Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Marc Jordan and Amy Sky: Toronto Mike'd #1043
Episode Date: May 2, 2022In this 1043rd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike is joined by Marc Jordan and Amy Sky as they talk about their respective hits, their new music together and their favourite songs of all-time. Toronto Mi...ke'd is proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, Canna Cabana, StickerYou, Ridley Funeral Home and Duer Pants and Shorts.
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Welcome to episode 1043 of Toronto Mic'd.
Proudly brought to you by Great Lakes Brewery,
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good times, and brewing amazing beer.
Order online for free local home delivery in the GTA.
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And Canna Cabana, the lowest prices on cannabis.
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Joining me this week, making their Toronto Mike debuts, Amy Skye and Mark Jordan.
Welcome, guys.
How are you?
Good to finally meet you.
Mark, I know we had a phone call or two in our day at some point.
I don't even know if you remember, but this is our first time meeting.
So nice to meet you. And Amy,y finally good to meet you as well good to meet you thanks for having us i don't even know where to begin with you two you're so
accomplished and you have music together and we're gonna kick out jam so i hope you guys are
settled in for the next several hours this is gonna be a good one y'all comfy oh yeah i'm looking at
the palma kitchen box in the in the in and going, yeah, I feel right at home here.
Well, then let me just get that out of the way.
You're not leaving here without a large meat lasagna.
It's in my freezer right now.
So do not leave.
We have to take a picture after this recording.
And then I'm going to grab this lasagna from the freezer.
So that'll feed you.
And you'll take that home.
And you're also taking home some fresh craft beer from Great Lakes Brewery.
Excellent.
You're taken care of.
We'll sing for our supper.
Well, literally, I'm going to play recordings of you singing, that's for sure.
So, Amy, I've got some great questions for you,
but I'm just going to start with a question from Darren Shaw.
In fact, fact i got music
loaded up and everything for this so i open it up to questions i got lots of questions for amy
lots for you mark but let's hear a bit of this and then we had to talk about this
man with no story
Living on the edge of history
Lying face up in the sand
Brown body
Can't see his dream now
Living in Marina Del Rey.
Man, you better get a job.
Living in the sun and the sea
in Marina Del Rey.
Darren writes,
I hope you had him sing a few bars of Marina Del Rey.
Great song.
My family rented a condo there for two weeks,
and that song went through my head every single day.
Every single day I stepped out into the sun.
Would you mind, Mark, just give us a little bit of background
on where this song came from and any fun facts
you can share with us about Marina Del Rey.
Well, I'd never really even heard of Marina Del Rey.
And then I got a record deal in L.A.
and they flew me down and on the way to the hotel along the highway,
I saw next exit, literally Marina Del Rey.
And I thought, well, beautiful name.
And it kind of stuck with me.
And then when I was at the hotel, I actually wrote the song.
It's funny because Rick A, he's very excited you're here, by the way.
Although he's more excited about another guest I'm going to announce later.
But we'll get to that because you know him quite well.
But Rick A says, please ask Mark about Marina Del Rey and any background info on it.
We're doing that now.
But he says it's from his favorite year in music, 1978.
And he wanted to know if you ever lived there or if this is like Sausalito summer night
where it's written by some guy who's never been there.
But it sounds like you just saw the name on a sign and you cooked this up.
I saw the name on a sign.
I have been there, you know.
But to that point, I had not. But I'd heard have been there you know but uh i to that point i had not but but i'd heard
the stories you know and uh that it was a pretty hip place to be but you did live down the beach
in malibu i did i lived in malibu close enough i said okay so now my question for you is on
yacht or not like uh is yacht rock, right?
What do you say about that?
Well, it has become yacht.
It just was sort of pop music when I did it.
And then it had its day back then.
And now it's sort of reemerged with all this yacht rock stuff.
Yacht rock has never been hotter.
I mean, since it was current music anyways.
We did an entire episode in my backyard,
me, Stu Stone, and Cam Gordon just kicking out yacht rock.
And absolutely, when I hear that in the headphones,
that's some prime, well-constructed yacht rock I'm hearing there.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, Amy, the first question that came in for you,
I like this one because we dove deep into
this movie
here let me
play a little bit
and then I'll cut to the chase
we're going way back here
sometimes at night
I get so scared
Cause tomorrow we might not be together
I want to hold on to you today
I wish that we could stay this way forever.
I know we'll never be so close again.
For each beginning, something must end.
We can't look back.
No, we can't look back
But when today
Amy, we are sort of passionate on this program.
We're passionate about the original Degrassi.
And we recently did a deep dive into Schools Out,
which was the, like, we wrapped everything up.
It was like a TV movie on cbc this is the jam
that plays uh it's like the outro music for that like so anything now we're going way back with you
here because you know you were very young but what can you tell us about we can't look back
and how the heck did that end up on degrassi so it was written for the movie. And this is some deep insider stuff that, you know.
I need that.
You wouldn't know.
So the very, very first year that Degrassi was on the air,
my sister, Judy Shiner, was hired to be everything on the show.
She did props and sets.
And it was just like a little indie thing and the producers were
um Linda Schuyler and Stephen Stone and and you know she did Degrassi for years uh and so I I got
to know Linda and Stephen and and when and in fact as an art director one time she had to do a magazine
for the show and she mocked up a magazine with my face on the cover
before I even launched my performing career.
I was like, wow, I want a TV show and nobody even knows who I am.
So yeah, I knew the producers personally,
and they asked me if I would write the song,
and I wrote it with Eddie Schwartz,
who's an amazing Canadian singer-songwriter.
He wrote the Hit Me If You're Best shirt.
No, Hit Me If You're Best shirt.
Yes.
Yes.
Good trivia, Mike.
Yes, he sure did.
I've been building up for that moment
when I could impress Amy Skye
with my Eddie Schwartz trivia there.
But yeah, yeah, that people,
that's why that song qualifies, I think, as canned Connors.
There's some loophole there.
Yeah, yeah, to Canadian writers.
Yeah.
Okay. See, I love the fun facts about these schools though that's amazing now now i'm gonna uh ask you because i'm curious
when do you guys meet like when do you two fall in love we met in los angeles in june of 1986
and uh i'd been living in nash Nashville I was signed to MCA music as a
songwriter and I went out to write with some other writers through my publisher
and I was introduced to a guy named John Capek who is Mark's longtime collaborator. And we met at a brunch outside or a barbecue
at John Capek's house in Burbank, California.
Was it love at first sight or did it take a little while?
I was just in it for the sex really.
Yeah, that didn't happen right away. But you liked the dress I was just in it for the sex, really. Yeah, and that didn't happen right away.
But you liked the dress I was wearing.
That is true.
And were you aware that this is the guy who wrote Marina Del Rey?
Were you at all aware that you were meeting that guy?
Actually, totally.
In fact, what's really interesting is that Mark and I,
my path crossed with him since I was nine.
A number of times, including I used to take cello lessons with the same teacher as Mark's brother Miles studied with.
And Miles had the 3.30 lesson.
I had the 4 o'clock lesson on Mondays.
And for years I would see Miles coming and going out of the music room and uh then i went to university of toronto and was studying composition
there and i bumped into miles actually in 1978 and by then i was doing pop music and he said are
you still playing cello i said no i'm like you know singing and writing songs and it gets kind
of a confused look on his face he's like yeah, yeah, I have a brother in California who does that.
