LARRY KING LIVE 2002 - Seite 2

Fortsetzung


KING: Back with Barry Manilow. He will be singing the next three portions of LARRY KING LIVE. You didn't like pop music, right?

MANILOW: Well, in the beginning I didn't. I mean, the first time I listened to pop music was when I was on the radio.

KING: You weren't a fan of Steve Lawrence?

MANILOW: Oh, yes, I was. When you mention that, I was. Who wasn't?

KING: What generally didn't you like?

MANILOW: The early rock and roll of the '60s, the late '50s, early '60s didn't do it to me. That's when I was telling you about Willie Murphy coming into my life. I was discovering Lambert (ph), Hendrix, Ross.

KING: Jazz?

MANILOW: More jazz. Even classical music. Like I said, Broadway show music.

KING: Were you seriously trained?

MANILOW: I took piano lessons. I went to music college for a while, I went to the New York college of music, switched to Juilliard for a little bit, and then I went on the road because we couldn't afford to do college those days. We couldn't afford to do it.

KING: What about the contemporary singers? You like Billy Joel?

MANILOW: Who doesn't?

KING: Sting?

MANILOW: Absolutely. They are the ones. They are the ones that are keeping good music alive, I think.

KING: Because there's a lot of not good music, right?

MANILOW: There's always been a lot of not good music. There's always been the one-hit wonders, the stuff that you just -- it comes and goes. Then there's suddenly -- Prince happens. And you go, whoa! That is...

KING: Why is he great?

MANILOW: He is an original. He is an original. He breaks all the rules and he is so musical.

KING: You didn't like the early '60s. Did you like the Beatles?

MANILOW: That's when things changed for me. When I heard -- but, you know, as much as I love their song writing and loved their performing, I was really listening to George Martin.

George Martin was their producer-arranger. That's where my heart lies as producer and arranger and songwriter. My ears were going to the strings behind Eleanor Rigby. I couldn't figure out whose idea was that. Here is a pop song, beautifully written pop sing, a rock and roll band and there is a string quartet behind it. That is what was like knocking me out about the Beatles.

KING: You listened to music differently than we listen to music.

MANILOW: Those are the people that influenced me. The George Martins of the world. These brilliant Nelson Riddle, David Rose. These people in the background supporting the singers. That's the people that really influenced me. I collected autographs for a while. It was all Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle. Those were the autographs I collected.

KING: We're going to hear you in a little while play some commercials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Barry Manilow singing "You Deserve A Break Today")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How did you get to do that gig, to write commercial songs like McDonald's?

MANILOW: I didn't write -- I sang it. I'll play for you the ones I did write. It was lucky. I was trying to sell my songs. I wanted to be a songwriter in New York during those years.

And I would send my demos out to singers and producers, and somebody heard my demo of something, I don't know what. Maybe it's one of the ones I'm going to sing -- and called me and asked if I wanted to go up for a commercial. They gave me a lyric, "Dodge, depend on it." They give you a lyric. That's what they do. They say you got 30 seconds to write a melody to "Dodge, depend on it."

KING: That's an unusual craft.

MANILOW: Oh, man! My first commercial came in at four minutes. So, you know, I didn't know what I was doing. But they did like the melody, and whittled it down to 30 seconds. And I got it. I got the first one.

KING: John J. Lerner (ph) told me that songwriters are craftsmen. You agree?

MANILOW: Yes. And I learned how to write pop songs from my days in the commercial industry, because really you were going up against a lot of other song writers. And you had to write the catchiest melody in 30 seconds. Otherwise you wouldn't get it, somebody else would get it.

And I learned how to do that, and I really give credit to those years in the commercial industry to everything I know. Once I did get them, then I would go into the studio and work with the top of the line musicians, because they pay the best for these commercials. I would get to work with the top oboe players, top string players.

KING: So when we hear commercials like that, you're hearing the best?

MANILOW: The best, and the studio singers, the background singers taught me how to do harmonies, how to sound different. It was a great three-year learning experience. It was college for me.

KING: When you had to do the act on your own, the concert like we are going to see tomorrow night on CBS, was that hard to put that together? It's not just singing songs. It has to have a theme, an act?

MANILOW: Well, that part I found easy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Barry Manilow singing)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANILOW: I like putting it together. I think one of my strengths is in putting it together, like a song, like I write the songs that Clive Davis found for me.

KING: Which you didn't write and everyone thought you did.

MANILOW: Which I didn't write.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Barry Manilow singing)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANILOW: Very catchy song. What I had fun doing was building it, starting it really little and building it and changing the key and adding the orchestra and giving it a big ending. I like that.

KING: Our guest is Barry Manilow. From now to the end of the program, it's Barry at the piano, and I'll hunker over and join him. You are watching LARRY KING LIVE so don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Barry Manilow singing)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back. As promised, it's Manilow at the piano. We begin with one of his own many compositions. This is "Brooklyn Blues" from the "Swing Street" album. It is one of your favourites songs, right?

MANILOW: Yes, and the reason I want to do it, is both of us come from Brooklyn, so this is for you, Larry.

