Transcripts For WHYY Tavis Smiley 20140731 : vimarsana.com

And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. From their first charttopping single to 1964, the righteous brothers were something of a hitmaking factory after that duo split. Bill medley continued to top the schart with ive had the time of my life recorded with Jennifer Lawrence which was featured in dirty dancing. Now hes written a memory about his life tled the time of my life. What else would you call it, the time of my life. Lets look at a clip from the righteous brothers singing one of those iconic hits you lost that loving feeling youre trying hard not to show it, but baby, baby i know it youve lost that loving feeling, whoa, that loving feeling youve lost that loving feeling now its gone, gone, gone, whoa you guys really are a duo. Youre snapping fingers on one and three. He was. Bobby was. I was the hipper one. Yeah. [ laughter ]. Not the down beat. No. Can i just say that you guys have to be two you said hip, ill go another way, two of the coolest white guys to ever live. Well, thank you. Thank you. Soulful white guys. Well, yeah. Out of Orange County. Out of Orange County. Thats oxsimore roddick. A soulful white guy out of Orange County. Its pretty stupid. But, yeah, i mean, and its odd that, you know, we both hooked up, because, i mean, other the years bobby has been passed away little over ten years. And its just funny. You know, youre from Orange County. Youre thrown together in this group. And i have never found another guy that can come close come close to him. Were there. Lets jump right in. How did the two of you connect . Well, we were bobby was from anaheim. I was from santa ana. And we both had small, little rock and roll groups, which was kind of weird in the early 60s because there was still swing music was kind of then, rock n roll was kind of a fad. So we but a mutual friend of ours came to town, john wember who had been working vegas. He wanted to put together a work who he thought could work constantly. So he took us, threw us together and we were the paramours and we but the minute, the minute bobby and i started singing together, it was i dont know that it was magical, but it was so much fun, you know to actually sing with somebody that was that legitimate r b, you know . So the paramour was cool. The righteous brothers maybe cooler. But how did the righteous brothers end up being the name . Well, Orange County was very white. I cant imagine that. Can you imagine . Have you heard . Have you heard . Yeah. And but there was a marine base there, El Toro Marine base. Oh, yeah. And the black marines heard that there was these two white guys down at the club singing rhythm and blues because thats all bobby and i knew was rhythm and blues. So the black guys would come in. And you know, there was a saying in those days in the early 60s and maybe 50s, thats a greatlooking suit. Well, black guy would say thats a righteous looking suit, which meant good. Us white guys would have said, thats cool or bitchin or whatever. If they liked you as a friend, they would call you a brother. When we were coming to work, they would say, hey, righteous brother, how are you doing . And i wrote a song little latin loopy lieu back in 1962. We went in and recorded it. And bobby i think bobby we needed a name. We didnt want to be the paramours and bobby said lets use the name that the marines had been calling us and it stuck. So the brothers named these two the brothers. [ laughter ]. I love it. The brothers named the brothers. Yeah, thank god. Thank god it came from the brothers. Mean anything to you, and if so, what, that you guys were so beloved by the brothers back in the 60s . Well, it meant everything. Yeah. Because when we recorded little latin loopy loo we werent a duo. We didnt sit down and say, lets do this for a living. It just happened. And so it wasnt a hip thing to do back in 1962 for two white guys from Orange County. Uhhuh. Two white guys to sound black because the black stations couldnt play us because we were white and the white stations wouldnt couldnt play us because they thought we were black. And then television really messed us up. [ laughter ]. But one of the first gigs we ever did as the righteous brothers was at the California Club down in las vegos angeles. It was an all blackclub. They booked us. They didnt know we were white. And we didnt know it was a black club. And it was a great club because a lot of sam cook and lot of the great guys would go there. Oh, yeah. And so we showed up. We said, listen, were the righteous brothers and were supposed to perform here tonight. The guy said, i hope youre the band. I said, no. Me and that little blonde guy we are the righteous brothers. He said sit down in the back and start drinking. And so we did. And you know, clubs would close at quarter to 2, so they called us up at about 1 30. And bobby and i had probably had about five or six beers at that point. We said, listen, lets get up there and lets do a b. B. King blues. And if they hate us, they hate us. You know. So we went up and did sweet little angel by b. B. King. And the crowd just went nuts. So, that was like the stamp of approval as far as we werent looking for the stamp, we didnt know what we were doing then. We were just two guys out there singing. And what do you recall about what happened in that club after you