA to a certain degree at U of T, not as much, but- Oh, CIUT. CIUT, sorry. Don't worry, I'm here to fact check. Thanks. I can get the broad picture. And so, and I mean, I think a lot of us, a lot of, you know, I tell these stories, a lot of what I think is this gratitude to Handsome Ned. You know, he was so industrious and he was the only guy in that scene that felt like he was going to be signed and going to be huge.

The rest of us was like, first of all, good for you, but it's not happening for any of us. If you listen to the radio lately, none of us are going to get signed. Is that because radio at that time is like Madonna and Phil Collins, and I'm trying to think of what, George Michael maybe? Like this was, you know, weirdest. Isn't that even a little bit early for that? Because 85, 86, it's really dominated by hard rock acts. That was the main, you know, it's a big white and stuff like that. Oh, great white.

Great white. Great white? Great white, yeah. Great white, okay. Yeah, yeah. Once bit and twice shy, right? And White Snake. I'm thinking of White Snake.

Yeah, David. White Snake. White Snake. White Snake. Those kind of bands. It was ridiculous. I remember even when we first started, we did some kind of promo in New York with Mr. Big.

The two of us. What do we have to do with each other? Mr. Big, Want to Be With You, I think was the... Oh, my goodness gracious. Yeah, I'm good, actually. If you ever want to do Bard trivia. Here's a quick fun fact, though, because we've been talking about the Garys.

Two days ago, I was at the Art of ontario because there's this great exhibit that jim sheddon um who by the way went to high school with uh stephen page and ed robertson from bare naked ladies so there you go but he's got on display at the art gallery right now gary tops day planner it's like the fattest like book with all the numbers. It's wild even. It's under glass. You can't flip through it. But your number might be in there. Oh, I'm sure. Your number's probably in Gary Top's data.

We were never part of the inner circle of Gary Top or Gary Cormier. So I'm not sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was probably a good thing for us because, again, it fostered independence. But those guys created and then folded a scene and then created a whole other scene with their with their police picnics and and their their secret the secret to their success as i see it is that they didn't book a band unless they unless they legitimately dug the band like they had to be actual true fans of

the music or they weren't going to book them no matter like who it was or how they were connected to whom like so it's sort of a curated content if you will by the the gary's hey uh before we get too far away from try because we're going to do three and a half hours here on try just kidding gordo wrote in gordo wrote thank you blue rodeo for all the amazing music over the decades i'd like to echo that by the way thank you like for being just the soundtrack of our lives here for the last 30 years like unbelievable so thank you jim cuddy that's nice thank you so much hello jim this is gordo talking not toronto mike hello jim huge fan what was your inspiration behind the amazing song try and then he wants to know when did you know that blue rodeo had made it What was your inspiration behind the amazing song Try?

And then he wants to know, when did you know that Blue Rodeo had made it? The inspiration behind Try was really just trying to make, you know, in those days, writing a song, you were a little bit boxed in by style, you know? So we wanted to write songs that had opportunity for jamming. We wanted to write songs that had the opportunity for jamming. We wanted to write songs that had some energy. It was relatively unusual to write a ballad. But I wanted to write a ballad because I thought that my voice could do more than what it was doing.

And there was a couple of songs around, and certainly there was lots of R&B songs, where there was falsetto. And so I wanted to try to write a song that had falsetto in it. And, you know, I just started singing. And I imagined, you know, there's a great kind of sappy love triangle of somebody giving advice to somebody else saying, you know, you're great, you go off and have a great life, but they're actually in love with that person.

So that was the little emotional map that was in my mind. But it was really trying to write a song that would be some broad in my vocal chops. It's funny you're talking about your voice because this next question from Clark, he says, my question, why did Greg have such a twang in his voice on the first record, but never since? Question mark, question mark. Anyone ever noticed that? Like, this is obviously, Clark's been wondering this

for decades. So I think Greg was, you know, Greg was a lot more influenced by things that he loved. Greg was a lot more influenced by things that he loved. And I think that what he was doing was sort of maybe unintentionally imitating things that he loved. That's funny. Because, yes, we listen back and we do impressions of each other. That's funny. Michael Grange, who does a great job covering Raptors for Sportsnet. I don't even know where this is going. You tell me what this means.

Does Jim remember the Blue Heads? Of course. Not even do I remember it. I have tried to mention it to Michael on the few times when I've met him, and he looks at me as if he doesn't remember. But I believe it was Mount Allison. We used to play Mount Allison. We used to play the,antly, back when we started,

almost all the universities had full-time programmers, music programmers. So somebody that was hired, not even a student, just somebody who's hired to bring in music. Right. And it was always live bands, and that was the renaissance of Canadian bands. Like, they were bringing in one band after another.

But are we talking about, like, Max're talking later we're talking about later than that we're talking about katie lang we're talking about jeff feely we're talking about us we're talking about cowboy junkies we're talking about um uh anyway we're talking about all that era of canadian bands and so when we we play mount a because it was a very good place for us to play. And then we'd start, we'd go and do PEI or we'd do this. And all of a sudden we'd see on the boat, the same people we saw the night before, Michael Grange being one of them. And then we'd go to Halifax and Michael Grange would be there. Now he would have been a Mountie student at the time.

And it was the first time that we ever had any of that, you know, deadhead stuff. Right. That people are following us around and seeing every show. Wild. So, uh, that was a big deal. It's called Blue Heads.

I don't know whether we named them or they named themselves, but we were very, like Parrot Heads. We were very, very impressed by that. So then, you know, flash forward many years later,

I see Michael on, I see, cause I recognize him. I see Michael on, because I recognize him. I see him on, he's doing the basketball and he's this serious. Three-point green. He's this serious guy. And a couple of times I said, Michael, hi, you remember him? And he just blanks it out. Like, okay, I guess you don't want to talk about it. Well, when he heard, because he follows me on Twitter, when he heard Jim Cuddy was coming on,

right away there's a Michael Grains. He wants to know if you remember the Blue Heads. I love that story, by the way. That's amazing. That was a big deal for us. That was a big deal. You see, going back to one of the other questions, when did you know you'd made it?

