March 2008 Joe Lally interview transcript
Where do you find inspiration?
I’ve been seeing bands since I was about 10 or 11, I was seeing R&B bands, like The Spinners, and The Jackson 5, and The Isley Brothers. I started listening to James Brown and Otis Redding. The first song that really meant a lot to me was Try A Little Tenderness by Otis Redding…. I was 9 or 10! That song is about being in love with a woman… I was 9! I had a lot to learn…. a lot to figure out! For me, there is something that is communicated to people – beyond lyrics, beyond what people appear to be standing there doing… or if you’re just listening to a record. I think that’s why people love music so much – we use part of our brain that…. they say there’s this big glob of brain that we don’t use… I think music uses part of the brain that we don’t use for anything else – it’s connected to the telepathic things and the neanderthal things that we do as a pack… and… the universal mind! If you want to talk to me about music and inspiration… I see everything through music… For me to be playing music it’s the best thing that I could possibly be doing on this planet earth with the life that I was given…. I do not want this to sound religious! But frankly, all the religions have that topic cornered, and I think they’ve abused… If I want to talk about music being connected to the infinite, it’s not any thing that you’ve ever heard of… it’s just.. the infinite and it connects us… it connects us to the future and to the people that have been here before… and to certainly much more than… people… Inspiration is just constantly streaming….
My brain has just switched off… thinking about the infinite… I think my brain’s just gone looking for it…
That’s exactly what’s supposed to happen – you’re not supposed to be thinking at all! Listening to music…. Being at YouTube is the greatest thing ever!
If I think of Nina Simone, I can pull up some song I’ve never heard or especially never seen her perform, and I can sit and watch her! She’s just incredible… and to see her do a song… I don’t even know what it’s called… I was just flipping through there… there was just this song… “I ain’t got no house… I ain’t got no shoes.. I ain’t got no food.. I ain’t got not bed… I ain’t got no bed… I ain’t got no car.. I ain’t got no steering wheel…†I’d never heard that song before!
What are the last few CDs you bought or have been listening to?
Sitting in front of me, what I put on today was a collective improvisation by the Ornette Coleman Double Quartet, and yes, it’s called Free Jazz – that’s what I listened today while I was doing the dishes… I listen to what I can!
The other thing I listened to today was an Italian singer called Mina – she’s the biggest thing here since the 60s – even though she moved to Switzerland, she’s like the Diva of Italy – you should look her up on YouTube. You should look up a song called Se Telefonando. It was written by Ennio Morricone – it’s a pop song he wrote, and it’s insane! It’s completely insane, that song! It’s a verse and like 20 choruses, and the choruses keep getting higher! It’s like he was trying to kill the person singing it or something. But she has such an amazing voice…. There’s a TV program from the 60s, and she’s singing this song on the program. There’s an orchestra behind her, which is people stacked up on top of each other, like the gameshow Hollywood Squares – and they’re behind her and they’re not even playing! And she’s lipsyncing! And I swear to god… that song is so heavy…. every time I watch her doing that song on that program, she’s lipsyncing and it still kills me. I’m sure you’ll look at it and say “I can’t believe he’s listening to this!â€
But that’s the thing about music – something is being communicated that is beyond what appears to be said – it is in the intention of the writer and in the case of this song, Se Telefonando…. if you don’t get something out of it…. I’m just hearing something else, that’s all! It’s saying something else to me, and it’s important! I’m just gonna put it up on my MySpace page as a video to watch.
Send it out as a bulletin to all your friends, and say “Am I crazy or is this great?â€
Ahhhh….. I know it’s great!
Joe Lally’s second album is available now, on iTunes
He is currently touring in the United States
Visit Joe’s website or visit him on Myspace