But then that was right as Mark's career was breaking.
Right.
And then like everyone else, I became a huge fan of his.
I used to do some of his songs in my live show.
And I also knew Mark's father,
who was a very, very well-known singing teacher in Toronto.
And so, yeah, I knew who he was when we met.
Now, Mark, okay, question for you now.
Whose version of a song you wrote is your famous?
I know that you've worked with Diana Ross and Rod Stewart and Cher and Bette Midler and Chicago
and some big, big-time artists,
but what is your all-time favorite song of yours
recorded by somebody else?
Well, Bette Midler did a very nice version of...
Perfect Kiss.
Yeah, Perfect Kiss.
And she just made a great recording of it.
It was never, I don't think it was ever a single.
But, you know, I went, she invited me to come and see her
when she played Toronto and she was doing in, like,
I think the Gardens or something.
No, it was probably a smaller venue.
But anyway, I came through the back,
and she came out of her dressing room,
and there were bleachers and stuff,
and she sang the song to me in the dark
as I was walking towards her.
And it was so beautiful.
It echoed, and it was just a real magic moment for me nice uh that's
why she's a divine miss m now uh my last last monday so this is a monday last monday my guest
was dave thomas and you yeah so it's a small world because now i'm speaking with another person who's
very close to ian thomas so what can you tell me about Lunch at Allen's?
Murray McLaughlin's been here,
but just tell me about like,
what is Lunch at Allen's and how did that come to be?
Well,
we were asked to do,
I believe it was a SoCan event and,
and leading up to a big award show or something.
And,
and we were asked to, or were asked, or Murray was asked,
to put a songwriter circle together,
and he said, oh, I don't like doing that.
He said, let me put something together that I like
and everybody will play instead of just going sequentially down the road.
So he asked Ian and Cindy and I to do it and cindy and me and
and there was um and we we did the evening and there was an agent sitting in the audience and
he said do you want to do three more shows and we can do that and uh it never stopped
and is it because you guys would meet at Allen's for lunch?
Is this the...
Yeah, well, we couldn't think of a name,
and Murray used to have these lunches
at Allen's restaurant on the Danforth,
and, you know, a lot of people would drop in
and either have dessert or coffee with Murray,
and we decided to call it that.
So the exciting news to share with the listenership
is that Ian Thomas is coming on Toronto Mic'd,
so we're just working out the details as to what day and time.
But there you go, so it'll be a whole bunch of people
kind of connected in one way or another.
But yeah, Lunch at Allen's.
And I was thinking of you two,
like you're kind of a power couple in this,
especially in the music industry, you two of a power couple in this, especially in the music industry.
You two are a power couple in this city,
competing with Murray McLachlan and Denise Donlan.
Like there's the other power couple.
Just trying to think of other power couples.
Okay, Basement Dweller.
This is for you, Mark.
What was it like working with and being produced
by the great Gary Katzatz and jay graden
in the late 70s and the underrated and i hope i don't what's your name paul devillier
devilliers devillier yeah okay you'll tell me in the mid to late 80s also and not sure if anyone
has told you this lately but burning down the amazon was definitely one of the great environmentally
conscious songs of its day
and it still holds up incredibly well over 30 years later especially its fantastic production
by kimballard thanks yeah well um i uh
first worked with gary and he was Steely Dan's producer.
And to tell you the truth, I'm working with him again.
We got the original tapes from Warner Brothers,
and we're actually remixing them over the phone because he's living in New York.
So that's kind of interesting.
Jay Graydon, I met Jay Graydon when he was hired by Gary
to play on my first record.
And when Gary couldn't do the second record, I mean, yeah,
when Gary couldn't do the second record, I got Jay.
And, you know, we've remained pretty close since then.
And Paul DeVilliers did that huge mr mr record but paul devillier from south africa
they lived in toronto and he was everybody's he was the greatest sound man live sound man in the
world he did ann murray and and uh anyway he did some demos with me when i was already signed to
warner brothers i was up in toronto and he did some demos and I took him down to LA and,
and my manager who also managed Mr.
Mr.
Said,
wow,
these are unbelievable.
Do you mind?
And they were,
they had already started the Mr.
Mr.
Record.
That was so huge.
And,
but it wasn't going well.
And he said,
can I use Paul DeVilliers to produce Mr.
Mr. And I said, sure.
And that's the big record, just for those who might not remember,
had that massive hit, Broken Wings.
I mean, one of the greatest pop records of all time.
I was going to say Broken Wings.
Okay, amazing.
Amy, okay, there's no Kleenex on the table.
You might need some for this one.
Okay, so I'm going to start the song,
and I'm going to read a letter I got from Sid.
And here, let me make sure I get the right jam here.
I got so many loaded up here.
Actually, talk amongst yourself.
Okay, here's what you're going to do while I try to,
because I got to make sure I get the right one here.
I got to dig this up.
But could you please tell me a little bit about, while I dig to, because I got to make sure I get the right one here. I got to dig this up. But could you please tell me a little bit about
while I dig this up,
tell me about the new collaboration
you two have together
because I have,
in fact, I'll play a bit of this
in the background
while you talk about it.
I pulled, I pulled,
this is what I pulled.
Oh, nice.
She's a good girl Loves her mama
Loves Jesus
And America too
She's a good girl
Crazy about Elvis
Loves horses
And her boyfriend too
It's a long day
Living in Reseda
There's a freeway
Running right through the yard.
And I'm a bad boy because I don't even miss her.
I'm a bad boy for breaking her heart.
Because I'm free.
Free falling. I love it, honestly, straight up.
I actually tweeted God Only Knows earlier today.
So this is a collaboration.
This is He Sang, She Sang, which is available.
There's Amy. Hold on on let me get a bit
all the bad boys Hanging in the shadows. And the good girls.
While the hot one with broken hearts.
Now I'm free.
Free for life.
Okay, you guys have been married 34 years,
but this is the first duet collaboration together?
Yeah.
First full length. full length we've done we've done little things over the years just um as they came up you know um but we never like
sat down with the intention of doing a full project till this album i'm gonna guess here
i have no idea my guess is that because you guys couldn't like be with anyone else you don't live
with you guys said we better do something together like we live together and
this is a pandemic album am i close actually no because we we started this song you're hearing
the tracks were laid in 2014 um we we thought you know we've always thought we should do a duet
album together but we've always been you know busy with other things and and honestly did not want to put our very strong marriage to the test i always say people think
that making a duet record is like bridgerton you know like fires and champagne and but it's really
more like fear factor i see it more like uh know, if you can't beat the best,
so it's sort of like the Leafs might as well start with Tampa Bay in the first round.
You know what I mean?
Like, let's do that now.
And then so if you guys can't get through a duet album together,
then you're, you know, it's time to move on.
That's right.
Well, it's, you know what?
Two very strong opinions.
And also, you marry your opposite.
You know, when I met Mark back in 1986,
I'd never met anyone like him, and he was fascinating.
Everything about him was different from me.
He's eccentric and boring.
Most marriages are like, you meet someone,
and you go, wow, you are so different from me and then as the
years go on it's like you are so different from me that's right so like but that when you get
into the studio and you have to come together and you know decide one person we were talking
to said man i can't even put a bookcase together with my wife never mind doing like a whole
that's right.
Okay, so the songs that you guys just, you know,
discuss amongst yourselves, your favorite songs.
