wildhoney22
Refugee
I read this article of a recent phone conversation between Bono & this artist called Beefheart (I can't explain that one...) Anyways, it is hysterical and some of the things Bono says in here is just true Bono.... so read it (kinda long), and tell me if you think it's as funny as I do!
------------------------------------------
From Oor: (translated from Dutch)
BONO BEEFHEART
It finally happens: Bono will meet Captain Beefheart! Although it's long-
distance, it's happening. Bono is at a hotel in Hollywood, in the middle
of U2's second US tour, playing for 30,000 people on an average night.
Don Van Vliet, alias Captain Beefheart, is at his home in Northern California,
where he has been for a few years now. He's not too fond of socializing
and apart from his wife Jan, he hardly enjoys anyone's company. He quit
the music business in 1982, and he is now a well known painter.
This conversation is something I've been looking forward to for years and
with the help of a conference call, we all three should be connected.
Bono and I are connected. We wait for Don.
ANTON: Hello Don, are you there?
BONO: We're waiting for your spirit.
BEEFHEART: All hands below the table.
BONO: Anton's table is in London and mine's in Los Angeles, and through
cyberworld, we hold each other's hands, looking for your spirit. Are you
with us, Don? Are you with us?
BEEFHEART: Little Donnie D, Little Dynamo.
BONO: Last night, I saw stars shooting through the sky. It was incredible.
Were you able to catch any of it last night?
BEEFHEART: Nah, they didn't include us.
BONO: Is that right?
BEEFHEART: God didn't include us.
BONO: Well, yeah...how shall I put it? God isn't too trustworthy when it
comes to keeping appointments. We're actually waiting for Him! [laughs] I
expected you to be able to see them shoot by, because you're in the
middle of a desert. It was quite something.
BEEFHEART: It was indeed -- but not for us.
BONO: Didn't you see any?
BEEFHEART: No.
BONO: They came by here, and I thought that while I'm in Los Angeles and
they have got they're own star system here, we wouldn't be able to see God
through all the neon lights. But they indeed shot by every minute. I've
never seen anything like it. I though they were heading your direction.
BEEFHEART: I liked when you took off your sunglasses and handed them to the
Pope and said he had a devilish smile.
BONO: It's true. I said I found him to be a great show man.
BEEFHEART: He is!
BONO: .. and he's also a holy man, 'cause Catholicism is the glam rock of
religion.
BEEFHEART: You said it, man.
BONO: Yeah, well...
BEEFHEART: No, I mean it. It was perfect.
BONO: I'm sorry the courtiers don't have the same sense of humor as the
Pope. And I'm sorry the images of the Pope with the sunglasses were never
shown -- but I'm glad you noticed from a distance. It was a moment I'm sure
you would have liked.
BEEFHEART: I enjoyed it indeed.
BONO: Is it getting cold in the desert this time a year?
BEEFHEART: Well, I'm in the North.
BONO: In the North? I always pictured you in the desert, kind of like John
The Baptist and...
BEEFHEART: Oh?
BONO: I've always pictured you as John The Baptist -- with honey and locusts.
BEEFHEART: ...and no Bin Laden.
BONO: [laughs] I meant to say that he hangs around with Don Van
Vliet. He wants to have a painting of himself.
BEEFHEART: Tell you something. You know, that song of yours: 'One'? That
song is incredible. It's unbelievable.
BONO: Ah, well...I was... ehhh... that's the biggest compliment I can imagine.
I'm going to repeat that to myself for a week. Thanks a lot. My favorite
painting by you is "With Twinkling Lights And Green Flashes."
BEEFHEART: Ah, thanks.
BONO: It's great, outstanding. My father was a painter. I'd like to paint myself
and I think...
BEEFHEART: I think you're doing that already.
BONO: Pardon me?
BEEFHEART: You already make paintings.
BONO: Maybe you'd look upon it that way. I've hardly given this any thought.
BEEFHEART: What you are doing is very extraordinary. You're able to get a
song off the ground and to form it.
BONO: Yes. Yes, that's right. The way U2 use to work indeed has
similarities to the way a painter works. That is, we don't have structured
ideas or something. We start off improvising and discover the song while
we're playing and I think... Does a painter work this way also? Or do you
have clearly structured ideas? I know you have very strong ideas as far as
your own songs is concerned, but with painting -- is it a matter of
discovering or is it all in your head already?
