TERRY GROSS, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I am Terry Gross. In the present day, we conclude our archive sequence, R&B, Rockabilly and Early Rock ‘n’ Roll, with Allen Toussaint, who we’ll hear from later and Dion. In case you’ve ever dismissed Dion as a former teen idol whose expertise or relevance did not survive the oldies period, what you hear immediately is prone to change your thoughts. He is a fantastic singer, deeply influenced by the blues and nation music. I interviewed him in 2000. He introduced his guitar, and we’ll hear him carry out a few of his personal songs and among the blues and nation songs that influenced him.
Dion had his first hit, “I Marvel Why,” in 1958, with the doo-wop group the Belmonts, named after Belmont Avenue within the Bronx neighborhood wherein they lived. Dion’s different hits included “A Teenager In Love,” “The place Or When,” “Donna The Prima Donna,” “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer” and, later, “Abraham, Martin and John.” His fan Bruce Springsteen gave the introduction when Dion was inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 1989. Dion recorded a few Springsteen songs on his album “Deja Nu,” which was launched in 2000 and was the event for our interview. We began with a monitor from that album, Dion singing Springsteen’s “If I Ought to Fall Behind.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IF I SHOULD FALL BEHIND”)
DION: (Singing) We mentioned we would stroll collectively, child, come what could, that come the twilight, ought to we lose our manner, if as we’re strolling a hand ought to slip free, I will await you, and will I fall behind, await me. We swore we would journey, darlin’, aspect by aspect and we would assist one another keep in stride. However every lover’s steps fall so in another way. Woman, I will await you. If I ought to fall behind, await me. Now, everybody desires of a love lasting and true.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
GROSS: Dion, welcome to FRESH AIR.
DION: Good to be right here.
GROSS: What’s it been like for you discovering new materials? I believe lots of people, once they consider your songs, they consider the songs you probably did if you had been very younger that had been a few of them very explicitly teenage songs like “Teenager In Love” and even…
DION: Proper.
GROSS: …”The Wanderer.” It is a tune about – it is a tune of a younger man who in some methods is actual scorching stuff. So, I imply, you are not a youngster anymore, and the tune that we simply heard is an actual grownup tune. Are you – has it been troublesome so that you can discover songs that attain your viewers that you just like and which are grownup songs?
DION: I do not know. Songs, to me, have all the time been form of like a diary, you already know. Say, after I did “Teenager In Love,” perhaps I used to be 16. These questions in that tune, although it is a quite simple tune and it looks like form of claptrap or one thing, nevertheless it’s not. To the unknowing ear, it might appear, you already know, when you simply take heed to the floor of it, nevertheless it had plenty of coronary heart. It had plenty of soul, and it asks some related questions that you could possibly ask immediately, you already know, and songs like “I Marvel Why.” It was the primary hit document I had. , we had been – we did not know how you can write lyrics too good, so we invented this type of percussive rhythmic sound. , we would make up these sounds. We might go right down to the Apollo Theater and listen to the horn gamers, and we would come again to the neighborhood and provides the vocal group – I might conjure – you already know, I might recruit guys and say, do that, do this, you already know. And I might attempt to get them to sound just like the horn part down on the Apollo Theater.
Like, a tune like “Ruby Child.” I might, you already know, (strumming guitar, singing ) I bought a lady and Ruby is her title. I’ve to go (singing) Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, child. It was like (scatting). They had been like horns, you already know? And all that stuff was organized, you already know – I – the group was a poor man’s horn part on the road corners. That is what it was.
Even after I did “Runaround Sue” and they’d – (strumming guitar, vocalizing). That was a horn part that I heard on the Apollo Theater. I simply introduced it again to the streets and gave it to the fellows to sing.
GROSS: Let me return to the start with you if you had been first listening to music. You wrote in your autobiography that Hank Williams actually influenced you early on. Once you had been a child rising up within the Bronx, what did you hear in Hank Williams?
