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[wind whistling]
[John] Just put-- I mean, is-- If I fuck up,
- I'll just keep going, right? - [man] Yeah.
And you can always cut in and cut out.
- [man] Yeah. - We'll do it a couple of times
and it should give you a nervous breakdown
in the editing room. Yeah?
[producer] Let's take it from the top and all the way
and then we should do it.
[John] Cool. Hang on.
- [man] And mark. - [slate clacks]
[clears throat]
[hums]
[crowd cheers]
["Change" by John Waite]
♪
♪ People talking ♪
♪ And they're saying that you're leaving ♪
♪ So unhappy ♪
♪ With the way that you've been living ♪
♪ Oh oh oh ♪
♪ We always wish for money ♪
♪ We always wish for fame ♪
♪ We think we have the answers ♪
♪ Some things ain't ever gonna change [change] ♪
♪ It doesn't matter who you are ♪
♪ It's all the same [change] ♪
♪ What's in your heart will never change ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
[crowd cheering]
♪ Oh, whoa ♪
♪
["Bluebird Cafe" by John Waite]
♪ Her ID says she's 21 ♪
♪ But she's just 17 ♪
♪ Her apron says Mary ♪
♪ But her real name is Jean ♪
♪ She's working cleaning tables off ♪
♪ At the local Dairy Queen ♪
♪ And she's the real thing ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
[John] Well, we canceled all the work, uh, for this year.
We were-- We got up to a really flying start,
you know, and then it just stopped
and everything was moved to next year.
But now, they're saying next year isn't gonna really be
a possibility either.
So, uh, you know, you roll with the punches.
It's-- it's a strain on-- on everybody.
I don't know how we're gonna come through it,
but people always do.
I'm very positive about the future, you know.
[producer] What did you miss the most?
Just being able to get out and meet people and interact.
I think that's really what happens.
You stop talking to people. Difficult, you know.
[Dick] Nice to see you again. Was that--
Wasn't it one of the first Babys appearances here?
Yeah, it was the first in America.
- Was it really? - Yeah. That was it.
Many moons ago. Next-- next and moving beyond that.
Let me ask you why-- at this stage of your life,
why don't you just don't go in the studio
and just record all the time and never bother to go on tour?
Why go through that agony?
Well, it's always good to perform live.
I prefer that, actually.
That's what I do best, really.
Studio is great,
but it's great to go in front of the kids.
[crowd cheering]
[pensive music playing]
Wanna thank you all for coming out on a Tuesday night
'cause I know it's kind of a weird night
and, um, we expected about six people,
- but, um... - [crowd laughter]
- You know. - [man] [indistinct]
Well, thank you. No, it's, uh,
it's great to see you
and I'm really grateful to you. Thanks for...
[Joni] He is very outta sorts not touring.
He doesn't have that many close friends,
like-- like girls do.
You know, we like to hang out together more.
And so the band for John is-- is his--
It's his bromance time.
["Missing You" by John Waite]
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
[crowd cheers]
♪ I always catch my breath ♪
♪ And I'm still standing here ♪
♪ And you're miles away ♪
♪ And I'm wondering why you left ♪
[Diane] What's difficult?
Difficult just means, you know what?
You're-- you're passionate.
You know who the fuck you are.
You don't wanna deal with stupid fucking idiots.
So, I-- You know, I get it.
But, you know, look, believe me,
there's lots of times I wanna just say
how I really feel when I'm dealing with certain people
and I'm-- I just kinda go, "Yeah, okay, I hear you."
I don't know if John was built that way.
[laughs] And you know what? Good for him.
But in my life,
I've always gotten along with difficult people
'cause I know they're just passionate people.
♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
[song ends]
[crowd cheers]
[Neil] He doesn't like to be pushed,
but at the same time,
he understands the good of the project.
So, he would disagree, of course,
we would agree, we disagree.
But that's all the process. It's-- it's--
You know, you share, you share thoughts
and you're-- you're in it together.
[producer] You-- you're one of the only producers
he ever worked with that he still talks to, I think.
That-- that could be. Listen, John, like I said,
extraordinary talent like no other.
I-- I mean, I've been very fortunate to work
with great singers and I've worked with a lot of 'em
that are brilliant.
John is-- is one of the greatest singers in the world.
[crowd cheers]
[John] ♪ Hey! ♪
♪ Down inside the bay ♪
[crowd cheers]
♪ Women, you need ♪
♪
♪ Love ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
[automated voice] Wait.
♪ Oh yeah! ♪
♪ John Waite, twat ♪
["I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by John Waite]
♪
♪ Hear the lonesome whippoorwill ♪
♪ He sounds too blue to fly ♪
[Frank] From The Babys to Bad English to his solo work
across multiple decades, welcome John Waite.
[John] Well, Frank, nice talking to you. I'm in lockdown.
So, I'm, uh, I'm doing laundry.
[Frank] The glamorous life of a rock star.
[John] Pretty much. Especially now.
I pride myself in being pretty down-to-earth.
You know, I'm working-class guy. I come from great people.
We're not like-- we're not affected by artifice.
You know, I mean, I come from a working-class background
where people meant what they say and they--
they're kinda generous in their own way.
And there's a way of going through life with dignity.
And I think when you-- when you tap into show business,
the very fact that it is show business,
it's-- you're-- you're--
Being in a-- a room with a lot of people
that believe in something that doesn't exist.
It's all an illusion. You know, it's--
I mean, the art is the only thing that matters.
♪
And so I kinda circle the wagons.
You know, I-- I kinda like--
I found out who I wanted to be in that situation
and I stuck to it.
And I didn't embrace the, uh,
the phoniness of it, you know.
I knew people that were really great artists
and I wouldn't make a fool of myself in front of them
by going down this other path of like, you know,
"Look at me, I'm fabulous." You know. So, it was--
it wasn't like a sacrifice or anything.
It was just like I decided
where I was gonna live in that situation. And I pulled back.
♪ Could cry ♪
[crowd applauds]
[Dinah] I'd like you all to meet a man
who certainly qualifies as an award winner.
He's got numerous billboard, cash box,
and record World Awards, including the Triple Crown.
Here he is to sing one of his really golden greats,
"El Paso," Mr. Marty Robbins.
[crowd applauds]
["El Paso" by Marty Robbins]
♪ Out in the West Texas
♪ Town of El Paso ♪
♪ I fell in love with a Mexican girl ♪
[John] Even as a young kid, when I was, like, five,
I remember I used to bolt out school at four o'clock,
run down the hill to catch the bus
into the center of town, you know.
As I was passing Kenneth Gardner's record store,
there would be this Marty Robbin's
Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs sound cover.
And the guy going for his gun was the loner.
And as soon as he said, "You can go now,"
I would bolt over the hills
so I could spend another 30 seconds
looking at this album cover, 'cause it was America, you know?
[cinematic western music playing]
And my five-year-old brain was like,
"Look at me, Junior Cowboy."
And I would be riding off into the sunset,
having saved somebody from a fate worse than death.
♪
Me and my brother, Jo,
we'd sit in front of the TV in the afternoons, you know,
our moms, dads were at work.
We'd watch the test card that, you know,
technicians used to tune in the picture,
'cause about every 45 minutes,
this piece of music came around.
It was like a cowboy progression.