BEEFHEART: They're no Van Goghs.
BONO: I'm not sure whether I agree with that and think your work is just as
clear, just as bright.
BEEFHEART: Thanks.
BONO: What I wanted to say is that the hardest thing to put down is joy and
that happiness is easy to construct, with Mr. Sentimental's help. Also, anger
is easy to convey -- just as easy as it is to give into melancholy. But joy is the
hardest thing and your paintings are full of it. Even your music always used
to have a sense of joy. It's like picking up a stone and discovering what's
crawling underneath. It was joy in your case.
BEEFHEART: Oh, oh.
BONO: Or am I going nowhere with this [interpretation]?
BEEFHEART: Yeah, it's about right.
BONO: It felt as if you really enjoyed doing it -- but it was the joy of
discovering and seeing things.
BEEFHEART: Or I was fucking around...
BONO: Yes, indeed. It was incredible to see you like that. There's
another painting. I forgot its name, but it's from around 1984. It's a
painting with a horse in the background. It's a bit amber-colored.
The horse is lifting its legs to heaven. It might not have a title, but it's
another painting I really love.
BEEFHEART: I appreciate your words, but I can't recall the painting
you're referring to at the moment.
BONO: I'm sorry?
BEEFHEART: I don't have a boat, but I do have skunks.
BONO: What? You got skunks where you are?
BEEFHEART: It's crawling with them. Pumas too.
BONO: Wow!
BEEFHEART: Bears too.
BONO: Wow. That's nothing like Ireland.
BEEFHEART: Well, I have tried to come to Ireland, but I was advised
against it and forbidden by the IRA.
BONO: IRA.
BEEFHEART: God, frightening.
BONO: It was probably out of fear that you'd bring skunks and pumas with
you. [laughs] But you've never been to Ireland at all?
BEEFHEART: No, they wouldn't allow me.
BONO: Why? Were you threatened by the IRA, or do you have friends who
sympathized with Republicans?
BEEFHEART: No, no. The airplane never took off.
BONO: [laughs] I hate it when that happens. Those stubborn machines. So
you're an adventurer, old style? I mean, you've traveled along the Amazon of
Rock 'n' Roll in a small propellor driven plane!
BEEFHEART: To tell you the truth, I don't know what Rock 'n' Roll is.
BONO: All right.
BEEFHEART: I know The Midnighters. Does that name sound familiar to you?
BONO: The Midnighters? No.
BEEFHEART: I think it's a Rhythm & Blues band.
BONO: Yeah.
BEEFHEART: 'Annie Had A Baby.'
BONO: But the baby wasn't called Rock'n' Roll.
BEEFHEART: The baby was too bold.
BONO: Rock'n' Roll isn't bold anymore. It's a bit of a coward sometimes.
BEEFHEART: And that's exactly what I think too. Can I put on a song for you
to listen to?
BONO: Yes, please.
BEEFHEART: Please allow me.
[The two songs Don plays are Duke Ellington's "A Train" and "I Don't Know"
by Sonny Boy Williamson II.]
BEEFHEART: Well, how did you like them?
BONO: Wow. Who's that?
BEEFHEART: That was Sonny Boy.
BONO: Wow. That sounded fresh, as if the paint wasn't put on thick. It
sounds so fresh, while it's very hard to make those chords sound so fresh,
and I think that was the biggest discovery by the whole movement, 'cause
that's an original recording, right?
And who's that lady that's singing? The woman who makes up the words
as she goes along? It's sort of a jive.
BEEFHEART: Betty Rochelle -- pronounced like "Rocher," as in the French
language.
BONO: In Ireland, we'd pronounce it like Roach.
BEEFHEART: That's hip!
BONO: Did you play vinyl or from a CD?
BEEFHEART: Lemme consult my boss. [Calls his wife.] Jan, was that from CD
or vinyl?
JAN: Vinyl.
BEEFHEART: Vinyl.
BONO: Yeah, I thought it was. Even through the telephone you can still feel
the groove. Vinyl is just different, don't you think?
BEEFHEART: That's right.
BONO: I'm not kidding you. Are you wary of everything that's digitalized
these days?