DION: Properly, Hank Williams appeared, like, so complete to me, so dedicated to the lyric. He would truly rip the ends of the phrases off on the, you already know – the tip of the sentence. It gave the impression of he’d chew into the phrase and rip it off. , he would do like – nicely, I can not sing like him, however the form of thought like – the primary tune I heard him do was like, (strumming guitar, singing) and I let my residence down on the agricultural route, advised my pa I used to be going stepping out and get the honky-tonk blues. Yeah, the honky-tonk blues. Properly, oh, I bought them. I bought the honky-tonk blues.
, he’d say (singing) I ended into each place on the town.
And he’d rip the phrase proper off. Like I bought it, and there it goes, you already know. And he was completely dedicated bodily, lyrically, musically, spiritually simply – I simply mentioned what’s this man speaking about? , simply – and, see, I had a man on the streets that basically helped me out quite a bit, too. There was a man in Bronx, New York Metropolis. His title was Willie Inexperienced, and he was the superintendent of a tenement constructing in my neighborhood.
And, you already know, principally what I ever – what I do is like Black music filtered by means of an Italian neighborhood comes out with an angle – yo. So Willie Inexperienced could be taking part in me all this John Lee Hooker stuff and, you already know, Sonny Boy Williamson. And he’d be taking part in like (strumming guitar, singing) taking place to Rosie’s cease at Fannie Mae’s. Inform my child what I heard her boyfriend say. Do not begin me speaking. Oh, lord. Inform the whole lot I do know. I am going break up with signifying. Whoa, lord, Jack. Some folks have gotten to go. Jack gave his spouse $5 to go downtown get some.
, he’d do stuff like that or (strumming guitar, singing) and I wakened this morning, wanting round for my sneakers. Some telling me, youngster, bought these strolling blues. Yeah. Awoke this morning wanting round for my sneakers, youngster. , and I am leaving this morning, youngster, now, with these strolling blues. Some folks inform me that they put on blues in mattress (ph), [inaudible]. Some folks inform me that they put on blues in mattress, youngster, no. [inaudible]. I am strolling, strolling blues [inaudible] strolling.
, he’d do stuff like that. So I might go into the studio and do the white model of that.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: No, actually, nevertheless it seems like what I am listening to from you is that you just heard nation music by means of Hank Williams. You heard all these blues recordings.
DION: Proper.
GROSS: And what you discovered was this type of Bronx model…
DION: And somewhat doo-wop.
GROSS: Yeah. That – nicely, that doo-wop was out for you, this actually, like, for you, native model of all of the music that you just had been loving.
DION: Proper. It form of…
GROSS: However it was genuine ‘trigger it was your music. You were not simply doing stuff within the method of someone else.
DION: Properly, Willie Inexperienced, once more, the man who was doing this, he advised me – he mentioned, Dion – he mentioned, write concerning the folks within the neighborhood, write concerning the issues you already know. And to me, after I regarded round my neighborhood, we had characters like Frankie Yunk-Yunk, Joe BB Eyes, Ralphie Mooch. There was a man in my neighborhood – they known as him Shakespeare. He used to say, like, 2B or to not 2B? Which is my residence?
(LAUGHTER)
DION: I believed I might get you at that, Terry.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DION: However we had plenty of characters, you already know? So – they usually appeared greater than life, like “The Wanderer” – his title was Jackie Burns (ph). He was a sailor who bought tattoos throughout him, you already know? And each time he’d date a lady, he’d get her title tattooed on his physique. , this man was like, you already know, (singing, taking part in guitar) Flo on my left arm, Mary on my proper. Janie is the lady I will be with tonight. Little lady asks me which one I really like the very best. I tear open my shirt. I present her Rosie on my chest. I am a wanderer. Yeah, I am the wanderer. I roam round, round, round, round, round. Lay that factor over your neck.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DION: However this man would stroll round together with his tank high on with all these names throughout. , he was like…
GROSS: What did you consider him? Did you want him or…
DION: He was a – he was form of a loner. He would love – I did not know him that nicely, however he simply appeared greater than life ‘trigger he was older than me and he was within the Navy.
GROSS: Proper.