Right. We knew, I mean, we never thought we'd made it. I kept my union card until 95. I kept my job until after we were touring Diamond Mine. So anyway, but there were so many things that were so different, like being recognized in an airport. People go, oh my God. Right.

Or people following us in the East Coast. Those were things that had never happened to us before. And so they were little inklings that things were different. I don't think that we could ever admit to ourselves we'd made it. Right. And I mean, Jim, I know you're happily married and all that, but you did become a bit of a sex symbol in this country, right? I mean, I've heard from people that there are, you know,

women and men probably too crushing on Jim Cuddy. Oh, I'm just responding to that. I don't know. And I think that, you know, there's a great power to being in. You couldn't have been oblivious to this. No. Look, you know who's oblivious? Glenn.

Glenn is the best looking guy in the band. He's oblivious. And you say, Glenn, there's people staring at you all the time. Oh, I don't know. But I think that there's a great power in being in a band that people like. I mean, the same as being rich or being a politician. And I think we were just, we'd done so much by the time Blue Rodeo happened that there was very little of that went on in the band.

You know? I mean, it's not like people didn't have girlfriends and people didn't have people, ships in every port, but it's not, it's not, it was not the back and alien thing they hear about. Okay, let me ask, and I've had Ingrid Schumacher on the program and we've talked in depth about this,

but I'm interested in your perspective. So does Cleve Anderson leave after Outskirts or after Diamond Mine? He makes Diamond Mine and then he leaves. But believe me, Cleve is truly one of the most unique, wonderful and funny guys I've ever met. And he claims he never left.

We just wouldn't adjust our schedule to keep him in demand. And when he finally retired from the post office, he had a post office job. And our mandate was that we could play anywhere as long as he was back by 5 in the morning to do his job. So we'd travel on weekends. And then if there was a postal strike or he'd take a leave of absence, this kind of stuff. Right. But he said he never told us he was leaving the post office.

So when he finally retired from the post office, he phoned us up and said, tell Glenn thanks for covering for me. He's coming back. He actually, I know, because when I mentioned, I think before we pressed, oh no, was it during the recording? Probably before the, yeah, during the recording,

I mentioned Michael Bogusky's come over to play in my backyard. And he lives in like Mimico. I'm in New Toronto, right beside Mimico. And I believe he's in a band today with Cleve Anderson. Yeah, yeah. We have what's called an organ trio. Okay. Oh, Cleve plays in a lot of bands.

Cleve never stopped playing. But he didn't, you know what, he didn't really like being away from home. He had a young family, and he really wanted to devote his time to his family. And there's one very, very important moment where we're playing in Europe, we're playing in Germany, and actually there's a lot of photos from that tour, and Cleve looks so grim because we're away quite a while.

And when we were at the frankfurt airport we just kept being delayed and so those are the days where it go flick flick flick the numbers would click over right and you know our flight would be one hour delayed flick flick flick flick two hours and you could just see clay's cleve's face drop more and more and more i think we're delayed like eight hours and i think we realized that that was the end. Like, Cleve was not going to be able to do this. And, you know, that, looking back at it now, you're like, oh, interesting

decision, but at the time, like, lots of bands kind of put out a couple of albums and then fizzle out kind of deal. Like, you know, Post Office sounds like the better bet, maybe. I don't think that was it for, I don't think it was it for any of us. I don't think any of us felt like, okay, great, we're going to be world famous

and this is going to be amazing and we're going to have all kinds of money. No, I think that for Cleve, it was, I think all of us got into it because we thought we sounded good together. Right. And they liked the songs and we liked them. And I think Cleve, he's not kidding.

He never quit. He just never said he was going to stay. And he wanted to be, he wanted to have this solid life and then play music around it. Have music be secondary and his life be primary. And we always respected that. It was terrible to lose Cleve. Right.

And yet every, you know, every loss is an opportunity. I mean, Glenn is an amazing drummer and he took us to all kinds of different heights. And so, yeah, I mean, it was hard to lose Bobby. Sure. But again, works out. You know, hearing that Cleve story, and we'll get to hockey in a minute because I have a few questions for you about hockey that came in. But, you know, Dave Hodge came over and we were talking about the pen flip and then I was I mentioned that CBC

fired him after that and he's very quick to correct you he's like he never got fired like Dave Hodge no one ever told him he didn't work there anymore he just went off and did something else and they just replaced him but there was no like you're fired according to Dave he says yeah have you unless you well i know something well and i think he's obviously he's right it's his it's his biography right but he was not scheduled to work again yeah so i guess a little bit when you're not on the schedule it's a bit of semantics i suppose when they it's like you work at mcdonald's you're not you don't get any more shifts right you were never fired you just stopped getting your that's right

bookings very good point here. Hey, Blue Rodeo appeared at the end of Postcards from the Edge, right? Yeah. So how did that come to be? Well, subsequently to being hired, we found out that Meryl Streep, when she was doing The Witches of Eastwick, was being driven to and from her Connecticut home to New York, I guess, where they're filming. And the driver played her Blue Rodeo. And she really liked it. And then when she started to do Postcards from the Edge, they wanted to have a real band at the end that she would sing

with so that it would be authentic. Andard shore was the music director absolutely stupendous guy yeah and he knew about us because he's canadian and so really we got a call out of the blue and i remember our manager saying uh would you like to be in a mike nichols merrill street movie and like i guess what are you talking about and when it all came down, like they flew up to, I can't remember exactly how this goes, but we used a back room of the Diamond Club in those days, which is the Phoenix now. And we just did a little audition.

I think Howard was there. Howard was there, Meryl Streep was there, Mike Nichols came up. And they wanted to just hear us play because the whole thing's amazing. It's a Shel Silverstein song. And I remember calling Shel Silverstein and he said, look, man, it's this way, but you can

do it however you want. And it's, you know, I'm stepping out of this heartbreak hotel. Wow. And we were still sort of an amped up band. So we did this fast version of it. So we did this fast version of it. So we played it slow like they wanted. And then we said, you know, what we could probably do is do this.