And I should point out, I don't think I've mentioned it yet.
This is my bad.
We're going to kick out the jams very shortly.
We're going to play, you each picked five songs.
One of the five songs is actually your favorite song
that you yourself wrote,
which is kind of a neat little wrinkle to this thing. But we're going to be kicking out the jam shortly. But how did you come up with these songs you is actually your favorite song that you yourself wrote which is kind of a neat little wrinkle to this thing but we're going to be kicking out the jam shortly but how did you come
up with these these songs you chose i mean you got some willie nelson some smoky robinson i mentioned
the beach boys we just heard tom petty how'd you come up with the track list we just looked for
great songs and and great songs that both of us could sing you know i mean uh we have uh we have different styles of singing but but there's
an area where we are where we complement each other and and areas where we don't so we so we
had to narrow it down to that but then we just picked songs we loved right yeah and sort of over
the years you know like i say we've obviously thought about doing this for a long time.
And over the years, one or other of us would hear a song,
like Ooh Baby Baby, for example.
I stumbled across a live video of Smokey Robinson
doing it with Aretha Franklin.
That song's never been a duet, never been recorded as a duet.
But I saw that, and I was like, ooh, Smokey and Aretha now, okay.
Yeah.
And so then we tried it and it was like, yeah.
Well, actually, but if you listen to our version,
for any musos listening,
we had to put a modulation in between the male verse
and the female verse because Mark sings lower.
Right?
So that's one of the Or I sing higher
One of the
The challenges with duets
Is
Finding a song
That sounds good
For both your vocal ranges
Where you can both sing melody
And not like harmony
Well it's a gorgeous album
I've been listening to it
But it's not
Like is it available this week?
Are we just like a few days
Ahead of release?
The full album's available
Tuesday May 6th But we've released Four singles so far The current singles week are we just like a few days ahead of release uh the the full album's available um tuesday may
6 but we've released four singles so far the current single you mean thursday yeah oh oh yeah
thursday you're right i only know that because today's monday no i know but you know usually
albums drop on tuesdays i don't know why maybe they've changed yeah in the digital era all bets
are off they just sort of fall from the sky now you know at midnight one night you don't even
know what's coming oh my god my god, there's a new
album just right. But you know what?
If anyone who's listening
follows us on Spotify, and we
would really like you to, and also
follow us on Instagram, you'll get a notification
on your release radar.
Your favorite artist is dropping an album!
That's kind of fun. Okay, so do
that. It's awesome stuff, and we're going to hear
a lot more from Mark and Amy here.
But there is a letter for Amy here.
And YouTube to the rescue.
So let's listen to a bit of this, and then I'll read the hard way
How easy love could be
I had nothing to believe in
Till you believed in me
If love is the only answer, then why are we afraid?
Let's be like heaven's angels who've come to leave a way. And if my heart had wings, I'd fly into the sky
And bring back all the love that's missing from our lives All my life And if my heart had wings
Then maybe I could see
Just where you'll find the way
To love like you love me
This letter comes from Sid.
Sid writes,
My wife, Roberta, lost her husband to cancer in the spring of 1996.
She was 35 at the time and had three young children.
She was a lost soul.
Her husband, Perry Birnbaum, was a very close friend of mine.
I consoled Roberta during and after the Shiva.
Parentheses.
I know you know what that is, but if you don't, ask Amy or your other FOTMs.
I know what a Shiva is.
Absolutely.
It was a very difficult time for Roberta, but I never left her side.
Amy's album, Cool Rain, was released around that time.
Her song, If My Heart Had Wings, became our special song with very special meaning.
We married three years later and just celebrated our 23rd anniversary. I make it a point to play our song every anniversary.
Roberta had the opportunity to meet Amy at a charity event, and they were both part of in 2005.
Amy at a charity event, and they were both part of in 2005.
She was able to thank Amy and tell her how special her music was during that difficult period,
especially if my heart had wings, as well as I will take care of you,
which had special meaning since Roberta was born in 1961,
the same year mentioned in the opening of the song.
That's from Sid. Wow, I got song. That's from Sid.
Wow, I got goosebumps.
That's beautiful.
Yeah.
He actually then, he knows the show well,
so he knows we love our fun facts here,
so he drops a fun fact.
He says, if My Heart Had Wings was first released by Melissa Manchester, but Amy's version
is the one we still prefer to this day
and should
have had more exposure in the USA market if my heart had wings okay and he just mentions it was
written by Melissa Manchester Eric Kaz Amy Sky okay yeah beautiful Sid thanks so much for uh
sending over that uh beautiful email there well that there's a great story with with how that song came to be written
so uh eric kaz is a songwriting hero of mine and um one of the artists that mark and i have in
common that we both love is bonnie rate and she she recorded a couple of eric kaz songs and so
did linda ronstadt and in the seventies when I was,
you know,
a teenager devouring album credits,
I would like see his name pop up on songs like,
uh,
love has no pride and cry like a rainstorm,
how like a wind.
And I was like,
I gotta write with this guy.
I,
these songs,
I love these songs.
So when I moved to LA,
um,
I,
I,
my publisher tracked him down for me and set up a writing appointment with him
and on my way to the studio
Mark and I were married then
and we lived in Hollywood
and under the underpasses
as you got on the freeway
there was always encampments of homeless people
and it's heartbreaking to see
and I had this idea
in the car on the way to Eric's house
if my heart had wings
I would like I'd fly up into the sky and I would talk to God about like why are these people
suffering you know and so that idea was in my mind when I got to his house and and we wrote
the chorus and the song was originally kind of a protest song like like about, you know, arguing with God. And then I had gotten a call,
my publisher had set me up with Melissa Manchester. Or no, maybe Eric was writing with,
probably Eric was writing with her. And he said, I think this would be a good song for Melissa.
So we went over to her house, and we played it for her. And she was so funny. Am I allowed to
swear on the show? Yeah, swear away okay so um eric played the
piano and i sung that chorus and she looked at me like kind of angry and she goes you sing like a
fucking angel and i was like why is she mad at me for that but but she's funny and you know an
amazing singer-songwriter so so the three of
us finished it and we decided to turn it more into a love song than a protest song and she did it was
a title of her album in 1991 i think and um she did a much bigger version with a with a big gospel
choir but when i recorded i've always loved the. And then when I finally got around to making my first album in 1996,
I put it on.
Amazing.
Okay, thanks.
That's amazing.
Now, here's a little different note from Tyler.
He just wants you to know, Amy,
that the theme to Top Million Dollar Agent is a banger, he says.
Oh, my God.
He said it's a fucking banger.
Oh, that is hilarious.
Okay, so the guy.
I don't even know that one.
All right, listen, Mark needs to hear this story.
Are you going to play?
We got approached.
Oh, we got approached.
Actually, our house was used in an episode of Top Million Dollar Agent.
And we didn't sell it, but they looked at it right and and the producers asked
me if i would write the theme song and i wrote it with a long-time collaborator of mark's and mine
steven mckinnon who's written some of mark's best songs with him and some of my big hits like
heaven and touch and i believe in us and i'm currently writing a musical with Stephen called Beyond.
Nice.
Awesome.
Okay, so let's do this.
Let me quickly give you a couple more things here,
and then we'll get to the jams,
because we'll learn more about you as we talk about these jams.
But StickerU.com has sent over a Toronto Mike sticker. They make great stickers, decals, and such at StickerU.com.