It was like, you know, The Magnificent Seven or something.
And we used to wait through all this crap
just waiting for this-- this chorus to come up.
'Cause it was like the West. There was something in there
that we couldn't understand that we heard.
Something bigger in those chord changes.
[rousing music playing]
♪
[announcer] One of our brightest young entertainers in England
proved that he can be just as bright a star
on Broadway in New York.
That, of course, is the very talented, Tommy Steele.
[John] Well, Tommy Steele was like a--
a song and dance film star, pop star. He was very famous.
♪ Singin' Tom ♪
[John] And in my brain, he was like,
"That's Tommy Steel, the Steelman, you know?"
So, I remember seeing this ukulele in this toy shop,
a plastic Tommy Steele ukulele.
[ukulele stringing]
It had a picture of Tommy on it.
And I thought, you know, next stop is rock and roll.
I'm gonna be a rock and roll cowboy in my head somewhere.
And about two weeks after playing it,
the Tommy Steele's sticker fell off it.
And I-- I-- I-- I looked at it
and I realized it was shaped like Mickey Mouse.
It was like two ears and it was a Mickey Mouse ukulele
and somebody had stuck a Tommy Steele sticker on it.
And that was my first experience
of the music business, really, you know.
["A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles]
♪ It's been a hard day's night ♪
♪ And I've been workin' like a dog ♪
[John] Somewhere around that period,
I actually saw The Beatles movie.
They'd suddenly become really big.
They were unstoppable tsunami of working-class pride.
You know, it was like they were from the Northwest,
they're working class lads,
but they were genius. Kinda they were-- they were it.
So, one minute, I'm looking at this Marty Robbins album
and I'm thinking it's cowboys and Indians.
And then, it's The Beatles.
[crowd cheering]
[host] Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles.
[John] It was like suddenly, the future was right in front of me.
Girls became really seriously important.
♪
Thank God there was a couple of teachers at school
that let me take extra art classes
so I could build up a portfolio and get into art college.
[soft music playing]
A geography teacher of mine said
that I would really basically amount to nothing.
They-- they were wasting their time on me.
Which makes me laugh when I read my old school report.
He said, "Does not do well in groups."
'Cause you know, that's the story of my life.
[laughs]
[pensive music playing]
But this woman, right, this woman who said
that I wouldn't amount to anything,
when The Babys were, like-- first charted in America,
I went back to Lancaster with my girlfriend
and we went in this shop to get a pie
and she was working behind the counter.
And I'm fresh back from America with a top 20 smash, you know.
And she looked at me and I looked at her
and it was like-- I didn't do anything.
I couldn't go there. But, fuck, man.
Does that sum up, you know, the school system?
They didn't know what to do with me at all.
But that was cool. I didn't know what to do with them.
Can you imagine being, like, a creative kid?
And really, I was alive, you know.
I'd go home and watch sort of, like, really intense programs,
just taking it all in.
And I'd go back to school
and there'd be somebody looking at me like,
"What are you looking at, Waite? Get out."
And I would be just like, "What? What the fuck is going on?"
You know, I-- I'm interested, What's happening?"
And, um, they weren't having it
'cause I wasn't, uh, public servant material.
I had long hair and I was musical
and I could draw and paint,
but there was no window for that kind of a kid.
And I used to stand out, but I wasn't backing down.
It's a testament to being a rebel, I guess, on some level
'cause I wasn't a big kid.
Towards the end of my stay at school,
I went up against a couple of real bastards
and they really beat the shit out of me on a regular basis,
but I didn't back down.
And it was like, the story in my life would be like that.
I mean, what are you gonna do? Disappear into yourself?
Join the army? What are you gonna do?
So, I was quite happy to be who I was. I was--
I had a very strong sense of self.
[guitar strumming]
[John] I really didn't carry myself as a singer.
I didn't. I mean, you have to sort of walk the walk
at some point and say, "Yeah, that's what I do."
I was extremely shy. I had to overcome it to be a singer,
which is probably why I was saying,
"I'm a songwriter and I play bass."
I was leaving the singer part out.
But being thrown in the deep end with The Babys,
like, we need a singer.
That's really where singing started for me.
Adrian Millar was trying to put together a band
that was gonna take over the world.
I like the way he talked, but I--
I couldn't see it in a practical sense.
It just seemed impossible, you know?
But I said I had a couple of songs
and this is where he comes into it.
I said I could sing.
I mean, up against the wall like, "What you got, son?"
"Well, I write songs, I play bass and yeah, I sing."
And that's the first time I said it without blinking.
You know, It just came outta nowhere.
And we went in the studio--
[man] Are you rolling?
- [John] And cut these two - [man] Rolling.
[John]-- demos of me singing.
♪ I can feel ♪
♪ I can feel the world spinning 'round ♪
On the mic, in the studio, two-inch tape.
You know, it was, like, serious.
And, um, he crystallized everything.
I saw myself immediately. He--
I remember I was in the studio singing this song
and I changed one of the lyrics 'cause I do that.
And when I'm in the moment, I just go off.
And the manager leaned forward and hit the talkback, said,
"We'll have the real lyric, you know."
And I said, "No, you're not. I just changed it."
I mean, I stepped right back in.
Like, yes, I play bass. Yes, I write songs.
Yes, I'm the singer.
When I was in that position of being that person,
I wasn't gonna compromise with anybody.
I understand what it is.
It's all one thing now.
[man] Are you ready?
[John] Now, I'm gonna sing.
[man] You rolling? All right, get ready.
[John] Adrian was actually going 'round the record companies
playing these demos and getting a lot of interest
from Warner Brothers, EMI, and Chrysalis.
Just major companies, you know.
He had these photographs
of Wally, Tony,
Mike, and me.
And he'd walk into
every record company and say,
"This is gonna be big, man."
You know, he had a big mouth.
He-- he walked the walk, you know. We loved it.
And we weren't getting signed.
People were interested, but they weren't getting it.
Uh, Adrian had decided
that we were gonna be called The Babys
'cause we just acted like a bunch of fucking babies
as far as he was concerned, you know.
He actually came back a logo and this sticker said Babys.
And we sat in-- in Tully Street one day saying like,
"Why can't we get signed?"
And I said, "Why don't you film it on videotape?"
Which was very hard to come by. It was rare.
It was just coming into being, you know.
We could just, like, go and make a video
and take it around the shop.
"Somebody's gonna go for this. Absolutely.
Come on, let's film it." And he did.
Adrian hired a studio and we put our best clothes on.
We took it around the record companies
and we had a deal inside a month.
Judy's in tune with a group
you have never heard or seen before until right now.
["If You've Got the Time" by The Babys]
♪ Oh, I got love that shows ♪
[woman] This is a television first,
Action News is breaking a record before it's even been released.
The video is a brand new concept in rock music circles.
No one has ever done this before
and I think it's an avenue that,
uh, is gonna be very, very big in the business.
♪ Oh, I got love that shows ♪
[John] Everybody was on the verge of video,
but The Babys just got there first.
It was gonna be the future, as it turned out with MTV.
♪ Then I've got the time ♪
♪ Yeah! ♪
♪ Do you say you love me ♪
[producer] It was a famous signing.
It was the first new band
that signed a million-dollar deal.
A million dollars. We didn't sing any of it.
It was there to make the records to a support, you know.