And time, stepping out. And Mike Nichols said, great, we'll use that for the credits. And I remember saying to, we're talking to Meryl Streep and saying, oh, when did you get in? She said, we got in around 1 a.m. last night. I said, oh, I didn't know flights flew that late. And she looked at me and I thought, oh, you don't fly commercial, do you? Right.

That's funny. Felt like a rube. Well, let's talk about Blue Rodeo and the USA just for a moment here, because I speak to you from Toronto. I was born and raised in Toronto. I'm literally known as Toronto Mike and the program we're on right now is called Toronto Mike so everything's viewed through this Toronto you know perspective this lens if you will but is it like maybe we turn in the the mic to you now uh like how important was it for you guys to have success in the USA? I think that there was varying degrees of desire on that. I thought it would be great, but it didn't totally matter to me. I thought

what we were doing was great. I mean, I thought we were so embraced by absolutely everywhere in Canada and we had a lot of work. I always felt like just follow the process you know we we got every opportunity in the world we had all kinds of reviews we were on all the talk shows yeah we played shows it just it we're different you know I think that one of the things well just to go back how important was it I think it was important to Greg I think Greg thought that it would be something that would happen and I think maybe he was disappointed um i don't think i was ever disappointed i wish we'd done better you know i wish that when we went back to someplace it was it was full and everybody's crazy about us but it didn't uh wasn't deflating to not have happened

but i think that one of the the stark or maybe fertile revelations is that we're different countries and we have different cultural understandings and a band like blue rodeo is a natural fit in canada because canadians have no problem with duality they don't have problem with two different singers, very different singers, different songs, different styles mashed into one. States was always way more befuddled about that. Who's the lead singer? What kind of band are you?

And if those questions are asked, there's no point in answering because they already don't get it. So I think that, you know, when we saw the bands that did succeed, like the Barenaked Ladies or something, they were a very definable band. This is who they are.

And they really appealed to college kids. And on they went. Well, we really appealed to college kids in Canada. And those college kids grew up differently. They grew up with different, uh, different story in front of them. And so it's been an interesting, uh, history to, to, to absorb, to think it's, we're different countries. Like I know everybody knows we're different now because there's so much turmoil going on in the United States. But I think all along we've been different. We

were kind of lulled into this feeling that, hey, we're just the same. We watch the same television programs. We laugh at the same jokes. No, we don't. We really don't. Some of the stuff we'd say in the States would be, what are you talking about?

And in Canada, Canadians really get anything ironic. They totally get it. You say something that's bizarre and you mean the opposite, they totally get it. In the that's bizarre and and you mean the opposite they totally get it in the states you have to say i didn't mean that i'm not obviously the stupid generalization but i mean it was it was we were we understood over and over again that we were playing to different people well it's interesting to hear you comment on uh like who's who's the lead singer is it jim it Greg I always felt when I when I've seen you many many times I've seen a blue rodeo live and it feels like there are Jim

songs which I love and there are Greg songs which I love like is there any friendly competition within the band like in terms of pushing singles and you know like okay i'll for example try i hear try i think that's a jim cuddy song i hear try beautiful jim and i hear diamond mine and i think oh that's a greg greg keeler song like any fun-hearted or maybe not so fun-hearted competition in the band regarding whose jams get promoted and releases singles etc yeah i think that we wanted to make it pretty equal from the beginning. Like if I'd had a single and he'd have a single, sometimes it was obvious that what should be the first single.

And what you don't want to do is just be the single guy, and what you don't want to do is just be the album track guy. Right. And I think that if there's obviously competition between Greg and I dragon eyes can't help but be that way but i think what it did was push us to write more songs i don't think it i don't think we ever criticized each other's songs or said oh that's we should never release that that's horrible and you know there's so much more to being to being in a band than than that and i think that one of the most fortunate things that happened in our band

was that try was the first single but diamond wine was the second album single and that defined the two extreme poles of our band like if you can like diamond wine and try right okay we're good it's like a venn diagram that's right it is it's true so so that it's fine and then you know i think the other thing that happened to us in terms of careers, having that sort of just when everybody was ready to write us off, like, come on, they've had three albums. This is ridiculous. Then we had five days in May or five days in July, which is, well, that mistake is coming up later. Okay. Nevermind. Very confusing.

Okay. All right. Okay. What were you trying to do to us? I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. But I mean, I think that those, you know, every so often something good would happen to each songwriter. Right. So that it evened itself out. If it had been too much one way and not enough the other way, it obviously would have been a problem. Nobody wants to be swamped by the other guy.

I think you struck a pretty solid balance, to be quite honest. It would be difficult to do better than you did in terms of uh you know sharing the stage there but okay and for don't i don't think greg will hear this who knows but i just want you to know my mom is a jim cuddy like my mom goes and see i took her to the massive i get i get that i get to stuff all the time people call i say will you sign this i'm not really a jim cuddy fan but i like greg but will you sign it so you didn't have to tell me that yeah that's unnecessary information. Listen, whenever I have Greg on, I'll probably tell him that my mom's a Greg guy. And that's okay too.

She is a big Jim Petty guy. Okay, so I'm going to get some questions here. And don't worry, I know that you're like, oh, we just got to try. It's been an hour or whatever. Don't worry. This is heavy on the beginning here. But who do i want to call

on first okay jason mcneil wrote in 1991 sydney nova scotia blue rodeo on a bill with joan jett randy bachman 13 engines was told by keeler years ago the band never got paid that night and aptly opened with but we've heard heard already, what am I doing here? Any recollections of that concert? Oh, of course. Yeah, of course. Because that was, I think that one of the things you have to learn in the business is how to get paid.