Cool.
So I look forward
to finding out where that ends up. I think
Alan Cross stuck it on his garbage can
in his office. So there's no shame in this
game. And what else I have?
Okay. It's still cool outside, especially
by the lake. So you guys are bringing
home a toque from Canna Cabana.
Canna Cabana will not
be undersold on cannabis or
cannabis accessories. And they have over 100 locations across the country. Go to CannaCab will not be undersold on cannabis or cannabis accessories and they have over
100 locations
across the country
go to
cannacabana.com
do you guys partake
of
cannabis
Cannacabana
sometimes
okay well
now you know
now you know
where to go
it's great people there
and great pricing there
and
last but not least
I got a measuring
tape. I don't care who takes who. You can just live together
anyway. I want the measuring tape.
You never can have enough measuring tapes
in your life. And you know what? When you need one,
you can never find one. And so I'm
just holding a nice little
handheld version. So that's courtesy of
Ridley Funeral Home.
Pillars of this community since 1921.
And also speaking of things you can never have enough of,
here, I'll pull this out to make it work here.
This is actually for you guys to take home.
I won't put it in your eyes.
But you never know.
I know we all have flashlights on our phones,
but sometimes you need that battery for something else.
This is just when you need a flashlight.
There you go.
From courtesy of Ridley Funeral Home.
You know what?
That is a really good flashlight.
Yeah.
That's a perfect flashlight.
I'm very into flashlights.
When my kids lose the remote,
I'm always taking that out
to look under the couch
where the heck do they put their remote.
Okay.
Can I tell you something interesting
to do with that flashlight?
Yeah.
If your cat's out in the yard
and you can't find them,
I have a flashlight.
I actually have one that's like that
and that's really a bright LED light.
You shine it in the bushes,
and it'll reflect off their eyes.
Okay, that's a pro tip right there.
Amy, you're bringing the heat today.
I love it here.
Oh, by the way,
and I didn't mean to skip this over,
so we are going to kick out these jams any second now,
but I just want to say,
this is a jam.
It's not all about Marina Del Rey.
Yeah, Marina Del Rey got stuck in my head,
and it's been stuck there for a while now.
Little secrets your friends won't tell
Heaven's highway sometimes takes you through hell Yeah, yeah Love is work and work is hard
There are ghosts inside the dark
And it takes love, pain, the whole damn thing
If you want my heart, you get it for a thing
Love, pain, the whole damn thing.
It's a crown of thongs to wear a golden ring.
Yeah, love, pain, the whole damn thing.
If you want my heart, you get everything.
So similar to Marina Del Rey, you cannot listen to this song
without singing along.
Like, it's actually physically impossible.
So that's a jam right there.
Any detail about this song before we kick out these jams? along like it's actually like physically impossible so that's a jam right there any uh any any detail
about this song before we kick out these jams oh my god so many cool things about this song
first of all gotta give a shout out to the producer of the song anthony vanderberg
also mark and i have done lots of work individually with with anthony he also produced If My Heart Had Wings. He's, and I wrote the song,
this is really actually
kind of funny
because Cool Ring,
out in 1996,
same year that
Amanda Marshall's
big album came out
and Mark had a huge hit
on the album
called Fall From Grace
and Mark and I
have always written
like pretty much
as much for other people
as we write for ourselves.
Right.
So I was like,
you know,
I was a huge fan of Amanda's and I i was but like up until then i wrote more like softer ballady kind of
things and i was like i gotta write something for amanda marshall and i had this i'd had this title
love pain the whole damn thing which was name of a book and name of a movie and i got on my guitar
and these are the changes same changes changes from Neil Young's Helpless,
which are like any guitar player,
any D, A, E minor, G, really simple.
And I'm not a great guitar player.
So I was like, what can I play on the guitar?
So, and you're allowed to borrow changes from song to song.
That's not copying.
So then I write the song and I'm like,
I'm going to pitch it to Amanda,
but like I write it and I'm like, well, that's pretty cool.
Maybe I should try it.
I'm like, oh.
And because I was so long before I was a performer, I was a writer for years and years and years.
I mean, I wanted to perform, but I just didn't get a record deal.
And I was like, I don't have the balls to sing this song.
I'm too shy.
I can't.
This is like Amanda.
She's all got that diva attitude.
But I decided to just try it live with my band.
And like, they're like, holy shit, why don't you do that song?
I'm like, no, it's not my brand, you know.
And then I started doing it and it became my brand.
And then I recorded it and it was a big old hit.
So thank you, Amanda.
Yeah.
Thank you, competition.
Thank you, Mark.
Oh, recent. Thank you, Mark.
He's been over a couple of times,
but Christopher Ward wrote on that.
Oh, yeah.
He's all over that thing.
All over it.
He actually wrote an interesting piece on Facebook yesterday about his relationship with Atlanta Miles,
which I thought was pretty cool.
Yeah, just kind of sharing.
Although he's told the story here,
but not everyone's heard his episode.
But yeah, just interesting.
Sort of another singer-songwriter duo.
Although they broke up before that album dropped, I think.
I think so, yeah.
I went to high school with Chris.
Okay, so he's tied, I guess, with J.D. Roberts with First VJ on Munch Music.
Speaking of Denise Donovan.
Yeah, small world.
And he also yacht rocked
in the late 70s there.
I would say those songs
by Christopher Ward
were yacht rock songs.
Yeah, I guess they are.
Yeah, think about them.
I never read them.
I'm practically a yacht rock expert
over here.
Absolutely here.
It's not all about Toto.
I just want you to know
that I am yacht by association.
You're like one degree
of separation from... Because this is not yacht rock association. You're like one degree of separation.
Because this is not yacht rock.
There's love pain in the whole thing.
No, no.
But I get a lot of yacht rock fans like my stuff
because I'm married to the king of yacht rock.
Sure.
I do have some yacht rocky songs.
I like to think of myself as the queen of yacht rock.
I keep threatening to kick out these jams.
Maybe I just want to kick out these jams.
Maybe I just want to do ours with everything else.
But Mark, what is your opinion of the Manhattan Transfers recording of this independence?
Well, I'm not really sure why they did it.
They were trying to...
Ahmaud Erdogan, the president of their...
the label they were recording for,
I remember him saying to me, you know,
man, they do all that jazz stuff, but even their fans hate it.
I didn't know what he meant by that.
That's a good line.
So he was trying to push them to do other types of material,
but I, you know in my
own opinion i think they do the jazz stuff better than most people so all right and then here's a
question because i'm going to cut this out and play it for him what's your favorite ian thomas
song a written song i don't care if it's his version or not oh the one he wrote for his wife is called I'm so bad with that
is it comfort or no
is it the word comfort
ask me I'll think
you know what I'll tell you what I won't cut that out
that will not be the excerpt
here's Mark struggling to remember the names of your
jams okay let's kick out
that is not specific to trying to remember
will we take that as i was i did this episode 1021 which was all about the history of cfny
and david marsden was on this and i know he probably won't be listening now so i think i
can share this story real quick but we're recording this thing and he's telling the story of like um
the traveling road show iver hamilton's idea and they're going to make money on it,
and they need someone to drive the truck.
And he's building this story.
I've actually heard him.
He's told the story to me before,
but I'm listening like I never heard it before
because it's going to make a great moment
in episode 1021, which is pretty recent.