BEEFHEART: I hate it. Really, I hate it! Goddamn sons of bitches.
BONO: It's all binary these days. Take a One and a Zero. What to do with
it...
BEEFHEART: Exactly! [laughs]
BONO: Yeah, I know. There's something to the aspect of a needle in a
record. It's like sex; it's physical contact.
BEEFHEART: Exactly! [laughs]
BONO: I honestly do believe that digital recordings have a personality --
but it's plastic personality. It's a shiny surface. Some types of music do
come off really good. Some hiphop can sound really good on digital
recordings, because it has more layers. But I agree with you: Vinyl is the
solution.
BEEFHEART: What exactly is hiphop?
BONO: Oh, hiphop is something incredible. Hiphop is how... this is really
interesting...hiphop is how black people use technology to discover
Africa -- to discover their roots.
BEEFHEART: My God. I wished they stopped killing animals.
BONO: Stopped killing what?
BEEFHEART: Elephants.
BONO: Yeah.
BEEFHEART: And lions. I'm an animal lover!
BONO: It sounds as if you were surrounded by quite some interesting species
through the years! [laughs]
BEEFHEART: Let me give you an example. Have you ever seen a sunfish?
BONO: No, I haven't.
BEEFHEART: You've got to go see one sometime. They weigh as much as a
couple of cows and look like a fishhead.
BONO: And is this an animal, a mineral, or a plant?
BEEFHEART: Well, I'm not sure actually. I'm scared! [laughs]
BONO: Where was it that you have seen one of these sunfish?
BEEFHEART: My gardener showed me a picture.
BONO: And they come from the river, the sea, or an unknown galaxy? [laughs]
BEEFHEART: I don't know all about them, but they live in the sea.
BONO: Wow. All right, I'll keep an eye out for the sunfish. It's something
to look forward to.
BEEFHEART: Let your people look out for one.
BONO: As a rock star, I indeed can let others find me one. You just go and
say: Don wants to me have a sunfish.
BEEFHEART: You can ask for such things, right?
BONO: Maybe. I should try it. We'd take it on tour with us! [laughs]
BEEFHEART: Right, there's your pontiff mobile.
BONO: We'll take it on the road. I love the pontifical mobile.
BEEFHEART: Don't they look great?
BONO: Absolutely! And it does resemble the sunfish you just described. It's
got a very big head!
BEEFHEART: [laughs] Yes!
BONO: The pontifical mobile and...does the Pope interest you? Are you
interested in Catholicism and things like that?
BEEFHEART: Sure, why not.
BONO: Is it like a stone you once picked up?
BEEFHEART: Eh, I smoked a few of them.
BONO: [laughs] You're not smoking again, are you? Are you stoned?
BEEFHEART: No, I don't do that kind of stuff any more.
BONO: You don't smoke?
BEEFHEART: I swear! First, I thought a joint was a duck's arse! That was in
1955 and the person who gave it to me said, "Here, try this. It's like gas."
BONO: And what happened?
BEEFHEART: I didn't take it.
BONO: You didn't take it?
BEEFHEART: It's chicken shit!
BONO: [laughs] Have you ever smoked chicken shit?
BEEFHEART: [laughs] I don't know! Is it something new?
BONO: It's what the youngsters tell me.
BEEFHEART: You've got to be kidding me!
BONO: I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me.
BEEFHEART: The other day, I heard something funny on the radio. A guy was
saying that there's a baseball pitcher with the name of Stink. Soon after that,
I gathered that people were burying fish in the ground -- the fish heads. Later,
they'd come back, dig up the fish, and eat them. That's also S-t-i-n-k.
BONO: Is that a "Trout Mask Replica"?
BEEFHEART: [laughs] You know what it was?
BONO: I have no idea.
BEEFHEART: A carp.
BONO: A carp?
BEEFHEART: Yeah.
BONO: Wow, carps are hip these days.
BEEFHEART: What did you think of Trout Mask Replica?
BONO: I think it was the highlight of a certain approach of music. And I
had a feeling it was made by a geologist, an adventurer... a captain looking
for a small propellor driven plane, and a cheap-jack between old trash.
BEEFHEART: It didn't sell at all.