And what you have to learn to begin with is how easy it is to not get paid. Because nobody, well, unless you're really hard ass, you're at the concert and you realize you're not being paid and and there's people waiting to hear you you're going on so you you keep it as a lesson i remember i'm pretty sure bachman got paid he i think bobbing got bachman got his uh his uh his deposit but joan jack got paid before she would go on. And then she left right after. So she was smart, but I mean,

that happens all the time. And obviously we've put all these systems in place so that it can't happen to us again. But we would never, ever not play. Right. And unless somebody was trying to screw the audience, we would never not play.

and, but the promoter knows that, right? Like it's sort of like a game of chicken at some point. I mean, they're high risk people. You know, they're used to this. There are people that own businesses in town and they've started a little company to do this and it doesn't work. They fold that company and they walk away.

So, yeah. I have these events. Not as big as that event we just talked about, Joan, Jed, and you guys, but I have these Toronto Mic Listener experiences and the 10th one is happening

September 1st at the Great Lakes Brewery in Southern Etobicoke. September 1 from 6 to 9, everyone listening is invited and I have some live, some musicians will come and do some acoustic jams.

Just to shout out a few, Tom Wilson, who I was going to say Tom Wilson from Junkhouse. And I have some live, some musicians will come and do some acoustic jams. Just to shout out a few, Tom Wilson, who I was going to say Tom Wilson from Junk House. I guess he hasn't been in Junk House. From everything. No, there's still a Junk House.

There's still a Junk House? Okay. Yeah. Because Black in the Rodeo Kings is his go-to thing there. So that guy, big, great FOTM, he's going to do something.

Danny Graves from The Watchman. That's going to be amazing. And Blair Packham from The Jitters. He's all excited to do so. Like, yeah. And Jim Cuddy. Oh, no, I'm sorry. I haven watchman that's going to be amazing and blair packham from the jitters he's all excited to do so like yeah so and jim cuddy oh no i'm sorry i haven't uh but it's even and i don't it's a free thing i don't i cost it could cost me money i guess it uh no one pays to attend you get free food from palma pasta so i'm just letting everybody know palma pasta delicious authentic italian food in Mississauga and Oakville. They're going to feed everybody who comes out.

Great Lakes is going to host and give everybody a free beer. I have a gift for you, Jim, before we say goodbye here later. So it's going to be an awesome night. But it's like even me arranging these people who are kind FOTMs or playing for free, they're playing for, some of them are playing for beer, some don't even drink, so they're playing for water, okay? They're playing for Palma pasta.

Like even high risk. It's like, oh, you know, like what if this happens or whatever? Anyway, even my little three hour event that I'm doing, me,

myself and I, it's a high anxiety happening. It's like, it's all live. People are there for something, something that you need to deliver something in real time. So, so yeah.

I think that, you know, what we've seen also after the pandemic is, is even, even too early after the pandemic, people are putting on big shows and there's still some hesitancy of people coming, but promoters got to promote, you know, they, that's what they do. Right. And that's what, that's what gives them a buzz. That's they, they risk a lot, they lose, they win. I suppose you you win big i don't know how big you win but i just want to take up one little linguistic thing yeah so when i was in new york

yeah uh as a waiter i would say to the people you know uh today's pasta is blah blah blah and they go they go did you hear the way he said pasta? It's supposed to be pasta. And they had very strong New York accents, right? So I'm wondering, why do you pronounce it pasta? I have an answer. It's funny you mention that, because once in a while people will tell me I'm saying it wrong. No, no. It's because we had Mother's Pizzeria. You remember Mother's back in the day?

And there was a commercial, and Dennis Weaver. You know Dennis Weaver? Yes, of course. So I'd watch this commercial and Dennis Weaver, and I think he would say this, pizza pasta made perfect. Okay. All right. So I'm like pretty, I don't know,

like seven, eight years old or whatever. And I'm seeing this ad all the time. And I happen to be a huge Mother's Pizza fan. And then I heard some Blue Jays were investing and I was a big Blue Jays fan from the drive of 85 and everything. So it all kind of came together. And even when I met Anthony Petrucci from Palma

Pasta, like I only know it as pasta because of Dennis Weaver. Dennis Weaver's American. So maybe he's saying... Do they pronounce it pasta? No, I asked Anthony once. He says pasta. I've got to tell you I have trouble with words like... Can you say the word brewery?

Brewery. Again. Brewery. Brewery. Not so easy. Brewery. And you're sober, right? Okay. Honestly, certain words.

But I don't think it's a linguistic difficulty. I think it's a choice. It's like people saying aunt. So my daughter came back from four years of school in Halifax saying aunt. I was like where did that come from? We've said aunt. You can say aunt if you like but

you've said aunt all your life. That almost sounds British aunt. So that's my pasta story. I would imagine it would be pasta. So you can blame Dennis Weaver. And the fun fact is, do you know who Dennis Weaver's daughter is? No.

Sigourney Weaver. Come on. That's a fun fact. I did not know that. Yeah. And I think, I didn't see too much. I was a bit young for, like, the Ponderosa and all that stuff. But Dennis Weaver, was he on the Ponderosa?

No. No, okay. No, he was a, but he was a sheriff. He was a country sheriff in something. Something. I can't remember. Because I remember he had the mustache. Pizza pasta made perfect.

Okay. All right. Yeah, that doesn't sound right. Pizza pasta. Pizza pasta made perfect. But man, it would be so funny when people say, could you hear what he said? Oh my God, he can hardly talk.