KING: OK, baby. Go!

(Barry Manilow singing "Brooklyn Blues")

MANILOW: Only somebody from Brooklyn would get that.

KING: Do you ever think about it, JFK, flying in?

MANILOW: I do.

KING: Yeah, because they circle, they come in over Brooklyn.

MANILOW: Yes, I do.

KING: Now we're going to listen to some of the songs you either wrote or recorded as commercials. Right?

MANILOW: You know, people are fascinated by this commercial thing.

KING: Well, because we all know the tunes and we so associate with them. Now, McDonald's you just sang, but StateFarm, Band-aids.

MANILOW: Yeah -- you know this one.

(MUSIC)

KING: StateFarm.

MANILOW: Now, this one was kind of pretty.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: You know, you would think that StateFarm would call me. I got $500 for that one, 30 some-odd years ago.

KING: You were once broke, right?

MANILOW: Yes.

KING: You were bankrupt twice.

MANILOW: All of us guys who get money that fast, we don't know what to do with it. And I've heard this story over and over and over again from people.

KING: You have other people handle it now?

MANILOW: I do. I'm fine now. But boy, in the beginning, though -- you come from Brooklyn, and without money, and then they start giving you these checks. Yeah. Then you hire the people that you think can handle it.

KING: And get screwed.

MANILOW: It got screwed up, yeah.

KING: Now, what about McDonald's? How did you get this?

MANILOW: Well, because I only made $500 on the StateFarm Insurance commercial, the company was so guilty because it took off and it became very popular, and you only get residuals if you sing -- if you're on the spot itself. They buy you out.

KING: You didn't sing on it?

MANILOW: No, they buy you out as a composer. And so they asked me if I would sing the McDonald's.

(MUSIC)

KING: That, you made some money on?

MANILOW: That, I did. That, I did.

KING: Now, we're going to have a fun medley of top old songs here, but your first single, 1974. It was "Mandy," but that wasn't the original title, right?

MANILOW: It was called "Oh, Brandy."

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: It was like that. That's the demo.

KING: Why did you change it?

MANILOW: Well, two reasons. Number one, I didn't sound good singing that kind of song. Although I don't sound bad doing that. But it didn't sound good on the record. And there was a record that year called "Brandy, You're a Fine Girl."

KING: Oh, I remember that. "Brandy, you're a fine girl, what a good wife you would be."
MANILOW: That's right. So we changed it, Clive and I changed it "Oh, Mandy."

KING: Let's hear it.

(MUSIC)

KING: That was a big hit, right?

MANILOW: Well, that was my first number one hit, back in 1821 that was.

KING: Tell me about the only song that you won a Grammy for -- you wrote it in less than 15 minutes, I'm told.

MANILOW: I did.

KING: "Copa Cabana." We all dreamed of going to the Copa Cabana.

(MUSIC)

KING: How did that come about?

MANILOW: Well, Bruce and I, my songwriting partner, were on the beach in Rio de Janeiro. And it was the Copa Cabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. We were sitting on it; we were staying at the Copa Cabana hotel, and we had Copa Cabana matches and Copa Cabana ashtrays and Copa Cabana towels. And Bruce popped his head up and said, has there ever been a song called "Copa Cabana?"

KING: And when you were the kids, wasn't the Copa Cabana the number one nightclub in New York?

MANILOW: That's where we -- you know, actually, I never really went to the Copa Cabana.

KING: I went once on a prom.

MANILOW: I'm thinking maybe, maybe, maybe...

KING: It had a big lounge.

MANILOW: Yeah.

KING: And a lot of white and gold and red.

MANILOW: But we wrote the song called "At the Copa," and we wrote it as a novelty cut, on this "Even Now" album that I recorded. And it went crazy.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: And none of us expected this. None of us.

KING: That was huge, right?

MANILOW: It was huge. I knew that I was on to something. My co-producer Ron Dante (ph) and I went into a disco, and tested it that first week that we made it. And the people went flying onto the dance floor, doing this old fashioned '40s kind of dancing, even though it was kind of a disco thing. I said, oh, I think we're on to something.

KING: Now, another thing. The first time I heard "I Write the Songs" in 1975, I said, boy, that's a very interesting song. It's a nice tune. But isn't that a little self-aggrandizing there for Barry to say I write -- you didn't write that.

MANILOW: First of all, I didn't write it, and it's not about me. It's about the spirit of music.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: Bruce Johnson wrote it about the spirit of music coming through composers. "I am music and I write the songs."

KING: People thought you wrote it.

MANILOW: People thought I did. They said, who does he think he is, Bob Dylan? So I would get flack for that.

KING: Did you not like the song?

MANILOW: I did. I thought it was confusing, but I did.

KING: Then you had an Oscar nomination -- you've won everything, and you had an Oscar nomination from the movie "Foul Play," the great movie with Chevy Chase.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: That was a great movie, right?

KING: Great movie. Funny.

MANILOW: Funny movie. Great.

KING: Funny movie.

MANILOW: And when we did this theme song, I said that Goldie Hawn was going to be driving up the coast in a yellow Volkswagen. And I should do something musically. So I pulled back. And this helicopter shot went like that. Ready to take -- it was fun doing that.