opened with b. B. Stuff and segued into your hit and they realize, oh my god yeah. These are the righteous brothers. Yeah. It was pretty remarkable because in those days that just wasnt happening. Uhhuh. You know, like i said, it wasnt a real commercial thing to do for two i mean, it was way against the grain. Yeah. Because but they just accepted us. They loved us. And you know, man, black audiences, they dont wait until the song is over. They let you know right now, right now if they like you. Yeah. And thats the first time we heard, you know, sing it, brother and all that stuff. Man, it just it will push you, wont it . It will make you sing. It turned us on like you cannot imagine. Yeah. I have a friend of mine, maybe watching tonight, the rabbi of the largest temple west of the mississippi who is the hedera buy at and another friend who is a baptist preach who are is called kenneth flowers. He used to pastor a church here in las vegas and now in detroit. They would both have a church swap. So o one saturday all the baptist members would go to the synagogue. Wow. And my friend kenny would preach. And then on a sunday, all the jewish members of the synagogue would come to the Baptist Church and rabbi leader would preach. Steve leader, im sure hes watching. He will get a kick. He loved coming to that Baptist Church. Can you imagine the difference between a rabbi preaching at a synagogue where its like dead silent. He got in that black chump and those negros started pushing him, speak on it, rabbi. He didnt know what to do. Every year, the greatest day of his life was the year was a rabbi preaching in the Baptist Church. He loved it. Its the absolute church. I was raised pres pi tear yan, very quiet and, you know uhhuh. And i was dating darlene love i was about to get to that but go ahead. Yeah. Darlene love. And her father is a minister. A minister, uhhuh. And she took me to church once. And thats when i learned about make a joyful noise unto the lord. You got it figured out. In a heart beat. I was so psyched. And her father said, well, lets get brother bill up to sing. I said, oh, gosh. Holy moly. But it was the greatest experience in the world because going up and singing at this, you know, black church and theyre just on fire. It was the first time i had ever sang but didnt sing to an audience. I was singing to god and they were praising god. And it was a very interesting ill never forget it my whole life that it was kind of an out of body experience. You talk in this book, and im so glad you do, about the wonderful relationship you had with darlene love. She was on is this program sitting in that very spot not too long ago. And i know how i felt about it and feel about it. I can only imagine how you feel about it. The success of that documentary 20 feet from star dom sang a ditty when she got up. How did you process this woman and her oprah is doing a movie on her network, called the darlene love story. Its like everything has come around for her after all these years. Well, its just wonderful. It was so wonderful to watch and such a long time coming. And i know that, you know, Bruce Springsteen is a huge supporter of darlenes. Shes just always been one of the great, great singers in the world. And i believe shes singing as well, if not better today. I just saw her a couple three weeks ago perform in palm springs. You know, its just so great in our business when you finally see something that should happen happen. And it was so right that she hit it. And she sang on the academy awards, i just said, go ahead. Go ahead. [ laughter ]. You just said something now about what happened over the yearsith ones career. Theres a passage in your book the time of my life on page 207 that i want to read. Ive kind of highlighted a few sentences here. But i love this. Passion. Its what separates a singer from an entertainer. I hope i have passion for my music, my family and my friends until they start shoveling dirt on my face. I dont work as much as i did when i was 25, but i still love it when i do. Every time i go on stage, its like a first date. I put on my best clothes, shave, and get as handsome as i can. Then i say the cutest things i know to say and i become the very best bill medley i can be because i want to win my date over. My audience is the date that i want to impress every time. I think thats part of what keeps me young. Im always looking ahead to my next first date. How cool is that . How cool is that . Thats a great passage, man. Well, its a lie. [ laughter ]. No, no, it is. Its a great passage. Well, it is like a first date. Yeah. I mean, you know, you got to get your cute clothes on and, you know, you go out on the stage and you just it becomes that magical thing. People say, how can you still sing loven feeling after 50 years . And i say, well, because the minute you go on stage you never o close your eyes anymore well the audience lights up and they go right back to 25 years old. I go back to 25 years old and its my first date. What do you make lets talk about the music for a second here. What do you make of the enduring legacy and relevance of that track . Youve lost that loven feeling. Well, it was produced by phil specter, written by barry man and cynthia wild, two of the greatest writers in the world. You know, a record a real good record is a great production, a great song and i cant say this but a