[producer] But what did you see out of that million dollars?
I saw, I think about 500 pounds I think,
which to me was the most money I'd ever seen
in one place at one time.
That's how young we were, you know.
That was just the most, you know,
wonderful thing, to have 500 quid, you know.
['Read My Stars' by The Babys]
♪ Say you love me ♪
♪ I know you do ♪
♪ Go anywhere I want you to ♪
♪ Yeah but ♪
[John] Record producer,
Bob Ezrin, was in town,
and he was doing some of the other bands at Chrysalis
and we became part of the deal
'cause he'd had a lot of success with Alice Cooper.
Bob came up like he understood and he--
he swore to me, he got it.
You know, it was gonna be like, "Just come to Toronto,
I got this studio, it's gonna be just the best, man.
I'm gonna--" And you know, I was a kid,
so I kinda believed the hype.
And, um, we packed our bags and went to Toronto
to work at his studio.
And it didn't work out almost immediately.
There was echo on everything, which we hated.
We didn't need to be covered up with echo.
And I actually stood up at one point, said,
"Listen, this isn't what we do.
You know, this is not what we came all the way
from England to do. What are you doing?
Because this is our lives, you know, we've paid for this."
And he turned around and told me
that I shouldn't be in a band and I couldn't sing.
You know. Thank you. Thank you.
When we came back on the plane, nobody spoke.
We were destroyed. And we got it back to London
and the record company hated it. The management hated it.
Our wives and girlfriends hated it.
And we were just like, "Fuck, after all this effort."
He was really a cunt.
[Dinah] 1977 is definitely their year.
Please welcome, The Babys.
[audience applauds]
[John] And they went ahead with the campaign
and it was, like, insane.
There was posters in the subways.
In the subways, you know, The Babys.
"It's a good job, they're just a rock and roll band."
It was huge. And we were doing TV, like Super Sonic.
We did Dinah Shore, Mike Douglas,
and Midnight Special.
It was, like, "Ready or not, we're gonna go with this."
The Babys.
♪ Oh, I got love that grows ♪
And here they're for the first time.
- ♪ Oh I got love ♪ - Here are The Babys.
♪ Oh, I got the love you need ♪
[John] But right there was kinda the end
because we never were able to sort of pay back
the price of that album.
We had to make another one to, uh, get out of the debt.
["I'm Falling" by The Babys]
♪ Far away from you ♪
[radio host] What advice do you give to people
who are coming up in the business?
- [John] Get a lawyer. - [radio host] Get a lawyer?
Yeah. And then get a lawyer to watch the first lawyer.
[radio host] That's right.
[John] Then get a second accountant
to watch the first accountant.
♪ Sometimes I love ya ♪
♪ Ooh, I'm falling ♪
[John] Adrian had got into some argument
with the record company.
He wanted more money and he was like,
"You are coming back right now. Get on a plane. It's finished.
I'm gonna get you off the label."
And I was like, "Well, it's going so well.
We're on the TV, can't you just, like, negotiate something?"
And he was adamant.
We all looked at each other and it was like,
"Are we gonna go home to that?"
We just said no.
Without Adrian, there would never been The Babys
and I wouldn't be sitting here, really.
I might have done a lot of work
and I might have done a lot of things to make it work.
Like, the sacrifice of, like, doing without a lot of things
to make it work.
But Adrian, it was his baby.
He put it all together.
And it just allowed me to write songs and be the singer.
It was the only way I was gonna get forward in my life
and I'll be-- I'll be grateful to Adrian,
um, 'til the day I die, really,
'cause, I mean, that's-- It-- it gave me a life, you know.
[somber music playing]
[Ron] The Babys were on Chrysalis
and they asked me if I would get involved.
And I explained to them I would take them on tour
and I would promote in every single market
a concert based on the number on the radio dial.
So, if it was 92.7, it was 92 cents.
If it was 101, it was a dollar one.
♪ Give it to me straight, doctor, I can take it ♪
[Ron] And we sold it out
because all the Johnny Fever type DJs
just played the shit out of the record and off we went.
The end of the tour, the head of accounting pointed out
to them that I had spent $600,000 of their money.
[chuckles]
They were worthy of the-- the whole scheme
because that first record
did a couple million copies.
The second record did a couple of million copies.
And Chrysalis made all their money back
and it had a successful band.
["She's My Girl" by The Babys]
♪ Me and my girl, we don't like rules ♪
♪ Living hard and fast ♪
[Ron] There's a punchline to this that's very funny.
The $600,000 that I spent, they--
they charged back to the band.
♪ She's my ♪
♪ She's my girl ♪
That's the nature of the beast.
The mechanics of the music business of that particular era
was they would spend a $100,000 on a video.
They would spend a $100,000 on a tour.
Even if you sold a million,
you pretty much were in the hole for half a million
and then you were making another record.
So, by the time you got to the next record,
even if you were successful and sold a million,
two million, three, you ended up owing the record company
three, four million dollars.
And this was from the late '70s to the '90s was,
uh, was standard procedure.
♪ She's my ♪
♪ She's my girl ♪
[John] Yeah, I think they somehow did some fancy footwork
with the accounting.
If you're looking at record companies
and you're looking at a really great example
of ruthless: Chrysalis.
[producer] Were you making any money?
No.
[producer] What-- what kind of money did you make?
You were touring like crazy.
200 bucks a week.
[producer] And they paid your rent?
Yeah, they paid the rent and 200 bucks a week.
And I was buying stage clothes out of that, you know.
And, um--
[producer] Where did all the money go?
Tour. You know, underwriting a tour.
And, um, I'd already signed away
my publishings to get tour support,
which was not the most-- brightest thing to do,
but I was a kid.
But, uh-- and I would do it again,
I suppose, in that situation, you know.
Give them something to get the advance
to float a tour to make the whole thing work.
I wouldn't do it now, but, um, you know,
you had to give everything you had, you know.
["Turn and Walk Away" by The Babys]
♪ We're gonna turn our backs on love ♪
I remember a couple of years later,
I had $6,000 for six years work.
[producer] Five albums, five tours.
And $6,000. Yeah, Chrysalis.
["Every Time I Think of You" by John Waite]
♪ And every time I think of you, babe ♪
♪ Every time I think of you, yeah ♪
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪ It always turns out good ♪
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪
[crowd cheers]
[Ron] I remember going up to Chrysalis's offices on Sunset.
And I had a mandate from the record company
to make an album that was radio-friendly, let's say.
We could get some hits going on. And the way to--
to do it in those days, I thought, was a power ballad.
["The Golden Mile" by The Babys]
♪ Had a vision on the Golden Mile ♪
A lot of the stuff that John was writing
was a little dark and it didn't have the pop appeal, I thought.
So, I suggested a song
by Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy called "Isn't It Time".
And they absolutely hated it.
"Do we have to do this?"
And I went, "Yeah, we have to do it."
And that was the first time
and I think that personality-wise,
that I got off on the wrong foot with John Waite.
And I can appreciate the fact that
here they were, a big signing,
and they're being asked to do something that wasn't theirs.
There was a reluctance from John to really sing the song.
And when it got to the chorus,
I ended up using background singers.
It ended up okay.
I used it like an answer.
I had John to sing,
♪ Isn't it time ♪
And the girls were singing,
♪ Falling in love will be your mistake ♪
And-- and it worked out.