BONO: Yes, but you know, I think you were looking at places before a lot of
others would. And I actually meant mud -- not old trash. I believe that all
good music comes out of the water, like the Delta, the mud of the
Mississippi. In that sense, it's rather coming out of the ground, and if
you want to call it shit, fine -- but I can't. I call it the clay we were all
made from.
BEEFHEART: I think so too.
BONO: And the more I think about your music, the more it makes me think of
dragging skeletons and bodies out into the light.
BEEFHEART: "I have a crush on your skeleton."
BONO: That's it, that's classic. I have a crush on your skeleton. I do
recognize that line. Where does it come from? A poem or song?
BEEFHEART: It's a salad! [laughs]
BONO: It's what?
BEEFHEART: A salad! From a song, actually.
BONO: I know that line. I have read about it somewhere.
BEEFHEART: Guess what?
BONO: What?
BEEFHEART: That! It's a joke from the 50s.
BONO: It's so great to talk to you. I wish this conversation had occurred
a long time ago. Anton has been talking about you for years. I guess I
have always been too shy to approach you.
BEEFHEART: Oh, crap.
BONO: It's true. Polly Jean Harvey adores you as well. She was on tour with
us for a while, and she only had good words about you.
BEEFHEART: She's adorable.
BONO: Yes, she is. Do you have a crush on her skeleton? [laughs]
BEEFHEART: I don't think that Ray [Polly's father] would allow that.
BONO: There's nothing wrong with liking somebody. That's part of your music.
I don't hear many people talk about: the sexuality of it. There's some sexy
skeletons to be found. And the power, the astonishment, the feeling of
discovery, and boredom of ordinary things. Those kinds of feelings we
experience through your work.
BEEFHEART: Thanks. Spread the word, spread the word.
BONO: Look, I gotta go. We're playing Las Vegas, of all places.
BEEFHEART: Yeah, neon lights.
BONO: I'm going there now. I wish you all the best. And I hope that when
you're wandering through whatever desert, with your honey and your locusts,
that you will meet the Lord [laughs] and tell him we've been looking for Him.
BEEFHEART: I want to thank you too. And I'm happy to have finally have
talked to you.
BONO: Me too. And so God bless you and all who sail in you.
------------------
*~*?*~*~ Katie ~*~*?*~*
I wonder what's gonna happen to you
You wonder what has happened to me
------------------------------------------
From Oor: (translated from Dutch)
BONO BEEFHEART
It finally happens: Bono will meet Captain Beefheart! Although it's long-
distance, it's happening. Bono is at a hotel in Hollywood, in the middle
of U2's second US tour, playing for 30,000 people on an average night.
Don Van Vliet, alias Captain Beefheart, is at his home in Northern California,
where he has been for a few years now. He's not too fond of socializing
and apart from his wife Jan, he hardly enjoys anyone's company. He quit
the music business in 1982, and he is now a well known painter.
This conversation is something I've been looking forward to for years and
with the help of a conference call, we all three should be connected.
Bono and I are connected. We wait for Don.
ANTON: Hello Don, are you there?
BONO: We're waiting for your spirit.
BEEFHEART: All hands below the table.
BONO: Anton's table is in London and mine's in Los Angeles, and through
cyberworld, we hold each other's hands, looking for your spirit. Are you
with us, Don? Are you with us?
BEEFHEART: Little Donnie D, Little Dynamo.
BONO: Last night, I saw stars shooting through the sky. It was incredible.
Were you able to catch any of it last night?
BEEFHEART: Nah, they didn't include us.
BONO: Is that right?
BEEFHEART: God didn't include us.
BONO: Well, yeah...how shall I put it? God isn't too trustworthy when it
comes to keeping appointments. We're actually waiting for Him! [laughs] I
expected you to be able to see them shoot by, because you're in the
middle of a desert. It was quite something.
BEEFHEART: It was indeed -- but not for us.
BONO: Didn't you see any?
BEEFHEART: No.
BONO: They came by here, and I thought that while I'm in Los Angeles and
they have got they're own star system here, we wouldn't be able to see God
through all the neon lights. But they indeed shot by every minute. I've
never seen anything like it. I though they were heading your direction.
BEEFHEART: I liked when you took off your sunglasses and handed them to the
Pope and said he had a devilish smile.
BONO: It's true. I said I found him to be a great show man.