Or people say, you say a boot instead of a boat. This is the one I hear from Americans. Oh, God. Yeah. Oh, here's another one. Foyer. Okay. Oh, we'll meet you in the foyer

before we... Foyer. Oof. Foyer sounds horrible to me. It's like a front here, like a massacre to the language. But foyer, like is that pretentious

to say foyer? I was raised with foyer. I don't think so. And you see, I think that goes back to our duality. I think that we all grew up in a bilingual country,

whether that's going away now or not. But what we're used to is we're used to English not being the only dominant language in our neighborhood, in our city. That's for sure. It's a big deal. That's for sure, especially us Torontonians. Steph MC says,

I've heard Jim say that when Greg reached out to discuss creating the latest Blue Rodeo album, that Jim was working on, a solo album, and had to switch gears, wondering how he prepares to write differently for each group. So now we'll introduce, and we're going to come back to Blue Rodeo because a lot of Blue Rodeo questions

and have some more songs. But how do you separate, Jim, Blue Rodeo writing and performing Blue Rodeo with the Jim Cuddy band? Well, I mean, I don't think I do it consciously, but there was definitely a switch. And I think what happens just upon reflection is that the stuff I write solo,

because there's nobody else in my head but myself. So the stuff I write solo is a little bit more personal. It's a little bit more autobiographical. And when I had to do the switch because I was I mean I was three quarters through a record they're all just you know there's eight songs done

then I think I I and also I knew I was doing it alone because Greg and I recorded in two entirely different places and we just sent stuff to each other because we couldn't do anything other than that's a pandemic pandemic right and so i think that these songs on this

record are a little bit more personal and a little bit more attached to my solo uh output than they are to con commonly what i would do for blue rodeo interesting. Interesting. Now, Craig M., who's seen you with Blue Rodeo and the Jim Cuddy band, he says one of his favorite venues to see you guys in is Massey Hall. I'm sure a lot agree with that. Do you, Jim, have a favorite venue to play? Well, I would say Massey Hall

is truly one of the great places to play. But, you know, there's a lot of places around the country. So playing in St. John's, Newfoundland, and playing at Mile One Stadium can be a huge high. But you never know where it's going to happen. On this tour, currently, the shows that we did in Hamilton, at Hamilton Place, were over the top. The amphitheater's an amazing thing.

There's sort of two different shows. There's a show that is this enormous blend of excitement and community. And then there's one that's where it's controlled and it's about music. Massey Hall's about music. It's about this. We can do everything we can do musically we can do it here yeah at the amphitheater we are trying to channel the energy of the crowd and move it up and down and so they're very different intentions and different ways you play the songs and so um but you know i'm leaving out so many

there's just i mean there's there's great places all over the country. The Walker Theatre, the Burton Cummings Theatre, which is in Winnipeg. Great, great venue. I've seen great shows there. Yeah. Cool. James Patterson.

Shout out to FOTM James. Another James. Please ask Jim about playing in Sunderland. Sunderland was a community that reached there. It's sort of a Lake Simcoe community. And they reached out to us a long time ago, I think 15 years ago, said they wanted to do a show in their arena

because they wanted to save their town hall, their hall, and they wanted to raise money for it. So we did it. And the woman who runs it is just such a wonderful, such wonderful person. And then we did the next year and then we did the next year and then it's become this annual beginning of summer thing. And, uh, it's quite a lot of fun. It's, it's not, it is in the, in the, uh, uh, former category of trying to, you know, massage the,

in this one, it's trying to tamp down the audience's energy a little bit. Okay. We got to get two hours out of this. Don't go crazy. But it's a, it's a really wonderful, uh, annual event that we've done. And I think for a lot of people, it begins their summer. Amazing. Uh, DJ Dream Doctor says, maybe not a Jim Cuddy question, but I would love to know about Crash Vegas and their Blue Rodeo connection and what Jim thinks about the first Crash Vegas album. So Crash Vegas was started by Greg Keeler and his girlfriend at the time, Michelle McAdory.

And Greg started, co-wrote the songs, got the band going, and then brought in Colin Cripps to kind of replace himself. Excuse me. And that's how Colin came into our orbit. Colin's a Hamilton guy, and he had played in a bunch of bands. And so then that band goes off on their own. Greg's obviously too busy with Blue Road Eater to pursue it. And I think the first record's great.

I think it's very much an offshoot of, it's very much influenced by Greg. I mean, you know, he co-wrote most of the songs, I think. And it was a little bit before Colin's influence. Colin's influence is more apparent on subsequent records. Right. And they had a good go. Cool.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, they sounded great. Now I'm going to ask you a long question here from Kevin Glue, and I follow Kevin Glue on Twitter, and he's a great follower if you're a fan of, like, old Blue Jays and Exposed teams. Okay, so Kevin Glue wrote, so get comfortable there. So we're going to get an answer to this question from Kevin.

Then I'm going to play another song from Blue Rodeo and ask you about that. And while I'm playing that song, is there water in that water machine? Okay, then I'm going to fill up during the jam. Okay, Kevin Glue writes, I noticed you are interviewing Jim Cuddy. Very observant, Kevin.

Okay, that was me. Now back to Kevin. I'm a huge Jim Cuddy fan and Blue Rodeo fan. Here's a story for you. I was at Ryan Adams at the Opera House in Toronto back in about 2011. Oh, boy. Ryan Adams was behaving like a first-class asshole. It's Kevin talking.

And he's proven to be one, Kevin talking. Adams started on some rant about Ted Hughes and Sylvia Path. And he was just ranting on and on about, and then someone in the audience yelled out something like, you don't know what the F you're talking about. And then Ryan Adams tells this guy to F off. They yell back and forth for maybe 30 seconds, and then after the show, I go into the lobby,

and it turns out the guy yelling at Ryan Adams was Jim Cuddy. Thinking back on that, I have nothing but respect for Jim. I think he somehow knew Ryan Adams was an asshole before the rest of us. Was that you, Jim? It was me. It was me. It was a bit of a Tourette's moment because I had been reading Ted Hughes. Ted Hughes is a poet, a very good poet, and he was married to Sylvia Plath. They had a very tumultuous relationship, and he's often blamed for her suicide. And he never, ever responded to any of the criticism during his life. And he put out birthday letters,

which there's a lot of poems about what it's like to be with somebody who is teetering in mental unbalance, and he's a great poet, and Brian Adams, first of all, it was such a fake show. Oh, I just hated it, but it was, he started saying,

you know, she's married, this guy killed her, and you know, he's like a terrible poet, like moon in June. And that's when I directed to say, you don't know what you're talking about. And he said, am I not entitled to free speech? Or am I not entitled to my own opinions? And I said, not if you read those opinions in a magazine. And I was in the, also I was in the also i was in the you know the privileged

box and he had come out for an encore just with his guitar he has guitar in front of him and then he slung it in the back like he was going to leave the stage and people were looking up at me and like why have you done this to our idol he's going to to leave. But, you know, to his credit, he did not leave. And so we're out in the lobby. I was talking to Elliot Lefkoe, who I think put on the show. He said, I don't suppose you'd like to go down and meet Ryan, would you? Oh, that's funny. I said, I don't think it would be wise.