[John] Looking back at making the record, Ron was saying,
"Did we have a single?"
And we never thought about that.
It was-- Just wasn't important. Now we--
we were all content to make great records,
you know, back then.
And we thought about it and said,
"Well, you know, maybe we don't.
Is it important?" You know.
He said, "I got this song called, 'Isn't It Time.'
Do you wanna listen to it?"
And I listened.
There's this guy on the piano who sounds like he's on ludes.
You know, he's like, [heaving] "Isn't it time?"
You know and I listened to it and I thought,
"Fuckin' hell, you know. What's he on?"
And he said, "Listen, there's a song in there.
There really is. You know, just listen."
And I listened and we all listened, you know,
we were all musical.
And we looked at it and it was like,
"Well, you know, we have some studio time."
But we went out in the room
and we started to work up an arrangement.
We all have did our thing, you know.
Wally was really great in the chorus
with this driving sort of, like, AC/DC thing.
And I threw in the "Hey, babe" thing, you know,
to give it more momentum.
♪ Hey, babe, isn't it time? ♪
And then we had these backup singers come in,
which was like a dream come true, it was like, you know,
Motown for me.
["Isn't It Time" by The Babys]
♪ Falling in love was the last thing
♪ I had on my mind ♪
[Ron] When that got out on the radio,
what a terrific thing that was.
That marriage of English rock and the R
♪ Sitting here all alone ♪
♪ Just trying to decide ♪
I'm sure The Babys hated it.
I'm sure of it.
But I-- I felt like, uh, in the end,
I delivered what I was asked to deliver by the people
that hired me.
♪ Isn't it time ♪
♪ Isn't it time, it took time to wait ♪
♪ Falling in love could be your mistake ♪
♪ Isn't it time ♪
♪ Isn't it time you took time to wait ♪
♪ Falling in love could be your mistake ♪
[John] It finished the album
and it suddenly looked like a bona fide hit.
We were proud of it.
Went to that number 14 and the top 20 Billboard.
[producer] Nevison says asking you to do,
"Isn't It Time" is where you and he started to fall out.
Oh, it's bullshit. That's just not true.
Because he was on head first the next album.
If I fall out with you,
it's kinda like you've done something serious.
It's hard to describe what was going on with him.
When we had the first meeting,
he leaned in at one point and said,
"You know, sometimes I'm gonna be really difficult."
And I leaned back in and said, "Really?"
He was trying to set it up
that he was gonna be an asshole in the studio
and I wasn't having it.
But he actually put that into the conversation.
Like, "Get ready 'cause I'm a real problem."
But I hadn't had a problem enough to not work with him.
You know, I think we had a talk about what we were gonna do
before I went in the studio. And it-- and it was good.
I mean that album was really a good album
and he went with me on it.
["Every Time I Think of You" by The Babys]
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪ It always turns out good ♪
Well, I thought John was a star. I always did.
I still do, actually.
But, um, for all artists who aspire to that position
in the marketplace and in people's minds,
you have to be an egomaniac
and you have to be driven and you have to be self-absorbed.
It's almost a prerequisite for success. The ones--
the ones that are not really don't make it.
♪ But maybe I was wrong not knowing how our love should go ♪
♪ How our love, how our love should go ♪
♪ But I wasn't wrong not knowing how our love would grow ♪
You know, The Babys, they were a piece of work.
Michael was just as big an egomaniac as John,
but he was not the lead singer.
Plus he-- You know, John was miserable at a time
when he should have been having a ball, you know.
[John] When we were making the third album
and we'd gone down to San Diego to play a show and it sold out.
We got, like, two songs before the end
and Mike smashes his guitar and starts screaming,
"Fuck off. Fuck you," at the audience.
And he walked off stage.
We had no idea what he was talking about or what happened.
The audience just looked at us like, "What the fuck was that?"
And we looked at the audience like, "We don't fucking know."
I think he said
that the audience weren't digging him
or something, you know.
And we got on the bus to come home
and Mike was getting really drunk
and he come up and sat in front seat
and started to tell me what he felt about me.
That I'm fucking useless.
And I lost it.
For the first time in three years, I lost it.
[somber music playing]
And we got into a complete fist fight on this bus
and we got dragged apart.
We got to the apartment, got off the bus, started up again.
The fist fight just continued, you know.
And we were, like, rolling around, you know,
really hardcore. And he came up with a broken bottle,
you know, out of nowhere. It was Michelob.
I hate Michelob beer. It has a big wide mouth on it
and he smashed this bottle and come up,
you know, a broken bottle.
Wow. You know, where did that come from?
And, uh, Tony jumped on him. Ron Stone jumped on him.
We got pulled apart again, but a broken bottle.
But when he got fired, and this is the truth,
we offered him an equal share.
We said, "Look man, if we finally get outta debt,
we started this thing together
and we'll honor the future for as long
as the band's together, you can have 25% of the profits.
Should it ever come to that." We did say that.
But, uh, we didn't get outta debt,
so it didn't really matter.
I mean it's comical now, but it was done in a way,
there was no, um-- there was no argument.
I mean, somebody's trying to fuck you up
with a broken bottle.
How do you deal with that? You know.
["Missing You" cover]
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪ I always catch my breath ♪
♪ And I'm still standing here ♪
♪ And you're miles away ♪
♪ And I'm wondering why you left ♪
♪ And there's a storm that's raging ♪
[woman] Do you look at your library?
Do you look at your catalog and say,
"Whoa, this is me? This was my music?"
Yeah. Only-- only recently, I've started to look back
at different periods like LA with The Babys.
[woman] Right. Right.
[John] Me going solo and then Bad English and--
and then going solo again.
And I'm starting to lose perspective.
Some of it's closer than the other parts, you know.
[woman] Right. Right.
I mean being 28,
it's the same as being 38 now, isn't it?
Well, you've-- I mean you've worked with everyone.
- You have worked with everyone. - [John] Yeah, I have.
I want you to be honest with me
and tell me who was a real pain in the ass to work with.
I can't tell you that. I can't. I would love to.
[Michael] Come on!
Come on, Michael, no.
[Michael] First name. First name.
No, no.
[Michael] Last name.
No. Both names. No.
[Michael laughs]
[thunder clapping]
[man] What do you miss most about
your past life before Covid?
[John] Well, playing live. I miss the band.
You know, they're sort of my closest friends
and-- and we do about 70 days a year.
So, I'm doing a lot of reading, just painting.
We're doing-- doing our best to get through.
But he will come back and I think when he comes back,
everybody's gonna be raring to go.
The shows will be great. The audiences will be great.
We'll be glad to see each other.
It'll be a warm, wonderful celebration of music.
You know, any-- anytime he's ready to go,
I'm there.
What are my issues about the couch?
You want so much space.
It's just you can't have enough space.
You can't say please, you can't say thank you.
[voice fades]
[John] I honestly can't wait for it.
[thunder clapping]
[Joni] I'm asking myself what keeps me here a lot lately
since the world has shut down.
[sighs]
Because we've been living in this extreme temperature
of emotions that are uncomfortable,
lots of fear, you know, whether that's
a self-destructive alcohol thing or di-- disengaging.
Do you have your mask?
[John] Yeah.
