← The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers
The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers
168 - Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True - Lisa Loeb
01:58:49
Lisa Loeb makes her debut on The 500 to talk about one of the best debut rock albums of the 1980s.
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- [00:01]
Josh Adam Myers
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- [01:15]
Lisa Loeb
McDonald's breakfast comes first.
- [01:20]
Josh Adam Myers
This show is brought to you by Distro Kid. Bring your music to the masses. The 500 JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition, so it ain't nothing too new. Hundreds more to go and in need of a friend. The king of peace for angelo. Talking the 500 until the end. Talking the 500 until the end with my man J on the 500. Talking the 500 until the end. Welcome to the week. Oh I know it don't fail you. I hope it don't kill you. Welcome to that working week. You got to do it so you do it so you better get to it. That is welcome to the Working Week. It's by Elvis Costello from his 1977 record My aim is true and it's number 168 out of 500 on the 500 with Josh Adam Myers. So how's everybody doing? I was just in Milwaukee at the Laughing Tap at a great weekend there. Big shout out to the staff of the Laughing Tap and to all the fleece army that came to my shows or these two incredible girls. Brooke and I got recognized on the street. Why can't I remember her name? Why can't I remember her name? She is the greatest Instagram picture. I think it's like Bad Bunny is Nosferatu. She was so great and she recognized me and Lek on the street and then she came to the show and they were just great shows. Big shout out if you're in Milwaukee, Support the Laughing Tab. Great club. But yeah, she was like, I have been joining you on this journey through Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums and I love Have a comedian lead us. I was like, that's so sweet. I was like, defend me on all of the message boards and the Apple itunes stuff. Like, please, please get rid of those negative comments, guys. Put the good ones up there. It is what it is. People hate me. Guess what? I ain't stopping, girl. I ain't stopping. I am out on the road. I'll be in New York for a little bit, but April 11th and 12th, I'll be at Jimmy Kimmel's Comedy Club in Las Vegas. And then the 17th, the 19th, I'll be in Austin at Moon Tower Comedy Festival. And then I've got more stuff coming in as we speak. And then I will be in Vancouver, Plano, Texas, Sunnyvale, Dallas. I'm all over, guys. Naples. I'm all over, all over. Josh Adamyers.com for tickets. We got more and more weekends coming in. It's a slow build for me because, you know, I'm. I sell tickets, but I don't sell enough. So if you see that I'm in your town, come to a show, come support Joshy Adamy Myersey and I love you, fleece army. Joshadamyers.com for all tickets at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. Got a lot of cool stuff coming up. Let's make this work. Let's. Let's keep it rocking and rolling, man, into 2026, which is. We got a while before 2026. Also subscribe to the Patreon because me, DJ Morty Coyle and Fetty Wap Fetterman are doing a podcast that I'm having so much fun doing. We talk about different music stuff. It's just three dudes really digging into music, digging into art, and just having a laugh. And you can get it on Patreon. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. Support the show. If you love the show. It's more of what makes the show great. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. $5 gets you the show. 25amonth gets you some free merch. Do it, and we appreciate it. All right, guys. Elvis Costello. I think I told this story. Well, I don't know if I did. I might have said it on the Patreon. But we recorded this episode. And then that night I go to see Paul McCartney at the Bowery with Burr. And there he is up in the rafters, Elvis Costello. And I had pink hair. His first day of having pink hair. And I, you know, look up at him and he looks down at me and I give him the I love you symbol with my. With my fingers into my eye and my heart and then, you know, point at him and he gives me the rock fist and it was so amazing. Serendipitous, some would say. But that's the power of music, that's the power of the Costello, and that's the power of our guest today, the one and only iconic Lisa Loeb. I mean, Everywhere in the 90s Stay is one of the biggest songs of the 90s. And she is so much fun and so great, big, big thanks to Emily on the booking. She keeps them rolling and we keep getting these great guests. So thank you, Emily, for everything and this is a fun episode. Don't forget to leave a comment, rate, review, and most importantly, subscribe to the 500 listen free on all platforms or anywhere you get your podcast. Leave us that five star rating and a review. Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. Follow the podcast at the 500 podcast. Email the podcast@500podcastmail.com, follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all things 500, go to the website the 500podcast.com. All right, y'all, here we go with number 168 out of 500 with my aim is true by Elvis Costello. You have no idea. Hi. Wait, now you're recording. You missed all the.
- [07:34]
Lisa Loeb
I do have an idea. I have a lot of notes, too. I'm a note person.
- [07:39]
Josh Adam Myers
I have way more notes than you.
- [07:41]
Lisa Loeb
I don't know.
- [07:42]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, you want to bet?
- [07:47]
Lisa Loeb
No, I don't want to bet, but I do have quite a few notes.
- [07:50]
Josh Adam Myers
So I have. I have. Let me.
- [07:52]
Lisa Loeb
I can't show them all. Some of them are on the Internet. Some of them are. I've got notes in my head, my phone. I've got so many notes.
- [08:01]
Josh Adam Myers
Anyways, the show is. This show is 95 notes.
- [08:05]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, we should just post our notes. I honestly got salad dressing.
- [08:12]
Josh Adam Myers
I've got my Celsius, which is like doing. Doing a. It's a. Like doing a bump. Because I can't do bumps anymore. I do.
- [08:20]
Lisa Loeb
See, when I hear a bump, I. I think of disco dancing. I don't even know what you're talking about.
- [08:25]
Josh Adam Myers
What do you mean?
- [08:25]
Lisa Loeb
Like, yeah, I smack the butt.
- [08:29]
Josh Adam Myers
Bump and bump. So. So, yeah, when I think of. When I think of bump, I think of. Can't say it. We'll get demonetized.
- [08:38]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, no, I don't.
- [08:39]
Josh Adam Myers
Can't say the word. So anyway, the pickle of. You know, literally, I've been. I woke up at 10am And. And me and my writer, Morty. Big shout out to DJ Morty Coyle, who. He's. He's loves you. Oh, my God, I'll get into all that.
- [08:56]
Lisa Loeb
But then you're East Coast.
- [08:59]
Josh Adam Myers
I'm in New York. Where are you?
- [09:00]
Lisa Loeb
Okay. I'm in Los Angeles. So I was like, 10:00 was like seven minutes ago when you woke up.
- [09:04]
Josh Adam Myers
Are you doing any. Are you doing anything on Sunday?
- [09:07]
Lisa Loeb
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, yes. But what's happening?
- [09:12]
Josh Adam Myers
Well, let's. Because I have an idea. Let's see. If you hit it off with me and you're like, dude, this guy rules. And then I'll ask you the question. I don't want to ask it yet. But I. It's. I just. I'm One, I'm a huge fan. Two, I think you. Everything I know about you from the outside, external is just like, dude, this girl is awesome. And one of my friends who also wears glasses is like, I was. I told her you were going to be on the podcast. And she was like, oh, my God, she's the queen of the Blind Dimes. She's just the hottest girl. That's what she calls hot chicks with glasses. Blind Dimes.
- [09:51]
Lisa Loeb
I like that.
- [09:52]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, it is. And so. And so here's the deal. We. The whole morning, I have been. And yesterday, I have been just inside everything Elvis Costello, everything Lisa, everything ELVIS. And then three minutes ago, I just found out Paul McCartney is playing at the Bowery Ballroom, which I know I can only assume you've played it. Yeah. You've had to have played the Bowery Ballroom during.
- [10:23]
Lisa Loeb
I think so. I don't remember everything. I used to live on Bowery.
- [10:27]
Josh Adam Myers
Did you really? Yeah, I could see. Oh, my God. I could just. I could imagine. Is this at the height or was this.
- [10:36]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, yeah. Right before, like, 1992. Oh, my God, that's so 1991. Two. Something like that.
- [10:44]
Josh Adam Myers
That's crazy. When you say, because I'm 45. I know you're a little bit older than me, but still, it's like kind of feels like yesterday, 1992. Like, I see Jeanine Garoppolo, you know, all the time at a comedy club I perform at. And it's just like, she still looks exactly like Jeanine Groffalo. Like, she hasn't changed. She's still a rock star. She's still adorable. You know, she's still. She's still like three inches tall, you know, but it's. But then you talk to these people and, like, when you say 91, it's like. It's still. It's just. It's crazy. And so. Because I don't feel old and I don't think it's old. And.
- [11:24]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, it's.
- [11:25]
Josh Adam Myers
You know, and so. Yeah, so it's like. And then, like. So I was so excited. I was like, oh, my God. Sitting down with Lisa doing Elvis Costello. And then Avery, a former writer and guest on the show, sends me that Paul is playing at Bowery. And I have to go. I have to go. I have to go. I mean, I saw the Pixies at Bowery. I've seen the killer. Yeah.
- [11:51]
Lisa Loeb
Why is he playing there? Why is he playing Bowery?
- [11:55]
Josh Adam Myers
Because. Well, yeah. I mean, didn't you ever do that, Lis. Like, can I call you Lisa? Or is that too much?
- [12:01]
Lisa Loeb
No, but you can call me Lisa.
- [12:03]
Josh Adam Myers
Lisa. Perfect. Okay, cool.
- [12:04]
Lisa Loeb
Lisa's like my best friend from when I was born. Calls me Lisa.
- [12:07]
Josh Adam Myers
Okay.
- [12:08]
Lisa Loeb
Like, we were friends. Our parents were friends before we were born. And we were. We were. They were pregnant at the same time. She calls me Lise.
- [12:13]
Josh Adam Myers
Can I call you Big L?
- [12:16]
Lisa Loeb
If you want. If you really want, you can.
- [12:19]
Josh Adam Myers
So. So, yeah, it's just. It's. I. You know, you must have done something like that. Like, did you ever. When. When it was really rocking, just play, like a super intimate venue and just to be there with the fans, sort of.
- [12:32]
Lisa Loeb
I remember hearing in the early 90s. I remember the Lemon. I feel like it was the Lemonheads. They did like a surprise secret show, but it was so secret and surprised people didn't show up because the word didn't get passed around. So I didn't want to do one of those. I have done. So I haven't really done a lot of secret shows because that always seemed like a very. Like a warning. Like, oh, God, how secret can it be? But I have done things like, I noticed that. Oh, my gosh, what's her name? I'm so embarrassed. There have been other musicians I've seen who've done this, but we used to do this where we would walk. We'd be in a. Like a hotel, and they were having the after party of a wedding or something like that. And then we'd have our guitars and we'd walk over to the bride and groom and, like, I'd be on tour, maybe with me and one other musician. We'd get out our guitars and play a song as if the parents had hired us to do a special song at their after party. And they would freak out.
- [13:26]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, my God.
- [13:27]
Lisa Loeb
So that happened A few times. But Taylor Swift, she did it. I heard she did it after. After me. I don't know if she heard that I had done it. I think it's something a musician thinks about. When you walk in a hotel, there's all these people around and either sometimes they notice you, sometimes they don't notice you, but they're all having fun with, you know, your era of music or whatever. And you're like, oh, I'm gonna surprise them and make their parents.
- [13:49]
Josh Adam Myers
You know, I. I love an intimate show. I love when. I love the surprise show. I love the intimate show. I, that's why I don't do festivals because I hate, like, if I want to go see a band, I go see them, you know, I don't need 45 other bands with them. And when it's an intimate show, you know, they, that's when they. I feel like that's when they're connecting. Dude, I wasn't a fan of the Killers and then I saw them at the Bowery Ballroom and I mean, I was like a fan, like in the sense of like, yeah, like, I dig their stuff. Dude, that was it. Now I saw that show changed everything. I saw the Pixies at Bowery. I've seen Beckett Bowery. And to see someone like Paul, I mean, that's beyond.
- [14:34]
Lisa Loeb
That's beyond. Yeah, because I saw Killers here at a similar size venue and they were amazing. And. And yeah, I just think that it's funny. Our family ping pongs between. My kids are really into a lot of different bands and a lot of different artists. And so, like, we've been going to Austin City Limits Festival for a couple of years and, and the first year it was like, oh, so exciting. We'd go from stage to stage and walk and walk and walk and be on the side stage and you know, all this stuff. But then we realized to see the artists they really wanted to see, like this year, they had to sit in the audience in one spot for like three or like seven hours.
- [15:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [15:10]
Lisa Loeb
Be in a place where they were close enough to kind of see. And we had VIP and stuff, but you had to have special vip. VIP with the special special laminates. And it was tricky. And I realized, oh, right, this is why you buy tickets to regular shows. So you can like go see that artist like you said, and you, you know where you're going to be sitting and you don't have to like be stressed out about it. And it's. But it is really costly, like, and you start getting used to it, like even when you're buying tickets to the band, I mean it's, it's really costly and although it's more guaranteed great seats, but it's a big, I don't remember. I mean, I still, I have boxes back there with tickets from old concerts. You know, the $17 ticket, the $12 ticket, the police, you know, is like 1750 or $25 or something.
- [15:53]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, that's the price of a, of a beer now.
- [15:57]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, like it's parking. I went to go see my friend Pamela Debar two nights ago. She did a one woman show and her husband, Michael Debar came up at the end and she talked, she read with the band. She's like a famous groupie and a great writer and teaches writing as well. But she did her show and you know, I went to see the show, I went to go park. It was $25 for like just random valet. I mean, come on. And the guy was like laughing and the guy at the valet is like, oh, this is inexpensive for, for Sunset Boulevard. Like, I don't know, I don't do.
- [16:31]
Josh Adam Myers
I know. And you've got to keep that into consideration. Like, you know, going, going a night out for a family or a couple, like to go to a concert. It is, it's hundreds, you know, he's.
- [16:45]
Lisa Loeb
Sitting 25, 20 to $30 an hour, food, everything. I know when I'm on stage, I think about that. I'm like, oh, people have paid a lot of money. Like they not only bought the ticket, but they did this whole other thing. So it better be good.
