In tomorrow's Metro newspaper in Scotland....
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Kie Miskelly
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:04 am
- Location: East Kilbride, Scotland
In tomorrow's Metro newspaper in Scotland....
... a wonderful interview with Bob on the 60 Second Interview page by my good self. I'm Editor of the Metro in Scotland and if anyone would like a copy (Yours will be in the post tomorrow Bob!) I'll gladly post it to you free of charge. All you need to do is email me your address to kie.miskelly@ukmetro.co.uk and I'll put one in the post for you, wherever you are in the world. It's a great read...
Last edited by Kie Miskelly on Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Can it be read online anywhere? Or posted in this thread? 
Last edited by rob68 on Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
....I went to the river and I stood on the shore. I stood in the twilight of the life I had before....
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grant
- Admonkeystrator
- Posts: 336
- Joined: Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:28 am
- Location: peninsular america
- Contact:
While Bob and I appreciate Kie's generous offer to send the interview, we hate to see him absorb postage costs needlessly. Here, verbatim, is the METRO interview exactly as Bob gave it to him.
One advantage of getting the hard copy: A cute pic of Bob runs with it.
----------------------
You've been somewhat elusive for several decades is it a surprise to be back in the spotlight?
It actually makes more sense this time around. I have more to offer. I'm singing better, writing better and enjoying it more than I did when I was a terrified 21-year-old doper. The biggest difference is that I'm grateful this time. It feels warm on my skin, that spotlight.
You weren't too keen on Elusive Butterfly being released as a single, when it became a huge worldwide hit did you feel as if you'd become an overnight sensation?
Having hits never figured into my plans. I wanted to have a sort of cult-figure career. People like Judy Collins, Baez, Gordon Lightfoot, even Dylan before '65 never had hit records. But they were playing to capacity crowds at midsize venues all over the world. That's the kind of career I was aiming for. Having a hit was overkill. And it wasn't something I handled well.
What did you think of Val Doonican's cover version?
I have no capacity to judge. I've had 200 cuts of my songs by people like Eric Clapton, Dolly Parton, Cher, Aretha Franklin and The Four Tops and I love every one of them. An artist has just 12 to 14 songs to fit into a CD. And the pool of songs is immense -- hundreds of thousands. When he or she picks one of mine, I'm too delighted to do anything but glow and tingle.
Joe Cocker once said if you remember the sixties you weren't really there, what do you remember of the sixties?
That was Country Joe McDonald, not Joe Cocker. I remember that.
You started writing songs at five, who influenced you when you were growing up?
Lord Byron, Little Richard, Burl Ives, Tennessee Williams, The Every Brothers, Gene Autry, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Hemingway, Brubeck and Chaucer. Everyone who touched me with his prose, plays or music left his mark.
When you finally broke through into 'the big time' people started labelling you, and a few others, as 'the new bob Dylan' - was that a hindrance or did you take it as a compliment?
It was the kiss of death -- but it was a kiss. I was flattered and it gave me a rush even as it set limitations in the minds of listeners. But a lot of us had to wear that "new Dylan" beanie around campus. Just about anyone who was writing lyrics more powerful than "ooby dee, obee doo; you dig me, I dig you." (Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor . . . ) But they bounced out of it all right. And I'm bouncing too.
Your songs are soaked with emotional honesty, when you met up with Phil Spector's right-hand man Jack Nitzsche was it a marriage made in heaven - a wonderful songwriter and a classically-trained musical genius?
Thanks. I live to write emotionally soggy songs. Actually I thought it was a terrible mismatch at first. I was a bush-league folkie. I didn't even know the names of the chords I was playing; Jack was a brilliant and experienced arranger who'd had 50 or 60 hits. It was his belief in me and my writing that helped me overcome (somewhat) my sense of musical inadequacy. Looking back, of course, it was a natural combination that served us both well. But at the time I felt like I was getting a free ride.
You stopped using drugs and drinking alcohol in July 1977, what have the last 30 years been like?
Compared to what?
You've been a bit of a wanderer in your time, Colorado, California, Hawaii and Florida... have you finally settled?
God, I hope not.
You worked for Weekly World News for awhile, that must have been fun, making up stories about Big Foot and aliens...
Funny, I just did an interview with the Washington Post on that very subject today. (WWN just bit the dust, they're doing a eulogy.) My years there were great fun. I was constantly throwing ideas around with some of the funniest, most creative people I ever knew. There were days when I'd leave the newsroom with my stomach and face actually hurting from laughing so hard. But then the paper got sold. The corporate bottom-liners took over and the fun leaked out. That's when I jumped ship. I'm back in music with all four feet now and I don't look back.
