"Deborah Norville Tonight" Show vom 06.04.2004 - Seite 3
Fortsetzung
NORVILLE: You know what I never understood? How come "Weekend in New England," you never say weekend in New England anywhere in the song?
MANILOW: I know. You‘re right. Well, first of all, Randy Edelman wrote
"Weekend in New England." And my friend Clive Davis insisted, once again,
that I record these outside pieces of material, and I fought him every step of
the way. I turned down every song.
And then, of course, I gave in after I found the beauty and the wisdom in what
he was saying. But I was this obnoxious, ambitious songwriter, and I didn‘t want
to record outside material. And he showed me "Weekend in New England." And
no matter how beautiful it was, I wanted my own stuff. I wanted to do my own things.
NORVILLE: Sure. But he was right.
MANILOW: But he was right. Certainly, he was right commercially. He was
definitely right. And I was able to find the beauty and the production in it and
give them, give him a hit record with a waltz. "Weekend in New England" is a
waltz that never says weekend in New England in it. And it was still a huge
record.
(singing): When will our eyes meet? When can I touch you? When will this
strong yearning end? And when will I hold you again?
Beautiful song, right?
NORVILLE: It‘s gorgeous.
MANILOW: Beautiful.
NORVILLE: And everyone thinks of the lost love, the person who‘s not there.
MANILOW: One would hope.
NORVILLE: There‘s a personal connection for everybody on that.
MANILOW: One would hope.
Well, you know, I never considered myself a singer, as you said before. And I
figured, well, the best thing I could do is to communicate. That was my goal.
My goal was somehow to communicate with the listener and with the audience, because I really didn‘t trust my voice, since I never went after it. I never went
after being a singer. I was only going to be a musician. And so I got the oppor-
tunity to perform my own material and then outside material.
And I figured, well, I better make an impression with what I was singing, because
my voice isn‘t Luther Vandross.
NORVILLE: And when you‘ve made that impression, you probably have a favorite
of your fans that day in, day out, concert in, concert out, they say, oh, Barry,
would you please play? What is the one that you get asked to play more often?
And maybe we‘ll let you play that as we go into this next break.
MANILOW: I‘ve got to think about it, because, really, it‘s a huge catalog. Just -
why don‘t you just...
NORVILLE: Let me just pull one out.
MANILOW: Just pull one out.
NORVILLE: Well, here‘s one of my favorites.
MANILOW: Yes.
I brought my cheat sheets, because I haven‘t been on the road. So I need the
chords. And as you get older, you forget the chords. Don‘t you notice?
NORVILLE: You haven‘t forgotten a thing, baby.
MANILOW: So here.
(singing): Looks like we made it. We left each other on the way to another love.
Looks like we made it or I thought so until today, until you were there every-
where and all I could taste was love the way we made it.
NORVILLE: What do Barry Manilow and Clay Aiken have in common? Well,
find out when we continue. More with Barry Manilow in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NORVILLE: Barry Manilow is definitely ready to take a chance again. He has a
new double C.D. out today called "Two Nights Live," a double DVD, "Ultimate Manilow." And he‘s with us for the full hour.
It‘s so cool to see you on stage, because you so enjoy it. I remember, you
were wonderful and did an Alzheimer‘s fund-raiser for me once.
MANILOW: No, I loved that. I was so happy I was able to do that.
And you there, yes.
NORVILLE: You have been so kind to so many charities. But it is just obvious
the joy you feel on stage. For a guy who didn‘t want to be a singer, you into it.
MANILOW: True.
Well, it‘s gratitude. It‘s not just joy. It‘s gratitude. Honestly, it‘s all about, once
that huge orchestra kicks up, you know, to be able to get a chance to keep
doing this after all these years, it‘s...
NORVILLE: You‘ve got to stop saying that, after all these years.
You‘ve got to eliminate that from your vocabulary.
MANILOW: I guess you‘re right.
NORVILLE: What‘s cool is, coming up in a few weeks, April 20, Barry Manilow
day on "American Idol." You will be one of the judges.
MANILOW: Right.
NORVILLE: And all the contestants will be singing your songs. How is that
going to work?
MANILOW: They‘ve chosen to do a whole evening of my work. But I asked
them if I could somehow be involved in the arranging of each song for the kids.
And so they‘re allowing me to work with the kids for a week before that night.
NORVILLE: How lucky for them.