- [16:58]
Josh Adam Myers
It better be good. And, and, and Lisa Loeb brings it every time. Crowd serves.
- [17:06]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, but I, I'm, you know, metaphorically crowd surf. I check out what's going on. I know what's happening.
- [17:13]
Josh Adam Myers
Have you ever had, have you ever, I mean, before we, I want to get into what we're going to get into. But now I'm like, have you ever had like a mosh pit?
- [17:22]
Lisa Loeb
Yes, I have. They have had to break up fights. Yes. Or if you actually listen to my music, there's actually a ton of rock and we played in a lot of standing rock venues and, and so anything can happen.
- [17:34]
Josh Adam Myers
I love that.
- [17:35]
Lisa Loeb
Now, now people whisper and I'm like, excuse me. Like that's my version of a mosh pit. People talking to each other. Excuse me. What, What. Can I help you? What's going on?
- [17:46]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, so you're. I, I mean, just going by my notes, what I found out you were born in Bethesda, Maryland, which I Don't know. Me and Jeremiah, dude in the corner, were both DMV guys. I am. I went. We're both Germantown, so. Okay.
- [18:02]
Lisa Loeb
I don't know a lot about it. Sure.
- [18:04]
Josh Adam Myers
You moved when?
- [18:06]
Lisa Loeb
Like 71 or something? I was just there for a couple of years. My dad was. That was the military time, 1968. And so he's a doctor, and he was at the. At the. What is it called? Walter Reed? It was called.
- [18:23]
Josh Adam Myers
The Walter Reed Hospital.
- [18:24]
Lisa Loeb
Not called Walter Reed anymore, but it was the Naval hospital, and that's where I was born. And then we moved to the next place where my dad was studying, which was San Francisco area in Marin county back in the olden days, and then down to San Diego area and then back to Texas, where my. My parents are really from. And that's kind of more of their hometown.
- [18:45]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, I dig that. Yeah. I was. I was like, I. There's something about. Even though I know you were there for not very long, but there's like, it's. That's. I love D.C. i love where we grew up. You know, my parents. Well, my dad died in 2010. My mom moved to the Eastern Shore to be around my sister, and now it's like the middle of nowhere. And it's just. It's hard because I. I just. I love Maryland. I love it and especially love that area. And. But even though you're there for a few years, I know that you get it and what is it? I don't know, but I know you got it.
- [19:20]
Lisa Loeb
I. I just. I do love traveling around. I did play in Maryland recently, but that was more by the water. I played with my. Some oar. Was that in Maryland?
- [19:28]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, it's. You did that. You did that festival in Ocean City, Ocean's Calling?
- [19:32]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah.
- [19:32]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, my.
- [19:33]
Lisa Loeb
That's very different. That's different from Bethesda. Bethesda's like, my mom used to say, you were born in D.C. and I'm like, well, it says Bethesda, Maryland. She's like, well, you know, it's like D.C. i'm like, but it says Maryland. And I was so confused. And when I started traveling more as a grown up, I realized what she was talking about.
- [19:47]
Josh Adam Myers
All right, well, you know, being that we only have a little bit of time, we. We could. We're just going to talk about every place you ever visited. So. So let's dive into it. Like, when did you first hear Elvis Costello? Like. Like how.
- [20:03]
Lisa Loeb
You know, it's funny. I was thinking about it, and what I was thinking was, I First heard Elvis Costello because a friend of mine in a summer I did. I was an actor growing up, you know, I studied acting and I did a lot of plays. And one of the things I did one summer was an acting program in England when I was a junior. Was I a junior or sophomore? Junior, I was a junior. Between junior, senior year, I studied in London and there were all these people from the east coast and one of my friends actually who is from the west Coast, Michael Stuhlbarg, who now is a very famous actor if you Google him.
- [20:37]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, I know. I know exactly who he is. Yeah, he did.
- [20:39]
Lisa Loeb
MichaelBarg was so sweet and so quiet. And I had a guitar that I had borrowed from one of the teaching assistants. I left my guitar at home, but I borrowed one from K. Hakim and he actually is also a well known actor too. We could look him up, but he loaned me the guitar. It only had two, had two strings missing. But I went ahead and I was. I would write songs and play songs. People would come to my, my dorm room and hang out with me. And one of the people who I was friends with was Michael Stuhlbarg. And he played me Allison on the guitar. And I hadn't heard that song before. And so I was so curious. When I went back to Dallas, I went ahead. I was. I'm a huge record collector. I was a DJ in high school on the radio station and I used to DJ parties as well as on a radio station and I. And I had a kajillion records and I used to carry them in crates into my records, into my, into my shows and into my going to the radio station. But I loved Elvis Costello. I bought the record and I loved it. And that's when I got to know about it. But then I was thinking I actually saw Elvis Costello in person. I believe it was 1982. My cousin worked at NBC in New York City and my family went to go do a trip to the east coast and we went to, to New York City. We went to the Berkshires where we had cousins and we went to Tanglewood and everything. And. But when we were in New York City, my cousin Sue Schwartz took us into the Letterman studios and do you know who was sound checking? Elvis Costello. And I believe it was 1982. I was looking it up. I think it was 1982 because it was like early in high school, I believe, or like I was either like 8th grade. I can't believe which trip it was. We took a couple trips there, but I think around 1982. I saw Elvis Costello warming up.
- [22:24]
Josh Adam Myers
Dude.
- [22:24]
Lisa Loeb
I know.
- [22:25]
Josh Adam Myers
I thought I saw him at a supermarket once, but it was just some other British dude with a. With a fedora on.
- [22:31]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah.
- [22:31]
Josh Adam Myers
But I was like, that's him. And he's like, that's not him. I go, that's him. And the guy was like, that's. That's Jim. He lives up the street.
- [22:38]
Lisa Loeb
Well, he looks like Jim. Him. Yeah. So I got to see him in person, and I was drawn in by the song Allison and. Or my. You know, My Aim is True. I love. No, Allison. Allison. No. Was it My Aim is True? No, it was Alison. It was Allison. I was trying to figure out which one it was, so it was Allison. And then I went down the rabbit hole of Elvis Costello. I will say this was the album that was my favorite. Favorite of his. That would happen to me where the other one of the other artists I think of who's like that is like, Thomas Dolby. There would be one album, and that would be the album that I loved. I didn't feel like venturing a lot into other albums or I'd buy other albums, but I would really stick with that one album. Album. For Thomas Dolby, it was the Flat Earth. I love that album so, so much. And I just met. Oh, my God. It's an amazing album. And I just met him recently. And that. Actually, I crowd surfed at his concert. I jumped.
- [23:30]
Josh Adam Myers
Nice. Nice stage.
- [23:31]
Lisa Loeb
I told him I was so embarrassed. He's like, oh, yeah, sure, I remember you. I'm like, that was when I was, like, 16 or 15. But anyway, that was the. That was this album that I loved by Elvis Costello. I bought a bunch of his other albums, and I listened to a lot of them as well, but that one until we got to the, like, 86. 87. Was it? Or with the album. With. That was kind of one of his more popular albums. Like, really popular. Oh, my God, My Brain. What's the one with, like, the plaid? It's like the pla. Spike. Spike. I loved Spike a lot.
- [24:04]
Josh Adam Myers
That one. Yeah.
- [24:05]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, that's a great album, too. Anyway, I love this record so much, and it's. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead.
- [24:09]
Josh Adam Myers
No, well, I was gonna say is. I've. You know, besides. Besides this record we've done. What was the other? Dude, it was Blood and Chocolate. No. Is it Oliver's Army? Is that what it's called? The album? It has that song on Forces. We did Armed Forces with another. Another Gold. We did it with Dana.
- [24:31]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah.
- [24:34]
Josh Adam Myers
That's making him extra Jewish Dana Gold. You can't do that. Dana Gould. And. And so that was my first, you know, like, entrance. And besides, like, and I've said this on the podcast, so I'm not gonna waste time on me, but it was like, Besides, like, you know, the hits that he did have that were out or the song that I really loved, which was she from the movie Notting Hill. Like, I loved that movie. I watched it. Jeremiah. I watched it with Joel. We were like, 19 years old. Joe's, like, a friend of ours who's just. We're just like two bros, like, watching this, like, rom com. My parents, basement, smoking, not crying. But definitely, like, yeah, come on. Yeah, she got. He got her. Yay. Like, we were so into it. So, so. But what I found about, About Elvis is just like, you know, I love just how influential he was. I love how many people that I respect. And it's always, you know, I would say more. I don't want to say. I don't want to say. Just like, the people that, the comics that I've noticed that love Elvis Costello are the guys that are brilliant writers, that are thinkers, that are. That are people that really, you know, like, Dana's a genius, man. He is just. He's a reference bank that is so, you know, so deep. And so when Emily told me that you were coming on the podcast for this, I was ecstatic, because not just being a fan, but also, I, I, you know, I. I would love to know. It's like, just how much of Elvis's material has influenced your music hugely.
- [26:04]
Lisa Loeb
And it's influenced me so much because he was a guy who. You really listen to the song. He's got a ton of lyrics. I think some of us, like, I know I write. I like to write a ton of lyrics to a fault where you're just writing too many lyrics and you're trying to get too clever. But he. His cleverness plays into what he's trying to say and the feel of the song. I mean, even. And also, he, as he's grown older, he's explored a lot of different genres and done a lot of different things that he likes to do. But right out of the gate, his. This album, it was funny, too, because when I heard the album and I was getting ready for this podcast, I was like, oh, yeah, that's one of my favorite albums. You know, I, I. But I started listening to the lyrics more, More closely because they come up when you're listening on your phone or whatever. And I realized I don't even Know the lyrics that. Well, I know bits and pieces. I know bits and pieces of lyrics. Some of them, I don't even know what he's talking about, but. But he's able to be so confident and so clear and have so much attitude in his writing. And you think of him as a songwriter, but not like a folky songwriter. Sure.
- [27:09]
Josh Adam Myers
I would never think of as folky. I think.
- [27:10]
Lisa Loeb
No, no, no. But as a woman. As a woman with a guitar. All of us, from the beginning, unless you were blatantly playing, like, rock with your band, if you have a guitar and you're a woman, people consider you people. At least in the early 90s, when a lot of us were getting known to the public. You know, I've been doing it my whole life. A lot of people do it their whole life. You know, you play music growing up and everything, but people want to call you folk or folkie, and they can't hear you as being sort of like just a musician. I think Sheryl Crow broke through really well. You don't think of her as, like, a singer songwriter with a guitar, although she. She better than anyone can sit with a guitar and play a song. But it was a real boundary, and someone like Elvis Costello did that. You didn't think, like, oh, it's James Taylor. You know, you thought of him as this, like, rock guy, but really, he's a singer songwriter. Even his first album, I was so shocked. I feel so stupid. I didn't realize it wasn't his band. I didn't. It wasn't the Attractions. It was like random guys who played that. They rallied to play these sessions. They recorded it very fast, and they recorded these sessions, and they were. They were not his band. But in my head, it was like, that's his sound. In fact, one of the guitar players is from the Doobie Brothers. Like, I didn't know that. And the music. And when I went. When I went back and listened again, certain phrases I could sing to you. Exactly. Word for word. Other things, I looked down at the lyrics. I'm like, what? That's what he's saying. And then so much of what's catchy about the recordings are the instrumentation. You know, is the instrumentation is the arrangement. And I'm curious what those songs sounded like before these guys came in and they. They arranged it. He even said in some. Something I read that he didn't even. He didn't really know what he was doing a lot with a guitar. Like, I was so shocked. I was so shocked. To me, that was like this album is the embodiment of Elvis Costello. Yeah, but it was kind of this other Elvis Costello. I read that they had him, like, wear his glasses. I always thought of him as a. Like, I wear my glasses, I can't see, and I like glasses. And it's fun to have that style. I've always looked for glasses that I've loved ever since I started wearing glasses when I was a kid, and I ended up with the ones that I have. But I mentioned him and Buddy hall and, you know, Elton John as people with glasses. That it's just natural. It's what they do. But it turned out his whole image was something that the record company suggested. That he change his name, that he wear these glasses, that he do his hair this way, that he looked this way on the album cover. That was kind of. I was kind of disappointed to find out about that.
- [29:39]
Josh Adam Myers
But, yeah, I love the record there. No, but it's funny that you brought that up, because there's, like. There's going through this record with Morty, who is, like, trying to figure out how to start the story and about. You know, like you said, like, he. He was almost pushed into. Not his music, but. But the image and everything. They were like, how can we sell this guy? You know? And so I'm trying to figure out where to start. So I'm gonna say this, and Morty gave me this, and let's just jump in here. So Elvis's dad was a trumpet player and singer. His mom sold records. So his childhood was filled with music and musicians. While his folks encouraged him, they never insisted he take lessons or pushed him into the following, into following his pat in their passions. I' sorry. As their only child, he did see what determination and discipline it took to pursue a musical career. How musical was your home?
- [30:29]
Lisa Loeb
Very musical. My dad was a doctor, but he loved playing piano. He played all the time for fun. My older brother's a classical pianist and a conductor, and he was, like, doing competitions and stuff since he was a kid. And we all took piano lessons. My sister, my two brothers and I took music lessons. We listened to records all the time. It was like a passion of ours. We went to go see concerts starting in the 70s. And also probably culturally, as a Jewish family, we took lessons, lots of lessons, piano lessons, guitar lessons. It was a big deal when I decided to change my primary instrument to guitar. And you try to learn as much as you can, voice lessons in musical theater, and then also as a writer. We learned a lot. Very deep, deep education in writing. At school and then also just obsessed with music. Everybody's obsessed with music. My mom, I mean, they loved concerts. My mom met Elvis. I mean, Elvis Presley. Like, we love music. We love music. It's. But anyway. And also, I think there's a little bit of a. In our household, if you're going to be a professional musician, you need to prove that it's like serious, you know. Sure, it's serious. And so I was very serious. I also am very serious.