great performance from the singers. And i must say, phil specter brought that out of us. And i dont know. You know, i think loven feeling probably in 64 and 65 one of the more dramatic love songss for these kids to grab ahold of. I mean, they had been listening to, you know, kind of cute, cute songs. And loven feeling was just a strong, powerful song. So fast forward just a few years and a whole new generation gets to know you. The time of my life, that song, man, is just yeah. I dont have language to describe how powerful, how relevant to the audience then and now the words the lyrics for that song. Yeah. Ive had the time of my life. What a great song to be associated with, you know. Its something positive. I mean, loven feeling and youve lost that loven feeling and all those songs and it was so great to sing, you know, a positive song, you know. And a lot of graduations they would sing it at graduations and weddings and stuff. And the movie dirty dancing i dont know if it would have been a hit without it being in dirty dancing yo cant tell. It could have been the other way around. It could have been the other way. I made dirty dancing. With all due respect to patrick sway si. I turned it down for about three months. They called me and said, jimmy from new york was putting the Music Together for it. And im california guy and they asked me to come out to new york to perform it. And i said, i cant leave california. I said, whats the name of the movie . And they said it was called dirty dancing and this is like, what, 27, 28 years ago. Well, dirty dancing sounded like a bad porno movie in those days and i said, what . I had done a lot of songs for a lot of movies for sylvester stallone. They just finished the duet with gad disknight. I said who is in the movie, patrick swaysy and jennifer gray. I said who is that . They got fame afterwards. And so i turned it down, turned it down, my wife was expecting our daughter mekenna. So they would call literally about every week and said, has she had the baby yet . Has she had the baby yet . And im telling my wife, have the baby. I need a hit record. And so she had our child. They said, listen, Jennifer Lawrence wants to sing this song with you, if she can do it with you. So jennifer and i basically did the song just to perform together, just to sing together and make this record because obviously the movie wasnt going to do anything. Right. And i was out on the road with the righteous brothers and we were doing a concert. One of the disk jockeys came up to me and said, you know, were playing the heck out of your record. I said, what record . He said the one for the movie. I said, what movie . He said, he said i said he said, youre singing with a girl. Oh, the Gladis Knight record. I said dirty dancing . He said, yeah. And by the time i got off the tour, which was only about two weeks later, i got home and the song was number one all over the world. And you didnt see it coming . Oh, come on . Ive turned down three or four careers. I turned down in the ghetto by elvis presley. Its bound to happen, you know . Yeah. How do you process that . When you look back on something that you turned down or in this case, you did do it, so its not like you turned it down, but after all these years, i should spank your hand. Im disappointed in you after all these years. Youre iconic at this. You should know a hit when you hear one . Well, wouldnt you think. Yeah. Wouldnt you think. But if i did, i probably would have a lot more hit records, you know. But you know, because ive answered this question. I said, you know, when youre hot, you get the greatest writers in the carol king. You got the greatest writers in the world writing for you, so youre bound to turn down you can only do, you know, what you can do. I knew in the ghetto was a great song. These are obviously great songs, but just didnt have time to do them. Want to go back to this quote that you read you can spank my hand if you want. You aint done bad. You done all right. I aint feeling sorry for you. I want to go back to this quote that i read about that p. Word, passion. Why have you been all these years so passionate about the music . Put it another way, what else might you have done had it not been music . Well, i dont know what i would do if it wasnt music because im really a onetrick pony. Im one of those jerks that dropped out of school when i was 16, headed right into a mountain and god obviously and i always sang in Church Choirs and school choirs, but obviously god said i got to help this kid. And gave me music. And gave me bobby hatfield. Its just been a blessing. So i dont know what i dont know what prison i would be in right now if it wasnt for music. Prison or prism . On. But passion, for music, man, thats what i do. Thats what i love. I fell in love with rhythm and blues. Yeah. And all these great black singers from the 60s, they just stole my heart, stole my soul. I was obsessed with it. There was a little Radio Station up here in l. A. , kfwb, Hunter Hancock in Orange County you could barely tune it in. And its like i had ray charles and b. B. King and bobby and these guys coming to my house everyday and every night, showing me not teaching me how to sing but singing along with them, i was just they taught me how to sing. Just a couple minutes to go. How did you process the breakup with bobby . Well, you know, bobby