And you're also an accomplished novelist. What do you think of the Harry Potter phenomenon? Have you read any of the books?
I think it's great that kids are willingly reading. No, I haven't read the Rowling books.
Your 1971 album Since Their Were Circles sank without trace when it was released but now on it's re-release it's getting five-star reviews
everywhere, that must be comforting and weird.
It actually got good reviews when it was first out. But nobody bought it. I think it's selling better now, in CD reissue, than it did when it was out in vinyl. It does feel weird, because the album is old news to me. So yes, it's comforting like . . . say, a nice hot Jacuzzi that circulates stagnant water.
You're back touring and recently played some shows in the UK, did the
audience response surprise you? You seem to have found a new generation of fans, especially in the UK. Pulp's Jarvis Cocker wrote a song about you in 2001, Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down) and Richard Hawley was at your recent UK shows...
What a full-tilt joy! The London gig was sold out and almost everyone there was under 40 -- people who weren't even alive when "Butterfly" was a hit. It says so much for this young crop of fans -- that they have an interest in artists who influenced the music that people their age are producing. They "got" me, too. They weren't just respectful, they were into it. And that warms these 64-year-old bones.
More than 200 people have covered your songs, what's your favourite?
As I say, I love them all. But three have a very special place in this gooey heart of mine: Richie Havens' "How the Nights Can Fly"; Nancy Sinatra's "Long Time Woman" and Keith Relf's "Mr. Zero." Of all the cuts of "Butterfly" -- no one believes this -- I like Petula Clark's best.
You recently released a live album, Live at the Luna Star Cafe, have you any plans to record any new material?
Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes yes. But it has to be right -- the right producer and the right label. I'm talking to some people now.
What are your thoughts on global warming?
Does anyone really care about some guitar-plunking poet's views on the environment?
Is Bob Lind a happier man today?
Depends on the day. But I'm certainly a more grateful one. I love a woman who loves me with her whole heart and soul; I've got a bright, creative manager who believes in me and knows where I'm going. And I have my work back better than it's ever been. How can I not be purring like a Siberian tiger?
One advantage of getting the hard copy: A cute pic of Bob runs with it.
----------------------
You've been somewhat elusive for several decades is it a surprise to be back in the spotlight?
It actually makes more sense this time around. I have more to offer. I'm singing better, writing better and enjoying it more than I did when I was a terrified 21-year-old doper. The biggest difference is that I'm grateful this time. It feels warm on my skin, that spotlight.
You weren't too keen on Elusive Butterfly being released as a single, when it became a huge worldwide hit did you feel as if you'd become an overnight sensation?
Having hits never figured into my plans. I wanted to have a sort of cult-figure career. People like Judy Collins, Baez, Gordon Lightfoot, even Dylan before '65 never had hit records. But they were playing to capacity crowds at midsize venues all over the world. That's the kind of career I was aiming for. Having a hit was overkill. And it wasn't something I handled well.
What did you think of Val Doonican's cover version?
I have no capacity to judge. I've had 200 cuts of my songs by people like Eric Clapton, Dolly Parton, Cher, Aretha Franklin and The Four Tops and I love every one of them. An artist has just 12 to 14 songs to fit into a CD. And the pool of songs is immense -- hundreds of thousands. When he or she picks one of mine, I'm too delighted to do anything but glow and tingle.
Joe Cocker once said if you remember the sixties you weren't really there, what do you remember of the sixties?
That was Country Joe McDonald, not Joe Cocker. I remember that.
You started writing songs at five, who influenced you when you were growing up?
Lord Byron, Little Richard, Burl Ives, Tennessee Williams, The Every Brothers, Gene Autry, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Hemingway, Brubeck and Chaucer. Everyone who touched me with his prose, plays or music left his mark.
When you finally broke through into 'the big time' people started labelling you, and a few others, as 'the new bob Dylan' - was that a hindrance or did you take it as a compliment?
It was the kiss of death -- but it was a kiss. I was flattered and it gave me a rush even as it set limitations in the minds of listeners. But a lot of us had to wear that "new Dylan" beanie around campus. Just about anyone who was writing lyrics more powerful than "ooby dee, obee doo; you dig me, I dig you." (Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor . . . ) But they bounced out of it all right. And I'm bouncing too.
Your songs are soaked with emotional honesty, when you met up with Phil Spector's right-hand man Jack Nitzsche was it a marriage made in heaven - a wonderful songwriter and a classically-trained musical genius?