[Joni] I'm sure it's brought on by him not touring.
It really is one of those things where you don't always
know why you have it for someone.
And that-- and I-- and I ask myself
a lot, like, what the fuck?
[John] Give me that.
We were off and on for 26 years
and now we're finally living together and trying
to see if this is, like, gonna work.
I can't-- I don't know.
He's like-- he's-- he's the most important
thing to me in my life.
I-- I can't-- As bad as it gets,
I can't imagine life without him.
And that is a weird way to feel.
[guitar strumming]
♪ There must be some kind of way out of here ♪
♪ Said a joker to a thief ♪
♪ There is too much confusion here ♪
♪ And I can't get no relief ♪
♪ Business men, they drink my wine ♪
♪ Plowmen dig my earth ♪
[Joni] Touring,
that's what he does and that's how his whole life
has been lived through singing all over the world.
And all of a sudden now he can't do that.
How do you go from that extreme to just
sitting on the couch
watching freaking Netflix?
You know, for me that's fine 'cause I love that.
But his desires
are to go out and kinda
recreate the excitement of the road.
♪ Watchtower ♪
[John] Any requests?
[crowd cheers]
[Mike] We're very pleased to have you.
Thank you.
[Mike] How about another tune, guys?
- Love to. - The Babys.
- Thank you. - [audience applauds]
[John] And I think everybody in the business
that was around The Babys, including The Babys,
were just like, "This is bullshit."
You know?
There was somebody on the inside trying
to stop getting to the outside.
I should have just left.
But the band came to me and said, "Don't leave."
My girlfriend and I were missing England.
It was like, "Should we just go home?"
["And If You Could See Me Fly" by The Babys]
And I stayed.
And to this day I wonder if that was the right decision,
you know?
I said, "If you go forward, I'm not playing bass anymore."
[producer] And that's when you brought in Jonathan Cain
- and Rick Phillip. - [John] Yep.
Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips came in
and they brought a-- a brand new energy to The Babys.
And we really needed it.
'Cause up to that point, it was kinda lonesome.
["Back on My Feet Again" by The Babys]
♪ Until I met you ♪
♪ Told myself I'd get by without love ♪
Please welcome The Babys.
[John] And I found I could be kinda fearless.
And we suddenly became a really serious live band.
Jonathan Cain, Ricky Phillip joined
the band and we hit the road and man,
we were playing, like, five nights a week on stage
with one of these major bands that was touring.
And we'd be going out in front of people and just killing.
But he record company were having distribution problems.
They couldn't put the records in the stores.
You know, we'd go the record stores
and there'd be no Babys' records.
And at first, we thought, "Wow, we must be selling out."
The frustration was so enormous towards the end,
we've done so well.
A foot away from making it huge.
And what are we? A tax write-off? You bastards.
And Jonathan Cain got offered a job with Journey.
And that was the last straw, really.
I just went like, "Fuck it. I'm leaving."
[melancholy music playing]
[John] It was the end, you know.
I went back to England,
got married and I had a home suddenly.
It was like an English country life
with absolutely no rock and roll.
It was just the pub,
if you were to go down the pub,
or long walks through these fields.
And even though I'd left The Babys,
I was still in debt to the record company.
Huge amount of money.
So, I signed a solo deal in the middle of all that
with Chrysalis.
I went back and made a solo record.
Neil Giraldo produced it and we had a hit song
on it called, "Change."
♪ People talking ♪
♪ And they're saying that you're leaving ♪
[John] MTV had just started.
They didn't have a lot of videos to play.
I hope you're watching us in stereo.
[John] But if you had a video,
you were suddenly in every home in America.
So, I was getting played, like, eight times a day.
♪ We think we have the answers ♪
[John] It was like, turn the thing on and there it was.
♪ Gonna change [change] ♪
♪ It doesn't matter who you are ♪
♪ It's all the same ♪
[John] But again, the record company didn't really
follow through on the release.
And after about a year of being
on the road and living in New York,
year and a half, I threw the towel in, really.
I just threw the towel in and went back to England.
It was just more than I could put up with really, you know.
I'd met my wife just before I went to art school.
We knew each other for I think maybe 12 years
and we were married for two.
It was a-- a serious long-term relationship, you know.
And, uh, I think me being away so much, the touring,
that relentless drive to just keep getting up and keeping
going, it meant-- it was more than me, you know?
I felt-- I just believed in making music or making records.
It's all I wanted to do. It's all I thought about.
And, uh, I probably let her down, you know.
I feel-- you know, I do feel if I hadn't
have gone after it, we might still be married.
I-- I just don't know.
But we did grow apart and, um,
it's just the way it was really, you know.
["Missing You" cover]
♪
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪ I always catch my breath ♪
♪ And I'm still standing here ♪
[John] "Missing You" was kinda made up on the spot
over somebody else's chord changes, you know.
I hadn't got a clue what I was gonna do.
I just heard the backing track and asked if I could sing
over it, where-- me and this guy would write this other song.
I even use The Babys' "Every Time I Think of You,"
which was one of our big singles, to get me going.
And then it was, "I always catch my breath
and I'm still standing here and you're miles away
and I'm wondering why you left.
And there's a storm that's racing through
my frozen heart tonight.
I ain't missing you at all."
In one piece.
You know, it's-- it's the muse, you know.
It's what it-- it's like all these things
that I wanted to get home.
I'd been making this record for EMI for, like, three months.
So, I hadn't gone home.
And I knew we hadn't got that major single, too,
when we were mixing the record.
So, that was just waiting to happen.
What can I get for you?
Um, fill it up.
It's like queued up in the things you have to have,
have to get to-- to-- to make something complete.
And the thing about, "I can lie to myself"
at the end, you know, 'cause it's about denial.
I must have heard it in the back
of my head that that was gonna make the whole song what it was.
You know, denial.
"I ain't missing you at all.
I can lie to myself."
Just chance, you know.
[reporter 1] Coming up, we have got
the first single out by John Waite.
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
[reporter 2] Here is an Englishman
now with a record that took into the top
of the American charts, a new entry for John Waite.
[John] A lot of things happened that should
have happened maybe five years before, but I was able
to go back home and not feel like a loser, you know.
My parents were really proud.
I could go in the pub and it was like
people sending pints of Guinness over and my--
you know, it was just really sweet.
[Gary] We knew it was pretty magical
and didn't imagine it would be number one
in a gazillion countries and all that.
But it's one of those songs that stood the test of time.
And for the generation that grew up around it,
they remember where they were when they first heard it.
I think great singer, great song.
♪ I ain't missing you at all ♪
[John] And missing you still appear in movies
and TV shows to this day.
You get to meet John Waite?
[John] It was that big, you know.
It was a new feeling for me.
And the video was number one for, like,
20 weeks or something.
It was absurd.
Suddenly I was absolutely recognizable
in every country I went to.
You're John Waite.
So I am. And you're Taryn Blake.
I even got cast in a TV series called Paper Dolls
because "Missing You" was gigantic.
I couldn't go out.
I was living in hotels in America.
At one point, I had to get a bodyguard
that traveled with me.
[crowd cheers, screams]
[Gary] There's no school for teaching people
how to deal with success.
Everyone deals with it differently.
Some people just take it in stride
and some people need to retreat.