BEEFHEART: He is!
BONO: .. and he's also a holy man, 'cause Catholicism is the glam rock of
religion.
BEEFHEART: You said it, man.
BONO: Yeah, well...
BEEFHEART: No, I mean it. It was perfect.
BONO: I'm sorry the courtiers don't have the same sense of humor as the
Pope. And I'm sorry the images of the Pope with the sunglasses were never
shown -- but I'm glad you noticed from a distance. It was a moment I'm sure
you would have liked.
BEEFHEART: I enjoyed it indeed.
BONO: Is it getting cold in the desert this time a year?
BEEFHEART: Well, I'm in the North.
BONO: In the North? I always pictured you in the desert, kind of like John
The Baptist and...
BEEFHEART: Oh?
BONO: I've always pictured you as John The Baptist -- with honey and locusts.
BEEFHEART: ...and no Bin Laden.
BONO: [laughs] I meant to say that he hangs around with Don Van
Vliet. He wants to have a painting of himself.
BEEFHEART: Tell you something. You know, that song of yours: 'One'? That
song is incredible. It's unbelievable.
BONO: Ah, well...I was... ehhh... that's the biggest compliment I can imagine.
I'm going to repeat that to myself for a week. Thanks a lot. My favorite
painting by you is "With Twinkling Lights And Green Flashes."
BEEFHEART: Ah, thanks.
BONO: It's great, outstanding. My father was a painter. I'd like to paint myself
and I think...
BEEFHEART: I think you're doing that already.
BONO: Pardon me?
BEEFHEART: You already make paintings.
BONO: Maybe you'd look upon it that way. I've hardly given this any thought.
BEEFHEART: What you are doing is very extraordinary. You're able to get a
song off the ground and to form it.
BONO: Yes. Yes, that's right. The way U2 use to work indeed has
similarities to the way a painter works. That is, we don't have structured
ideas or something. We start off improvising and discover the song while
we're playing and I think... Does a painter work this way also? Or do you
have clearly structured ideas? I know you have very strong ideas as far as
your own songs is concerned, but with painting -- is it a matter of
discovering or is it all in your head already?
BEEFHEART: They're no Van Goghs.
BONO: I'm not sure whether I agree with that and think your work is just as
clear, just as bright.
BEEFHEART: Thanks.
BONO: What I wanted to say is that the hardest thing to put down is joy and
that happiness is easy to construct, with Mr. Sentimental's help. Also, anger
is easy to convey -- just as easy as it is to give into melancholy. But joy is the
hardest thing and your paintings are full of it. Even your music always used
to have a sense of joy. It's like picking up a stone and discovering what's
crawling underneath. It was joy in your case.
BEEFHEART: Oh, oh.
BONO: Or am I going nowhere with this [interpretation]?
BEEFHEART: Yeah, it's about right.
BONO: It felt as if you really enjoyed doing it -- but it was the joy of
discovering and seeing things.
BEEFHEART: Or I was fucking around...
BONO: Yes, indeed. It was incredible to see you like that. There's
another painting. I forgot its name, but it's from around 1984. It's a
painting with a horse in the background. It's a bit amber-colored.
The horse is lifting its legs to heaven. It might not have a title, but it's
another painting I really love.
BEEFHEART: I appreciate your words, but I can't recall the painting
you're referring to at the moment.
BONO: I'm sorry?
BEEFHEART: I don't have a boat, but I do have skunks.
BONO: What? You got skunks where you are?
BEEFHEART: It's crawling with them. Pumas too.
BONO: Wow!
BEEFHEART: Bears too.
BONO: Wow. That's nothing like Ireland.
BEEFHEART: Well, I have tried to come to Ireland, but I was advised
against it and forbidden by the IRA.
BONO: IRA.
BEEFHEART: God, frightening.
BONO: It was probably out of fear that you'd bring skunks and pumas with
you. [laughs] But you've never been to Ireland at all?
BEEFHEART: No, they wouldn't allow me.
BONO: Why? Were you threatened by the IRA, or do you have friends who
sympathized with Republicans?
BEEFHEART: No, no. The airplane never took off.
BONO: [laughs] I hate it when that happens. Those stubborn machines. So
you're an adventurer, old style? I mean, you've traveled along the Amazon of
Rock 'n' Roll in a small propellor driven plane!