- [31:50]
Josh Adam Myers
But anyway, no dig it. And then what I also love is because you've been featuring your daughter in music videos, I'm assuming you're encouraging them.
- [31:58]
Lisa Loeb
No. Yes, but no. She's only in one video when she was really little. That would be from a bio from like early. She was born in 2009. I made some. I made a bunch of kids records. And in a couple of the nursery rhyme videos, my kids are in them. But in general, they're not in any of my videos. And I would love, I just want them to do stuff that they love. And, and they love music a lot and they play a little bit, but not. They're, you know, we don't have the forceful, the forcefulness to force them to take lessons. They don't want to.
- [32:30]
Josh Adam Myers
So it's like my sister and her kids, where I feel like Jody, my sister Jody, who's a doctor and her husband's a. As like a judge. And they're, they're very, you know, intelligent and the kids are brilliant. But it's like, you know, they all have that instrument and it's like, you have to play this. This is your thing. And it's. And, and you know, I, I think they like it. I don't know. I mean, I, I go over there and then I pick it up and I noodle around with it.
- [32:54]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, well, that's the thing. It's like on one hand, some people, I have friends who less, you know, playing. Doing lessons was not the way to, to get better or to improve. They just had a natural curiosity about it. Some of us, like, before you had even had a chance to think about it, you would just be taking a lesson. And just like with everything else, sometimes you want to. Sometimes you consistently go through difficult periods and then get to the other side. And it's really exciting that you did that, whether it's with your workout or with your whatever skill you want to have. So it's, it's, it's a push and pull. The perfect thing is when people take lessons and they're interested and they want to know more. And it's not like they're being forced into it.
- [33:31]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. Let me see where we're at.
- [33:34]
Lisa Loeb
So he was. Yeah. I don't know as much about Elvis Costello. I just know the album. And that's the thing, too. This came out. This came out in a time when, you know, we didn't have the Internet.
- [33:45]
Josh Adam Myers
So punks to get. Punks getting ready to come out. Everybody hears about it. Like, there's. There's, like, you know, you. You actually obviously have, like, the big rock stars of the 70s, the led zeppelins, all those.
- [33:56]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, you look at, like, Cream magazine or something.
- [33:58]
Josh Adam Myers
Sure. Yeah. But. But punk is. Is out there. It's. They know it's coming. They know it's coming. And where. Okay, so where was I? Did Morty write this or did I.
- [34:09]
Lisa Loeb
Okay.
- [34:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, wait, hold on here. He gave me this. All right, let me. Let me just make sure. This is. Yeah, this is Morty. Okay, cool. Or did he not? Okay, no. Okay. Because we've done Alice before. We've done a lot of his biographies. So let's catch everyone up. So let's just. Let's start here.
- [34:24]
Lisa Loeb
Okay.
- [34:24]
Josh Adam Myers
Elvis was raised, like we said, in a musical household. As a teenager, had a duo with his friend called Rusty. He was then in a bar band called Flip City for a while in the early 70s. It was during that time that he was recording demos and also got married and was starting a family after having his son. He had been friends with the owners of a local label called Stiff Records, which was an independent record label that was putting out singles at the time. Dave Robinson, one of the Stiff Records heads, brought Elvis to do some demos, but nothing came of it. About a year later. Excuse me. He saw that Stiff Records was actually signing acts. So he came in and met with Robinson and his partner, Jack Riviera, good name who would go on to be Elvis's longtime manager. He became the first signing to Stiff Records, although it would take a substantial amount of time for his record to be released. He had a bunch of songs that he had written with Flip City as a solo artist but without a band to record. The label told him.
- [35:23]
Lisa Loeb
So how old was he? How old was he?
- [35:27]
Josh Adam Myers
I don't have that. Super young. Yeah. Find that out, jt, if you could.
- [35:31]
Lisa Loeb
I'm just curious, because I know a lot of us started, like, in high school and there, you know, I started when you're little, like when you're in grade school and. And sounds like he's already married with a kid and.
- [35:41]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, but I mean, dude, back in the day, man, they used to get married early. They used to get married, have kids, like, super young. Yeah, he had a bunch of song. Where Was I? So he became songs. He had a bunch of songs that he had written with Flip City as a solo artist, but without a band to record. The label told him he should use this Northern California band that was sort of a country rock group. They had come out a while earlier to find their fortune in England because they hadn't had much success in America outside of their small scene. It was in Los Angeles at the Palomino Club that the band called Clover had met Stiff Records.
- [36:19]
Lisa Loeb
Right.
- [36:19]
Josh Adam Myers
Okay. So there we are.
- [36:21]
Lisa Loeb
And that was in the 70s. Yeah.
- [36:22]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. So obviously, watching his dad deal and struggle with his music career had made Declan, which was his original name, consider music to be more of a pastime. It was after witnessing a teenage friend death in a traffic accident that shocked him into his devotion to his craft. Considering how short and life was and how fast it could go, what was the defining moment where you suddenly took a career in music seriously?
- [36:52]
Lisa Loeb
I don't know. I mean, it was always serious, ever since I was a kid. It was just something that I wanted to do. Well, I think. I don't know. Even in college, my friend Liz and I had a band called Liz and Lisa. My friend Elizabeth Mitchell, and. I don't know, from the very beginning, it was important that we. That, you know, I wanted to write really good songs, that we should perform well together. We started recording as soon as we could. I had already been recording in high school. There was. I think maybe. Maybe by senior year we had a really great following and we could even play, like, in New York and in Los Angeles and Dallas and get a decent following, I think in New York. I mean, sorry, at the end. Towards the end of college, we found out that there was somebody from EMI Records who was interested in possibly signing us. And I think that that was like, oh, yeah, this is like, actually, this is. This is, you know, actually something that can happen. Although I think we thought it was something that could happen, but it was always like, again, it was like a safety net. You. Like, we're supposed to have a safety net, but the safety net was doing the thing, like, building our audience little by little, always making sure had a packed house, making recordings that we thought were top quality, taking the next step, going to New York City, making a demo with somebody who had worked with Suzanne Vega, who was in her band, and the bass player from her band who was part of A New York scene. Even though we had already recorded a couple albums on our own, like just always taking the next step. It was like little by little. So dig it.
- [38:25]
Josh Adam Myers
All right. Morty just updated even more. So I got even more. So where were we? So they. They, blah, blah, blah. All right. So they told him to use a Northern California band with the country music. They had come out a while early to find their fortune in England because they hadn't had success in America outside of their small scene. It was in Los Angeles at the Palomino Club that the band called Clover had met Stiff Records owner and staff songwriter artist Nick Lowe. So Clover was in England and the label suggested Elvis and the band go to Headley Grange to live and rehearse for this record. Headley Grange is famously these 1700s home, about an hour and a half outside of London where bands like Genesis and Led Zeppelin would live at and write and record. In fact, Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin and Three, Led Zeppelin and Four and more were composed and recorded there. Oh, so.
- [39:16]
Lisa Loeb
Oh my gosh, that's so magical.
- [39:17]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, yeah, right.
- [39:18]
Lisa Loeb
That's insane.
- [39:20]
Josh Adam Myers
So Elvis and Clover, he's like. Right. Updating this as we go. So it's like Elvis and Clover started working. And although Clover didn't really know about the type of influences Elvis was turned on by at the time, like Bruce Springsteen in the early angular sounds of Television that were still going along back in London, they recorded this album in 64 hour sessions. Although. I know. Although there are only 12 songs on the record, they actually recorded substantially more. But Stiff Records cut off the songs that didn't seem to fit into the current punk trends.
- [39:54]
Lisa Loeb
Which one of them they cut off was Watching the Detectives. I read it was only out in the English. I mean, it only came out in the US version, which is crazy because that's like one of my favorite songs on the record.
- [40:03]
Josh Adam Myers
Well, on the version that I had.
- [40:05]
Lisa Loeb
Six four hour sessions. Right. Not 60. 64 hour sessions.
- [40:08]
Josh Adam Myers
Yes.
- [40:10]
Lisa Loeb
Which is not very much. Like you could do one vocal in four hours. Like. Like this was Beatles style. This was like. Which I was. I'm glad to hear they rehearsed because it was just too good for it just to happen that way.
- [40:21]
Josh Adam Myers
Well, there's the. The. On. On Dark Lord, Spotify, the. The app. It's the album that they have on there has like the extended version. So there's like.
- [40:31]
Lisa Loeb
I don't. I don't listen to the extended version.
- [40:33]
Josh Adam Myers
No, but I'm just saying there's like. I think all those tracks that we're talking about.
- [40:37]
Lisa Loeb
I don't see it there. I didn't see it there when I.
- [40:39]
Josh Adam Myers
Listened really, Because I. I just saw. I saw a demo.
- [40:41]
Lisa Loeb
Extra tracks. As a musician, I hate extra tracks. The only extra track I like is Dear God. It was like an extra track right on the XTC record. It wasn't actually part of the record. That's a good extra track. But I don't want to hear extra tracks.
- [40:55]
Josh Adam Myers
I don't hate extra tracks.
- [40:57]
Lisa Loeb
I'm glad. I'm glad we had Watching the Detectives. But I hate when they add extra tracks later. I don't want to know. It's. It's fine if you're listening to vinyl and you have to literally pick up another album and put it on, but it better not be connected with the album itself. Oh God, it makes me so angry.
- [41:12]
Josh Adam Myers
Duly noted. If I give you any music suggestions, I'm giving you an album.
- [41:17]
Lisa Loeb
Give me the. Give me the. The pure regular version. I don't want the extra. I don't want extra.
- [41:23]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, you don't want it. All right, so where was I? So blah, blah, blah, blah blah. Sorry. Although there were 12 songs actually recorded session more Stiff records cut off the songs that didn't seem to fit in the current punk trends. Elvis had a real love for classic country music along with Motown and the British beat groups. There's almost none of that reflected in this record because of the songs that were not included. Also at this point, Declan had been going by D.P. costello, getting the Costello from his grandmother's maiden name and using his first two initials. The record company decided he should use something a little more bold. And as the punk rock trend of. Where was it? Punk rock trend of members changing their names was a common thing at the time. Time think of like Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious and Joe Strummer. They rechristened Declan Elvis Costello after Elvis Presley. Even though he was a bit skeptical, Declan went with it. The idea was that if somebody picks up the record, they might see the name and it would give them a long enough pause for them to consider buying it. Can I ask you a question? I know this is going off topic. What. What was the stupidest thing any record exec ever told you to do? That's got to be a good question. Thank God. Stupid.
- [42:40]
Lisa Loeb
I mean, it's not that stupid. It was just like when we were. We had to re record some songs for an album. They were looking for the singles and one of the producers I was working with said they wanted me to change the structure Even more. I really wanted to start this one song with the chorus. I thought it was really awesome. And they were like, no, no, no, we should put it later. I'm like, okay, fine, I'll try that. And they wanted me to do something else. I don't remember what. And I said, you know what? I just can't change the song anymore. I'm sorry. It's. Let's just leave it the way it is. And he said, well, it's the difference between a hit and a miss. And I was like, fine, let's just record a miss. I don't. I can't. I. I don't know. People didn't tell me anything that stupid.
- [43:14]
Josh Adam Myers
Where was I? I. We gotta do. We got so much shit to get through. All right, so where was I? So after Elvis thought it was a bit spectacle, decked in the idea, picked up a record. Okay. Yeah. So they. One more change was made. They looked at this young guy who had worked at a computer data entry job at a makeup company and decided he could go a little bit more punk.
- [43:33]
Lisa Loeb
So they had a garden.
- [43:35]
Josh Adam Myers
Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he had. They had him wear tight blazers cuffed jeans, and told him to wear horned rim glasses. Similar.
- [43:44]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, sorry, future God.
- [43:49]
Josh Adam Myers
The transformation complete. They took pictures for his album cover with him standing in a pigeon toed stance holding his now familiar Fender Jazz master guitar. Although he's become synonymous with that guitar, he actually didn't get it until after the record was recorded. And most of it was recorded on a blue Telecaster. And around the image of him on the COVID is a checkerboard pattern that contains the phrase Elvis's King over and over. All right, I think that's it. We can now get into that.
- [44:24]
Lisa Loeb
I don't see the. I don't see the Elvis's King, Morty.
- [44:28]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh my God. You're making me look stupid, Morty.
- [44:31]
Lisa Loeb
Where is it?
- [44:32]
Josh Adam Myers
I don't know. He's. He's the guy. If you saw what's going on with my computer right now, my, my note is just like, is this. Let's. So here's what I'm gonna do because.
- [44:41]
Lisa Loeb
I have my cd, I found my c. I couldn't find my album. I don't know where my album went. I had a bunch of my albums shipped from Dallas. But I did find my cd because it was a little bit around the same time I. I found out about the record. I do have a lot of his vinyl. I have a lot of albums on vinyl. But I have a seat and this was one of the reasons I realized. Also, I heard this was in black and white originally the image, and they colorized it when it came out in the US I found that on the Internet. But I was like, why don't I know the lyrics? And I started looking back at all of his old albums. The majority of them had no lyrics in the packaging for some reason, which is weird because we spent so much time. And then I was like, well, maybe it was in the cd. And I was so busy, I never looked at it. But here I am opening the cd. Hi, cheapies. Hi, cheap record company. It's blank. One whole side is completely blank. When you open up the fourfold, that is so cheap. No lyrics.
- [45:33]
Josh Adam Myers
Okay. So he said, we got most of it out. I wrote a couple other things with the tracks about growing up. All right, let's. Let's dive into some tracks. Let's talk about some.
