Inside Entertainment, May 2006: Difference between revisions
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''IE: Were you surprised that Elvis didn't choose to record some of your better known songs like "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" or "Working in a Coal Mine"? | ''IE: Were you surprised that Elvis didn't choose to record some of your better known songs like "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" or "Working in a Coal Mine"? | ||
AT: Well, Elvis is not a strictly A-side guy. He's a B-side person in many ways. It was wonderful to have him pick some of my lesser-known songs like "Wonder Woman | AT: Well, Elvis is not a strictly A-side guy. He's a B-side person in many ways. It was wonderful to have him pick some of my lesser-known songs like "Wonder Woman." | ||
EC: I honestly felt there wasn't anything that I could add to Allen's "Southern Nights," which people know by Glen Campbell. "Working in a Coal Mine" might've been fun to play, but I didn't think I could possibly top Lee Dorsey's version. I wanted to introduce Allen's compositional voice first on the record, for people who didn't know his writing, so I opted to do "Nearer to You." Then, from "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" to "Ascension Day," the songs relate in some way to the situation in New Orleans now, even though some of them were written 30 years ago. There's the irony, that Allen's songs like "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" and "Freedom for the Stallion" have found their moment as much now as when they were written. | EC: I honestly felt there wasn't anything that I could add to Allen's "Southern Nights," which people know by Glen Campbell. "Working in a Coal Mine" might've been fun to play, but I didn't think I could possibly top Lee Dorsey's version. I wanted to introduce Allen's compositional voice first on the record, for people who didn't know his writing, so I opted to do "Nearer to You." Then, from "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" to "Ascension Day," the songs relate in some way to the situation in New Orleans now, even though some of them were written 30 years ago. There's the irony, that Allen's songs like "Who's Gonna Help Brother Get Further?" and "Freedom for the Stallion" have found their moment as much now as when they were written. | ||
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''IE: The two of you wrote five songs together, including the extraordinary "Ascension Day." How did the collaborative process work? | ''IE: The two of you wrote five songs together, including the extraordinary "Ascension Day." How did the collaborative process work? | ||
EC: It was curious because at first we didn't know how to begin this conversation. Then Allen started playing [Professor Longhair's] | EC: It was curious because at first we didn't know how to begin this conversation. Then Allen started playing [Professor Longhair's] "Tipitina," which I found really moving. I went away, wrote something for it and came back and sang it over what became 'Ascension Day:' By the end of the day we had three more songs, all different. | ||
''IE: The album was recorded initially in Hollywood with members of each of your bands, the Imposters and the Crescent City Horns. What was it like when you moved the recording to New Orleans? | ''IE: The album was recorded initially in Hollywood with members of each of your bands, the Imposters and the Crescent City Horns. What was it like when you moved the recording to New Orleans? | ||
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EC: I'm glad that we got to take some of the music there. It was good to show people that it can be done and they shouldn't be fearful. But it was also a very chastening experience. We went down into the worst areas, not to be morbid but to see with our own eyes what had gone on. It was pretty devastating. We got within 50 yards of where the levee had been breached. There simply wasn't any work going on. It's very sad to see people's possessions still in trees and cars on top of houses and such. You can't help but have it affect you. | EC: I'm glad that we got to take some of the music there. It was good to show people that it can be done and they shouldn't be fearful. But it was also a very chastening experience. We went down into the worst areas, not to be morbid but to see with our own eyes what had gone on. It was pretty devastating. We got within 50 yards of where the levee had been breached. There simply wasn't any work going on. It's very sad to see people's possessions still in trees and cars on top of houses and such. You can't help but have it affect you. | ||
''IE: Elvis, I gather it was your anger about the situation that sparked a couple of the album's most powerful songs, including the title track and "Broken Promise Land | ''IE: Elvis, I gather it was your anger about the situation that sparked a couple of the album's most powerful songs, including the title track and "Broken Promise Land," which you cowrote with Allen. | ||
EC: There were some dreadful — shameful — failures at every level of administration, from the city right up to the administration in Washington. The title track is about a general tide of selfish, wrong-headed thinking that needs to be turned around. "Broken Promise Land" was triggered by the blasphemy of supposed Christians who said that what happened in New Orleans was a judgement on its sinfulness. I think that was extraordinarily arrogant. The charity part of Christianity seems to have been edited out While we're very hot on all the Old Testament, 'eye for an eye' stuff right now were not so hot on the forgiveness and understanding part. I'm not cynical, I'm just very deeply sceptical about dark forces in the political world. But Allen's optimism had a good effect on me, quite leavening. | EC: There were some dreadful — shameful — failures at every level of administration, from the city right up to the administration in Washington. The title track is about a general tide of selfish, wrong-headed thinking that needs to be turned around. "Broken Promise Land" was triggered by the blasphemy of supposed Christians who said that what happened in New Orleans was a judgement on its sinfulness. I think that was extraordinarily arrogant. The charity part of Christianity seems to have been edited out While we're very hot on all the Old Testament, 'eye for an eye' stuff right now were not so hot on the forgiveness and understanding part. I'm not cynical, I'm just very deeply sceptical about dark forces in the political world. But Allen's optimism had a good effect on me, quite leavening. |
Revision as of 15:31, 6 September 2015
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