[John] When I was starting out,
I honestly thought if,
by any kind of miracle and trick I got to number one
or became successful,
I could completely pull back and choose my moments
and come out and make the albums I wanted to make
and then go back. That was honestly my ambition.
I had no understanding of-- of being competitive and sort
of gotta have a hit and every year you're top of the pops.
And-- that wasn't what I wanted to do.
I wanted to be a musician, a writer,
and really just call my own shots.
So, when I got to number one with "Missing You,"
that was like, you know, job done.
That's what I wanted.
And then to be able to be an artist behind that,
but to really be like Prince and all those people,
brilliant talent, but I-- that wasn't me at all.
I was-- I wanted to be in the shadow.
["Fly" by John Waite]
♪ For so long, you've gone on ♪
♪ Trying to see an end to it all ♪
♪ But I know that your grip is getting loose ♪
[John] Well, we've been painting--
I've been painting for, like, all my life,
but I've decided to take more seriously and,
um, bang out some-- some different stuff.
Uh, this is from art school. This is a Worzel Gummidge.
This is like a scarecrow that came to life. It's a kid's book.
It's pretty good. I gotta say. It's-- it's not bad.
And then we move on to-- it's sort of like--
it's hardly serious painting, but it's like a cartoon
of, uh, religion, as you can see.
And the ventriloquist dummy being
the deity and, uh, the metal halo.
And the ventriloquist dummy
is in fact a dummy himself, you know?
But it is a cartoon.
It's not-- it's not meant to be a classic art or anything,
it's a cartoon.
Getting into art school alone
was a profoundly kind thing for my parents.
They were both working around the clock
to pay off the mortgage.
To allow me to go to art school
was just kindness itself, really.
Whenever I look back, I'm just grateful for that.
I was good, you know, but I wasn't great.
And no matter how hard I tried, I was never gonna be great.
You know, you go into a life class
and you're supposed to capture
that figurative art, which is what I was drawn to.
And I couldn't-- I couldn't make that work.
You know, I could make something work that I really
loved, but I couldn't go outside of what I knew.
And I thought if I took up music,
it would be genuine, it would be authentic.
I didn't see myself as a singer,
but the chord changes from the test card,
you know, I recognize that music.
There was something there that I-- that was, like, intangible.
And I felt if I could just give it all to music,
that I would do something that might win.
That might be authentic. That would be absolutely true.
At this point, I heard Neil Young and all
the kids at art school, they were doing LSD, you know.
It's a brutal-- it's a brutal drug.
You know, it's really hard.
It's reality.
And then there's a lot of movement
in your soul with that stuff.
It's, like, really desolate.
I mean, it's almost heroic stepping into that world,
you know.
It's really terrifying and it's also really glorious.
But you come back and it's like you've been away at war.
You've been on the edge of the stars, you know.
If you're paying attention, it's gonna change your world.
But in Neil Young, I saw that.
I saw him representing a sort of consciousness.
And that in itself-- 'cause you wouldn't say
that Neil is, like, you know, case book, great singer.
He's got a beautiful voice, but it's faulted.
And that's back to what I'm saying about being a singer.
I thought I could do it if-- even if I was faulted, it would
still be authentic and that would make it authentic.
Whatever was wrong with my performance
would be honest and I could deal with that.
I would take my shot in life on that.
[man whistles]
[man] Buddy?
[crowd laughs]
One of these days,
you'll tell your grandchildren about tonight.
And then the singer went outside the car park and shot himself.
[laughter]
But the audience started throwing money,
so he changed his mind.
This producer was producing The Babys
and he-- he made this suggestion for a vocal for one line.
And, uh, I thought, you know, "Really?"
And he said, "Yeah, it's great."
And there hasn't been a time when I've heard that record go
by and I hear that line and I think it's wrong.
But God forbid it's only one line.
You know, as people have a whole album, you know,
scrapped cause of, you know, simply not getting it.
But, uh, if it's wrong, it's wrong.
You know, if something's half right, it's wrong.
Rogers, I like the way you work.
I like your nerve.
I can use a fire-snaking man like you.
In fact, I need you for an assignment.
Well, thanks a lot, governor. But I'm working with the rodeo.
That's why I sent for you.
The fellows I'm after wouldn't
take you for anything but a cowboy.
So far they've been able to spot all my operatives.
You mean you want me to follow someone?
Yes.
[twangy harmonica music]
[John] One day the phone rang and it was like,
"Do you wanna go on tour with Ringo?"
I thought about it for about 2.5 seconds.
You know, I thought, "Well, I'm gonna meet Ringo.
So, okay, I'll do it," you know?
Oddly enough, I'd been offered
a-- a theatrical role on Broadway.
I'd never done that before, but when I weighed
the two things I thought I owed it to me to go and play
with a Beatle, you know.
It came to me in a dream on a flaming pie.
- [John] Waite with an E. - John Waite.
I thought it was saying, "Wait for John,"
but it was saying John Waite.
[John] So, you know, it was that or Ringo and I-- I,
uh, I chose Ringo, you know.
Let's keep it loud tonight, Ringo,
'cause of what the sign says.
When we're playing together, there's moment's
where it gets sort of psychedelic.
You know, you look across the stage and there he is,
you know, the man behind the kit.
[crowd cheers]
You have to sort of get used to that
kind of otherworldly aspect to being in the same
room with somebody that you really wanted to play
with and i- and idolized when you were a kid.
That isn't something you just stumble across, you know?
♪ Sometimes I wanna give up ♪
♪ Wanna give in ♪
♪ After everything is said and done, baby ♪
♪ You're my reason for living ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Now listen to me ♪
♪ When I see you smile ♪
♪ I can face the world ♪
♪ Oh, yeah, I can do anything ♪
♪ When I see you smile, baby ♪
♪ Baby, when I see you smile at me ♪
♪ Every day of my life ♪
♪ Yeah, baby ♪
♪ Smile at me ♪
[crowd cheers]
[John] It's not for the faint of heart.
You have to really be on your toes and deliver
something that's gonna make it all work.
And on top of that, you have to play with Ringo
and, uh, you know, he played with Paul McCarthy.
We needed a really incredible big ballad singer
who played bass--
- My best mate. - and who could be better?
Lots of people.
[laughter]
Well, I've gone back to playing bass to do this.
I only play bass on me own records now.
There was a point I was actually sleeping
with a bass guitar in my bed.
You know, I'd wake up at 3:00 in the morning and go like,
you know, "Is that a C sharp or a C?"
I'd come out of a deep sleep, reach for the bass and look--
you know, play the note like, "Ah, it's a C."
And I'd go back to sleep again.
[crowd cheers]
The opening night,
instead of us getting a few gigs under our belts,
uh, we're filming it, you know.
[announcer] Ringo Starr His All-Starr band.
Did I say I wasn't nervous before?
[cameraman] You did.
I did actually say that, yeah.
[cameraman] Yeah. A touch?
Just a tad, you know.
[Ringo] Yeah, no, no. We're fine.
[John] It was that scary
filming it on the opening night, you know.
I mean, nobody does that.
Case in point, we were doing "How Long,"
Paul Carrick's beautiful song.
And I started it off in the wrong key.
[pensive music playing]
[producer] Did Ringo give you shit for that?
Yeah. Yeah. He really did.
- [producer] Tough gig. - Yeah, it really was.