- [45:40]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, God, I love these tracks.
- [45:41]
Josh Adam Myers
How can you not, right? I mean, my aim is true. It came out.
- [45:47]
Lisa Loeb
Before we talk about the tracks, we have to talk about the space between the tracks. I remember once reading I'm Obsessed with David Bowie's Hunky Dory, and I bought some really nerdy book about it, and they were talking about the space in between the tracks. And I'm like, this is the same thing. The way one song ends and the next one starts. It's the perfect thing. It's like a Beatles record or something where you never feel like you're listening to the same song that you were just listening to. You there's. It's like you're getting out of the hot tub and getting into the pool. Then you get out of the pool and you get into the hot tub. There's always a great transition and a moment of like, ah, it's a new song. You feel that every time the new song happens. Anyway, go ahead.
- [46:25]
Josh Adam Myers
This. No, no, no, I. Look, I. I really dug this record. I. I really did dig it. I. I'm a fan now. And, yeah, there's so much to talk about. Let's talk about. Let's open up the opening track. Welcome to the working week.
- [46:39]
Lisa Loeb
Welcome to the working week.
- [46:41]
Josh Adam Myers
By the way, here's the Elvis's King as you see it.
- [46:44]
Lisa Loeb
Okay. Yeah, this is the super cheapo version that has. Does not have that.
- [46:49]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, yeah, that's the one I have on this thing. Yeah, I see it. I see it. All right, so we know Elvis was doing computer data entry at the Elizabeth Arden makeup company, from which he would often call in sick to record this even after the record was completed and before it came out. What job or jobs did you have right before, you know, Stay blew up and you did in like a great fashion or anything?
- [47:15]
Lisa Loeb
No, I did go back to school for psychology for grad school for a year at nyu. But I really wanted to focus on music. If I was going to do that. I wanted to do that, like, completely. Not just on the backup, but I did work at a store called Hold Everything, which was owned by the people who own Pottery Barn. We sold things like padded hangers. I remember selling padded hangers to Will Lee from Letterman and. But I sold like, organizational containers and things like that. I spent a lot of time cleaning white. White plastic cubes with spray. But anyway, I worked at Hold Everything. I worked at a hotel called the Roger Swift Winthrop, doing room service and washing dishes and wearing a little suit. But I also. Mostly right before I. Mostly right before I got signed and everything, I was doing a lot of temp work. It was a great way to get paid. I typed really fast. I happened to take typing in seventh grade one summer because I could take it inside and it was so hot in Texas. I was like, I'll take typing. It paid off. And I ended up getting to do a lot of executive assistant work, which meant because I typed pretty fast, I would be working for high level executives who were on vacation. And if they were on vacation, then their assistant often took a vacation as well. So I ended up doing a lot of making my band flyers at work, having regular office hours, you know, waking up and being up earlier than I normally would. And, you know, I. It was very fun. And one of the places I got to work also was Scholastic Books. And that was really, really.
- [48:49]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, I know.
- [48:51]
Lisa Loeb
I love Scholastic books. And it was before they had a lot of computers, so I'd have to go to every desk, like on the floor and give out messages and help order office supplies. And they give me free Scholastic books, which I still have some of them.
- [49:04]
Josh Adam Myers
Children's books. Scholastic book.
- [49:06]
Lisa Loeb
I know, so cool. Anyway.
- [49:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Any thoughts on working welcome to the working week or it's just a short. I love it.
- [49:14]
Lisa Loeb
No, it's great. It is. It's short, but it has, you know, again, like, I didn't know a lot about the lyrics growing up, but certain things stand out. Like his choruses stand out so much. Like, welcome to the Work. You know it. Welcome to the working week. You know it don't kill you. It's really welcome to. You better do it till you do it till you better get to it. It like those kind of things stick in your head. And I love just the general idea. You know, he's being rebellious and angry, but also he's like, you know, being subjected to the man and just this general feeling of like anger. I. I love it.
- [49:51]
Josh Adam Myers
All right, everybody, I want to give a quick shout out to all the aspiring rock stars listening out there. Now, let me ask you one question. Are you ready to up your musicianship to the next level? Then it's time to start thinking about going to the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp at the Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, New York this summer. Join the extraordinary lineup of guitarists at an all inclusive retreat set in the serene Catskill Mountains of New York this August. This immersive experience offers master classes, workshops, jam sessions and gourmet dining, all designed to inspire, inspire and elevate your guitar journey. And you can't beat this lineup. Featured instructors include Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Schofield, Kevin Eubanks, Vernon Reed, Mary Halverson and Joel Harrison, with a guest appearance by Steve Swallow and artists at large, Bill Stewart, Harvey Sorgen, and Jerome Harris. Whether you're a seasoned guitarist or an enthusiastic fan, the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp is designed to provide an inspirational and interactive experience offering the opportunity to truly take a step beyond backstage. Taking place Monday, August 18th through Friday, August 22nd, the event is all inclusive with a variety of lodging options to suit your preferences, from tent camping to shared rooms and private cabins. There's something for everyone and it's just two and a half hours outside of New York City. The event is presented by Music Masters Collective, a non profit organization funded by a combination of registration fees, grants and sponsorships. The organization also accepts scholarship donations, 100% of which are distributed directly to individuals seeking financial aid. Scholarships are available through the Music Master Collection Elective Scholarship Program, ensuring that passionate musicians have the opportunity to participate. Spaces are extremely limited though, so don't miss this unique opportunity to learn from and interact with some of the most acclaimed improvising guitarists in the world. Register now and be part of the Alternative Guitar Summit Camp community. For more information and to register, visit www.Alternative AlternativeGuitarSummitCamp.com. backslash the 500 Once again, that's www.AlternativeGuitarSummitCamp.Com. backslash the 500 hey everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in bands my whole life. I love writing songs and performing in front of crowds. Just like with comedy. As a musician, it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us. But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service that brings your sound to the masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal and many more. What's Deezer? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know that's like the holy grail of streaming services though. And getting paid. They want to. We want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and, and applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their Instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too to generate your own Spotify Spotify Canvas for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play store to download it. Listeners of this show can get 30% off their first year by going to distrokid.com VIP the 500. That's distrokid.com VIP the500 for 30% off your first year. Dig it.
- [54:37]
Lisa Loeb
Welcome to the working week. Also has a great introduction. It starts off slow and then it, you know, it's almost like a TV show theme. You know, it's like.
- [54:47]
Josh Adam Myers
No, it really is. What a perfect way to put it. It, it definitely felt like, you know, you could see them like, you know, you could see the actors kind of like, yeah, doing this. And then like I always get audience members to sing like that. I always, because I do a lot of like musical crowd work when I'm on stage and, and I have the band and so I'm doing this and I always like try to. I was like, now I'm gonna Start being. I always say, like, sing like 80s new wave. And I'm like, that time.
- [55:17]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah.
- [55:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Know, I don't know if that's what he's doing, but he has that like.
- [55:25]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, it does have a little bit of that new wave punk, all of it together. And then it's great too because you have this band that perfectly. It, it's perfect because they, they play all of these genres that are very classic. You know, it's like 1950s sounding or there's some guitar in there that sounds like the Eagles and some of the songs and just this really classic sort of nods to different genres from the past and, and it's like Elvis Costello with his lyrics and his music is bridging the gap between what's actually behind, you know, like a perfect doo wop song where everyone's in love and, and all that. But he's actually talking about like being in love with someone else's wife or how work sucks or how everyone's out to get you. Like, very paranoid, very punk attitude with very proper looking visuals. It's that perfect sort of new wave era and punk era.
- [56:15]
Josh Adam Myers
It's. It's one of the coolest. I think this is like one of the best times in music and everything. I mean, this is like. From doing this podcast, I always seem to really be drawn to late 70s. It's like I said, this is music I don't think I ever would have listened to. I never would have listened to if I didn't start doing this podcast. Not against it, but just, yeah, that's why we do this. So put it in front of us. And then this goes into Miracle man song about trying to be, or trying to impress or be with a girl who doesn't think anything is good enough. I think it's fair to say that Ethan Hawke's involvement with your early career proves something of a miracle that many other struggling musicians pray for. Did you thank him formally and buy him like a pair of red shoes or something? Or did you not?
- [57:02]
Lisa Loeb
Like, I, I didn't buy him anything, but he knows that I, I appreciate what he did. You know, it's funny, at the time it seemed very natural because, you know, and it still happens today, you meet people, you meet different people, you become friends with different people, you work with different people. Sometimes that leads to something else that's interesting or something that's a great opportunity. It happens all the time. And especially developing as an artist and being a musician, you know, from being in high school or younger and, oh, this person knows Somebody where you can play at that club. Oh, this person knows this. Oh, they want you to play at their party. Oh, you know. With Ethan, I met him through another friend who is an actor at Brown University. They were in a movie together. And so I ended up meeting all these actors when I moved to New York City right after college, and musicians. And we all hung out, musicians and actors and playwrights. And it was just a neat group of people. We hung out a lot. Ethan started a theater company. I wrote music for his plays. Ethan was a friend, a neighbor, a fan. You know, we were just. So we'd all go see our friends play in the Niagaras, which was Frank Whaley's band. And his brother, he's also an actor. He played the drummer, I think, in the Doors movie. But anyway, we all supported each other, played and saw each other. And so it seemed really normal that Ethan would say, hey, I'm working on this movie. Can you give me a copy of your song Stay? He'd also already asked me to write a song for his character. I didn't know it at the time, but when they make movies, in the movie, he played a guy in a band, and he was supposed to sing a song called I'm Nothing. So he asked me to try to write that song. He. I think the. The guy from Violent Femmes, Gordon Gano, wrote a song called I'm Nothing, and the guy from Soul Asylum also wrote that song, who was dating Winona Ryder at the time. And they used the. They used the Soul Asylum version of I'm Nothing. I didn't get. They didn't use my song. But Ethan was like, oh, but what about that other song of yours, Stay? Like, maybe you could, you know, And. And we had just recorded this song a couple of times, so I had a cassette to give Ethan and say, hey, here's our band song. They were record companies that were interested, and we had done demo deals and stuff. So it was. It seemed really natural at the time. And. And then, you know, the song got into the movie, and I got to quit temp job. Temping. And. And then they decided to put it on the soundtrack. And. And then a radio station down in Houston started playing it on the radio and ended up going to number one. It's all crazy. Like, in retrospect, yes, it's completely a miracle that all those things lined up that way. At the time, it seemed like, well, yeah, you know, I'm gonna ask you to go do this. Oh, you know, it didn't seem that it was Exciting. And I really appreciated it because you never want to, like, ask people to do stuff because it's. It can be kind of embarrassing, and, you know, that's a lot of pressure on everybody. But I appreciate it so, so much. And he ended up getting to direct my video. He wanted to get into some more directing. He does everything. He's a writer, director, and he did a great job, you know, and it's funny because the record company probably let him direct the video because he's a famous movie star. But he actually. What was great about him, he had a really good idea, and he was able to execute it really, really well with an amazing DP that he had hired. He had the whole thing thought out, and that. That really helped people connect with the song as well. So there are so many levels of miracles happening, and I really appreciate it, and I think about it all the time because I sing the song all the time and I tell the story all the time, and probably way more than Ethan will ever think of it in his life, but I really do.
- [60:35]
Josh Adam Myers
Lisa, who? Oh, you mean Lee's.
- [60:41]
Lisa Loeb
So, yeah, no, it's. It's one of those things, you know, And I also had to get over, like, yeah, it is important to me. It might not be the most important that ever happened to him, but to me, it is one. It's a very important thing in my career, and I appreciate it, and it. And it's awesome. It helps people connect with me still, and I appreciate that.
- [60:56]
Josh Adam Myers
And can I say this, too, Jaron? I think you probably agree, we. We do these all the time. And you. Your setup, your vocals. I feel like I'm in the room with you. It's like. Like just the audio connection. You'd be surprised how many people we're talking to, and they're like, I have a podcast.
- [61:12]
Lisa Loeb
I have an interview thing, and I interview all musicians, and I'm surprised that they're like, okay, here's my. Let me just, like, backlight myself and. And then speak into my computer microphone.
- [61:25]
Josh Adam Myers
You're a producer's dream, Lisa, with, like.
- [61:27]
Lisa Loeb
Terrible wi fi and, like, the studios right behind them. I'm like, first of all, turn your.
- [61:32]
Josh Adam Myers
And I get nervous, too.
- [61:33]
Lisa Loeb
Facing the light.
- [61:35]
Josh Adam Myers
I get nervous, too, when I talk to, like, rock stars or especially, you know, people I don't know. And it's because there's so much information about the album. I want to make sure I get out. And. And I. But I. I knew it. I was like, dude, I was, like, even talking to Morty today. I was Like, I'm not freaking out. I was like, I have a feeling Lisa's gonna be awesome. And. Yeah, you're killing it. Yeah. So. So thoughts on Miracle man before we move on to no dancing or do you want anything you want to add to it?
- [62:01]
Lisa Loeb
That's. That's the one waiting for the end of the world, right? Yeah, yeah. I don't know, it's just like, it's nice. It's like a mid tempo song that hits you right after the really upbeat song. I don't know. Yeah.
- [62:21]
Josh Adam Myers
Great song. Yeah.
- [62:23]
Lisa Loeb
Retro sounding. It's got a lot of space, but in a different way than some of the other songs.
- [62:26]
Josh Adam Myers
Songs like you hear the influences of what the, of the stuff that we were talking about at the beginning with that song. And then no dancing.
- [62:33]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, I love this.
- [62:34]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. Why do you love it?