DION: And he would come again and he’d have this type of – you already know, and I form of featured myself, you already know, form of, like a road nook poet, you already know, burnt to the bone with the fireplace of this new rock ‘n’ roll music. So I used to be like, you already know, over there saying, what may this man – you already know, like, how can we put this man to music, you already know? And I do not suppose he ever knew the tune was about him. He took off for – I do not even know if he is alive immediately, however “The Wanderer” is a tragic tune. It says, I roam from city to city. I am going by means of life with out a care. I am as completely happy as a clown with my two fists of iron, however I am going nowhere. It is about an actual – a man who simply is caught in a really form of shallow life-style, you already know?
GROSS: Earlier than you began listening to rhythm and blues and blues music and stuff like that, I do know if you had been 11, you used to sing in a bar in your neighborhood, and it sounded such as you had been an actual native attraction. What did you sing if you had been 11?
DION: Ah, yeah. I might do – I knew 70 Hank Williams songs.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DION: Would you imagine that? I might even sing his Luke the Drifter sequence, you already know? (Singing, taking part in guitar) On the earth’s mighty gallery of images dangle the scenes which are painted from life.
I used to be, like, 13 years outdated.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DION: I believed I used to be a thinker. I did not even know what I used to be singing about. I sang “Honky Tonk Blues.” I sang “Jambalaya.” In case you – an Italian from the Bronx – I had no thought what jambalaya meant, nevertheless it sounded so good and felt so good popping out of my mouth, you already know? (Singing, taking part in guitar) Goodbye, Joe. Me bought to go. Me oh my oh.
– (singing, taking part in guitar) Jambalaya, crawfish pie and a file gumbo.
I did not know what gumbo was.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DION: I knew what rigatoni was.
GROSS: (Laughter).
DION: However gumbo, I had no thought. And, you already know, it – I bought caught up on this music. And it – I suppose it is like anyone else if you get caught up into one thing, it simply took me away.
GROSS: Why do not we pause right here and take heed to the primary Dion and The Belmonts recording, which is “I Marvel Why” with these nice harmonies?
DION: That is a very good angle tune.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: Yeah. Let’s hear it. And what yr is that this, Dion?
DION: That is ’57 – starting.
GROSS: And also you had been how outdated?
DION: I used to be 17.
GROSS: OK, let’s hear it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I WONDER WHY”)
DION AND THE BELMONTS: (Singing) Do not know why I really like you want I do. Do not know why I do. Do not know why I really like you. Do not know why I care. I simply need your like to share. I ponder why I really like you want I do. Is it as a result of I believe you like me, too? I ponder why I really like you want I do, like I do. I advised my pals that we might by no means half. They usually mentioned that you’d break my coronary heart. I ponder why they suppose that we’ll half, we are going to half. (Vocalizing). Once you’re with me, I am positive you are all the time true.
GROSS: We’re listening to my interview with Dion, recorded in 2000. We’ll be again with extra music and dialog after a break. That is FRESH AIR.
That is FRESH AIR. Let’s get again to the interview I recorded with Dion in 2000. He introduced his guitar and sang some songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)
GROSS: There is a tune that you just wrote on the brand new CD that I actually wish to play ‘trigger I believe your singing now’s actually just like what it is all the time been. I do not suppose – I believe among the materials has modified, however I believe your singing nonetheless has the whole lot in it that you’ve got been speaking about – all these influences, the urgency that you’ve got been speaking about. So, let me play a tune from the brand new CD. However earlier than I do, I would like you to introduce it for us. And that is known as “Each Day (That I am With You).” Inform us about scripting this. What impressed it?
DION: Properly, this can be a story, however I’ll inform it. The CD known as Deja Nu. And the tune that you just’re about to play – the truth is, the entire CD, the entire – all of the songs in it are a film soundtrack for a film known as “The Wanderer” that Chaz Palmernteri wrote a screenplay for. And I used to be writing these songs for various scenes within the film. And the film bought slowed down this yr, so I simply launched a CD. However anyway, each tune on the CD is written for a sure, you already know, piece of the film. This tune was written for a montage scene in the midst of it. I traveled with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on that tour. We had been co-headlining a tour. And we had been on this little yellow faculty bus, not considered one of these luxurious line custom-made coaches immediately. It was only a yellow faculty bus. We had been driving by means of the Midwest in 1959, February of 1959, and it was chilly. It was like 30 beneath zero. We had been freezing. However we actually form of bonded on this tour, Ritchie, Buddy and myself, as a result of we had the primary Fender guitars that had been issued, these new Stratocasters, and we had been in a form of a contest to see who would make them ring the longest. And two weeks into the tour, Buddy bought form of fed up with the bus breaking down, and he recruit – he was making an attempt to recruit folks. He chartered a aircraft. And he mentioned – ‘trigger the extra folks he’d get aboard, the much less it might value. So he mentioned, you already know, it will be $36, he tells me. And he hit the magic quantity for me.
