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Social Studies
"Often and usually, my songs
are about myself and my family and various people in my actual
life. The songs on Social Studies are about other people,
most of them I don't even know. People like President Clinton,
and Saddam Hussein, and Tonya Harding and O J Simpson and others.
It's kind of a look back over the last ten years at some
of the people and social phenomena and political weirdness that's
been flying around."
Y2K
"When you think of the computer
explosion, you think of Bill Gates the president of Microsoft.
And he's the man who is easy to dislike just because he's
so rich and he looks like such a nerd. So he's an easy
target. I take a lot of shots at easy targets, and he's just
somebody that's easy to poke fun at."
Computers
"Bitching about computers
is a little like bitching about the telephone or air conditioning.
It's here. But still, I'm old enough to remember a time when
there were no computers, at least to the extent that they are
now. And I'm worried by seeing people just staring into
screens. In America, not only do we have 80 channels of
bad television, but now people are looking at their computers
all the time, and it just strikes me as being something a little
'off' there."
Writing
"I wrote a parody of a Woody
Guthrie song 25 years ago. He had a song called 'New York
Town' and I wrote a a song called 'Jerusalem Town' to that tune
and wrote new lyrics. And then we got permission from the
Woody Guthrie people to do it. And in return, I relinquished
any publishing that I had. Then 25 years later, we find out that
Robbie Williams has pinched one of my lyrics. The publishing
company, Ludlow Music, are suing Robbie Williams for a lot of
money. And he's got a lotta money. C'mon Robbie, trickle
some down to the ole Loudo (laughs). If something big happens
in my life, if I have a big difficulty or a big sorrow, it seems
strange for me not to write about it. I would be remiss,
I would feel remiss, because, I certainly write about things
that amuse me and annoy me and bug me, but I write about things
that really affect me."
Rufus and
Martha Wainwright
"As you say, Rufus is off
to a kind of roaring start with his wonderful first album. You
know, they're in for a wild ride. I've been on this rollercoaster
for 30 years - things are moving a little slower now - (laughs)
but their mom is Kate Mc Garrigle and they know about the music
business. They've been brought up in this milieu of performers
and singing and performing."
Advice from
Dad
"You know, they've been
standing up on stage since they were two or three so it makes
perfect sense that they would do this. Hopefully they're
also observing their parents and learned some of the pitfalls
and problems. But you get hammered in this business - no
matter what (meaningful look)."
Sandra Bulloch
and 28 Days
"Betty Thomas who's the
director of this movie, which at this point is called '28 Days',
got with me about being in this movie starring Sandra Bulloch.
It's kind of a wacky comedy that takes place in a drug
and alcohol rehab. And eh, I guess they were looking for
particularly 'wasted types.' I'm the Guitar guy." |