MANILOW: And so I can do for them what I do for Bette, actually, because I
love doing it. And I thought, well, maybe I could give them a little input on why
they‘re singing whatever song they choose to sing.
NORVILLE: Now, will they choose the song or will they be given the song?
MANILOW: No, they have to choose the song.
NORVILLE: OK.
MANILOW: And if they choose, I don‘t know, "Even Now," you know, maybe,
I could say, what is it that you‘re thinking when you‘re singing it? Or maybe I
could - and if they tell me the right thing, maybe I can arrange it so that it feels
good for them, you know? So I‘m going to spend a week with them and see if I
can - I don‘t know. Maybe I can help them.
NORVILLE: What kind of judge are you going to be? Are you going on to be a
Simon Cowell kind of judge or a Paula Abdul kind of judge?
MANILOW: I‘m the anti-Simon. I‘m sorry. I never had to audition. I never had
to do that. I don‘t know how people do that.
NORVILLE: What about Clay Aiken? A lot of people have looked at him and
liked at you and, go, wait a minute, separated at birth?
MANILOW: Really?
NORVILLE: Yes, he kind of looks like you. He‘s got that cute spiky haircut.
MANILOW: Yes.
NORVILLE: He‘s had great success since the "Idol."
MANILOW: He has, right. Well, this is what he‘s going to look like in 30 years.
(LAUGHTER)
NORVILLE: He‘s not sweating it, then.
MANILOW: Well, I think he is very talented. And I think the kids that actually
win deserve to win. This Kimberly Locke girl is fantastic. Ruben is fantastic.
And they‘re young and they have got experience, like I needed, you know. But
I think they‘re on their feet. They‘re solid. And Clay is really great.
NORVILLE: But getting back to what you said before, they‘re performers. They
are coming up with a song and they‘re delivering it. It may not be the kind of
music that you became known for, music with a message.
MANILOW: Well, they need to choose great material in order to sustain, be-
cause if they just choose hit material, in my opinion...
NORVILLE: Right.
MANILOW: It doesn‘t sustain. You‘ve got to choose material that is well
crafted.And that‘s what - I‘ve got a catalog of this stuff. I hope they can tell
the difference.
NORVILLE: Yes. Let me throw out some names of people who are out there
now. Britney Spears. What do you think?
MANILOW: Beautiful. A beautiful, beautiful, beautiful woman.
NORVILLE: Good singer?
MANILOW: I don‘t know. I think she makes great records. I‘ve never really
heard her sit and sing on a stool. But I know that the records that she makes
are irresistible.
NORVILLE: Yes.
Beyonce Knowles.
MANILOW: Great. Really great. I saw her on the Grammys. Forget it.
I was throwing things at the television, she was so great.
NORVILLE: She was so great?
MANILOW: Oh, please.
NORVILLE: Christina Aguilera?
MANILOW: One of the best singers ever. One of the best singers ever.
NORVILLE: Does the look get in the way because she‘s so out there or does
that bring people into the tent?
MANILOW: For me, she could stand there with a black T-shirt on and sing.
She‘s just got a great, great voice.
NORVILLE: Just a great voice.
And how about Eminem?
MANILOW: I‘ve never really investigated Eminem. He was so offensive the
first year that I kind of turned off.
NORVILLE: And OutKast. They won a Nickelodeon‘s Kids Choice Awards.
MANILOW: I love that. I love what I heard. And you know why I loved what I
heard? Because there was a little bit of the ‘70s sneaking back into OutKast.
There was a little bit of the ‘70s grove and chord changes and delivery. And
there‘s nothing quite like the R&B of the Philadelphia world, from the ‘70s, the Philadelphia sound of the ‘70s.
And I think they have a little bit of that, and it really made my heart sing when
I heard them.
NORVILLE: Well, that‘s cool. Well, maybe we‘ll get them in here and we‘ll let
them have their hearts singing out here, too.
MANILOW: I think they‘re good guys, too. I think they‘re good guys.
NORVILLE: They‘re great guys.
We‘re going to take a break. I‘ve been asking all the questions. Now it‘s your
turn.
MANILOW: Oh, yes?
NORVILLE: We asked you to e-mail us your questions for Barry Manilow.
When we come back, he‘s going to answer.
MANILOW: All right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NORVILLE: Barry Manilow has been nice enough to spend the hour with us.
And many of you have been nice enough to e-mail your questions to Barry.
So I want to share you with you some of the stuff that folks who wrote us
wanted to hear from you.
