DOP magazin pop & off kulture

Sheryl nastavlja priču iz prošlog izdanja, o svom kantautorstvu, Bushu, Americi, "Wildfloweru", i ostalim MOR stvarčicama koje bi vas mogle zanimati...

* How auto-biographical are these songs?

I think in the last few years, most of my records have been uh, more auto-biographical than the first record, which was much more narrative. Um, this one is definitely uh, nearest to telling the story of who I was when I was writing it. And-and a lot of it stems from uh, a real change in-in my life. And just getting involved with somebody and moving away. And I think when you really get into a deep relationship, it shows you the better parts of yourself that you're also going to reintroduce to some of the worst parts of yourself. And all those things that kind of surface when you're sitting down and facing yourself with a blank piece of paper, all that stuff seems to sort of uh, seep out. And I mean that's what makes for interesting art, but it definitely isn't the most fun kind of record of just banging through guitars and setting up grooves and stuff. It's really sort of about facing your-- What's inside your brain. And um, kind of digging in.

* Your vocals on this record are right up front and you don't have a lot of competition from the rest of the track. Did that make you feel also more vulnerable as a songwriter and a singer to have your voice really be out there that much?

One of the funniest things about touring is that I always have people come up or e-mail me saying gosh, you're so much better of a singer than you are on your records. And I think part of it is that because I've been my producer, I've been much more concerned with the production and sort of the nuts and bolts and the dressings and all that stuff.
And I've been really shy about my voice. In fact, kind of an elitist about not having my voice be featured, because I don't know if it's insecurity or if it's just I don't know. I mean I really love singing and I love playing live and I do realize that I don't spend enough time on my records with the vocals. And on this record, I really wanted the song to be the thing. You know, I wanted um, the song and the voice to be what you invested in when you were listening to it. Not the drum loops or the ear candy or whatever. And so, I definitely was more conscious of it. And I was, on this record, really conscious of writing melodies, because as a kid having grown up with like Burt Bacharach and-and Cole Porter, as well as James Taylor, as well as Elton John um, great melody writers. Paul McCartney. I really feel like we've gotten so far away from that, and that's really what to me is what moves the molecules. It's the thing that when you hear a song like Yesterday, it-it commands that you feel and that you re-visit old feelings and that um, you just-- It-it really makes you um, experience something. And so- and I firmly believe that that's melody more than words or anything else.

* Do you think because of that, is that why it made sense to do the stripped-down versions of the song that you're putting on a special edition of the CD?

Yeah. I-I think for me that one of the interesting things about writing songs is that you go in and you make an album. And you-you really start out exploring what that song is when you record the stuff. And you don't really ever know exactly how it's supposed to be until you've played it a few thousand times on the road or whatever. And um, so the most interesting way to find out what a song- how a song works best is really just to sit down and play it.
So, it's always fun to take something out of its-out of its um, environment that we're used to, like the production and just hear it played as a song. That's one of the things that I really loved about Johnny Cash's first solo record when he came back, is he took a lot of songs that we-we know so well like um, uh, Black Hole Sun or, just a lot of-a lot of these pop songs that are so-so produced and just to hear somebody sing them, particularly somebody who can really deliver. Um, like the song (Her?) you really- you just- you're so invested from the-from the get-go. And that to me, is the sign of a great song.

* It seems like you not being in the country during the writing of these songs and experiencing that isolation that you were talking about, that probably also played a big factor into some of it.

It was interesting last year um, and also this year. Um, there was some really major events that happened um, in our history just this year. Clearly re-electing Bush I thought was-was interesting. I think it spoke to the uncertainty of who-who we are as Americans. And then coming over and-and watching how we are-we are represented in the world by um, our own leaders, our own elected leaders and to be portrayed as an arrogant nation when you know that the whole nation is not just full of arrogant people is It gives you a helpless feeling. You know, to be represented that way. And to know that while the war is basically being set up as being a religious war, you also know that there's a fair amount of greed that's-that it's based on and-and imperialism. And it just gives you a helpless feeling in that you know that you're from a nation of good people and that the nation was based on other things other than this kind of campaign of fear that-that we've been on. And then, also in the world, the Pope dies and then the Terry Schiavo thing, all that stuff was going on at the same time. And to sort of be removed from it, to watch the coverage coming from-from Europe's CNN which is completely different than the American CNN. Um, you know, it just-it just causes you to-to take pause and to kind of try to digest it as if you were in an objective spectator or whatever, because everybody in the world was effected by it. But the United States has-has such a- a forum right now for um, um, people speaking their minds and this serious rush to the radical right and it's-it's just you know, for me uh, a wonderful opportunity to sit down and just write the GWENs that I have that I'm sure other people relate to.