I haven't, Elliot. Elliot's going to come up in a moment, too. I don't think it would be wise. That is too funny. So I'm going to play another jam, and we're going to talk about it. And during this song, I'm going to grab some water because for the listenership, I had a great, great bike ride. So I woke up, I recorded something at TMDS and then I loaded up the studio into a trailer, which attached to my bike. And then I hit the road.

So I'm coming from New Toronto, which is like southwest corner. What is this, Riverdale? Where am I? Archie Andrews. I'm in Riverdale. Okay. And so I did waterfront trail to Parliament and then I started making my way North. And I'll just say it was actually perfect weather

for a nice long bike ride. Beautiful day, but now I'm thirsty because it was a long ride. So here's some blue rodeo and then we'll talk more with Jim Cuddy. I'm lying in a hotel room miles away Voices next door in my head When day times are dry, night times worse Hope that I can get home soon But the happiness follows with inspiration

Lie like ghosts in my room Well, I wanna go, I know I can't want to run feeling this way. Did I have myself? Did I have myself? Did I have myself again? There's a seat on the corner I keep every night Wait till the evening begins I feel like a stranger from another world

But at least I'm living again Sounds amazing in the headphones. Okay, so, before I forget, because I have some important hockey questions for you, Jim, but there's an eight-pack of fresh beer here from Great Lakes. That's for you and your pals. Enjoy that. Thank you very much.

There's a Toronto Mike sticker from stickeru.com. Right on. They make great stickers and decals and such. Put that on your guitar case. Oh, then you've got to send me a picture when you do that, because that's freaking amazing. And, then you got to send me a picture when you do that. Cause that's a, that's freaking amazing. And of course,

a Ridley funeral home, proud sponsors of the program. Brad has a new podcast called life's undertaking. I urge everyone listening to this to check out Brad Jones's podcast. Cause I am on it. And last but not least cannabis consumers. Canna cabana won't be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories. So go to canna cabana.com

all right i'm gonna burn through some hockey questions here and then i uh we'll uh wrap up with the fotm questions but west chasen says before the detroit eatery on the danforth burned down i remembered seeing a picture of a little gym in a Red Wings jersey. So he wants you to talk about your hockey life. But before we do that, Brian Shelley says, ask him to clear the air once and for all. Is he a dirty hockey player in the corners as Dave Bedini claims he is? And then, because we're going to do all the hockey at once, so don't forget to come back to that.

Perry Lefkoe actually phoned me with this. Perry Lefkoe is a good FOTM and brother of the aforementioned Perry Lefkoe actually phoned me with this. Perry Lefkoe is a good FOTM and brother of the aforementioned Elliot Lefkoe. And he says, ask Jim Cuddy, who's the real, who is really tight with my brother, about the time he sang Try at the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame Awards. It was amazing. He's a huge hockey fan. And the night before the Junos, he's among a group of musicians who play a charity event against retired NHL players. If any of my details are incorrect, my fact finders will be fired. Okay, talk to me about your love of hockey and there. So the picture in the Detroit Eatery is very significant because I was born in Toronto,

but my parents didn't live in Toronto. They lived in St. Louis. So my young life, I was so in love with Toronto because it was my birthplace, and I just loved the Leafs. And the last place we lived before Toronto was Montreal. Right. And that was in 1967. And the Leafs won the Cup against Montreal in 1967, and Expo was that summer.

And that summer, my dad came home and said, we're moving to Toronto, which I thought all my dreams have come true. My dad came home and said, we're moving to Toronto, which I thought all my dreams have come true. And when I was younger, my dad, who I suddenly found out, rushed out later, was coming home from somebody, bought two jerseys for us. We woke up in the morning. I think we were in Brantford. And we woke up in the morning and there was a Rangers jersey and a Detroit Red Wings jersey. And I remember turning around going, who are those for? And I got the Detroit Red Wings jersey.

I remember putting it on thinking, this feels really bad. Okay, so now Badini. So Badini is a provocateur. And we played in a downtown Toronto men's hockey league together. We used to have a guy on our team who was very easily provoked and would usually lose his, his, his stuff. And so Bedini had obviously in a playoff game, he had obviously told his team, do whatever you can to rile these guys up.

So Dave and I were skating into the corner. And when he turned, I turned around, around, he speared me in the stomach. I'm like, what are you doing? Dave, it's me. You know, we're friends. Didn't say anything. And then we go around, and we go into the corner, and he punches me. I have a cage, so it's nothing.

Right. He punches me in the cage, and then I wrestle him to the ground, and we have this little fight, right? But this fight is so lame that it's not even a fighting major. We get roughing majors and I'm yelling in his ear, like you're the dirtiest player in this league. What's the matter with you? So, and Dave knows this is true because,

um, and so then, you know, I read his book and it's, you know, I think he has a chapter about the asshole factor and it's like, you know, guys you think are nice guys and and then but they're this and uh i have a very funny picture of i have the galley of it because he quotes try and i have to give my okay to it and

and my my dad this is the last year of his life and he's reading this and he's got these big glasses on he's got the galleys in front of me he's looking at me like what and i said it's just crap it's just not true at all so you know obviously i lived with this for a number of years and then i run into dave at the uh at the um maybe leave gardens at the time i guess and or maybe maybe it was the acc anyway he goes oh man thanks a lot that's the best thing that ever happened in my life okay well fine you can you can have it. And yeah, so that was then. And the last one was about singing trite. That was the Hall of Fame Awards. That was the one that Gretzky was inaugurated into the Hall of Fame. So it was really a pretty

amazing thing to be at. I have been very fortunate in my life to be at a lot. I was at the last game at the Gardens on the ice. And there was a friend of mine, Michael Holland, who at that point, he's an FOTM. Is he? Yeah. On now magazine. Yeah.