and i had broken up a couple of times in our career, but we since the 90s, 1990 we were really back together and having a ball. And when bobby passed away in 03, you know, i didnt so much realize it then but, you know, im a righteous brother. And when bobby passed away, the righteous brothers passed away. And so it took me about two years to finally figure that out that you know, big part of you went when bobby passed away. Whats great about this book, and i havent scratched the surface of this because theres so much of this rich life and legacy still on going thankfully, whats great about this book, different than most, you hear the voices of his family and friends in the text as well. Its not just bill writing. But you hear the voices of those that have been close toast him and have loved him and supported him through the years coming through in this book as well. But it is his book with a forward by some guy named billy joel. The book is called the time of my life a righteous brothers memory written of course by the one and only, bill medley. Coolest white guy ever to come out of Orange County. Bill medley, good to have you on this program, man. Thank you, tavis. Thats our show for tonight. Thanks for watching. Passion in our eyes, theres no way we could disguise secretly so we take each others hand because we seem to understand just remember youre the one thing i cant get enough of so i tell you something this could be love because ive had the time of my life, oh i never felt this way before announcer for more information on todays show, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org. Join me next time for a conversation with Robin Roberts about her new memory everybodys got something. Thats next time. Well see you then. Announcer and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Er rose welcome to the program. We begin with rondermer, israels ambassador to the united states. The hope is after this rounl, that hamas will be deterred from taking action both because we have degraded its capability, and also because we damaged its intention of attacking us knowing that theyre not going to get away with attacking us with impunity, that they will pay a heavy price. And the additional hope is that right now maybe because of the change of government in egypt that we might be able to put in place mechanisms that will take it exceedingly difficult for hamas to rearm and to rebuild its arsenal in gaza f that happens will you have sustained quiet for a much longer time period krz we continue with Jennifer Lawrence<\/a> which was featured in dirty dancing. Now hes written a memory about his life tled the time of my life. What else would you call it, the time of my life. Lets look at a clip from the righteous brothers singing one of those iconic hits you lost that loving feeling youre trying hard not to show it, but baby, baby i know it youve lost that loving feeling, whoa, that loving feeling youve lost that loving feeling now its gone, gone, gone, whoa you guys really are a duo. Youre snapping fingers on one and three. He was. Bobby was. I was the hipper one. Yeah. [ laughter ]. Not the down beat. No. Can i just say that you guys have to be two you said hip, ill go another way, two of the coolest white guys to ever live. Well, thank you. Thank you. Soulful white guys. Well, yeah. Out of Orange County<\/a>. Out of Orange County<\/a>. Thats oxsimore roddick. A soulful white guy out of Orange County<\/a>. Its pretty stupid. But, yeah, i mean, and its odd that, you know, we both hooked up, because, i mean, other the years bobby has been passed away little over ten years. And its just funny. You know, youre from Orange County<\/a>. Youre thrown together in this group. And i have never found another guy that can come close come close to him. Were there. Lets jump right in. How did the two of you connect . Well, we were bobby was from anaheim. I was from santa ana. And we both had small, little rock and roll groups, which was kind of weird in the early 60s because there was still swing music was kind of then, rock n roll was kind of a fad. So we but a mutual friend of ours came to town, john wember who had been working vegas. He wanted to put together a work who he thought could work constantly. So he took us, threw us together and we were the paramours and we but the minute, the minute bobby and i started singing together, it was i dont know that it was magical, but it was so much fun, you know to actually sing with somebody that was that legitimate r b, you know . So the paramour was cool. The righteous brothers maybe cooler. But how did the righteous brothers end up being the name . Well, Orange County<\/a> was very white. I cant imagine that. Can you imagine . Have you heard . Have you heard . Yeah. And but there was a marine base there, El Toro Marine<\/a> base. Oh, yeah. And the black marines heard that there was these two white guys down at the club singing rhythm and blues because thats all bobby and i knew was rhythm and blues. So the black guys would come in. And you know, there was a saying in those days in the early 60s and maybe 50s, thats a greatlooking suit. Well, black guy would say thats a righteous looking suit, which meant good. Us white guys would have said, thats cool or bitchin or whatever. If they liked you as a friend, they would call you a brother. When we were coming to work, they would