[man] Would you do it again?
No, I really wouldn't.
You know, I don't work for anybody, really.
I did it the one time because it was him.
And, uh, let me just say, as far as drummers go,
I mean, there is nobody that comes within screaming distance.
It's almost like a singer, being a percussionist.
It's that good.
It's hard to imagine any human being
keeping up with the other three.
[producer] You ever meet John or Paul or George?
[John] No. No, I didn't.
I did walk past Paul in New York and he looked at me.
I was playing Radio City that night and he raised
his eyebrow like, you know, "How's it going?"
And I just kept walking.
[laughs]
I couldn't deal with two Beatles in one day, you know?
But he-- he looked like he was gonna stop and talk to me.
But I just, you know, "Hey, how are you doing?"
But, um, you know, I hope I, uh-- I hope I delivered.
♪ Sometimes I wonder ♪
♪ How I'd ever make it through ♪
♪ Through this world without having you ♪
♪ I just wouldn't have a clue ♪
♪ 'Cause sometimes... ♪
[John] I've recorded seven albums as a member of a band
and I think I must have made about 13,
maybe even 14 solo records.
I've lost count.
I now own the music that I record
and I bought back many of the original masters
from the record companies.
♪ She's nobody's girl ♪
And because of that, I've been touring
around the world and making and releasing records
outside of the music business for almost 30 years.
This is all I know.
You know, nobody knew what they were doing,
that were musicians back then.
The lawyers weren't, um... It's just very difficult.
It seems to be there's-- there's more understanding of the artist
now and, uh...
What can you say?
They're all fucking bastards, really.
♪ I wait for sundown on the fire escape ♪
[crowd cheers]
♪ And watch the passing cars downstairs ♪
♪ I'm high above Korean groceries ♪
♪ A sublet castle in the air ♪
♪ It's down to cigarettes and rosaries ♪
♪ But Christ, I wish someone would call me ♪
♪ Johnny Thunders on the stereo ♪
♪ I thought, "You can't put your arms ♪
♪ Around a memory" ♪
♪ Maybe I could find a better way ♪
♪ But all I need now is to feel connected ♪
♪ So, do you remember me ♪
♪ I sang that song you like ♪
♪ Way back in '83 ♪
♪ Number one high as a kite ♪
♪ As I make my way downtown, yeah ♪
♪ I'm going way downtown tonight ♪
♪ I'm going way downtown ♪
I was making an album of Greatest Hits in Nashville.
I did a lot of the songs and I'd put some of the songs
from the other albums from the masters.
But it got to "Missing You" which was gonna have to be on
the album to attract attention so I could go on the road again.
And I got to "Missing You" and couldn't think
of anything at all to do.
And I thought, why not do a duet?
♪ Oh, carry me back ♪
♪ To the lone prairie ♪
[John] But I thought, who would I really love to sing with?
And I had been spending a lot of time watching
the American Music Channel, which was all country music.
"New Favorite" had just come out.
And Alison was in heavy rotation.
I think it was the first time I actually heard her sing.
And it was really engaging.
♪ Favorite ♪
[John] She was the queen of it.
I would wait for her videos to come around, you know.
And I was buying some-- some LPs in a secondhand music store.
And I walked out on the street
and she drove past and she stopped.
She leaned out the window and said, "Hey, how are you doing?"
You know, hamming it up, and, um, I was just like,
"Whoa. It's Alison Krauss"
And we talked, uh, on the street.
It was really great, you know.
If you're gonna meet somebody,
it's great to meet them like that, you know?
'Cause I was like, "How do I do this?"
You know?
But she was really lovely, open, friendly,
serious about the song.
We cut the song and I went home and listened to it
and there was something wrong with it.
And I think it was me, 'cause it's a duet, you know.
You have to answer somebody's performance for it to work.
Whereas before, I think I'd done it like a performance.
So, I sang it differently.
I sang it completely differently for Alison.
And then she sang her part and it was like,
there it was, you know, it was fantastic.
♪ But I ain't missing you at all ♪
And we wound up on the Jay Leno Show doing the duet
of "Missing You."
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
I just remember trying not to talk too much.
I was, like, nervous, you know?
'Cause she's, uh, an incredibly intense artist.
She's really the-- the real thing, you know?
And you start to wonder if you could measure up.
It's Ringo territory, you know.
Who could be better?
Lots of people.
[laughter]
[John] And when I was singing "Missing You" in the studio,
she hit the talkback and said, "This is really great."
And I smiled, you know, 'cause that was praise
from somebody that I--
[producer] Take a minute?
Yeah.
[producer] It's all right.
[somber music playing]
[John] It's the weirdest feeling to sing lyrics
that you wrote when you were a young man, you know.
When you were pretty much uncomplicated and happy.
[audience laughs]
Before divorce and all that stuff kicks in.
You think the world's great.
It is great.
[strums guitar]
There is irony in that.
Okay. Uh, wish me luck. Okay, two, three.
♪ You, you said you'd come around ♪
[John] I think I've-- I've had a lot of trouble because
I'm not interacting with people.
You know, you go and play a concert
and it's extremely intimate.
♪ You're the one I want to see ♪
There's a real exchange with the audience.
And to not have that, to not have that window
to people is so weird because art,
you know, it's a two-way street.
You don't make art to lock in a vault,
and you certainly don't make music to keep it to yourself.
It's-- you're trying to put something out
and exchange something with people.
But, you know, with the pandemic,
you can't go out and play.
I haven't seen my band for a year.
It's weird.
And it's not just weird for me.
It's-- everybody's had their life change
completely because of it.
It'll be hard when we actually get back out there,
but, um, you know, it's okay.
♪ Falling in love again ♪
[crowd cheers]
[producer] Everybody learns the hard way.
Is that a good metaphor for your career?
Well, my career is, you know-- it's-- it's--
look, I'm not trying to shoot the arrow
and then paint, uh, a bullseye around it.
I know that it's gone up and down.
And some of it was unavoidable.
I mean, the record companies going out of business,
on maybe three records
when it was a very important time to have success.
I'm not trying to paint over that.
You know, those albums failed.
You know, somehow they were really great records,
especially in my mind, Temple Bar,
and you have to roll with it.
But I thought about this before,
everybody's got an excuse for why
their record doesn't chart or any of that shit, right?
And, uh, in my case, it would be, yeah,
the record company went down, but I made the record
and it's out on the internet
and I bought Temple Bar back
and it sells, like, a huge amount.
And I've got When You Were Mine back
and that sells out in reprint copies.
Figure in a Landscape, you know, I own 'em.
But at the time, it was rough to watch it.
It was really-- and I could have really done with,
uh, somebody at the wheel that actually knew
what they were doing.
It's just ironic that it, uh, it met with, uh--
but I kind of enjoyed it.
I-- I felt like the hero in some sort of Russian novel.
It was like, "I bet somebody fucks this up."
And you get the-- and then the phone rings,
you know, and then the phone rings.
And you kinda-- you develop a kind of, uh,
laconic kind of, you know-- you just like--
a couple of words will sum it up, like, you know,
c'est la vie.
But, uh, I have no regrets, really.
I think it even powered me forward.
I became more of an artist because I was
up against something that was insurmountable.
I didn't just give up and say, "Fuck it.
I'm gonna go be a-- a painter."