* You have a dedication on the record to Elton John and you give him a nod with the butterfly line and always on your side. Can you talk about the aspects of his song craft that touched you and-and why.

Well, when I was um, about four years old I-I realized that I could play the piano by ear. Before I started piano lessons or anything. And the first songs that I learned to sing, or learned to play on the piano were Me and My Arrow by John Sebastian and um, uh, Clouds by Joni Mitchell and by Joni Mitchell and Your Song by Elton John. And really from-from that moment on, I-I identified or I placed my identity um, on being a piano player and it wasn't until much, much later that I wanted to be a rock and roller that I learned how to play the guitar. And so, really for-for me, Elton John was-was my biggest influence and I still find that when I'm really desiring to write something that has a strong melody, um, that he's one of the people I go to to just get my creative juices flowing.

And-and he's really consistent. I mean I-I just am always amazed at what he-what he comes up with even now. But particularly, in the old days when I really trying to figure out who I was as an artist, his music was so powerful and so important. And then, when my first record out he was really um, one of the guys that went out and uh, verbally encouraged people to buy it before anybody knew about it. He was really outspoken about it and-and he's been great that way. I've watched him do it with Ryan Adams and a lot of other people. Um, he's a person that's still really interested and excited about music. So, it's-it's fun to be around him and I wanted to make sure that he knew-- I mean I tell him all the time, but just how much I appreciate his influence on my music.

* The City of Los Angeles has sometimes been a prominent character in your songs, not so much on this album. I mean I think I know the answer to this because we've already kind of talked about it. But can you talk about why it's not so prominent in this record?

This record was really inspired by, not so much about a place. But about being in a foreign place, or about being in a different kind of place. And that-that means being in a foreign country but also in a new relationship, which can also make you feel-- Sometimes it can make you feel extremely vulnerable. And sometimes alienated. And while I have a really great relationship, I think that any relationship will show you the better parts of yourself. And like I said, it will also make you face some things you need to really change in order to be in a healthy relationship. And so I think those two things were what really influenced the feel of the record. Whereas the second record, The Sheryl Crow record we did in New Orleans. And that's definitely just deeply invested in the frenetic energy of New Orleans as well as the first record being set in the New York- I mean in the Los Angeles atmosphere. And all the characters on that record are really people that you might find in LA and also, it was a social comment on what was going on at the time, changing from Bush, Sr. to Clinton. And-and then The Globe Sessions was about being in New York in the winter. So, everywhere you are, your environment becomes, you know, it really informs the cinematography of your record.

* Do you think success brings confidence, pressure or both?

I think success brought a lot of pressure on my last record um, for a lot of reasons. I was turning forty. My business was becoming much more image conscious as well as sort of more youth oriented. And trying to figure out how to stay current and vital and compete with a bunch of twenty-year-olds with fake boobs is tricky.
So, um, I think this time around I-I feel my age is really um, been um, an enhancer. You know, because I-I don't feel that pressure anymore. I don't feel like okay I got to try to go compete in the youthful pop world. And it's kind of opened up a lot of doors for me, as far as my creativity goes in that I'm not editing myself as much. I'm really writing about things that are not necessarily going to be popular lyric ideas on the radio. But that are just things that are interesting to me.

* Are there parts of your heart and soul that you won't allow into your music? That you keep for yourself?

Uh, not on this record. Not really. I mean I've been really protective in the past. Only because um, I think in the past, I really walked that line. I-I-I played that game a little bit of trying to uh, nurture my celebrity a little bit without bringing my private life into it as well as trying to keep my private life totally private. And uh, there's no- really no way to do that and I-I- I've gotten in the past, I mean in the past few years, I've become much more comfortable with not being in the scene. And it is a trade-off. You have to, at a certain point, decide how famous or how successful you want to be. Because so much of it now is dictated by how much you'll sell of your personal life. So, I've been guarded about my writing. And the other thing about writing too, is when you're writing about people that you know, you can pretty much count on um, people finding themselves in your music. And so, I'm careful about that. I-I think this record, I definitely disclose more of my personal experience than the last in the first person.

TO BE CONTINUOUED...