I grew up with my mother and father screaming and yelling at one another for the lease in Bronx, New York Metropolis, on the time was $36. So my thoughts hadn’t stretched out to that place the place I may spend the entire month’s lease on a 45-minute aircraft flight to Fargo, North Dakota. So I mentioned no. So he offers me his guitar. He says, right here, he says, you already know, maintain my guitar. He says, you higher maintain it, you already know? So he took his laundry. That is what he wished to do. He wished to get a haircut. He wished to do his laundry. Offers me the guitar to maintain.
So now I am questioning, I ponder how his guitar sounds in comparison with mine. So I am going within the dressing room, and I take the guitar, I will plug it in, and I am saying – I used to be telling Chaz Palmernteri as he is scripting this story round this ebook, “The Wanderer” that I wrote. And the film was known as “The Wanderer.” So he mentioned, you already know, we may do a Buddy Holly tune right here within the film. Like, it would not matter anymore. I mentioned, let me write one thing. To undergo me sitting within the dressing room, taking part in his guitar and singing with – and whereas this scene takes place of them leaving us driving to Fargo, arriving the subsequent morning. So this tune was written for that scene as a result of I believed I may seize this factor ‘trigger in my coronary heart, I’ve all the time wished to specific this relationship that – you already know, that I contemplated at occasions or mirrored on at occasions that I had with Buddy Holly, and it got here out on this tune.
GROSS: And I simply wish to say for our listeners who do not know the tip of the story that Buddy Holly took this aircraft that you just determined to not take, the aircraft crashed, killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Large Bopper.
DION: Proper.
GROSS: So – and the opposite factor is so Chaz Palmernteri’s film is your biography? That is what he is making an attempt…
DION: Yeah. He wrote a screenplay round this – round…
GROSS: Round your biography – autobiography “The Wanderer.”
DION: Proper.
GROSS: Alright.
DION: So that is what the – this entire album is. It is truly a soundtrack. The truth is, I do not suppose…
GROSS: Soundtrack of your life.
DION: I do not suppose it might have got here out pretty much as good if I attempted to jot down songs and put out an album. I form of did it inadvertently. I form of backed into it…
GROSS: Proper.
DION: …? And it is attention-grabbing the way in which it got here out, you already know?
GROSS: So, let’s hear “Each Day (That I am With You).” This tune that is, I suppose, impressed by Buddy Holly and…
DION: Sure.
GROSS: …About that…
DION: Completely.
GROSS: …Chapter of your life. It is a tune written and carried out by Dion from his new CD, Deja Nu.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “EVERY DAY (THAT I’M WITH YOU)”)
DION: (Singing) Day-after-day, I stare down bother. Heaven is aware of it is what I do. Day-after-day, I elevate my fist for the wrestle. Day-after-day that I am with you. Day-after-day, I get up hungry. Yeah, and I attempt to get my fill. Anyway, it is nice massive nation. Now I’ve bought time to kill.
GROSS: My interview with Dion was recorded in 2000. He turned 86 in July. Final yr, he launched the album “Woman Buddies,” that includes duets with feminine singers. This yr, he launched the only “New York Minute” and had a brand new ebook known as “The Rock And Roll Thinker,” a set of conversations with a buddy. After a break, we’ll conclude our archive sequence, R&B, Rockabilly and Early Rock ‘n’ Roll with Allen Toussaint, the good New Orleans pianist, singer, songwriter and producer. And jazz historian Kevin Whitehead will keep in mind alto saxophonist Artwork Pepper, who was born 100 years in the past immediately. I am Terry Gross, and that is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF DION’S “EVERY DAY (THAT I’M WITH YOU)”)
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