So David Marsden's building the story.
This young man puts up his hand and says,
I'm going to go get my truck driving license
so I can drive the truck,
and I'm going to have something to do
with the traveling road show, and I'm going to build my career from the inside there and he builds up
the story builds it up builds it up builds up and he goes and that man's name was and I know he's
going to say Martin Streak okay I know this story backwards instead of now Martin Streak but David
in the moment says and that man's name was Martin Short I literally I had him re-say it i said we're cut we're gonna i never
edit i should point out i never edit episodes of toronto mic but i'm like work we're we're gonna
fix that you're gonna say it again like you're saying it for the first time give me that martin
streak punchline so shout out to mars bar question from that's funny that's yeah and we all do that
right we get these these things just
popping ahead but is the song called to comfort you no it's um that's a great song too ian is
ian is a fantastic writer but the the one he wrote for his wife is the is the famous
it's a very famous song and i just i play it with him. Oh. Painted Ladies.
Pilot.
I'm naming all the famous ones.
No.
Is that one?
I don't think so.
No.
No.
I'll think of it.
Okay.
So we're going to go with, I'm actually going to start with, I think we're going to start
with Amy's and then we're going to take turns here.
And all I ask is Mark, just if you don't mind, get a little bit closer to the microphone
because these are unidirectional.
Otherwise, we get the mumbling in the background.
Okay.
So let's kick these out.
Here we go. dark sky I can't say I'd even notice
it was absent
Cause I could live by the light
in your eyes
Unfold before you
would have strung together
the very
first words of a lifelong love letter?
Tell the world that we finally got it all right.
Choose you.
We'll become yours and you will become mine.
I choose you.
I choose you.
Amy, what jam are we listening to here? Oh, yeah Piano player. Funny as hell. I'm just currently watching Girls 5 Eva. She's a great actress.
I saw her in Waitress on Broadway.
Brilliant show.
And just so, like, she's just so right.
Everything she does is just right and smart and full of heart.
And I just have so much respect for her.
You're crushing on Sarah Rightly so
Yep
Good stuff
Mark what do you
When you hear
I'm financially going to have two of you
And each have five jams
So I'll be curious
Your thoughts on Amy's jams
And Amy I'll be curious
Your thoughts on Mark's jams
You drinking this in?
What do you think of Sarah here?
I think she's amazing
And you know
The production's so minimal
But she She's an incredible singer Obviously right I think she's amazing. And, you know, the production's so minimal,
but she's an incredible singer, obviously, right?
It just hangs together big time.
I love it.
We often listen to her in the car, right?
Yeah, I make Mark listen to Sarah on our road trips.
Yeah, well, it's good stuff like that.
It's so good.
I actually get, so the vibes I get, she's fantastic. I get a a little like regina specter vibes do you remember you any of their older like
i guess i'm we're going back now 15 years but there's like that that thing she does with her
voice is very regina specter-esque or the little break yeah she uses i can't do it obviously
you're the singers i like that She uses the colors in her voice.
Her voice is really flexible and expressive.
You know, the thing that I love that Sarah does,
so many singers today are very affected,
and they add all sorts of crap to the way they sing to sound him.
Like verbal gymnastics kind of deal?
Are you talking more like...
The tone and the way they pronounce the words, and it's just like... like sound him verbal gymnastics kind of deal or are you talking more like the tone
and the way
they pronounce
the words
and it's just like
and they all
sound alike
you know
and Sarah's just
completely from the heart
like it's
original authentic
you're just hearing
her
her soul there
okay we're gonna
roll out of Sarah
and right into
Mark's first jam
I'm not gonna know
any of them.
Imagine he doesn't know his own jams.
That would be tragic here.
You know this.
Well, firstly, one is yours
and one is, no spoiler here,
but one is when you know.
So there's only three when you think about it that aren't, you know,
in the family.
Oh, this is Bonnie, isn't it?
And Bruce.
And Bruce Hornsby.
Oh, yeah.
So is it fair to say Amy chose your jams?
Is that what I'm understanding here?
No, no, no.
No, no.
No, I totally agree.
Whoa, that's good.
Turn down the lights Turn down the bed
Turn down these voices
Inside my head
Lay down with me
Tell me no lies
Just hold me close.
Don't patronize.
Don't patronize me.
Cause I can't make you love me if you don't.
You can't make your heart feel something it won't.
Here in the dark, in these final hours, I will lay down my heart
And I feel the power
But you won't
No, you won't
Cause I can't make you love me Wow.
If you don't
So pretty.
Okay.
Isn't it?
Wow.
Mark, why do you love Bonnie Raitt?
I love Bonnie because she hasn't got a great range,
but her choice of notes is so beautiful.
And the texture in her voice, she has a little bit of raspiness, but a sweetness too.
It's her note choices like any great musician.
It's all about The notes that you choose
You know
And there's a Bonnie Rhea jam on
He sang, she sang
Yes, but also
Mark's being modest because Bonnie recorded one of his songs
That's not why he loves her
So which song?
It was a song for the
When there was There was a big, you know, that horrible flood in New Orleans.
And John and I, John Capek and I was my collaborator in, collaborator, songwriter, partner in L.A.
We wrote a song.
She did it.
But this is the greatest
bloody song
that she's ever recorded.
I think it was written by a football player.
Yeah.
And some other guy.
He was only a football player.
What's his name? Mike Reed
is the football player and Alan Shambler.
Those are the fun facts I'm looking for, guys.
But he left pro football,
and then he moved to Nashville to become a songwriter.
And this is just one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
And it was very different when they were writing it.
It was a lot faster.
And then one day,
Reed's
partner slowed it down
and he called him up
and he said listen
and it is slow
but it's
smooth as silk
how about Hornsby
spoiler alert that's coming
oh yeah
we're going to hear more Hornsby later.
That's for sure.
Because he's such a great.
Save the Hornsby stories for two jams from now.
Oh.
Spoiler alert.
All right.
Bonnie's taking us into Amy's second jam here.
This is so pretty.
Let's listen. Ain't no use in you trying to make me Could be something
Could be nothing
It's just enough to keep me warm What I don't have, what I can't get
Wasting time on easy magic
I know my future is on fire
Too late to save myself from burning down
I gamble just to feel desire
Will tomorrow break just enough?
Easy magic.
Spending my cash chasing my dreams.
Amy, who are we listening to here?
This is our incredibly gifted daughter, Zoe Sky Jordan.
Wow. Wow. gifted daughter Zoe Sky Jordan wow wow
okay
tell me everything you can about
Easy Magic by your daughter
that's amazing
yeah well Zoe's been singing
as long as she could talk
and she's always had a magical
quality to her voice,
which is one of the reasons I picked this song
because it's called Easy Magic.
And she is married to another musician named Liam Russell.
They're living in Los Angeles now,
and Liam produced this song, I think,
so he wrote it by herself.
And it's from her last album, Scenes from Infinity.
I think it's from that album.
She's put out about four or five projects.
She's working on a brand new project.
And I would highly recommend you get her and maybe Liam in.
You know what?
They're going to be in Toronto in May and preview some of the new tracks.
That's an album called Selfish. She's a brilliant
writer. She gets a lot of songs placed in
film and television because she's got the
vibe, very ambient, very atmospheric
and she loves the textures
and her lyric writing actually
reminds me a lot of Mark's because it's
very photographic. She uses a lot
of visual images in her lyrics.
