BD: Well, no, it's not like I'm not saying. But if you have those kind of thoughts and feelings you know where the guy is. He's right where you are. If you don't have those thoughts and feelings then he doesn't exist.
BF: The character in the song reminds me a lot of the guy who is in the song Across The Borderline.
BD: I know what you're saying, but it's not a character like in a book or a movie. He's not a bus driver. He doesn't drive a forklift. He's not a serial killer. It's me who's singing that, plain and simple. We shouldn't confuse singers and performers with actors. Actors will say, "My character this, and my character that." Like beating a dead horse. Who cares about the character? Just get up and act. You don't have to explain it to me.
BF: Well can't a singer act out a song?
BD: Yeah sure, a lot of them do. But the more you act the further you get away from the truth. And a lot of those singers lose who they are after a while. You sing, "I'm a lineman for the county," enough times and you start to scamper up poles.
BF: What actor could you hear singing This Dream of You?
BD: Gosh I don't know, James Cagney, Mickey Rooney
BF: How about Humphrey Bogart?
BD: Yeah, sure, him too. Funny thing about actors and that identity thing. Every time I run into Val Kilmer, I can't help myself. I say, "Why, Johnny Ringo - you look like somebody just walked on your grave." Val always says, "Bob, I'm not Johnny Ringo. That's just a role I played in a movie." He could be right, he could be wrong. I think he's wrong but he says it in such a sincere way. You have to think he thinks he's right.
BF: Do you think actors have to be sincere?
BD: Not at all. Mae West wasn't. She was just who she was on the screen. Just like Jimmy Stewart and Burt Lancaster.
BF: And Johnny Weissmuller.
BD: Yeah, Lon Chaney, too.
BF: Could that mean that Alec Guinness is Hitler?
BD: Well sure, a part of him is. But of course he's not Hitler. And neither is anybody else. Hitler was Hitler.
BF: Do you remember images of Hitler from growing up?
BD: No, not growing up. He was dead by the time I was four or five. I never had a real understanding of that.
BF: Never had an understanding of what?
BD: How you take a failed landscape painter and turn him into a fanatical mad man who controls millions. That's some trick. I mean the powers that created him must have been awesome.
BF: Well, the social and economic conditions of the Weimar Republic were so different than now.
BD: Yeah sure, looking back in hindsight, you can see that someone would have to take control. But still, it's so perplexing. Like why him? You could see that the man's a total mutt. No Aryan characteristics whatsoever. You couldn't guess his ancestry. Brown hair, brown eyes, pasty complexion, no particular type of stature, Hitler mustache, raincoat, riding whip, the whole works. He knew something. He knew that people didn't think. Look at the faces of the millions who worshipped him and you see that he inspired love. It's scary and sad. The torch of the spoken word. They were glad to follow him anywhere, loyal to the bone. Then of course, he filled up the cemeteries with them.
BF: It brings to mind Hitler talking to the crowd in Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.
BD: Yeah, it's clear as day.
|
BF: The character in the song reminds me a lot of the guy who is in the song Across The Borderline.
BD: I know what you're saying, but it's not a character like in a book or a movie. He's not a bus driver. He doesn't drive a forklift. He's not a serial killer. It's me who's singing that, plain and simple. We shouldn't confuse singers and performers with actors. Actors will say, "My character this, and my character that." Like beating a dead horse. Who cares about the character? Just get up and act. You don't have to explain it to me.
BF: Well can't a singer act out a song?
BD: Yeah sure, a lot of them do. But the more you act the further you get away from the truth. And a lot of those singers lose who they are after a while. You sing, "I'm a lineman for the county," enough times and you start to scamper up poles.
BF: What actor could you hear singing This Dream of You?
BD: Gosh I don't know, James Cagney, Mickey Rooney
BF: How about Humphrey Bogart?
BD: Yeah, sure, him too. Funny thing about actors and that identity thing. Every time I run into Val Kilmer, I can't help myself. I say, "Why, Johnny Ringo - you look like somebody just walked on your grave." Val always says, "Bob, I'm not Johnny Ringo. That's just a role I played in a movie." He could be right, he could be wrong. I think he's wrong but he says it in such a sincere way. You have to think he thinks he's right.
BF: Do you think actors have to be sincere?
BD: Not at all. Mae West wasn't. She was just who she was on the screen. Just like Jimmy Stewart and Burt Lancaster.
BF: And Johnny Weissmuller.
BD: Yeah, Lon Chaney, too.
BF: Could that mean that Alec Guinness is Hitler?
BD: Well sure, a part of him is. But of course he's not Hitler. And neither is anybody else. Hitler was Hitler.
BF: Do you remember images of Hitler from growing up?
BD: No, not growing up. He was dead by the time I was four or five. I never had a real understanding of that.
BF: Never had an understanding of what?
BD: How you take a failed landscape painter and turn him into a fanatical mad man who controls millions. That's some trick. I mean the powers that created him must have been awesome.
BF: Well, the social and economic conditions of the Weimar Republic were so different than now.
BD: Yeah sure, looking back in hindsight, you can see that someone would have to take control. But still, it's so perplexing. Like why him? You could see that the man's a total mutt. No Aryan characteristics whatsoever. You couldn't guess his ancestry. Brown hair, brown eyes, pasty complexion, no particular type of stature, Hitler mustache, raincoat, riding whip, the whole works. He knew something. He knew that people didn't think. Look at the faces of the millions who worshipped him and you see that he inspired love. It's scary and sad. The torch of the spoken word. They were glad to follow him anywhere, loyal to the bone. Then of course, he filled up the cemeteries with them.
BF: It brings to mind Hitler talking to the crowd in Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.
BD: Yeah, it's clear as day.
- bill 4-14-2009 2:22 pm