And we had vowed to get everywhere in the inner sanctum of, of, of, of, of Maple Leaf Gardens. And the one place we'd never been was the owner's lounge. Right. And so we'd been in all the dressing rooms, and we'd been up in the gondola and all that kind of stuff. And it was the very last day, and we're like, Michael, this is our last chance.

So we're looking around, somebody comes up, says, oh, you know, my dad was just one of the guys, and he took us into the owner's lounge. You know, everything in Maple Leaf Gardens was underwhelming, but it was overwhelming because it had this mythical quality. So, yeah, my love of the leafs runs very deep and no i'm not a dirty hockey player yes i have i helped initiate and run the juno cup which raises money for music counts every year at the junos and kathy uh wants to know if there

will be a juno cup in the at the 2023 junos in edmonton. Yes, there will be. Woo! Okay. And Jim, do me a favor. Just flash five when you have five minutes before you have to leave. Do that for me. That's a very important job. Okay, I know you've got to keep that in mind. And now I'm the floor director too. Yeah.

Just flash me a five because I've got to get a photo with you before you disappear. Or I'll be biking back here tomorrow. Okay. Jerry the Garbage Man just wants you to know he's seen you for 20 years at the Ketabala. Do you have a Ketabala story for him real quick here? Well, yes. In the early days, the Ketabala was always a very fun show to play. But we started to play it when we were, and I don't mean this arrogantly, we were too popular. So we were, the room did not hold what we needed to have happen.

And they had this little dressing room up top. And the one time we were up in this little dressing room, and I think it was after the show, and somehow this girl got in, a very sexy young woman, and she wanted a picture, and she's getting a picture. And all of a sudden we hear on the other end, you know, Sheila, get out of here. Sheila, get out of here.

And then all of a sudden, boom, this guy breaks the door down. Like, I mean, like TV style, like bang, right down the ground. And he comes in, but he comes in with these security guys on him, and there is a really horrific battle right in front of us. And she is unfussed by it. She's trying to get us to sign things like, Jed, do you realize what you caused here? Anyway, so that changed our method of operating at ballot.

It's always been fun, but we stopped doing it in the summer. We started to do it in the fall when there might be more locals and it might be a little bit more benefit to them. Okay, because Kathy, different Kathy than the other Kathy, this is Kathy of a Kate, wants to know if you'll be performing there

this Thanksgiving. Yeah, for some reason, I don't think so. And it's not from a lack of willingness on our part because it's always a really enjoyable thing for us. But for some reason, I don't think it's worked out and to tell you the truth i don't know why and that kathy also just wants you to know that uh she loved you at the aurelia open sorry aurelia opera house and please book there again because uh she says that's a gem of a venue and you sounded amazing there so okay beautiful place cooking of gas now johnny d

we already talked about Sunderland, but Johnny D did want you to know that he loves you in Sunderland. Okay, so we'll talk about that. Craig M wants to know how, and it's kind of an open, strange question, but we focused

on early parts of your career because of time constraints, but he wants to know how does Blue Rodeo keep so consistently a high quality for all these years? He says that you're fantastic live and wonders if it feels more special now when you perform because of that COVID break that everybody was forced to take. Well, I mean, I think that we're very hard on ourselves

in terms of performance and also in terms of our recording. And that's been since the very beginning. And I think that it also had to do with the fact that we never, we didn't really come in, you know, in a, in a, in a flush of a style. Like we weren't a new wave band or we weren't we weren't getting by on on being part of a movement right even though there was a movement on queen street but it was just a small thing and so our distinguishing characteristics were that we wanted to always play live well and that we pushed each other to write better and better songs and so that has become deeply ingrained in us and i don't think that we could...

I mean, we always try to do that. Yeah, Craig M. points out that many bands fight and break up after many years together, like be it the Beatles or the Eagles, and, you know, that you guys seem to stay together. It's been a long time, and we're all grateful, so cool. Let's address this. I won't play as much because I'm going to get a five-minute warning any moment now,

but this jam... One, two, one, two, three, four. guitar solo They met in a hurricane Standing in the shelter Out of the rain One of my favorite Blue Rodeo songs, by the way. But how come the song is Five Days in May and the album is Five Days in July? What's going on there?

Well, Five Days in May was the name of the song. It was written before we recorded. And when we ended up recording, we did it at Greg's Farm and we did it in five days in July. And it really did take us five days and we just did a couple songs a day and then I fixed it up later.

But I mean, apart from the song being named Five Days in May, we wanted to acknowledge that this was a very special recording, that we were able to do these. I mean, those are live recordings, you know, with some augmentation, I guess. But all the music is live. And there was a whole bunch of people around.

It was like a little campground, people coming in and out. And not one single take was ruined. People had a great time. We had a lot of musician friends so we'd say this guy come sing on this one it was a magical time still sounds amazing

Lorraine says what's the best gift you've ever received from a fan I don't know if Lorraine wants to give you a gift or not but is there one that jumps to mind that's a tough one I respect all the gifts I've been given you a gift or not but uh is there one that jumps to mind or that's that's a tough one i mean i you know i i i respect all the gifts i've been given and and and yet they're you know i mean some are

so personal i i don't know that i can i can't put them in my you know i look look our christmas tree here's something from a fan um but uh you know, there was, here's how I'll answer this. About halfway through all this career, my wife and I, it was difficult for us because it was overwhelming what was happening with Blue Rodeo, and it was overwhelming for my wife, who's an actor and playwright and stuff. And it was, so we sort of decided that if you came to my house, you would not see any Blue Rodeo paraphernalia.

You don't see any records or that kind of stuff. And we just decided to neutralize our family environment. So, yeah, so I answer it like that. Jackie Andre writes in, we all know Jim loves Toronto. I have traveled to Toronto many times to see Jim and have done pretty much all the touristy things except see the Leafs play because of bad timing. What are some

local hidden gems that the average tourist doesn't know about? Now you're a... Is there yet a go-to place in Toronto that is not like the CN know, the CN Tower or? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, mine would mostly be restaurants and they'd be mostly restaurants that either allowed you to bring your own wine or, I mean, you know, my wife and I live in the East End and all the fun's in the West End, right?