- [62:35]
Lisa Loeb
It's such a happy sound. It's so happy and uplifting and it's so. This is the exact example of like really happy and sounds kind of retro, but it's actually about the behind the scenes. Like it's not like the perfect doo wop kind of story. It's like this terrible thing about this guy who's just kind of tortured and he's probably in control of the relationship, only he's like not really the great guy. And it's like the story of, in my brain of people like in a fight after they come home. It's. It's what's really happening behind the scenes. So good.
- [63:05]
Josh Adam Myers
Somebody reviewer described it as an upbeat blues with a Jersey Shore rock shine. And I could hear that. So now we know record companies like Ben Stiller's oily corporate video TV guy from Reality Bites often say that they love what you do and then try to change to make it fit in any trendy pop phenomenon. Was there any pressure from these types of people, like the label people to play the guitar and start dancing in music videos or anything like that that would make you feel uncomfortable or. No, no.
- [63:34]
Lisa Loeb
I mean, the one thing I felt uncomfortable when I made my. I, I. We made a beautiful video with a guy named Phil Harder, who's a beautiful. He makes amazing videos. I loved his videos. And we made a video for my album called I. I mean for my album Firecracker for a song of mine called I Do. And I wanted the different. I don't remember who came up with the idea, but we worked really hard on the artwork and made it look really retro and vintage with this beautiful light pink color. And it was a long process to make the Album artwork. We worked with an illustrator who used to do book covers and, like, romance book covers and commercials and stuff in the 50s. This great. And so we took one of his old paintings and changed it look like me. And then we recreated that for the album. Album. For the album cover and for the video. But at one point, we wanted to make it look like an old, like, hullabaloo, like an old TV show. And in it, I had to dance. I'm actually a dancer. Like, I grew up taking a ton of dance classes. I like to tap dance and do jazz and musical theater and ballet and, like, I did, but I don't do that with my music. I'm like a musician. Once when I was in high school, our dance troupe was from the girls school, was performing at the boys school, and I was down on the front row doing the sexy dance that we had to do to Hungry like the Wolf with, like, leotards and tights and, like, tatters and rags costume. And the guys, like, literally within the first couple rows of the auditorium, there were people who I was, like, in bands with, and I was just so embarrassed. I'm like, never will dance and music meet again for me. I quit. So I just. I just was like, oh, man. But here I was dancing in a video, and the guys from Girls Against Boys, who also were signed by the same A and R person who had signed me to Geffen, they happened to be in Minneapolis, where we're making the video, and they're the these, like, cool guys, you know, in this band, and they're watching us, and I'm like, dancing. And it wasn't even dancing. It was just kind of like backup singer dancing, where you're kind of doing a little move side to side. Yeah, but I was so self conscious. It was like, oh, but nobody made me do that. And it was somebody cool who was, like, making me in quotation marks do that. Now. I'd be okay. In fact, I just tap danced in a video because I wanted to, because I tap danced on my record. And I'm like. It was really cute and fun, so. So there you go. You got to get it.
- [65:44]
Josh Adam Myers
I can. I can fake tap dance really well.
- [65:48]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, good.
- [65:49]
Josh Adam Myers
Like, really well. To the point. All right, here's what we do. All right, let's get through some of this, and then if we got time.
- [65:57]
Lisa Loeb
Okay. Or you can send me a video later. You can just send me a link.
- [66:00]
Josh Adam Myers
Done. Do you think I don't already have videos on in the clip ready to go, dude? I can fire out Five as we speak. I. I don't even know what it's called, but I definitely know I can fake that 100, so. All right. So we could go. I blame it on Kane.
- [66:19]
Lisa Loeb
Blame it on Kane.
- [66:21]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [66:22]
Lisa Loeb
Blame it on me. We, you know, somebody's fault.
- [66:27]
Josh Adam Myers
Do you have any guilty pleasures? What's your guilty pleasure?
- [66:30]
Lisa Loeb
I don't have any guilty pleasures.
- [66:31]
Josh Adam Myers
Okay.
- [66:32]
Lisa Loeb
I'm not guilty on any of them.
- [66:35]
Josh Adam Myers
I love that. Let's get. Let's get into the thick. Let's get into. Probably the chunkiest song on the record, the one with the album is called Named after a lyric from Is Allison, which is ranked 396 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2021 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of all time. Came in just ahead of Public Enemies, Bring the Noise and just behind African Bottas Planet Rock. This song, while often erroneously thought of as a murder ballad or something sinister like that, was actually about a party girl who disappointed the narrator.
- [67:10]
Lisa Loeb
I didn't ever think it was a murder song. I thought what I loved about it was again, that contrast. It sounds like a pining love song. Almost like a standard, the way it's written, like an old standard, but instead of it just being a love song, he's going. He's just like. He's saying what everybody feels when you're like that person. Like, he's pined for this woman. She's married. He's not treating her right. You know, his aim is true and. Which is like an amazing lyric. My aim is true because it's so double entendre of like my. Like I have. It is a true. My aim is real. It's true, but it's also true means straight, you know, like my aim is straight when you. When it's true. You know what I mean? Like true, like, like even balanced, straight, pointed in the right direction, not just like really mean it. Ah, so good. But I love that he's just so, like, kind of neurotic and on one hand, so confident it throughout the whole record. He's like kind of paranoid, but also confident. He's kind of like, like angry at the man, but also, like stuck in the system and maybe is the man, but so much hurt and anger in his voice. So I love this song.
- [68:15]
Josh Adam Myers
I mean, I really do love the song and I see why. This is the one. This is the one that, you know, was the. This is on the 500 Greatest Song list of all time. It's an important song, you know, melody.
- [68:28]
Lisa Loeb
The melody.
- [68:29]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [68:29]
Lisa Loeb
And the rhythm of the words. And you can't stand to see me this way. Like, the way he. He is phrasing. And his melodies are just so catchy.
- [68:42]
Josh Adam Myers
By the way, we just got a 500 exclusive. Lisa Loeb Scat singing. Allison. I mean, you sing like I do. I don't learn words, so I'm just like.
- [68:56]
Lisa Loeb
You know your vowels. What are you gonna say?
- [68:58]
Josh Adam Myers
It's all I've got going through my head all day long. I always say I have that. You know, the song by Aerosmith, you know, show. It's amazing. When you finally see Babadoo, there's a part in it where he's like, desperate time. Desperate times. That's all I have in my head all day long. Just Stephen Tyler Scat singing.
- [69:20]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah. And it works.
- [69:21]
Josh Adam Myers
I made good money off nobody.
- [69:22]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah. Nobody knows the difference.
- [69:24]
Josh Adam Myers
No one has any idea. Yeah. You've never seemed to be one of those artists who indulged in the party world of rock and roll, despite your popularity. How did you dodge that? Or is there a secret? Lisa Loeb alter ego? Go.
- [69:36]
Lisa Loeb
I don't know. What? Oh, I just. I. I like being healthy.
- [69:40]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [69:40]
Lisa Loeb
I. I like drinking water and coffee. I like coffee with milk and sugar. I like champagne. I like some, but I just. I don't know. I just like balance. I like balance, Moderation and balance.
- [69:54]
Josh Adam Myers
It really does. And I think it's also, like, you know, you get it out when you're younger, and then the older you get, you realize. It's like, I don't want to wake up with a hangover. Like.
- [70:02]
Lisa Loeb
Like, it's really fun to be really into doing a crossword puzzle. No, it's fun. It's fun.
- [70:09]
Josh Adam Myers
Dude, that rules. You ever play some sudoku?
- [70:13]
Lisa Loeb
Sudoku? Yeah. I love it.
- [70:15]
Josh Adam Myers
It's called. I don't even know.
- [70:16]
Lisa Loeb
I've never played it, but I do. I love it. I, like, I, you know, I, I, I, I always take a look at how I'm living and try to make it better.
- [70:24]
Josh Adam Myers
I love that. I love that.
- [70:26]
Lisa Loeb
And you pick up little hints here and there, like. Like, I always love smelling roses. Literally, like, finding roses that smell really good. I, I. It's a very long story, but I ended up with some Tony Robbins D CDs that somebody gave me. I thought I was going to be brainwashed, but I was like, fine, I'll listen to them. They were actually really interesting, and they talked a lot about balancing your life in different areas. But one thing he said, like, I don't know if it's true, but I. I kind of believe him that there's some specific energy associated with like smelling flowers. Like, like just like keep doing things like that that just make you really happy. And also it just gives you energy.
- [70:59]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, dude, I, I couldn't agree with you more. Like it's.
- [71:03]
Lisa Loeb
I couldn't disagree with you.
- [71:04]
Josh Adam Myers
No, I, I mean, I, I agree. And it's. Life is. It's just their simple pleasures are, you know, can. If you can look at that and look at. You don't have to be so macro all the time. It's just like a little micro vision can really just. Because when you're looking at everything so big, it's just very overwhelming. And that's coming from.
- [71:22]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, I get overwhelmed easily. Yeah, very.
- [71:24]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [71:24]
Lisa Loeb
On the other hand, I, I like to kind to keep buoy, buoy buoyant. Keep buoyant. Small things like this glass. Look how cool that is. I love it, love it, dig it.
- [71:35]
Josh Adam Myers
So Lynn, Linda Ronstadt famously covered this as a single.
- [71:38]
Lisa Loeb
I had no idea.
- [71:39]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, it did. Well, have you heard it? I have not. Maybe. Jer, why don't you pull it up, see if we can find. Not so famously it became a not not so. It became a fan favorite and made Elvis a bunch of money that kept him going until his career took off with the advent of the Internet. Apps or channels like YouTube and Tik that are often feature people covering songs at home. Do you know when new generations catch onto your songs by the amount of covers that suddenly appear or have you seen? Yeah, really.
- [72:09]
Lisa Loeb
There's a really nice constant flow of covers coming in from all over the world. And they're karaoke, they're people with their guitars. And also I see a lot of people coming up to me after shows and talking to me about it. And also I have been in a lot of TV shows doing cameos as myself, sometimes singing my songs, sometimes parodying my song Stay, sometimes singing new song songs. So that. That also tends to draw in new generations.
- [72:35]
Josh Adam Myers
Dude, it's so cool to see like certain songs that have been like, you know, I call it like dead in the water at all. But I mean just like deep cuts that are, you know, were popular to us and you see them coming back. Like you mentioned Suzanne Vega.
- [72:51]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, yeah.
- [72:51]
Josh Adam Myers
There's these like two British guys like singing it, you know, and one of them's got like this smooth voice. The other guy's got that, like, know I was standing on the corner and it's just.
- [73:03]
Lisa Loeb
You're like, oh, you mean that? Do you mean fast car no, no, no, no, no. That one came out.
- [73:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Tracy Chapman.
- [73:11]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, that was really great.
- [73:12]
Josh Adam Myers
They're doing the Susan Vega.
- [73:15]
Lisa Loeb
I know that was sampled, but did someone actually cover it?
- [73:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, on Tik Tok, there were like two guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's. It's cool to see it. Do you have any. What's your favorite or notable covers of your songs?
- [73:28]
Lisa Loeb
Of my songs? I'm trying to think. There was a guy. I can't think of his name. It's not notable, but I. I think it's notable. I. I can't think of the name. I don't know.
- [73:40]
Josh Adam Myers
Dang it.
- [73:41]
Lisa Loeb
I'm not.
- [73:41]
Josh Adam Myers
No worries. Here's Linda. Linda Romstadt, which by the way, we have.
- [73:52]
Lisa Loeb
Well, it's so funny to be seeing you after so long, girl. Wow. Look, I understand that you were not impressed, but I heard you like a little friend of mine take off your party dress.
- [74:13]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, I like it. Nice.
- [74:23]
Lisa Loeb
Makes me want to hear Don Henley sing it too. Cuz there were some guitars in into the World, waiting for the end of the world that sound like the Eagles. Eagles, not the Eagles. Sorry. Oh my gosh.
- [74:58]
Josh Adam Myers
Dude. Wow. That was Linda Ronstadt cover. We're giving away Michael McDonald tickets if you're the fifth caller. Killer.
- [75:08]
Lisa Loeb
Wow. It sounds like an album, right? It's so thumpy and.
- [75:11]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I dig that. It's. I like Linda. We got Linda coming up on the podcast. I'm actually excited to listen to that. It's nice to get like little changes. Well, I don't know. He'd have to look at that. That's.
- [75:21]
Lisa Loeb
I am looking at it.
- [75:22]
Josh Adam Myers
That's a JT question.
- [75:25]
Lisa Loeb
Who played on it? Oh, wow. Kenny Edwards, bass guitar. Wadi Wattel.
- [75:32]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, yeah.
- [75:34]
Lisa Loeb
Art Don. David Sanborn played that saxophone. David Groite played electric piano. Russ Kunkel jumps and congas. Peter Asher produced it with some backing vocals. Andrew, he was a guest on the show.
- [75:45]
Josh Adam Myers
We talked. Oh, dude. But also another thing that's really cool. And. And. And Adam are my other producer slash writer that helps on this podcast. Brandon Boyd from Incubus covered this for the 2005 GAP Act. Had that featured artists performing covers of their favorite songs. And we had Brandon on the podcast a few years ago talking about Jeff Buckley's Grace.
- [76:12]
Lisa Loeb
That's a great record. I was listening song from that last night with my daughter. She was like, do you know this song, Mom?
- [76:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Was it. What song? Lover? You should have come over.
- [76:20]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, I think so.
- [76:21]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, that's the. I mean, you talk about potential and what he would have been able to do. I mean, it's. It's a bummer, man. That's. That's a real bummer. Because that album is so good. But I think, you know, look, I. I know it's. Whatever I'm about to say is going to be morbid. I don't even know it's like the right thing to say, but it's like, dude, it's like, what a incredible. Like, if you're going to pass away and leave one record, like, leave something like that, man, that is just. It's so sad. It's. But it's just. God, to have that kind of record and have hear that voice. Would have loved to have seen what he would have been able to do. Yeah, and I. I definitely want to hear that cover, too. But I. Gosh, I love the Linda Ronstat one. Let's get to side two, which is funny, too.