I suppose if your
dad is Marc Jordan and your mom is Amy Skye you sort of you're predestined to
do this like this is this was in her blood you know it was in her blood but
we never pushed her she was not that interested in music lessons she had him
but she was really more of a visual artist when she was younger and she signed
up for to take study art in in university and the first day she was touring um george brown where
she'd been accepted um on the way home she said i don't want to go to art school i'm like okay
what do you want to do and she said i want to be a singer-songwriter and she finally stepped into it
and we were thrilled because we knew she had the gift.
So there wasn't a moment where you tried to talk her out of it
because you don't want her to be a starving artist.
You're like, no, this is what you're meant to do.
There's not a day that goes by that Mark and I don't look at each other
and go, we are so blessed.
We are so lucky and grateful to do what we love.
And,
you know,
it's not always an easy life, um,
full of uncertainty,
but life is short and you've got to do what you love.
Enjoy every sandwich.
Yeah. holly came from miami fla
hitchhiked away across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side
Said, hey honey, take a out on the island
In the back room she was everybody's darling
But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head
She says, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.
Said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.
And the colored girls go do-do-do, do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do, do-do-do. I don't even want to fade it down, but Mark, talk to me about Lou Reed.
Well, I mean, not much of a classic singer,
but he was sort of a
poet, wasn't he?
And he put things to music.
And I've always thought of
this song as
a connector between
beat poetry and hip-hop.
You know?
It kind of predates
a lot of this kind of... I mean, there was nothing like it ever i mean when he
did it who was it uh lauren honickman once told me the first rap song he said is uh subterranean
homesick blues by bob dylan but that's possibly right yeah but this you're right i know louis i
gotta just shout out fotm kevin hearn who's currently with the Barenaked Ladies
who was with Lou
when Lou was sick
and dying
Kevin Hearn spent
like his final weeks
with Lou Reed
as he passed away
no kidding
and then he did the same
for Gord Downie
this guy's
this Kevin Hearn
I don't know if you've
ever crossed paths
with him
he's a keyboardist
he was in
James B's band
Look People
and now he's with Barenaked Ladies and yeah like so that's He was in James B's band, Look People. Yeah.
And now he's with Barenaked Ladies.
And yeah, so that's two great artists where he was sort of there for their exits.
He's kind of a remarkable character, Kevin.
Remind me not to invite him over.
Yeah.
Well, shout out to Ridley Funeral Home.
I was just saying.
But Lou Reed, yeah, man. Velvet Underground and this jam is just,
this is the big hit, I guess, for Lou.
And you know, it's an interesting, there's two basses on this.
It's an electric bass and an acoustic bass, if you can hear it.
And that's what kind of makes it cool.
But it wasn't Lou's idea.
It was the bass player's idea
because he wanted to get it double scale.
Right.
Smart.
Seriously.
Triple that bass.
What are you doing there?
Oh, yeah.
It's a great song.
And you know what?
This is one of those songs where you might,
even if you haven't heard it in a while
even hearing it
in the headphones now
it's like
you almost forget
how good it is
like it's like
very good
holy smokes
alright we're rolling
right into Amy's
third jam here
cooking with gas Desperado
Why don't you come to your senses
You've been out riding fences
For so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
But I know that you've got your reasons
These things that are pleasing you
can hurt you somehow
Don't you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of hearts
is always your best bet.
Now it seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table.
But you only want the ones that you can't get.
Desperado Oh, you ain't getting no young
Your pain and your hunger
They're driving you home
Freedom, oh, freedom
Well, that's just some people talking
Your prison is walking through this world all alone
Don't your feet get cold in the wintertime
I know it's sacrilegious to fade this down here,
but Amy, I want to hear why you love Desperado by the Eagles.
Well, I mean, I love the song Desperado
and equally love Linda Ronstadt's version of it.
And when I was learning how to sing and write songs as a teenager,
every single Eagles record was just like an instruction manual on how to write a pop
song like a master class yeah it really is the songs are so well written and the lyrics i mean
don't you draw the queen of diamonds boy you know she'll beat you if she's able i mean come on
and and the string arrangement piano and strings that's my I love it. I loved it as a teenager. I was a cellist, and that's just a classic 70s string arrangement.
And it's just American.
It's the new American songbook.
You know, the Eagles are like the American Beatles.
I don't think they wrote a bad song.
I know you were listening to Hotel California the other day.
You love the guitar solo.
Yeah. I know you were listening to Hotel California the other day. You love the guitar solo.
Yeah.
Okay, here's a fun fact about Don Henley.
We were living in L.A.
and Mark and I,
excuse me,
a little froggy this morning,
and it was 1990 and Don was going on tour,
and he was looking for a backup singer,
and I was offered the gig.
Wow.
And interestingly enough, all you had to do was submit a headshot
and a recommendation.
You didn't even have to sing.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
And in fact, it's funny because there's this thing on Facebook right now
where you post an old headshot.
The headshot that I've got on Facebook right now,
that's the one I submitted to Don Henley.
I got the gig, but I got pregnant.
Wasn't me.
In fact, I was pregnant with Zoe, and the tour was going to be happening i was going to
be between like three and six months pregnant and um it was an amazing opportunity you know but
i had to decline it oh that's funny yeah and it's funny like the whole like you know non-babes need
not apply basically exactly well and then my girlfriend did get the gig and she looked a lot like me,
big head,
curly brown hair,
Jewish girl.
And she ended up,
you know,
being,
you know,
taking a walk on the wild side
with Don for the tour.
Shout out to Lou Reed.
Okay.
All right.
Now we're going to be able
to talk about
Bruce Hornby here.
Let's kick this one out. ༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱༱� ¶¶ Man in a silk suit hurries by as he catches the poor old lady's eyes.
Just for fun, he says, get a job.
That's just the way it is.
Some things will never change.
That's just the way it is.
Ah, but don't you believe it.
I wonder how many young people thought you were kicking out a Tupac jam with this one.
Heavily sampled on changes.
But tell me, the way it is, tell me about Bruce.
Well, Bruce is a magnificent piano player,
and he sort of played like no other player of that era in that it was all melodic, you know, it was all thematic.
And that was what he loved to do,
and no one, none of the labels were interested in him at the beginning.
He got a deal with some sort of instrumental, sort of middle of the road.
But he didn't want to do that.
He wanted to sing.
And so my manager actually helped him get the deal with RCA.
And the rest is history.
Didn't you produce some demos?
I did some demos with him, yeah, for Warner Brothers.
But Warner Brothers didn't want him.
And so that's when I met Bruce.
He didn't need, I'm telling you, he didn't need me to be producing anything
because he's such a great producer himself but amazing i did i just want to say it's it's funny when we're listening these
these headphones are they sound great mike and um when that bass part kicked in i'm like you know
when you're when you're married to a musician um and you're obsessed with music certain sounds and
hooks and things
are kind of like the souvenirs of your life.
And I'm like, oh yeah, that bass part,
yeah, that was when we were falling in love.
That's the kind of bass that we used back then.
That could be much worse than that.
That's pretty good stuff.
By the way, when you kicked out Desperado prior to this, Amy,
I was going to point out that I think maybe Seinfeld
ruined that song for me.
Because Elaine's boyfriend
would, like,
every time he heard
that song,
much like you,
everything had to stop
and he had to focus on it.