say, hey, righteous brother, how are you doing . And i wrote a song little latin loopy lieu back in 1962. We went in and recorded it. And bobby i think bobby we needed a name. We didnt want to be the paramours and bobby said lets use the name that the marines had been calling us and it stuck. So the brothers named these two the brothers. [ laughter ]. I love it. The brothers named the brothers. Yeah, thank god. Thank god it came from the brothers. Mean anything to you, and if so, what, that you guys were so beloved by the brothers back in the 60s . Well, it meant everything. Yeah. Because when we recorded little latin loopy loo we werent a duo. We didnt sit down and say, lets do this for a living. It just happened. And so it wasnt a hip thing to do back in 1962 for two white guys from Orange County<\/a>. Uhhuh. Two white guys to sound black because the black stations couldnt play us because we were white and the white stations wouldnt couldnt play us because they thought we were black. And then television really messed us up. [ laughter ]. But one of the first gigs we ever did as the righteous brothers was at the California Club<\/a> down in las vegos angeles. It was an all blackclub. They booked us. They didnt know we were white. And we didnt know it was a black club. And it was a great club because a lot of sam cook and lot of the great guys would go there. Oh, yeah. And so we showed up. We said, listen, were the righteous brothers and were supposed to perform here tonight. The guy said, i hope youre the band. I said, no. Me and that little blonde guy we are the righteous brothers. He said sit down in the back and start drinking. And so we did. And you know, clubs would close at quarter to 2, so they called us up at about 1 30. And bobby and i had probably had about five or six beers at that point. We said, listen, lets get up there and lets do a b. B. King blues. And if they hate us, they hate us. You know. So we went up and did sweet little angel by b. B. King. And the crowd just went nuts. So, that was like the stamp of approval as far as we werent looking for the stamp, we didnt know what we were doing then. We were just two guys out there singing. And what do you recall about what happened in that club after you opened with b. B. Stuff and segued into your hit and they realize, oh my god yeah. These are the righteous brothers. Yeah. It was pretty remarkable because in those days that just wasnt happening. Uhhuh. You know, like i said, it wasnt a real commercial thing to do for two i mean, it was way against the grain. Yeah. Because but they just accepted us. They loved us. And you know, man, black audiences, they dont wait until the song is over. They let you know right now, right now if they like you. Yeah. And thats the first time we heard, you know, sing it, brother and all that stuff. Man, it just it will push you, wont it . It will make you sing. It turned us on like you cannot imagine. Yeah. I have a friend of mine, maybe watching tonight, the rabbi of the largest temple west of the mississippi who is the hedera buy at and another friend who is a baptist preach who are is called kenneth flowers. He used to pastor a church here in las vegas and now in detroit. They would both have a church swap. So o one saturday all the baptist members would go to the synagogue. Wow. And my friend kenny would preach. And then on a sunday, all the jewish members of the synagogue would come to the Baptist Church<\/a> and rabbi leader would preach. Steve leader, im sure hes watching. He will get a kick. He loved coming to that Baptist Church<\/a>. Can you imagine the difference between a rabbi preaching at a synagogue where its like dead silent. He got in that black chump and those negros started pushing him, speak on it, rabbi. He didnt know what to do. Every year, the greatest day of his life was the year was a rabbi preaching in the Baptist Church<\/a>. He loved it. Its the absolute church. I was raised pres pi tear yan, very quiet and, you know uhhuh. And i was dating darlene love i was about to get to that but go ahead. Yeah. Darlene love. And her father is a minister. A minister, uhhuh. And she took me to church once. And thats when i learned about make a joyful noise unto the lord. You got it figured out. In a heart beat. I was so psyched. And her father said, well, lets get brother bill up to sing. I said, oh, gosh. Holy moly. But it was the greatest experience in the world because going up and singing at this, you know, black church and theyre just on fire. It was the first time i had ever sang but didnt sing to an audience. I was singing to god and they were praising god. And it was a very interesting ill never forget it my whole life that it was kind of an out of body experience. You talk in this book, and im so glad you do, about the wonderful relationship you had with darlene love. She was on is this program sitting in that very spot not too long ago. And i know how i felt about it and feel about it. I can only imagine how you feel about it. The success of that documentary 20 feet from star dom sang a ditty when she got up. How did you process this woman and her oprah is doing a movie on her network, called the darlene love story. Its like everything has come around for her after all these years. Well, its just wonderful. It was so wonderful to watch and such a long time coming. And i know that, you know, Bruce