I just went right back in the-- in the studio
and played with my band.
And I just-- that's what I do.
And it brought that home to me that no matter what you do,
at the end of the day, it's about the work.
It's not about being number one.
It's not about being, uh, surrounded by success
and dollar bills and a trophy wife
and a big fucking mansion somewhere
playing golf on Sunday
with some fucking guy you can't stand.
It's about making art.
Art is the-- the reason we breathe.
It's-- it's our harmony with God.
If there's God out there, this--
we're singing the harmony with-- when we make art.
And so in answer to your question,
it never affected me, really.
If you believe that, I have a used car outside.
[laughs]
[man] You ready, John?
Playback coming at you.
♪ You're everything I want ♪
♪ You're everything that I need ♪
♪ And I'd do anything to get to you ♪
I'm flubbing some lines, but I guess if you do it--
[man] Yeah. That was pretty cool, man.
[man 2] Yeah, it looks really good.
- Really? - [man 2] Yeah.
[John] I sort of went with the lockdown thing
as long as I could.
I had to go back to work somehow.
- [Joni] You have your mask? - [John] Yeah.
So, I-- I went in the studio and cut some acoustic songs.
[man] All right, we're going again. Get ready.
[Joni] Everybody has the way that they're affected by this.
He's very British and he keeps his feelings inside,
but underneath that is a very soft,
sensitive, redheaded kid.
[pensive music playing]
I've fucked up a lot of it, but--
- [man] No, it's okay. - Yeah?
Well, maybe you get a, you know-- I mean, whatever.
If you wanna use it, it's a little--
I-- I became unprepared.
I haven't sung the song ever.
Apart from the studio.
Fuck it. You had the best of me.
[automated voice] Wait.
Wait.
[John] I'm losing the will.
You know, I am...
I think, spiritually bankrupt at this point.
I just really am at that point in my life.
[melancholy music playing]
[crowd cheering]
[Richard] Please give it up, Mr. John Waite--
[crowd cheers, screams]
[tauntingly] John's got a cheat sheet.
[crowd laughs]
It's for "Jumping Jack Flash," actually.
So, we were, uh-- we've done a couple shows together,
but we haven't seen each other in couple of years.
It's been a while.
Why don't you age, motherfucker?
Look at you, man.
I was-- I was comparing myself to you
and I'm watching you I thought, "What-- how's-- what the--"
You know, I mean, how did you do that?
I married Daisy Fuentes.
Yeah. Yeah, it shows.
- And it helps. Helps a lot. - It helps, yeah. Yeah.
So, John and I got together today just for-- for a minute,
and we're like, "Let's do a song together."
[crowd cheers]
And everybody on Earth loves this song
and we're gonna butcher the shit out of it right now.
[crowd laughs]
[John] What do I miss the most?
[producer] Yeah.
Just being able to get out
and meet people and interact.
I think that's really what happens.
You stop talking to people.
Difficult, you know.
["Missing You" cover]
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪ I always catch my breath ♪
♪ And I'm still standing here ♪
♪ And you're miles away ♪
♪ And I'm wondering why you left ♪
♪ And there's a storm that's raging ♪
♪ Through my frozen heart tonight ♪
You've been a great, great crowd and a great, great time!
[crowd cheers]
This next song took about ten minutes to write
and changed my life beyond all whole recognition.
["Missing You" by John Waite]
♪ Every time I think of you ♪
♪ I always catch my breath ♪
♪ And I'm still standing here ♪
♪ And you're miles away ♪
♪ And I'm wondering why you left ♪
♪ And it's my heart that's breaking ♪
♪ Down this long distance line ♪
♪ I ain't missing you at all ♪
♪ Since you've been gone away ♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
♪ No matter what my friends say ♪
♪ There's a message in the wire ♪
♪ And I'm sending you this signal tonight ♪
♪ You don't know how desperate I've become ♪
♪ And it looks like I'm losing this fight ♪
♪ And it's my heart that's breaking, yeah ♪
♪ Down this long distance line tonight ♪
♪ I ain't missing you at all ♪
♪ Since you've been gone away ♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
♪ No matter what my heart says ♪
♪ And there's a message that I'm sending out ♪
♪ Like a telegraph to your soul ♪
♪ And if I can't bridge this distance ♪
♪ Stop this heartbreak overload ♪
♪ I ain't missing you at all ♪
[crowd] ♪ Since you've been gone away ♪
♪ I ain't missing you at all ♪
I love you people. I truly do. I love you.
♪ No matter what my heart might say ♪
♪ No matter, baby, [missing you], anyway ♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
♪ I can lie to myself these days ♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
♪ I'll get by, baby ♪
♪ I can lie to myself these days ♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
♪ No way ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ I ain't missing you ♪
[crowd cheers]
I'm John Waite.
And the decisions I made, I-- I think were honest
and I think I've tried to do in--
in this crazy mixed up world of the music business,
I think I've done it with
a sense of integrity and honesty.
I-- I really do.
And, uh, if I've been out of step it's because I thought
the work was more important than the business.
I mean, that's the truth of it.
[man] In our great city of Philadelphia,
please welcome, John Waite!
[crowd cheers]
["Change" by John Waite]
♪ People talking ♪
♪ And they're saying that you're leaving, yeah ♪
♪ So unhappy, baby ♪
♪ With the way that you've been living, yeah ♪
Hey!
The story isn't over yet.
I'll see you at the next poker game.
♪ We think we've got the answers ♪
♪ Some things ain't ever gonna change [change] ♪
♪ It doesn't matter who you are ♪
♪ It's all the same [change] ♪
♪ What's in your heart will never change ♪
♪ Look in the mirror ♪
♪ And you see how you've been taken ♪
♪ You're looking back out ♪
♪ But now your heart is breakin' ♪
♪ Oh oh oh ♪
♪ We always wish for money ♪
♪ We always wish for fame ♪
♪ We think we've got the answers ♪
♪ Some things don't ever change [change] ♪
["Midnight Rendezvous" by John Waite]
♪ Driving faster than you want me to ♪
♪ Can't help myself when I'm alone with you ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ I've passed the limit and there's no way back ♪
♪ Your kind of love gives me a heart attack ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ 'Cause, baby, can't you see ♪
♪ We need to spend some time alone ♪
♪ We need to see some dreams come true ♪
♪ I want to feel me touching you ♪
♪ We need a midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ On the freeway with the throttle down ♪
♪ You drive me crazy as we drive around ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ All night ♪
♪ The way you look tonight you aim to please ♪
♪ The dress you're wearin' is way past your knees ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ 'Cause, baby, can't you see ♪
♪ We need to spend some time alone ♪
♪ We need to see some dreams come true ♪
♪ I want to feel you touching me ♪
♪ We need a midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ Midnight ♪
♪ Midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ Midnight ♪
♪ Midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ Midnight ♪
♪ Midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ Midnight ♪
♪ Midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
♪ All I really want to do ♪
♪ Spend some time alone with you ♪
♪ Yeah ♪
♪ A midnight ♪
♪ [Baby, baby, can't you see] ♪
♪ [Baby, baby, you and me] ♪
♪ [Baby, baby, can't you see] ♪
♪ [Baby, baby, you and me] ♪
♪ A midnight rendezvous ♪
♪ Yeah ♪