Thanks. I live to write emotionally soggy songs. Actually I thought it was a terrible mismatch at first. I was a bush-league folkie. I didn't even know the names of the chords I was playing; Jack was a brilliant and experienced arranger who'd had 50 or 60 hits. It was his belief in me and my writing that helped me overcome (somewhat) my sense of musical inadequacy. Looking back, of course, it was a natural combination that served us both well. But at the time I felt like I was getting a free ride.
You stopped using drugs and drinking alcohol in July 1977, what have the last 30 years been like?
Compared to what?
You've been a bit of a wanderer in your time, Colorado, California, Hawaii and Florida... have you finally settled?
God, I hope not.
You worked for Weekly World News for awhile, that must have been fun, making up stories about Big Foot and aliens...
Funny, I just did an interview with the Washington Post on that very subject today. (WWN just bit the dust, they're doing a eulogy.) My years there were great fun. I was constantly throwing ideas around with some of the funniest, most creative people I ever knew. There were days when I'd leave the newsroom with my stomach and face actually hurting from laughing so hard. But then the paper got sold. The corporate bottom-liners took over and the fun leaked out. That's when I jumped ship. I'm back in music with all four feet now and I don't look back.
And you're also an accomplished novelist. What do you think of the Harry Potter phenomenon? Have you read any of the books?
I think it's great that kids are willingly reading. No, I haven't read the Rowling books.
Your 1971 album Since Their Were Circles sank without trace when it was released but now on it's re-release it's getting five-star reviews
everywhere, that must be comforting and weird.
It actually got good reviews when it was first out. But nobody bought it. I think it's selling better now, in CD reissue, than it did when it was out in vinyl. It does feel weird, because the album is old news to me. So yes, it's comforting like . . . say, a nice hot Jacuzzi that circulates stagnant water.
You're back touring and recently played some shows in the UK, did the
audience response surprise you? You seem to have found a new generation of fans, especially in the UK. Pulp's Jarvis Cocker wrote a song about you in 2001, Bob Lind (The Only Way Is Down) and Richard Hawley was at your recent UK shows...
What a full-tilt joy! The London gig was sold out and almost everyone there was under 40 -- people who weren't even alive when "Butterfly" was a hit. It says so much for this young crop of fans -- that they have an interest in artists who influenced the music that people their age are producing. They "got" me, too. They weren't just respectful, they were into it. And that warms these 64-year-old bones.
More than 200 people have covered your songs, what's your favourite?
As I say, I love them all. But three have a very special place in this gooey heart of mine: Richie Havens' "How the Nights Can Fly"; Nancy Sinatra's "Long Time Woman" and Keith Relf's "Mr. Zero." Of all the cuts of "Butterfly" -- no one believes this -- I like Petula Clark's best.
You recently released a live album, Live at the Luna Star Cafe, have you any plans to record any new material?
Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes yes. But it has to be right -- the right producer and the right label. I'm talking to some people now.
What are your thoughts on global warming?
Does anyone really care about some guitar-plunking poet's views on the environment?
Is Bob Lind a happier man today?
Depends on the day. But I'm certainly a more grateful one. I love a woman who loves me with her whole heart and soul; I've got a bright, creative manager who believes in me and knows where I'm going. And I have my work back better than it's ever been. How can I not be purring like a Siberian tiger?
Last edited by grant on Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks Grant.
....and by the way Mr. Bob, congratulations (a day late) on 30 years of sobriety. An amazing feat.
....and by the way Mr. Bob, congratulations (a day late) on 30 years of sobriety. An amazing feat.
Last edited by rob68 on Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
....I went to the river and I stood on the shore. I stood in the twilight of the life I had before....
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Martin Roberts
- Posts: 17
- Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2004 1:19 pm
- Location: London
- Contact:
Hi Kie (I think that's a kind of Scottish reel),
Much appreciated your kind offer to post copies of your very enjoyable interview with Bob. What a very pleasant bunch of fans Bob seems to have amassed.
Martin
Much appreciated your kind offer to post copies of your very enjoyable interview with Bob. What a very pleasant bunch of fans Bob seems to have amassed.
Martin
Last edited by Martin Roberts on Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Metro in Scotland
I received a copy of the Metro today with said article and photo of Bob. Many thanks, Kie!
Last edited by Theokie on Wed Feb 09, 2022 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Susanne Gilmore
- Posts: 76
- Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:27 pm
- Location: Long Beach, CA