I'm a West End guy, so I'm biased, but it's lovely here. We've been the last few times we've gone out we've been over to Ossington, Dovercourt we went to Bernhard's last night it's a great place Cote d'Ivoire

on Ossington those are great places but truly like you walk up and down Ossington what's that place called Bang Bang or something the ice cream place

yeah it's one of the best ice cream places I've ever been to it's ridiculous so I mean I don't want to you know know, my wife, you know, is like, oh, we should move over here. I said, I don't want to be over here.

Like, everybody's half our age. Like, why would we do this? We've got this great house. So, I mean, I think that, you know, the greatest thing about Toronto is the fact that there are downtown neighborhoods, that you wander through neighborhoods, and you're downtown. You have all the advantages of downtown. You have entertainment.

You have culture. You have art. You have music everywhere. And that's the greatest thing to do in Toronto is to just bike around or walk around. And you do a lot of biking, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

In fact, I bike by you, too. That's... I wasn't sure you were going to mention it. I know. You saw a guy, like, there's a guy on a mountain bike, and he's got a trailer, and I think I was going uphill, right? Oh, yeah, no, it's the Logan Street Hill, and it's tough. And you were weaving a bit.

You were weaving a bit. Yeah, to keep my momentum going. This guy, this guy is pulling this thing. Poor son of a... Yeah, I was going to say something, but I was... That would have been funny if you're like, and you're like, you know, I'm going to see you, buddy. I know, I know. But I looked, because you had obviously the baby cart.

Yeah, and I thought, I'm going to look in, I'm going to see some kid, and I say, it's all worth it, man, keep going. Like I said, I was thinking of putting a hand on your back, but then you looked out of control, and I thought, you know, that can go one of two ways. That can go like, hey, thanks a lot, or don't you ever touch me.

That's too funny. And then when you saw me, when you came down and you said, hey, this... No, no, no, I heard from upstairs. Upstairs, they said, oh, no, he just biked in. He brought all his stuff in a car.

I said, I just went by him. I would have loved it if you said something. I'm like, that's Jim Cuddy. Jim Cuddy. Okay, so from five days in May to the five-minute warning here. So, you know what? Last question here is, I want to see how you handle this one, but Begal says, what's your favorite city or town to play in Canada?

So get ready to offend most of Canada by not naming theirs. You know what? I think that there's obvious ones that everybody picks, Newfoundland, St. John's, Montreal, but you just never know. You never know what's going to jump out. I mean, we've had gigs in Sydney, Nova Scotia. On this tour, we had a gig in Califax. It was over the top fantastic.

Winnipeg, Saskatoon, we just played, which was great. You honestly never know. Canada is a great place to play. Music fans are very much into music, and they have great venues to play. So sometimes one will be a dud the next year. Listen, I think on this tour, we've got a lot more to do, but it's going to be hard to beat Hamilton.

Who would have thought that? Shout out to Tom Wilson and the Hammer. And you guys are playing Budweiser stage August 27th. This is going to drop when I get home. So August 11th, we're dropping this episode 1097. People got to get tickets to see you guys at the Budweiser stage. But thank you, Jim Cuddy, so much for the invitation to the woodshed here. I loved this.

Thanks so much, man. Oh, it's great. It was really nice talking to you. It's fun to talk about that. And I'm this. Thanks so much, man. Oh, it's great. It was really nice talking to you. It was fun to talk about that, and I'm glad you got to see our studio. And that brings us to the end of our 1097th show.

You can follow me on Twitter. I'm at TorontoMike. Jim is at JimCuddy, but you can follow Blue Rodeo on Twitter. At Blue Rodeo, I think. You can find Blue Rodeo easy enough. Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta. Sticker U is at Sticker U.

Electronic Products Recycling Association are at EPRA underscore Canada. Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH. And Canada Cabana are at Canada Cabana underscore. See you all next week. rose and green Well you've been under my skin for more than eight years It's been eight years of laughter and eight years of tears And I don't know what the future

can hold or do for me and you But I'm a much better man for having known you Oh, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold

But the smell of snow Wants me today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine And it won't go away Cause everything is rosy and green Well, I've been told that there's a sucker born every day But I wonder who

Yeah, I wonder who Maybe the one who doesn't realize There's a thousand shades of grey Cause I know that's true Yes, I do I know it's true, yeah I know it's true How about you?

Are they picking up trash And they're putting down ropes? I'll see you next time. Maybe I'm not and maybe I am. Who gives a damn? Because everything is coming up rosy and gray. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms me today. And your smile is fine and it's just like mine. And it won't go away because everything is rosy and gray. Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain. And I've kissed you in places I better not name. And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour.

And I've seen the sun go down on Chaclacour But I like it much better going down on you Yeah, you know that's true Because everything is coming up Rosy and green Yeah, the wind is cold But the smell of snow Warms us today And your smile is fine And it's just like mine The wind is cold, but the smell of snow warms us today.

And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy now. Everything is rosy and everything is rosy and gray. Still gray, yeah, yeah, yeah guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo guitar solo Strange and beautiful are the stars tonight That dance around your head In your eyes I see that perfect world

I hope that doesn't sound too weird And I want all the world to know That your love's all I need All that I need, all that I need And if we're lost And we are lost together And if we're lost Yeah, where are we? We are lost together

Stand before this faceless crowd I wonder why I bother So much control By so few Stumbling from one disaster to another I've heard it all so many times before It's all a dream to me now A dream to me now

And if we're lost We are lost together And if we're lost, we are lost together together In the silence of this whispered land I listen only to your breath And in that second of it Should it start somehow And in that second of it, should it stop, somehow it all makes sense. And I want all the world to know that your love's all I need All that I need And if we're lost

And we are lost together Yeah, if we're lost We are lost together And we're lost And we're lost And we are lost together And we're lost And we are lost together Together Together Babe, we are lost together, together, together Thank you.