Springsteen<\/a> is a huge supporter of darlenes. Shes just always been one of the great, great singers in the world. And i believe shes singing as well, if not better today. I just saw her a couple three weeks ago perform in palm springs. You know, its just so great in our business when you finally see something that should happen happen. And it was so right that she hit it. And she sang on the academy awards, i just said, go ahead. Go ahead. [ laughter ]. You just said something now about what happened over the yearsith ones career. Theres a passage in your book the time of my life on page 207 that i want to read. Ive kind of highlighted a few sentences here. But i love this. Passion. Its what separates a singer from an entertainer. I hope i have passion for my music, my family and my friends until they start shoveling dirt on my face. I dont work as much as i did when i was 25, but i still love it when i do. Every time i go on stage, its like a first date. I put on my best clothes, shave, and get as handsome as i can. Then i say the cutest things i know to say and i become the very best bill medley i can be because i want to win my date over. My audience is the date that i want to impress every time. I think thats part of what keeps me young. Im always looking ahead to my next first date. How cool is that . How cool is that . Thats a great passage, man. Well, its a lie. [ laughter ]. No, no, it is. Its a great passage. Well, it is like a first date. Yeah. I mean, you know, you got to get your cute clothes on and, you know, you go out on the stage and you just it becomes that magical thing. People say, how can you still sing loven feeling after 50 years . And i say, well, because the minute you go on stage you never o close your eyes anymore well the audience lights up and they go right back to 25 years old. I go back to 25 years old and its my first date. What do you make lets talk about the music for a second here. What do you make of the enduring legacy and relevance of that track . Youve lost that loven feeling. Well, it was produced by phil specter, written by barry man and cynthia wild, two of the greatest writers in the world. You know, a record a real good record is a great production, a great song and i cant say this but a great performance from the singers. And i must say, phil specter brought that out of us. And i dont know. You know, i think loven feeling probably in 64 and 65 one of the more dramatic love songss for these kids to grab ahold of. I mean, they had been listening to, you know, kind of cute, cute songs. And loven feeling was just a strong, powerful song. So fast forward just a few years and a whole new generation gets to know you. The time of my life, that song, man, is just yeah. I dont have language to describe how powerful, how relevant to the audience then and now the words the lyrics for that song. Yeah. Ive had the time of my life. What a great song to be associated with, you know. Its something positive. I mean, loven feeling and youve lost that loven feeling and all those songs and it was so great to sing, you know, a positive song, you know. And a lot of graduations they would sing it at graduations and weddings and stuff. And the movie dirty dancing i dont know if it would have been a hit without it being in dirty dancing yo cant tell. It could have been the other way around. It could have been the other way. I made dirty dancing. With all due respect to patrick sway si. I turned it down for about three months. They called me and said, jimmy from new york was putting the Music Together<\/a> for it. And im california guy and they asked me to come out to new york to perform it. And i said, i cant leave california. I said, whats the name of the movie . And they said it was called dirty dancing and this is like, what, 27, 28 years ago. Well, dirty dancing sounded like a bad porno movie in those days and i said, what . I had done a lot of songs for a lot of movies for sylvester stallone. They just finished the duet with gad disknight. I said who is in the movie, patrick swaysy and jennifer gray. I said who is that . They got fame afterwards. And so i turned it down, turned it down, my wife was expecting our daughter mekenna. So they would call literally about every week and said, has she had the baby yet . Has she had the baby yet . And im telling my wife, have the baby. I need a hit record. And so she had our child. They said, listen, Jennifer Lawrence<\/a> wants to sing this song with you, if she can do it with you. So jennifer and i basically did the song just to perform together, just to sing together and make this record because obviously the movie wasnt going to do anything. Right. And i was out on the road with the righteous brothers and we were doing a concert. One of the disk jockeys came up to me and said, you know, were playing the heck out of your record. I said, what record . He said the one for the movie. I said, what movie . He said, he said i said he said, youre singing with a girl. Oh, the Gladis Knight<\/a> record. I said dirty dancing . He said, yeah. And by the time i got off the tour, which was only about two weeks later, i got home and the song was number one all over the world. And you didnt see it coming . Oh, come on . Ive turned down three or four careers. I turned down in the ghetto by elvis presley. Its bound to happen, you know . Yeah. How do you process