- [77:04]
Lisa Loeb
This album, to me, it had two sides when I started out because I'd listen to it at home on my vinyl. But then as I got into college, we just started getting CDs, so it became one long album.
- [77:13]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [77:13]
Lisa Loeb
It wasn't side one side, too.
- [77:15]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I know. Now it's. Now it's just MP3s. Yeah, it's. What a bummer, dude.
- [77:22]
Lisa Loeb
What was it? Sneaky Feel. What's the first song on the second side?
- [77:24]
Josh Adam Myers
Well, Sneaky Feelings is the end of side one. I don't have anything about that. The first one I have is. Oh, this is why I said Red Shoes. The angels want to wear my.
- [77:33]
Lisa Loeb
That was so popular.
- [77:34]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [77:35]
Lisa Loeb
Red shoes. Angels want to wear my red shoes.
- [77:39]
Josh Adam Myers
We're getting exclusives here, jt. This is our cut. Put. Cut it. Put it on.
- [77:44]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah. And again, like, I don't even know what he's talking about. What is he even talking about?
- [77:47]
Josh Adam Myers
So let's see, what have I got?
- [77:48]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, I used to be disgusted. Oh, my God.
- [77:51]
Josh Adam Myers
In the song, Elvis makes a deal with angels who have come down to earth. Earth, because of their wings have rusted. Needing footwear, they grant Costello immortality in exchange for his red shoes. However, his girlfriend's not impressed. She doesn't share the enthusiasm, telling him to drop dead. And leaving the guy. Leaving the club with another guy. He wrote the song backwards, starting with the club first, and then he goes back. Yeah. Well, other wardrobe items like green shirts and new red. New lace sleeves become synonymous with Elvis later. It all really started with the songs Red Shoes, Shoes. Whether it's the red tint added to colorize later copies or the Mandela effect. Some fans swear Elvis is wearing red shoes on the COVID of this record. And like your glasses and a little black dress, your image from Stay remains burned into our collective unconscious. Let's be honest. With minor exception, the most famous I'm gonna this word up. Bespectacled. Bespectacled called thank you lady before you came around was Velma from Scooby Doo. And since you an entire adorkable trend of the attractive, thinking nerdy which I call blind dimes nerdy lady has become huge. Whether it was with Tina Fey or Zooey Deschanel or the girl from Ghost World, the comic book and movie. Do you feel a part of that lineage? I mean, I think you do. Obviously you having your own line of eyewear was a no brainer. And how did the Lisa Loeb collection come about? But, but start with the first part.
- [79:25]
Lisa Loeb
The lineage. Yeah, I guess so. I mean it makes sense. It's true. I, I, I, I'm a nerd in the best version of the word. You know, like I think now people know that that just means you're interested in a lot of stuff and you sure you're super into it. Yeah. And also I just, I like the style and, and, and you want to want buy the ones that are the cutest on your face. And I think for a lot of people a little bit of a lift is very cute. Which is why I started Lisa Lobe Eyewear. At the beginning I didn't, I thought it was really annoying. Like I would always actually I would reference like do people ask Elvis Costello about his glasses or do they talk to him about his music? They probably don't talk to him about his glasses. Although now I know about his glasses. They should talk to him about his glasses. Why are they asking me about my glasses and not about my music? It's so annoying. And people would say, oh you should have an eyewear line. And I'm like, this isn't like a, this isn't like a marketing tool. This is like I wear glasses.
- [80:22]
Josh Adam Myers
I can't see, I can't see I'm wearing glasses, whatever.
- [80:26]
Lisa Loeb
But that being said, I realized it was a really big hobby of mine. I do go into stores looking for cool glasses everywhere. I do like some vintage and vintage inspired frames. And I did get an opportunity about gosh, wow. Now it's been about I don't know how many years ago, 20 years ago? No, not 20. Maybe 50. No, more like maybe 18 years ago. I got an opportunity to have an eyewear line with a Small company in San Diego called Classique Eyewear, and I get stopped all the time. Before I had the eyewear line, people would say, my daughter wears glasses because you wear yours on tv. Or I feel comfortable wearing my glasses because you wear your glasses. And I realized that that was something that I wanted to be a part of, you know, creating more glasses for people to help them feel comfortable being themselves and looking cute. So I have Lisa Loeb Eyewear.
- [81:16]
Josh Adam Myers
I everywhere love that. I love that Lisa. I think that's really awesome. And I can see, you know, my sister wore glasses. I'm the only person in my family that didn't wear glass or doesn't wear glasses. But I definitely, like, need something because I was at a wedding recently, and they're doing the first dance, and my buddy, like, looks. I'm kind of further back because I'm not like, a big part of the wedding, and I'm further back and my. I have this whole table of people laughing. They're like, why are you laughing? It's like, because you're looking at the first dance, the couple, the most beautiful moment. Like this, like.
- [81:46]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, you're squinting.
- [81:48]
Josh Adam Myers
You're squinting. I do, but I, But I. You know, you, you definitely did. I mean, I, I, I don't know how to, how to say it any, any sweeter than. It's like that image from seeing you in the music video, it was like there was a shift in what was, you know, considered, like, cool and hot, and you suddenly became the it. Like, oh, my God. Like, you probably inspired and made so many. Did women tell you that? Did they?
- [82:17]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, yeah, I still hear that. I hear it from women. I hear it from men. I hear it from, you know, what people like. I think that's really important. And I think there was a big push for that, you know, with movies like Sixteen Candles and other movies from the 80s, and, you know, it became the direction. There was such an emphasis on what you should look like and what you should be doing in the 80s and that conservative of thing. And there was a lot of pushback. And I think, you know, we've come a really long way just people feeling comfortable being themselves. That's always the thing with teenagers, too, right? Like, trying to fit in, but trying to be yourself. But there's some happy medium there where you're not trying to prove anything, but you're just get to be yourself with what you look like, who you are, what you believe, all those kind of things.
- [82:58]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, dude, you roll. Oh, I need glasses. I'm a Dude, if I'm buying glasses. Glasses.
- [83:04]
Lisa Loeb
We do have some really cool prototypes for a men's line.
- [83:09]
Josh Adam Myers
I would look good. I, I think I learned. I used to Brittany when I dated Britney, my ex girlfriend. I, she, I mean she got me glasses and I got like, you know the, the Ray Ban.
- [83:20]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah.
- [83:21]
Josh Adam Myers
Not the. Yeah, the Wayfarers. I gotta like it was. And it. Dude, I looked, I looked cool, but it's just so like it was, you know, I think it was just because it was the thing at the time. And then the second I took him off, I was like, yeah, I don't, I don't really need glasses. I definitely. If I'm gonna do. I'm never gonna do contacts because jabbing my eyeballs with my fingers sounds horrible. Yeah, but whatever. You know, to each his own. I think on you.
- [83:45]
Lisa Loeb
I do like wearing glasses. They're comfortable.
- [83:47]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I dig it. All right, let's. Where are we? Let's get into Less than zero. There's so much that can be said about less than zero. So let's try to do this very quickly. While most Americans would have no idea who Oswald Mosley was, he was a socialite politician from the 20s and 30s and in England who became the popular leader of the British Union of Fascists. He and his sister would give speeches hating on immigration, other minorities. And when Elvis was writing this, there was a comeback to the right wing racist British organization on the national front. Bless you. Elvis saw this as one of the backdrop to a couple young people making out on the couch while the Oswalds were on TV spouting their hateful. While this was the first single from the record, obviously in America, America most figured. Most people figured that this was about Lee Harvey Oswald, who allegedly assassinated John F. Kennedy. Also in 77, Sex Pistols were supposed to play Saturday Night Live, but they canceled. They had assured that Elvis Costello would be a suitable replacement. Although they weren't familiar with his music. He was decided that he would do the song on the show. And he played it at rehearsal. It's one of the coolest. Have you seen that?
- [84:55]
Lisa Loeb
Like, no, I don't.
- [84:56]
Josh Adam Myers
When he does this, he. It's the coolest thing I. Morty wrote this, but I as he's saying it, I was like, oh no, I know this. So apparently after feeling insulted by the cast, lack of respect for him, the band, they got drunk before the live show and the real punk and real, real punk rock history was made. They were introduced and started the song. But only seconds into it, Elvis stopped it and announced it Wasn't the right song to do. So Elvis, with the attractions, then launched into their new song, Radio Radio Escape on the gay. Yeah, dude. Pull it up, jt, while we do this. It's the. And then the Beastie Boys did it, too. Beastie Boys were the cool.
- [85:38]
Lisa Loeb
They are very specific about, like, telling you in advance what's the song? Both legal and for their camera work, I will say.
- [85:44]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, you. You did Saturday Night Live with Chevy Chase hosting. Any memorable moments from that week? Can you tell us?
- [85:52]
Lisa Loeb
I mean, I got to meet Chase. Geez, we got to be around and meet all the people. I remember it was freezing on the set. Well, it was always freezing on set. Did I do it there? You put hand warmers in your tights, but then I think they were fishnets, and it just plopped out. But it wasn't on screen. Just during a. I don't know if that was during Letterman or during snl, but it was really scary. I mean, it was like, that's the show we all watched growing up. That was like, top of the top. I couldn't believe we were. We were on there. I also didn't know about in ear monitors yet, so I don't exactly sing in tune. I couldn't hear myself exactly, but I was really excited to be on the show. That's not a great story, but it was really scary. It was really scary being there.
- [86:32]
Josh Adam Myers
I can imagine. Did you connect with anybody? Any of the cast members or.
- [86:36]
Lisa Loeb
I feel like I still run into cast members from there, and they're like, hey, yeah, how's it going? Like. Like Sandler or somebody like Adam Sandler, but. But, you know, you want to stay out of people's way. You're concerned about your own performance. You're not there the whole week. Like, everybody else is, like the host. You're there that day.
- [86:54]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I. I have a couple friends that did the musical guest, and, you know, they. They come in maybe to do, like, the promo, and then they go do whatever the. They want to do, and then they come back.
- [87:05]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah.
- [87:05]
Josh Adam Myers
Did you pull up the clip, jt? Yeah, Here we go. This is pretty rad. I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen. There's no reason to do this song here.
- [87:21]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, they totally planned this with us now. They knew.
- [87:31]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, it's rock and roll, baby. That's rock and roll. B.
- [87:38]
Lisa Loeb
Also, you know, that song suits itself much better to that combo than the other song.
- [87:43]
Josh Adam Myers
Totally.
- [87:44]
Lisa Loeb
You get that arrangement of the other. The other arrangements on the album. My. My aim is true. Are Just amazing and hard to get with that four piece.
- [87:52]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, well, he was. He was. I think he was banned. He was banned from Saturday night live for 10 years because of that. And.
- [88:00]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, so it really was a surprise.
- [88:01]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, no, no, it was. Yo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is real. This was real. Like, he's. He's the rock star, dude. Elvis Costello, obsessed. There was a right that writer Brett Easton Ellis named his first novel after the song, which became a bestseller and later a movie. He also went on to write American Psycho. Yeah, I have a lot of BS about that, but who gives a fly? Let's get to Mystery Dance, which just sounds like something fun at a bar mitzvah. You guys ready to do the mystery dance? Everybody get together. Elvis Costell. Well, the bar mitzvah boy is hanging out, lighting the Nora candles. Oh. This is one about the awkward early sexual experiences where people don't really know what they're doing. Does anybody ever. Even at 45, I don't know what I'm doing, but they know that they're supposed to be doing it. It's one of the shortest songs on the album. And with. With it stops and starts and the. Is the closest thing to some of the rockabilly of earlier Fats Domino type tunes that would have influenced Elvis early on. Even though he wrote it for his own amusement really quickly, it was. It has endured and remained a favorite that he still plays live to this day.
- [89:13]
Lisa Loeb
It just has that hook too that gets you. I can't do it anymore and I'm not satisfied like that. That's the kind of phrase that goes through your head so many times about all kinds of things in your life.
- [89:23]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. This song is about a young guy. It's about its first sexual encounter. He said. Yeah. He came easily to Castella, so easily that he could whip up a catchy song in minimal effort. He basically does it he year. Yeah, dude. Rock and roll. Pay it back. I'm not ang. You know. Do you want to. You got anything about Pay it back or any things you want to add about.
- [89:46]
Lisa Loeb
Let me see. Let me think about this for one second. Pay it back. This is again, like one of those really deep stories. His lyrics are just. It's kind of crazy. His lyrics just tell this long story. I'm just curious how these sounded. Like I said this already, but how did it sound before the band? Like, I don't know.
- [90:13]
Josh Adam Myers
Is it. Maybe it's on the demos on the. And I was telling you, I know you hate it. The. What I was talking about the you know the extended version like that.
- [90:22]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, yeah. I don't want to know.
- [90:23]
Josh Adam Myers
But it could. It could. Let me take a look.
- [90:26]
Lisa Loeb
I like. I like that. You know, this is. This isn't. He doesn't have a lot of filler songs. It's almost like a filler song. It's just like. It sounds good where it is on the album.
- [90:36]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. It doesn't have Mystery Dance. Doesn't have an extra. Wait, hold on, wait. No, no, it doesn't have anything. Pay It Back One of these Days.
- [90:45]
Lisa Loeb
Gone back. Pay It Back One of these Days. And then I'm Not Angry is very funny. It just has a totally different tone. I'm not angry anymore. And then it goes into a very melodic. I know what you're doing. Like, it gets. Gets really positive and happy there. Yeah, he sounds so paranoid.