BEEFHEART: To tell you the truth, I don't know what Rock 'n' Roll is.
BONO: All right.
BEEFHEART: I know The Midnighters. Does that name sound familiar to you?
BONO: The Midnighters? No.
BEEFHEART: I think it's a Rhythm & Blues band.
BONO: Yeah.
BEEFHEART: 'Annie Had A Baby.'
BONO: But the baby wasn't called Rock'n' Roll.
BEEFHEART: The baby was too bold.
BONO: Rock'n' Roll isn't bold anymore. It's a bit of a coward sometimes.
BEEFHEART: And that's exactly what I think too. Can I put on a song for you
to listen to?
BONO: Yes, please.
BEEFHEART: Please allow me.
[The two songs Don plays are Duke Ellington's "A Train" and "I Don't Know"
by Sonny Boy Williamson II.]
BEEFHEART: Well, how did you like them?
BONO: Wow. Who's that?
BEEFHEART: That was Sonny Boy.
BONO: Wow. That sounded fresh, as if the paint wasn't put on thick. It
sounds so fresh, while it's very hard to make those chords sound so fresh,
and I think that was the biggest discovery by the whole movement, 'cause
that's an original recording, right?
And who's that lady that's singing? The woman who makes up the words
as she goes along? It's sort of a jive.
BEEFHEART: Betty Rochelle -- pronounced like "Rocher," as in the French
language.
BONO: In Ireland, we'd pronounce it like Roach.
BEEFHEART: That's hip!
BONO: Did you play vinyl or from a CD?
BEEFHEART: Lemme consult my boss. [Calls his wife.] Jan, was that from CD
or vinyl?
JAN: Vinyl.
BEEFHEART: Vinyl.
BONO: Yeah, I thought it was. Even through the telephone you can still feel
the groove. Vinyl is just different, don't you think?
BEEFHEART: That's right.
BONO: I'm not kidding you. Are you wary of everything that's digitalized
these days?
BEEFHEART: I hate it. Really, I hate it! Goddamn sons of bitches.
BONO: It's all binary these days. Take a One and a Zero. What to do with
it...
BEEFHEART: Exactly! [laughs]
BONO: Yeah, I know. There's something to the aspect of a needle in a
record. It's like sex; it's physical contact.
BEEFHEART: Exactly! [laughs]
BONO: I honestly do believe that digital recordings have a personality --
but it's plastic personality. It's a shiny surface. Some types of music do
come off really good. Some hiphop can sound really good on digital
recordings, because it has more layers. But I agree with you: Vinyl is the
solution.
BEEFHEART: What exactly is hiphop?
BONO: Oh, hiphop is something incredible. Hiphop is how... this is really
interesting...hiphop is how black people use technology to discover
Africa -- to discover their roots.
BEEFHEART: My God. I wished they stopped killing animals.
BONO: Stopped killing what?
BEEFHEART: Elephants.
BONO: Yeah.
BEEFHEART: And lions. I'm an animal lover!
BONO: It sounds as if you were surrounded by quite some interesting species
through the years! [laughs]
BEEFHEART: Let me give you an example. Have you ever seen a sunfish?
BONO: No, I haven't.
BEEFHEART: You've got to go see one sometime. They weigh as much as a
couple of cows and look like a fishhead.
BONO: And is this an animal, a mineral, or a plant?
BEEFHEART: Well, I'm not sure actually. I'm scared! [laughs]
BONO: Where was it that you have seen one of these sunfish?
BEEFHEART: My gardener showed me a picture.
BONO: And they come from the river, the sea, or an unknown galaxy? [laughs]
BEEFHEART: I don't know all about them, but they live in the sea.
BONO: Wow. All right, I'll keep an eye out for the sunfish. It's something
to look forward to.
BEEFHEART: Let your people look out for one.
BONO: As a rock star, I indeed can let others find me one. You just go and
say: Don wants to me have a sunfish.
BEEFHEART: You can ask for such things, right?
BONO: Maybe. I should try it. We'd take it on tour with us! [laughs]
BEEFHEART: Right, there's your pontiff mobile.
BONO: We'll take it on the road. I love the pontifical mobile.
BEEFHEART: Don't they look great?