that . When you look back on something that you turned down or in this case, you did do it, so its not like you turned it down, but after all these years, i should spank your hand. Im disappointed in you after all these years. Youre iconic at this. You should know a hit when you hear one . Well, wouldnt you think. Yeah. Wouldnt you think. But if i did, i probably would have a lot more hit records, you know. But you know, because ive answered this question. I said, you know, when youre hot, you get the greatest writers in the carol king. You got the greatest writers in the world writing for you, so youre bound to turn down you can only do, you know, what you can do. I knew in the ghetto was a great song. These are obviously great songs, but just didnt have time to do them. Want to go back to this quote that you read you can spank my hand if you want. You aint done bad. You done all right. I aint feeling sorry for you. I want to go back to this quote that i read about that p. Word, passion. Why have you been all these years so passionate about the music . Put it another way, what else might you have done had it not been music . Well, i dont know what i would do if it wasnt music because im really a onetrick pony. Im one of those jerks that dropped out of school when i was 16, headed right into a mountain and god obviously and i always sang in Church Choirs<\/a> and school choirs, but obviously god said i got to help this kid. And gave me music. And gave me bobby hatfield. Its just been a blessing. So i dont know what i dont know what prison i would be in right now if it wasnt for music. Prison or prism . On. But passion, for music, man, thats what i do. Thats what i love. I fell in love with rhythm and blues. Yeah. And all these great black singers from the 60s, they just stole my heart, stole my soul. I was obsessed with it. There was a little Radio Station<\/a> up here in l. A. , kfwb, Hunter Hancock<\/a> in Orange County<\/a> you could barely tune it in. And its like i had ray charles and b. B. King and bobby and these guys coming to my house everyday and every night, showing me not teaching me how to sing but singing along with them, i was just they taught me how to sing. Just a couple minutes to go. How did you process the breakup with bobby . Well, you know, bobby and i had broken up a couple of times in our career, but we since the 90s, 1990 we were really back together and having a ball. And when bobby passed away in 03, you know, i didnt so much realize it then but, you know, im a righteous brother. And when bobby passed away, the righteous brothers passed away. And so it took me about two years to finally figure that out that you know, big part of you went when bobby passed away. Whats great about this book, and i havent scratched the surface of this because theres so much of this rich life and legacy still on going thankfully, whats great about this book, different than most, you hear the voices of his family and friends in the text as well. Its not just bill writing. But you hear the voices of those that have been close toast him and have loved him and supported him through the years coming through in this book as well. But it is his book with a forward by some guy named billy joel. The book is called the time of my life a righteous brothers memory written of course by the one and only, bill medley. Coolest white guy ever to come out of Orange County<\/a>. Bill medley, good to have you on this program, man. Thank you, tavis. Thats our show for tonight. Thanks for watching. Passion in our eyes, theres no way we could disguise secretly so we take each others hand because we seem to understand just remember youre the one thing i cant get enough of so i tell you something this could be love because ive had the time of my life, oh i never felt this way before announcer for more information on todays show, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org. Join me next time for a conversation with Robin Roberts<\/a> about her new memory everybodys got something. Thats next time. Well see you then. Announcer and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Er rose welcome to the program. We begin with rondermer, israels ambassador to the united states. The hope is after this rounl, that hamas will be deterred from taking action both because we have degraded its capability, and also because we damaged its intention of attacking us knowing that theyre not going to get away with attacking us with impunity, that they will pay a heavy price. And the additional hope is that right now maybe because of the change of government in egypt that we might be able to put in place mechanisms that will take it exceedingly difficult for hamas to rearm and to rebuild its arsenal in gaza f that happens will you have sustained quiet for a much longer time period krz we continue with Sabrina Tavernise<\/a> the New York Times<\/a> correspondent in ukraine. You felt like these people were so close to being alive, you know, that these people had, you know, you saw their little Water Bottles<\/a> that the plane had given them and the plane blanks","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia803401.us.archive.org\/20\/items\/WHYY_20140731_033000_Tavis_Smiley\/WHYY_20140731_033000_Tavis_Smiley.thumbs\/WHYY_20140731_033000_Tavis_Smiley_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240621T12:35:10+00:00"}