- [91:07]
Josh Adam Myers
All right, so I'm Not Angry. This song is almost single handedly defined. The media image of Elvis Costello at the time, despite the title's denial, the sneering vocal describing the bitter anger of a jilted man bordered on misogynistic. And then Morty's like updating this as we go. How's. What is this? How's this segue? All right, let me just tell. Tell him. I'm gonna tell him I'm reading this as you write it more day. Don't let him be the Spangali. No, he. Well, he is. This is the thing, man. I. Dude. Because he and I think. Lisa, you can agree this is an important record. And when you're talking about it, we can. I get to sit here and ask Lisa questions about everything, which is what I want to do. But it's also like, we got a show. We got a fan that if he's going to murder me and Wear My Skin.
- [91:58]
Lisa Loeb
Costello record, though.
- [92:00]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, he loves. Dude. He. Dude. Dude. He. JT. Yeah, you know, he loves Elvis Costello. 100. 100. He's our dog, dude. I got his book. I'll give him a plug. Hold on, I'll do it later. He wrote a new Reed book. He's awesome.
- [92:13]
Lisa Loeb
Well, the other thing is about. Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about coming on this podcast and I was like, what am I going to say? I love the record. I really like it. Like, don't make me take it apart. It's gonna ruin it. No, I just like to listen to it. I like it.
- [92:27]
Josh Adam Myers
That's.
- [92:28]
Lisa Loeb
I didn't know that it wasn't as banned. I didn't know that they. I. I appreciate it more now knowing that they recorded it so fast. It's kind of a cool thing. I love that Nick Low produced it. Of course. It's a cool thing that the guitar player from Doobie Brothers is on it. I love doobies. The doobies.
- [92:41]
Josh Adam Myers
I love the doobies. Dude, I want to get that funky Dick and lamb. Come on, mama, go take me.
- [92:50]
Lisa Loeb
You. Yeah.
- [92:51]
Josh Adam Myers
I, I, look, I'm telling you right now, and this is where, this is where the dance of this podcast is very difficult is because we have to show respect to the album. But also, I'm not Matt Pinfield. Also, we love him. We hope he's doing okay, but I'm not. I'm not a music critic. I don't want and I'll. And I. It's. It's tough for me to, you know, if there's something I. There's not many records that I've on on this podcast, but it's like when you do, or if I have, I, I get a lot of people that say to me, like, like, dude, that's my thing. You don't understand it. And blah, blah, blah. Because music, unlike any other art form is. It's like, you know, certain songs were played at funerals or remind them of their first kiss or this. And it's like the depth of it. So it's, like I said, it's a very, very delicate dance. All right, here we go. How's this segue? Speaking of getting hot. Oh, my goodness. Okay, here we go. You have a successful career as a cooking show host, both with former partner Dweezel Zappa, and on your own tone. That may be the most wholesome rock and roll statement ever. How did that come about? And what is your favorite recipe ever?
- [94:00]
Lisa Loeb
That's a big question. I had a record called Cake and Pie with the. And underlined it's philosophy that when somebody offers you cake or pie, you can say cake and pie. It's like life. And so part of that, we thought a really fun promo would be to have our friend Mark Tarbell, who's a chef from Arizona, who's been on tv, who's been Iron Chef, things like that, to be our pie oven roadie and make pie on stage and we would play music and then everybody would get Taste of Pie and Cake in the audience and the record company wouldn't pay for the promotion. So we went ahead and did it anyway because we thought it was cool. And, and then we thought, well, that went really well. We should see if. When we loved the Food Network, it was just getting really, really popular. We love the Food Network. Network. So we thought, well, maybe there's a show on the Food Network that would make sense for us to go do this promo, you know, where we play music and then we have Mark Tarbell make pie. And they liked it, and they liked us, and they offered us a TV show just to do our own TV show. So we created, and it was infotainment. You know, we wanted to learn how to cook from different chefs that we knew. We wanted to include different interesting people that we knew, whether it was our friends and family or people that we met, like Bill Murray and his family and all different kind of people. So we incorporated touring, cooking, life, music, golf, all different kinds of things. Because we were like a lot of other people who watch the Food Network. We knew how to do a lot of cooking well. And we also wanted to learn a lot more about how to make different things and engage with food and the food world. And it was really great. It was a lot of work. So. And my favorite recipe. Gosh, I don't know. Lately I've been making really good green chili, green chicken enchiladas, like Hatch chili enchiladas. I love that. Fairly easy to do, but I really like, especially with the help of hatch chili sauce, you know, one of those panda sauces.
- [95:54]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. All right, where we at? I'm not angry. We just did that. We said the favorite recipe. All right, booyah. Booyah. We got two more tracks and we wrap this up. Waiting for the World to end. Costello in 2015's autobiography said waiting for the World to End turned a simple homeward journey on the underground into a claustrophobic travelogue, pulling the hysteria out of newspaper headlines into everyday boredom of the computer. Without getting too political, it seems that with social media and the current political and world climate being the way that it is, we're not living with a 24 hour news cycle, but with a 24 hour churning outrage machine. Machine. How do you remain calm and keep your family distracted?
- [96:40]
Lisa Loeb
Well, again, moderation. I do check the news a lot, and I think it's not churning, unfortunately. I don't think it's churning. The craziness. The craziness is happening and it's being reported, unfortunately, and there's a lot of it. So it's very upsetting. And I think through our schools, through our communities, we try to connect with people who can help us figure out what we can do and how. How to have civil conversations about it with others. It's a goal of ours and, and acknowledge that it's happening. That's really important.
- [97:14]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, it really is. It really is. And I mean, in this day and age, it's. It's like, you know, I. The famous story of, of being at Perry Farrell's house, you know, where we were supposed to talk about Brian Eno and all, he wanted to talk about what was going on, on in the world and you're. And you know, that with, you know, now the current president, but, you know, this is 2019, 2020. And it was like. And I said to him, I was like, how much are you watching? Like? And he's like, all day long it's all I can watch.
- [97:46]
Lisa Loeb
It starts repeating. And you do have to have some, you know, literacy, some like, like digital literacy and, and, and, you know, watch the news and listen from different sources and things like that. But I do think it's really important to stay in on top of it. I also do love Brian Eno, so.
- [98:03]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. Well, good to know you'll come. Actually, I don't know if we have.
- [98:05]
Lisa Loeb
Any more Brian music for airports.
- [98:08]
Josh Adam Myers
I mean, we.
- [98:09]
Lisa Loeb
Thank you so much.
- [98:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. So good. It was so funny. I remember, I, I feel like I've told this story, but I, I. Such a great one is that I. We go outside of his backyard to smoke a joint, and I'm like, how much are you watching me? He goes, I can't turn it off to cnn, MSNBC all day long. And I was like, dude, you got to turn it. It off. Do what you can, you know, to help the world. You got a good platform, but just try your best to not watch it, because I did, and, and it just killed me. And then once I turned it off, you know, I got a lot happier. He goes, thank you. Do you want to go jump on my trampoline? And I'm like, yeah, man, let's go.
- [98:45]
Lisa Loeb
He's. He's a character I like.
- [98:46]
Josh Adam Myers
I have a picture.
- [98:47]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, God. I love their record, too. Nothing's shocking.
- [98:50]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, we're, we're, we. We've stayed in touch. We're buddies. It's, you know, I'm. Hopefully he's doing okay right now. I haven't talked to him in a while, but, you know, he, that, that whole situation, it's, you know, like, we talked about the, the excess of the world. It's like, you know, being a rock star. It's like I just, I just watched the. Or just read that, that, that book about the black crows that. Written by the drummer. It's like, oh, my God. Is it good? It's so good. But you. About the dysfunction and being a rock star, it's just. It's hard to avoid. See if you guys can see this. So here's me and.
- [99:27]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, yes. Oh, my God, the trampoline. Yeah, I saw the tramp one. That's awesome. Is it an in ground. I love in ground trampolines.
- [99:38]
Josh Adam Myers
There's us. There's us. A smoke and a joint.
- [99:40]
Lisa Loeb
Nice.
- [99:40]
Josh Adam Myers
Perfect. I love it. So cool. All right, back to final track on the record.
- [99:46]
Lisa Loeb
Well, well.
- [99:47]
Josh Adam Myers
Which it isn't. Which it isn't. But it's on the one that we talked about watching the Detectives, which. Yeah, man. Thoughts on it? What do you want to say?
- [99:55]
Lisa Loeb
I did a cover of that with. Well, my friend Dan Seiden in college did it and I sung it with him and I was so excited. I wish I could figure out how to play it well on my own, but I love it. It's like somebody's watching, literally watching the Detectives on tv, but they're also in it. Just the storytelling again. The storytelling. This. The. The kind of. I don't know if it's like ska, slash reggae, kind of Sleep Low open sound with the instruments. How the. How it's arranged. It's unbelievable. And how he fits in the word. Cute. It's so cute. Don't be. Don't get cute. Oh, my God, the song.
- [100:37]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, dude. It rules. It rules.
- [100:41]
Lisa Loeb
And the guitar. It's funny. I associate that sound of the guitar with Elvis Costello, but I don't know if he played it. But it's like the. The. The sinister sounds of guitar on this record and. And on a lot of his records is very sinister, actually. But I like that.
- [100:59]
Josh Adam Myers
I love that. I love that. You think that this was inspired by the Clash's first album.
- [101:04]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, yeah. That makes sense, right? That totally makes sense. Now that I think of it, of course. Yeah.
- [101:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Before he became a musician. Before he went became a professional musician, at least. The song. While this wasn't included on the original album, it doesn't feature Clover. It was added to the end of side one on the American version. This actually features some of the players from Nickelo's earlier band, Brinsley Schwartz, as well as his newly recruited attractions. Keyboard is Steve Naive. I think that's how you say it. Yeah. What great name. He has it written. It's N I E V E. Pronounced N A. The Then like Motley Crew. What do you call those? I V E. So I'm assuming that's Naive. Yeah. I mean Steve Ne. What a great name.
- [101:55]
Lisa Loeb
But yeah. This is one of the songs that it has such a long intro and then the bases, the bass and the drums have already been playing for a while. Like how would this sound? Like, how does he do it when he plays it? I mean, I'm sure I could find it somewhere. But that it. It just lays out the carpet for him to. The intro really gets you there. And I don't. I'm curious how he does that as a performer without the band.
- [102:22]
Josh Adam Myers
No idea. But. Although Elvis wrote this year earlier based on the old black and white detective movies that would play on television, he was also inspired after hearing the Clashes like We said first album, which he initially hated the sound of what is something of you? Something that you. What is something that you have completely changed your earlier opinion about.
- [102:43]
Lisa Loeb
Gosh, there's probably so many things. That's too big of a question. I need more coffee. That's like such a huge question. I was thinking about how he had the word fingers in this song and he also has the fingers in the. My aim is true. The fingers are in the cake and here they're in the lake. But. Or she's filing her fingers as they. Her nails as they drag in the lake. Her name. Nails. Fingers and nails. Oh my gosh. There's so many things that I don't. I. Chickpeas. I used to not like them. Now I eat them a lot.
- [103:17]
Josh Adam Myers
In chickpea form or in. In hummus form?
- [103:20]
Lisa Loeb
All the forms. Hummus. I prefer the chickpea form and the roasted chickpea form. I don't know. It's a big question.
- [103:31]
Josh Adam Myers
It's a big question. And don't worry about it. Like you. We've done so much and. And you know, I've already feel like we're past the point of no return. I. I just. I. You know, that's how the album wraps up. It's. It's.
- [103:44]
Lisa Loeb
And it's fast.
- [103:45]
Josh Adam Myers
It's short.
- [103:46]
Lisa Loeb
It feels very short.
- [103:47]
Josh Adam Myers
It's his favorite song. That's what it says. It's his favorite. His favorite song from his first five years of his career. He later performed the song with a big band arrangement which he admitted was a just desecration to people who love the tenseness of the original record recording. But it's same that the song that's going on in the musical illusions in the original arrangements relate very much to the realization of this song as an orchestral piece using the film music feeling and swing rhythms of 50s detective shows. Yeah, I think it's a great way to end the record. I really do. I especially, I, I, the first couple times I listened to it, I never listened to this one. And then I had to, you know, go back and I only really got to listen to this today. And then when you listen to it as a whole, it's like, no, I really enjoy that is how the ends the record.
- [104:35]
Lisa Loeb
I was surprised it was last on the record, actually, when I was going back to listen to it, because I think of it as one of the central songs of the record, but that's because I like it so much and it actually doesn't fit well at the very end, but I'm glad it's on the record. This is a good example of tacking on an extra song. Okay, this is a good example of something I've changed on. They tacked the song on at the end of the album. It shouldn't be there, but I'm really glad it's there.
- [104:55]
Josh Adam Myers
So it says, Morty wrote one thing. While Clover was a backing band for this record, by the time Elvis toured, he had the track actions as this band, they went on to be one of the most enduring and beloved bands in rock and roll. Obviously, we know what happened to Clover a few years after this album when they came back to America. Although they had a singer as well as a harmonica player, neither of them were needed for the Costello sessions. But when they got back to America, harmonica player became the lead singer. And they became a pretty enduring and beloved band as well when they changed their name to Huey Lewis and the New.
- [105:30]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, but Huey Lewis didn't sing on the record. I read, right? No, but, you know, but I know that's crazy. That's like.
- [105:36]
Josh Adam Myers
Isn't that cool?
- [105:37]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, that's super cool.
- [105:38]
Josh Adam Myers
It's the power of love. What? What? Can I ask a question? This is totally off topic because I would love to meet Huey Lewis. What? What musician or person through your career have you met, you know, that you found out was a fan?