KING: You're good, you know? Now, "Weekend in New England," there is an oddity about that song. I know one of the oddities about "Moonlight in Vermont" is no line rhymes.

MANILOW: Right.

KING: One of the oddities about "Weekend in New England" is the title is never mentioned.

MANILOW: It's never mentioned.

KING: Tell me about that.

MANILOW: Well, first of all, Randy Edelman (ph) wrote "Weekend in New England." You got to ask Randy why he did that, but I think it's a very artistic way of doing it, calling it "Weekend in New England" but never mentioning it. Time in New England -- that's the only time it ever gets mentioned.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: You know what's odd about this one? This was like in the middle of the disco era, and here's a waltz that went number one.

KING: Now, tell me about "Can't Smile Without You." You thought it was too simple at first, was that true?

MANILOW: You know, coming from Jerry Mulligan and Chet Baker -- Clive gave me this, he said, "this is huggable." I remember him saying, "it's a huggable song." I said, "Clive, it's just so simple. What am I going to do with it?" I listened to it, the demo, a lot. And I said, I think I got it. It's vaudeville.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: When I found the vaudeville in it, I got it.

KING: I want to get in one more tune in this medley. "Looks Like We Made It," that went to number one.

MANILOW: That did.

KING: Let's hear a little bit of that.

(MUSIC)

KING: And we'll be right back with more. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We're back with Barry Manilow. Don't forget, tomorrow night on CBS, the Barry Manilow special. Recorded at the...

MANILOW: The Kodak.

KING: The Kodak...

MANILOW: The gorgeous Kodak.

KING: ... which he opened, which is the bright new big spot where the Academy Awards were. He -- you are a big fan of Sinatra. Did an album "Manilow Sings Sinatra."
MANILOW: Who isn't. Yeah, who isn't.

KING: And this is one of Frank's great tunes. Don't you love this? Sammy Khan (ph), Jimmy Van Neusen (ph).

MANILOW: You know, I had the opportunity to record like these great standards. After the pop music, my kind of pop music, started to be eclipsed by R&B and hip-hop and stuff like that, Clive and I decided that these albums that I was releasing, instead of trying to release original albums that would try to compete with that stuff, that I should try to do what he used to call "event albums." And we came up with these ideas to do tributes to all sorts of styles of music that I grew up loving. Like for instance, like I did this album called "Showstoppers," where I got to sing...

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: It was such an honor to do this kind of stuff.

KING: You also did "All I Need is the Girl."

MANILOW: I did.

(MUSIC)

KING: Mel Torme.

MANILOW: It was just such an honor.

KING: But you did "Come Fly With Me," did you not?

MANILOW: I did.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: You know, I should do this for a living. I mean, I play great for myself.

KING: And then a song from "Singing With the Big Bands."

MANILOW: Then I did this big band tribute.

KING: "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

MANILOW: I actually worked with the Duke Ellington band on this.

KING: Wow.

(MUSIC)

MANILOW: That was such an honor to do that. And then this one, which I love. I
know you love. This...

(MUSIC)

KING: Do you have as much fun singing songs you didn't write?

MANILOW: I do. You can tell, right?

KING: Yeah. You love singing them.

MANILOW: Well, I just love doing this.

KING: And arranging.

MANILOW: That's why I said, the worst thing I could have done was to get built myself a studio in my house. This is what I do all day long.

KING: Now, tell me about "Could It Be Magic." I'm going to walk off, because I want you to do this whole song. Tell me about it, 1971.

MANILOW: I was hoping you wouldn't say that. 1971.

KING: Thirty years.

MANILOW: I mean -- yeah, 30 years ago. It was based on a Chopin prelude, the Chopin prelude in C-minor. I thought I had a great idea to write a song based on this beautiful prelude. And I did. I sent this song out to everybody, and nobody wanted to record it, so I recorded it myself, and I'm glad I did.

KING: Here he is, folks.

(MUSIC, BARRY MANILOW PERFORMS "COULD IT BE MAGIC")

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: The remaining segment of the LARRY KING LIVE scene tonight will be Barry singing two songs. Before he does that, I do want to tell you that his special will air tomorrow night on CBS. We certainly all look forward to that. He will also be playing at a concert theater near you, because he's everywhere.

MANILOW: I'm like Starbucks; you can't get away from me.

KING: And we're going to close with two songs. One is the piano standard, the piano is "Somewhere Down the Road," which you did not write, right?

MANILOW: No, it was (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It is such a beautiful song.

KING: And then you will sing your own composition from the "Mayflower" album, called "She Should Have Been Mine."

MANILOW: Thanks, Larry.

KING: Thank you, Barry. Don't forget, Barry Manilow tomorrow night on CBS. We had him tonight. There he is.

(MUSIC, BARRY MANILOW PERFORMS "SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD"

MANILOW: Let me do this next one. This one comes from the "Mayflower," "She Should Have Been Mine."

(MUSIC, BARRY MANILOW SINGS "SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MINE")
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)