It was such a beautiful song.
And then, I don't know
if you've seen
the Seinfeld episode,
but then Elaine adopted
Witchy Woman
as her song.
She don't know
any of this at all.
You know, I don't think
I've seen that episode.
The whole episode,
you've got gotta dig it up
yeah google it
find out that name
but yeah
there's a whole song
yeah
Lane's boyfriend
was madly in love
with Desperado
and it would come on
and shh
quiet
and it was like
anyway
I'm listening to it again
and it's such a beautiful song
but all I can think of
is Lane's boyfriend
that is funny
so I'm finishing up
cause at night
when the kids are asleep and I'm finished watching
my Leafs or my Jays or whatever, I like to, you know, we watch TV or whatever and we're
going through Veep.
Did any of you ever see Veep?
Yeah.
So I know I'm late to the Veep party, but we're in the final season now and that Julia
Louise Dreyfuss, I'm here to tell you something you don't know.
She's an amazing comedic actress.
I know you know that, but I'm just here to say
I can't believe she has those two iconic roles.
Just unbelievable.
Unbelievable.
That TV review is...
Shout out to Bill Brio for that one.
I totally agree with you.
Yeah, she's genius.
She's very good.
Okay, we're going to head right into your fourth jam. Just before our love got lost, you said
I am as constant as a northern star
And I said, constantly in the darkness
Where's that at?
If you want me, I'll be in the darkness Where's that at?
If you want me I'll be in the bar On the back of a cartoon coaster
In a blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With your face sketched on it twice
You're in my blood like holy wine
It tastes so bitter and so sweet
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling
And I would still be on my feet
Oh, I would still be on my feet Amy, please sing the praises of the living legend Joni Mitchell.
Well, you know, it's hard to find words to describe one of the greatest wordsmiths ever
to put pen to paper in the popular song but
she you know makes me so proud to be canadian because she's so literate and um so profound and
you don't hear a lot of that in popular music. And I know it's a result, partly, of growing up in a country like Canada
where CBC is listened to and words and language and expression are valued,
really, at a cultural level.
And, I mean, lyrically she's incredible, but melodically, absolutely original.
The way she sung, her harmonic choices,
you know, she broke the rule book.
And they broke the mold after they made Joanie.
And I love that my daughter Zoe, Sky Jordan,
is also obsessed with Joanie.
She's affected generations of songwriters, men and women.
She's just a supernova.
And, you know, rare, rare.
One of the seven wonders of the world.
She also made up a lot of the tunings on the isthmus she played
she played in different tunings
yeah incredible
I have no words either
so there's no words
and I think it's because she was unwell
and now she's back attending
like events again
which is fantastic
so now she
I feel like now
this is like an opportunity
to give her her flowers
while she's still with us.
Yes.
I got to, our son-in-law Liam Russell was asked to sing one of her songs in a Luminato event a few years ago.
And she was on stage.
And I got to like chat with her backstage for a minute.
And I just like, I have a picture of that.
and I just like, I have a picture of that and whenever I post that on social media,
like people just can't just say enough about her
and how moved they are by her poetry and her music
and it'll be a very sad day when we lose her
and her impact will be felt for generations to come.
Just, she reinvented the game.
I will tell the FOTMs listening
that Terry David Mulligan
is going to come back on Toronto Mic
to discuss.
He spent weeks with her in Western Canada
before she became super famous.
He spent a lot of time with her
in Western Canada
before she broke or whatever.
And we're going to hear all that info
from Terry David Mulligan soon.
Okay, I can't wait to play this jam.
This is the final jam not written by Mark Jordan that Mark's going to kick out.
Here we go. Take your time, I can wait by the roadside
For someone else to come
You're going out of your fun
I've been walking alone
for a while now
But I never wanted this
I just got used to it
Something that was hidden in the role that I was given
Has a hold on me
And I know that I can't rely on you to see it through my eyes
It's not so easy
If we talked, would you hear me?
If I stood in your way, would you see me?
If I disappear, would you miss me?
Cause I'm trying to carry on, but I can't
If I scream, would I get through?
Could you trust me like I trust you?
Could you be the one that I turn to?
I want you to know who I am
I want you to know who I am
who I am There's too much space
that exists in between
Mark, whose beautiful voice are we hearing here?
My son, Ezra.
Wow!
A little bit of Amy, a little bit of me.
You guys must be very proud.
How proud are you of these two uh children that are
beyond beyond you just can't that word sort of failed me
i'm just trying to relate like uh i mean i'm still like uh look i got four kids but uh if
one of them can even like i don't know carry a tune for a few seconds, I'm like, well, that's pretty.
I'm so proud.
But this is next level.
Next level shit.
They're so good.
And Ezra, his song, his production, his piano playing,
and his voice is just stunning.
It's lush.
Lush.
Okay, so tell me, like, did Ezra
always want to do this, or?
Well, he always
wanted to play piano.
But he didn't start,
he had a terrible accident.
About, what was it,
ten years ago? Ten years.
And where he couldn't,
he blew out his knee and his ankle
and water skiing, and he was literally in bed for six months,
and he almost lost his leg, and it was very traumatic,
and that's when he started singing,
because he couldn't play the piano.
And then he started singing, listening to singers.
So it was a trauma that kind of kicked him into gear.
He's got a great voice.
Yeah. me Cause I'm trying to carry on but I can't
And if I scream would it get
through
Could you trust me like I trust
you
Could you be the one that I turn
to
Cause I want you to know
who I am
I want you to know
who I am I want you to know who I am
I want you to know who I am
Oh, don't you know by now
And I want you to know who I am
I want you to know who I am.
I want you to know.
Amy, what say you, before I kick out your final jam,
which you actually wrote,
what say you about your son, Ezra Jordan?
Well, first of all, I also want to shout out that
Ezra's brother-in-law Zoe's husband Liam Russell produced that track with him so
I love I love seeing the kids working together and I Ezra is so profoundly
musical and he's like me he's a music theory nerd. And nothing gives me greater joy than to pick a song apart with him
and dissect the chords and the structure.
It's kind of a hobby of ours.
You know how some people talk about baseball stats?
We talk about chord changes.
And I'm just so proud of him for really, you know, at the age of 18,
stepping out of his comfort zone.
And it's hard.
Like, at that point, Mark and his older sister Zoe were already singer-songwriters.
And to say, throw his hat into that ring, too, you know, he's brave.
But it's kind of like you took Mark's voice and then you sewed my voice on
top of it.
He's got like a four octave range.
And well,
I was going to say,
okay,
so obviously on Thursday,
we're going to drop this on Monday.
So in a few days there's he sang,
she sang,
but you have the obvious sequel,
which is he sang,
she sang,
he sang,
she sang.
Well,
you know what?
Um,
free falling that you kicked off the show with,
um, Ezra and zoe and liam
all three of our kids oh they're all in that yeah and son-in-law are singing on it ezra plays piano
on this track you on he sang she sang which is a bond rate cover and um to say that you feel complete and gratified and justified
or just to see your children thrive in music or in anything.
To see your children thrive in anything is great,
but to see that they embrace music as their own,
I feel it's a proud mommy moment.
Okay, now I realize here, so I always prep. I'm well prepared.
But now I realize, did I kick out for the nice Sid letter we got?
Was that the jam you were going to kick out as your jam?
If my heart had wings, you talked about the Sid letter, yeah.