- [105:57]
Lisa Loeb
Everybody. Elton John. No, not the fan part. Elton John. I was, I'm a huge fan of Elton John and when I met him, he, he asked me about my new record. He was so, so sweet. There's other people who aren't necessarily fans, but who I've met, who I was really excited about, like, I met Huey Lewis, who's very nice. Who else is a fan? I don't know, but I, I, I remember Elton John. That was really cool. That's so. I've met some of my heroes. So many of my heroes, from David Bowie to Too.
- [106:27]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh.
- [106:28]
Lisa Loeb
Ricky Lee Jones. I love Elvis Costello. Burt Bacharach. I got to write with Burt Bacharach.
- [106:36]
Josh Adam Myers
Wow. Very cool, Bert.
- [106:38]
Lisa Loeb
I know. I know you want a Grammy, man.
- [106:43]
Josh Adam Myers
You've won a Grammy. Like, that's. That's awesome. Where do you keep the Grammy?
- [106:47]
Lisa Loeb
It's right there in the picture of this, right behind me.
- [106:50]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, I see it.
- [106:52]
Lisa Loeb
I know I put it over there. My kids were like, where'd you put it? I was like, I guess I should put it out somewhere.
- [106:58]
Josh Adam Myers
It's well hidden enough, though. You're not bragging over the top.
- [107:01]
Lisa Loeb
I know. It's, like, in front of my face, like a Magritte painting.
- [107:03]
Josh Adam Myers
I love it. Jer, is there. Is there anything we got to talk about that we missed? I mean, we. I feel like we between.
- [107:12]
Lisa Loeb
I saw Elvis Costello. I've met Elvis Costello.
- [107:15]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah.
- [107:16]
Lisa Loeb
I got to see him a few times. It was very exciting. I met him. My sister and I went to go see a show in New York City at the. Something. I don't know where. The Beacon or someplace. And we got to go backstage. I was wearing this little, cute Betsy Johnson little dress with my big platform shoes from Japan. And I feel like his wife at the time kept turning around and looking at us. I don't think she was very happy to see us there. I think we look like tarts. Even though we were just like young people in our 20s wearing very short dresses, but that's just what we wore. But we got to meet him backstage. And then I met him again at, like. Like a. I met him again at a. Oh, like a airport lounge. Like, American Airlines lounge. And I said, hello, and great to see you. Oh, yes, of course. You know, so he was very like, yeah, of course. And then. And I met him one more time, I think. One more time. Maybe more. I believe I only met him one more time, which was with Burt Bacharach. They were doing a Q and A town hall meeting at Sirius xm, and I was there, and I was like, I want to go see that. So I went to go see it, and we took our photos together. Together. I think he seemed, like, not super excited to talk to me, but then Bert Backrack was being super nice, so then he was kind of a little bit nicer, too.
- [108:26]
Josh Adam Myers
I love that.
- [108:27]
Lisa Loeb
And please, Huge fan of I don't Care. Like, I'm a huge fan of Elvis Costello. Did not surprise me that he's, like, a little. At least with me, he would have been a little Curmudgeonly. He just seems like that. That guy.
- [108:38]
Josh Adam Myers
He's.
- [108:38]
Lisa Loeb
That guy. He's like very. The way he writes his lyrics. Everything's so pointed. He's very precise. You know, he's. He's very, very. He's focused.
- [108:51]
Josh Adam Myers
Young man, please do us a favor, if you don't mind, when we. We post the artwork for this, which it's going to be you, our artist, Nick Young and Sick. We're so lucky to have him at Young and Sick. For everybody that wants to see his work, he's going to be drawing you on the album cover. And so please send us a. The A picture or JT or your publicist, whoever. We can get in touch with a picture of you with Elvis. So we can put that with that, if you don't mind. I think. Think the fans would love that.
- [109:20]
Lisa Loeb
I've done a bunch of shots. It's funny. My last round of photo shoots, there was one picture that reminds me of. That reminds me of an Elvis Costello shot. We made sure that the. The. The guitar was really in the foreground. This one here, I'm showing you on my. This one.
- [109:40]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, I dig it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That is very. Yeah, it is. That's rad. You look great anyway, Rock star dude.
- [109:48]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, well, you know, when you got to get your picture taken with your guitar, you got to figure something out.
- [109:54]
Josh Adam Myers
You never know what to do. But you nailed it. You nailed it.
- [109:56]
Lisa Loeb
Our neck does not fit. The headstock does not fit in the same frame as your face in a shot. It just doesn't geometrically make sense. Yeah.
- [110:05]
Josh Adam Myers
In 2003, Elvis was awarded the ASCAP Founders Award and was inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame with the attractions. In 07, my Amish True was inducted into the Grammy hall of Fame. Costello was inducted into the Songwriters hall of fame in 2016 and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2019. His impact could be is. It's phenomenal. Bruce Springsteen has said that Elvis Castella made in the press. Hold on. He said has said that comments Cassella made in the press criticizing Springsteen's earlier songs as overly romantic led Springsteen to write darker songs in his 78 record Darkness on the Edge of Town. And Tom Yorker, Radiohead has called Blood and Chocolate the album that made me change the way I thought about recording and writing music and lyrics. We have Liz Flair, Suzanne Vega, Judd Apatow. So many people. Brady Ste Ellis, and I think this is it. This is this. Oh, no. This is the second of four Times we're going to be talking about ELVIS on the 500 like we said Dana did at 475 back in 2019, Armed Forces. And then we have up next in two weeks. Oh my God. We have another record in two weeks. ELVIS and the Costello. Elvis Costello and the Attractions. We have imperial bedroom from 92 and the 78 album. This year's model comes in in the top 100. That's crazy.
- [111:35]
Lisa Loeb
This year's model. Yeah. Yeah, that's another great one. These are all great.
- [111:38]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. On the 2020 RE rank, this album fell to number 430 and this year's model to 121. While the other two albums didn't make the cut. So.
- [111:48]
Lisa Loeb
Huh. Well, a lot of us love it. And even my band members, the guys in my original nine Stories band, those are some of their favorite, especially bass player Joe Quigley and the drummer John Feinberg. I believe they're both really influenced by Elvis Costello too. So it all comes around.
- [112:04]
Josh Adam Myers
It all comes around. And I. I can't thank you enough for coming on. This was really fun.
- [112:08]
Lisa Loeb
Like, thank you so much.
- [112:10]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, it's my pleasure. We still have to do our final questions.
- [112:12]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, yeah, don't worry. I have to go interview Paula Cole in like 10 minutes.
- [112:16]
Josh Adam Myers
We'll be done in two seconds. Don't worry.
- [112:18]
Lisa Loeb
Okay.
- [112:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Oh, dude. Paula Cole. Like, where did all the cowboys go?
- [112:24]
Lisa Loeb
Yeah, exactly. Paula Cole.
- [112:29]
Josh Adam Myers
That's. That's what I'm going to do for the final 10 minutes. I'm just going to sing where have all the Cowboys?
- [112:33]
Lisa Loeb
Boy's Gone. But anyway, Leah, it doesn't sound right.
- [112:38]
Josh Adam Myers
I don't know lyrics. I'm sorry.
- [112:40]
Lisa Loeb
It's okay. Okay.
- [112:41]
Josh Adam Myers
What's your favorite song on this record?
- [112:43]
Lisa Loeb
Oh, Watching the Detectives is my favorite song. Perfect album.
- [112:49]
Josh Adam Myers
What's. Is there anything on this that you skip over?
- [112:52]
Lisa Loeb
I don't skip over. It's too fast. Everything goes by too fast. And like I said, each song supports the next. I like listening in sequence.
- [112:58]
Josh Adam Myers
Dig it. Dig it. Dig it. Can you. To this record.
- [113:02]
Lisa Loeb
Whoa. I mean, there's no limits.
- [113:06]
Josh Adam Myers
There isn't. No, there isn't. That's true. But. But this wouldn't be. Would this be a record that. I mean, it's.
- [113:12]
Lisa Loeb
There are no limits. Okay.
- [113:14]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah. Okay. Leave it at that. Rock and roll.
- [113:16]
Lisa Loeb
Anything in moderation.
- [113:18]
Josh Adam Myers
Anything in moderation. What would be your elevator pitch to get someone to listen to this record? Lisa, like, if you had to sum.
- [113:28]
Lisa Loeb
This up, One of my favorite record. I just say this is one of My favorite. This is an amazing record. The lyrics and the band performance are above and beyond. I. I can't pitch something. I just be like, hey, here's a coffee. Sit and listen to this.
- [113:43]
Josh Adam Myers
Yeah, I. I think. I think what you gotta say, which is, you're really cool.
- [113:48]
Lisa Loeb
You're not cool if you don't know this record.
- [113:50]
Josh Adam Myers
No, it.
- [113:51]
Lisa Loeb
Them.
- [113:52]
Josh Adam Myers
There's. There's. Threaten, please. There's something very cool about Elvis Costello, especially even when you see it. Like, you look at the guy and. And you be like, oh, this guy's a dork. And you're like, nah, man, he's a rock star. He's punk rock. You know, I think he changed the game. I think not just like, it's funny.
- [114:09]
Lisa Loeb
I'm a generation where, like, I see him, I'm like, oh, he. He should be. He's. He must be cool. Like, I don't think like a dork. I think like, cool, but, you know.
- [114:16]
Josh Adam Myers
You know what I'm saying? It's like if. If it's just.
- [114:19]
Lisa Loeb
He's like Weezer. He's making. You know, it's a thing.
- [114:22]
Josh Adam Myers
Exactly, Exactly. Lisa, this was phenomenal. Please promote away. What do you have going on? We'll do it at the beginning as well, but tell everybody.
- [114:31]
Lisa Loeb
I have a new album called that's what It's all about that I made with the Hollow Trees. You can see videos on the official Lisa Loeb YouTube channel and find the music wherever you find your music. I've got a lot of new songs on there too, that you might not have heard before. Even if you like my song, stay I missed you. I believe you will enjoy it. And I've got a daily radio show on Sirius XM90s on Nine, as well as an interview series called Where they are now on SiriusXM 90s online. So you can find that all wherever you listen to SiriusXM.
- [115:05]
Josh Adam Myers
Phenomenal. That's great. Thank you so much for coming on. Lisa. This was.
- [115:09]
Lisa Loeb
Thank you so much, you guys. I appreciate it.
- [115:12]
Josh Adam Myers
What did I tell you? What I tell you? The one and only Lisa Lowe follower on Facebook at Lisa Loeb, on Instagram at Lisa Lisa loeb. And on YouTube and tick tock at Lisa Loeb Official. And go to lisaloeb.com for all tickets and check out her new record. That's what it's all about. All right, y'all. For new music this week, our proud sponsor Distro Kid is selected the Bride by Josh Ritter. And you can find links to the music on our website. The500podcast.com and if you are in a band and want your music played on the 500500 because you were directly influenced by one of these albums or artists, send us your song to 500 podcast gmail.com. put the album and artist and influenced you in the subject line. Next week it's Master of Puppets by Metallica from 1986. That came out in 86. Holy. It's a rocker. It's a DUI influencer. It's a banger. It's banger metal. Do your homework, guys. It's gonna be a intense week. This is the week that you go to the gym and try to hit some PRs. You know what I mean? Put on that Metallica. And Gabe. See you next week guys.
- [116:22]
C
So we've got a little time. Come and sing me of the morning and read my fortune in the leaves and help me build a bower for.
- [116:44]
Josh Adam Myers
Her.
- [116:48]
C
At an altar in the trees but let us save our best for.
- [116:56]
Lisa Loeb
Evening.
- [117:00]
C
Our silver caps and wonder plain the bride is getting ready still it's early all the same Come and sing me of the sun God the shining chariot he rides and of his brave and bold expression that is the wake of maiden's eyes Fairer still though is another and you will know my words are true. The bride is getting ready and she'll be ready very soon Come and sing me where the waves break Come and sing me of a bride alive and living in some wild place where no one knows just where she hides until come the quiet evening when even the tide will heat her cold Bride is getting ready I can see her down the hall and now the bride is finally ready and she's coming down the.
- [120:03]
Lisa Loeb
Aisle.
- [120:07]
C
With her swallow tailed nobles.
- [120:14]
Josh Adam Myers
Her.
- [120:14]
C
Ivory cape and silver eyes her ancient glamour and her silence A mistletoe and silhouette the bride is at the altar and the world holds its breath the.
- [121:03]
Josh Adam Myers
500 keeping it flee for the police nation.
- [121:14]
C
On the 500.
- [121:16]
Josh Adam Myers
500 the 500 Next Chapter podcast presents in the Cards Starring Connor Ratliff as Gil. I'm not a loser. I'm just unlucky. Stephen Boyer as his pal Lex Face it, Gil.
- [121:38]
Lisa Loeb
We're failures.
- [121:39]
Josh Adam Myers
The Walking Deads Lyla Rob Robbins this.
- [121:42]
Lisa Loeb
Man is a train wreck.
- [121:43]
Josh Adam Myers
Chuti Awuji look at your own lives. What is your destiny?
- [121:47]
Lisa Loeb
Jamie and Romero when the moment is right. Stop shuffling.
- [121:51]
Josh Adam Myers
Written and directed by Kevin Henderson subscribe today. Go to ncpodcast.com to learn more. Hey, what's up, you guys? This is Reed Mathis. I made a podcast called the gifts of improvising. Let's come the gifts of improvising. That's coming out on Osiris. We talk to all your favorite implementations supervisors, Natalie Cressman, Marco Benevento, Tom Hamilton.
- [122:11]
Lisa Loeb
Aaron Magner, Holly Bowling, Bill Kreutzman, and Jay Lane.
- [122:15]
Josh Adam Myers
So what, you're doing a podcast? Yeah, doing a podcast.
- [122:18]
Lisa Loeb
So don't fear if you hear a foreign sound to your ear.
- [122:27]
Josh Adam Myers
We need the gifts of improvising. Next chapter, podcast.