Eileen Bramswig from Pleasantville, New York, asks: "What's the craziest ex-
perience you ever had with a fan on stage when you were singing ‘Can‘t Smile
Without You?" She says she still wants to get her chance to sing with you.
MANILOW: Well, the craziest was when I had two fans come up, two girls.
I picked one, because, usually, I just pick the one with the biggest sign or,
I can‘t see very well because of the lights. So I pick - their signs or wearing
bright outfits or they‘re jumping like crazy in the middle of the aisle.
So I said, you, and two girls came up. That was kind of - I felt like - you know,
at the climax of "Can‘t Smile Without You," I usually like jump on the piano,
and put them between my legs we both sing. Well, now I had two girls between
my legs and I felt like make a wish, like a turkey bone. I had two microphones.
That was pretty silly.
NORVILLE: So now it‘s you with the red hair, instead of just you generic.
MANILOW: I really have to be very, very clear as to who I choose.
NORVILLE: Very specific.
Gail Van Bergen from Rochester, New York, writes: "Hi, Barry. We‘re looking
forward to see you as a guest judge on ‘American Idol.‘" She said:
"I wanted to know, are you going to be nice to everybody there? And is there
anything that you wish somebody would have told you when you first started out?"
We already know the answer to the first part.
MANILOW: Well, maybe they told me this, but I really didn‘t hear it.
But it‘s harder becoming a success than becoming a failure.
NORVILLE: Really?
MANILOW: Well they told me to watch out for that, you know? And because
my success, my huge success happened after I was 30, I was grounded.
But I really didn‘t expect the hurricane to knock me over the way it did. And I
think, if I were to give people advice, it would be to watch out for that hurricane
of success and all of those yes people that pull you out of yourself. And you find yourself in the middle of all of this - people...
NORVILLE: So you really have to know who you are.
MANILOW: Yes. People telling you what they think you want to hear. And
suddenly, after about three years of my huge success in the ‘70s, I found myself
alone with people that I paid. And you‘ve got to watch out for that.
NORVILLE: Not cool, not cool.
MANILOW: No.
NORVILLE: And Turid from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, wonders: "Do you
ever get tired of singing the old songs? You always sing them like you reall
mean each word, but do you?"
MANILOW: I really do.
The longer I sing these things, the more I find that they are great songs, and
the deeper I can go into them. I am - you know, I love them. I love singing
these songs and I never get tired of them. And the few moments that I have felt
like I‘ve gotten, you know, stale, I take them out of the show immediately.
NORVILLE: Right.
And finally, this last one, which I really love. Debbie Cohen says:
"You have made so many of us so happy all these years." She wants to know
what makes you happy.
MANILOW: You do, Debbie. You do.
(LAUGHTER)
NORVILLE: The fans.
MANILOW: They do, yes.
NORVILLE: Yes. And you‘re still writing. It‘s not just Barry Manilow singing the
old songs. It‘s Barry Manilow singing a lot of new material, too.
MANILOW: Oh, yes. I‘ve got like CDs filled with original material, CDs filled with
them that I don‘t know whether anybody will ever hear. But I love being creative
and writing and collaborating. And I‘ve always got the next one.
NORVILLE: Well, we‘re going to take a break. We‘re going to come back and
hear one more Barry Manilow song. More with him in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NORVILLE: : And that‘s our program for tonight. thanks so much for watching.
Tomorrow night, Vanessa Williams joins us. She‘s got a new comedy film in
which she co-stars with Cedric the Entertainer. It‘s called the "Johnson Family Vacation." She‘ll talk about marriage to L.A. Laker Rick Fox and the balancing
act that she does between work and family.
Vanessa Williams our guest tomorrow night.
Thanks, always, for your e-mails, too. NORVILLE@MSNBC.com is the address.
But the biggest thank you to Barry Manilow.
Thanks so much. It‘s so great to see you and see good things in your life.
MANILOW: Thank you for the hour. Thank you for the hour.
NORVILLE: Will you play something for us?
MANILOW: Yes. This is the first one that you would know. It was on my first
album, breaking the rules when I didn‘t know there were rules to break. It
based on the Chopin Prelude, this one. I wrote this song based on the Chopin
Prelude, released it. It was eight minutes long. And it goes:
(singing): Come, come, come into my arms. Let me know the wonder of all of
you. Baby, I want you now, now, now and hold on fast.
END