Okay, I had no idea.
I was cannibalizing.
So, okay, so that's the same version here.
I'm going to click your, oh, this is from,
he's saying, she's saying, okay.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Okay.
It's a different song.
It's a different song.
Yeah, yeah.
This song is called
I'll Give You Wings.
Oh.
Yes.
Okay, cute.
Okay, so let's listen to this
and then we'll talk about this.
Spoiler alert,
it's about our children.
Good segue. Some say love can only last by holding on
As tight as heaven will allow
But love is trust
And though you are the soul of my soul
Love is letting go
So I'll give you wings to fly
And wings to come back to
When your dreams run dry
A heart that's here for you
Until it's time once more
For you to touch the sky
I'll give you wings to fly.
I'll give you wings to fly.
So Amy, you wrote this song.
I wrote it with John Jarvis.
Yeah.
Should we hear a bit of Mark here?
But not so close that you can't breathe
Cause love needs air and space to grow
For all my life
All you are is all that I need
So tell me you believe
That I'll give you wings to fly
And roots to come back to
When your dreams run dry
To come back to when your dreams run dry.
When your dreams run dry.
A heart that's here for you until it's time once more for you to touch the sky.
I promise you that I.
Promise you that I.
I will hear your wings just like. And this is from the He Sang, She Sang,
which again is out Thursday,
which is your full-length duet album
with your husband, Mark.
But obviously, I think it's pretty clear,
but just share with us anyway.
What is this song about, Amy?
It's about flying, really.
It's about flying it's about
you know
letting the people that you love
and in this case it's really about our
children but it applies to anyone
wanting the best for them
and wanting them to follow
their heart and
you know our kids
Ezra
just moved to Nashville and Zoe and Liam live in Los Angeles.
And it's hard for us to be away from them, but we want them to follow their bliss and support them in everything they do.
And know that we are here if they need to come home.
But we hope that they'll fly away and find their future and find their voice wherever it takes them.
Do you guys also live in Nashville as well as Toronto?
Do you do both?
We worked out of there.
Yeah, we recorded a lot of this record there.
My co-writer, John Jarvis, I met him in Nashville.
He's Vince Gill's keyboard player.
But we don't live there, no.
But we visit, you know, we helicopter parent a little helicopter parent a little but la's got to be tough like i don't i mean you like you think the song says it all but
you know you give them wings to fly away and then you're like oh i miss them we do every every day
we do and and uh listening to them sing though like it just fills my heart because you know as a parent you you
you know you've got four kids you can tell just by the micro expressions on your kid's face like
if they're happy or if they're bothered and as parents or singers we can hear in their voices
like if they're if they're feeling complete if they're if they're happy and uh and And sometimes we hear the recordings and it's not happening.
It's really hard not to say, I can hear that you're not liking this.
I was going to say, like, Zoe delivers a new album,
and it's like a Taylor Swift thing.
And it's like, oh, things aren't well at home?
What is this?
It's like, oh, man, you're lucky your kids can sing, you know.
I always wonder what it would be like if, you know,
my kids aren't very good.
Like, that's all I can say
oh boy
alright
well here
we're going to close out
with a Mark Jordan jam
final jam of the day On the highway
Blinding snow
And how I'm north of Montreal
All night long the bells were still
Children rocking in their cells
Tell me that your love is true
And I will give my heart to you.
Jesus, don't leave me alone, a little lamb without a home.
Down the hallways, like a fire,aste would come drunk with desire
In the silent night I cried
For the things that they denied
Say your rosary for me
Get right down upon your knees
Jesus left you all alone
Little lamb without a home
So I dreamed of sailing ships
And families out on Sunday trips.
Mark, what's Little Lambs about?
Well, it's really about the orphanages and the schools that the Catholic Church ran,
you know, really in the early part of the 20th century.
And, you know, this particular thing is about the,
you know, you couldn't get an abortion years ago
in Quebec and other places.
And so kids were just sent away to these schools.
And a lot of them died.
And a lot of them were abused.
And it's a very sad legacy.
And, you know, it's the same thing that happened to the native population in Canada.
They were taken away from their families
and put in these schools.
And, you know, it's just a...
That song kind of wrote itself.
It's just such a sad story.
This was...
I remember there was an article in the paper
about a specific school
that they'd come forward with a class action.
Yeah, that's right, in rural Quebec.
And they would take these unwed mothers and they'd put them up there
and then they'd take the babies.
It was awful, awful, awful, awful.
Awful story, but a beautiful song. so it's uh yeah amazing and this is your is this your
favorite song that you've uh is this your favorite song you've written or is it just
one of your favorites it's tough to take you can't which is your favorite child that's my next question
all of them you know i i i have have favorite songs for different reasons. You know, some of them have, you know, some of them, you know,
I love Burning Down the Amazon for the same reason.
It was just such a powerful song.
Mark Jordan, Amy Skye, what a pleasure to finally meet you guys.
I've been a big fan for a long time and I absolutely love this
so thanks for dropping by and giving me a solid 90 minutes here
this was awesome
90 minutes already?
wow that went fast
thanks for having us and thanks for doing your homework man
that's a lot of reading
I only got tripped up by all the angel songs
the wings, all the wing songs
you know the sky name
my kids tease me they tease us The wings, all the wing songs. You know, the sky name.
My kids tease me.
They tease us.
I'm always writing songs about wings and sky,
and Mark's always writing songs about rain.
You know, I love the,
there's nothing better than a good rain jam.
I'll just say that.
I love the who, rain over me.
Love rain over me.
Great rain jam.
Okay, Sheb's a quadrophenia and that
brings us to the end
of our 1043rd show
wow
you guys don't go anywhere
until I get your lasagna
and then we have to take
a photo together
by the tree
because that photo
is going to follow you
until you die
that's my
Google images pledge
you can follow me
on Twitter
I'm at Toronto Mike
so start with you, Amy.
What's the best way to follow you and what you're up to,
what social media, what handle?
Yeah, amyskymusic on Instagram, amysky on Facebook, amysky.com,
and he sang, she sang, dot, live.
And Mark, what's the best way to follow you?
He sang, she sang, dot, live, and it's mark at markjordan.com.
I also have some...
Yeah, Instagram your Mark Jordan music.
And how do I get Marina Del Rey out of my head now?
Like, is there any tricks?
You have to jump out a window.
You have to drink like three or four of these Great Lakes brewery.
Premium lager might go
well now. Great Lakes.
Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery are at
Great Lakes Beer. Palma Pasta
is at Palma Pasta.
Sticker U is at Sticker U.
This is exciting, so we'll have more on this
later in the week, but Dewar
Pants and Shorts are the
newest sponsor of Toronto Mike, so we just
introduced them today, but I'll have more information
on how you can get a hold of a
comfy pair of Dewar Pants and Shorts, but
on Twitter, they're at Dewar Performance.
D-U-E-R
Performance. Ridley
Funeral Home, they're at Ridley F-H
and Canna Cabana are at
Canna Cabana underscore.
See you all next week. I realize there's a thousand shades of green. Cause I know that's true, yes I do.
I know it's true, yeah.
I know it's true.
How about you?
All them picking up trash and them putting down rogues.
And they're brokering stocks, the class struggle explodes.
And they're broken in stocks, the class struggle explodes And I'll play this guitar just the best that I can
Maybe I'm not and maybe I am