BONO: Absolutely! And it does resemble the sunfish you just described. It's
got a very big head!
BEEFHEART: [laughs] Yes!
BONO: The pontifical mobile and...does the Pope interest you? Are you
interested in Catholicism and things like that?
BEEFHEART: Sure, why not.
BONO: Is it like a stone you once picked up?
BEEFHEART: Eh, I smoked a few of them.
BONO: [laughs] You're not smoking again, are you? Are you stoned?
BEEFHEART: No, I don't do that kind of stuff any more.
BONO: You don't smoke?
BEEFHEART: I swear! First, I thought a joint was a duck's arse! That was in
1955 and the person who gave it to me said, "Here, try this. It's like gas."
BONO: And what happened?
BEEFHEART: I didn't take it.
BONO: You didn't take it?
BEEFHEART: It's chicken shit!
BONO: [laughs] Have you ever smoked chicken shit?
BEEFHEART: [laughs] I don't know! Is it something new?
BONO: It's what the youngsters tell me.
BEEFHEART: You've got to be kidding me!
BONO: I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me.
BEEFHEART: The other day, I heard something funny on the radio. A guy was
saying that there's a baseball pitcher with the name of Stink. Soon after that,
I gathered that people were burying fish in the ground -- the fish heads. Later,
they'd come back, dig up the fish, and eat them. That's also S-t-i-n-k.
BONO: Is that a "Trout Mask Replica"?
BEEFHEART: [laughs] You know what it was?
BONO: I have no idea.
BEEFHEART: A carp.
BONO: A carp?
BEEFHEART: Yeah.
BONO: Wow, carps are hip these days.
BEEFHEART: What did you think of Trout Mask Replica?
BONO: I think it was the highlight of a certain approach of music. And I
had a feeling it was made by a geologist, an adventurer... a captain looking
for a small propellor driven plane, and a cheap-jack between old trash.
BEEFHEART: It didn't sell at all.
BONO: Yes, but you know, I think you were looking at places before a lot of
others would. And I actually meant mud -- not old trash. I believe that all
good music comes out of the water, like the Delta, the mud of the
Mississippi. In that sense, it's rather coming out of the ground, and if
you want to call it shit, fine -- but I can't. I call it the clay we were all
made from.
BEEFHEART: I think so too.
BONO: And the more I think about your music, the more it makes me think of
dragging skeletons and bodies out into the light.
BEEFHEART: "I have a crush on your skeleton."
BONO: That's it, that's classic. I have a crush on your skeleton. I do
recognize that line. Where does it come from? A poem or song?
BEEFHEART: It's a salad! [laughs]
BONO: It's what?
BEEFHEART: A salad! From a song, actually.
BONO: I know that line. I have read about it somewhere.
BEEFHEART: Guess what?
BONO: What?
BEEFHEART: That! It's a joke from the 50s.
BONO: It's so great to talk to you. I wish this conversation had occurred
a long time ago. Anton has been talking about you for years. I guess I
have always been too shy to approach you.
BEEFHEART: Oh, crap.
BONO: It's true. Polly Jean Harvey adores you as well. She was on tour with
us for a while, and she only had good words about you.
BEEFHEART: She's adorable.
BONO: Yes, she is. Do you have a crush on her skeleton? [laughs]
BEEFHEART: I don't think that Ray [Polly's father] would allow that.
BONO: There's nothing wrong with liking somebody. That's part of your music.
I don't hear many people talk about: the sexuality of it. There's some sexy
skeletons to be found. And the power, the astonishment, the feeling of
discovery, and boredom of ordinary things. Those kinds of feelings we
experience through your work.
BEEFHEART: Thanks. Spread the word, spread the word.
BONO: Look, I gotta go. We're playing Las Vegas, of all places.
BEEFHEART: Yeah, neon lights.
BONO: I'm going there now. I wish you all the best. And I hope that when
you're wandering through whatever desert, with your honey and your locusts,
that you will meet the Lord [laughs] and tell him we've been looking for Him.
BEEFHEART: I want to thank you too. And I'm happy to have finally have
talked to you.
BONO: Me too. And so God bless you and all who sail in you.
------------------
*~*?*~*~ Katie ~*~*?*~*
I wonder what's gonna happen to you
You wonder what has happened to me
