a division of the Chersonian Institute

Category: Music (Page 19 of 35)

Cher Interviews for New Cher Album

CbsI have to say, except for that time I threw a hissy-fit when I was about 15 years old and my Dad couldn't hook up my VCR to Cher's Mask-era interview on Phil Donahue fast enough, (after which my Dad refused to try anymore and I missed the interview entirely until I saw it later in my late 20s), this has been a very frustrating Cher press junket season for me. First of all, I gave up cable months ago. I'm still not sure I'm going back to it. Then I broke my TV antennae moving it last month. Then I find out I can't receive CBS in Albuquerque. Is this an issue with the broken antennae, I do not know.

Well, at least I'll be able to watch The Today Show concert tomorrow. Not so fast, Cher freak! I need to take my husband to the airport exactly during air time tomorrow morning. What the!! So I'm totally dependent, like a Cher fan on a deserted island (with wireless, however), to watching these interviews and promotions online.I spent all day today (on and off) stalking the Internet for a clip of this morning's CBS interview.

The This Morning CBS Interview

This clip has sound issues but it covers the interview. This is the interview that caused Cher so much Miley Cirus grief this week. This preview in particular. First Cher is asked about her secret to being provocative. The host surmises it's her sense of humor but I think it's her genuine commitment to being herself, in other words–her authenticity in the act. "I just do what I want," she says. She never made a cynical play for attention. Also, she understands the art of the tease. If you show it all, game over.

As each generation tries to "up the ante" on provocation, the area for the tease shrinks and the game becomes harder to play. "I just do what I want," Cher said. But then they go on to critique Miley Cirus' Video Music Awards performance.

The press (and some of my friends) loved Cher's candor about it. Cher News tracked the story well:

I always enjoy Cher's candor but I can see why she expressed regrett for her statement, being almost led into a bitch fight by CBS. Maybe innocently enough, but it's all so unproductive. It's just one appearance by Miley Cirus and she didn't commit a felony, as Cher said. Except maybe a fashion felony. But those laws are so subjective.

On the bright side, the CBS interview gave Cher plenty of respect, saying she's earned every honor show biz has to offer. They showed the Cher Show skit with Cher, Bette Midler, Elton John and Flip Wilson in an entertainer's old folks home and later Elton telling Cher she'll be going strong in 50 years. Cher again talks about hating the aging process. How can the world stop worshipping youth, if Cher won't stop worshiping youth? CBS agrees that even the word icon doesn't cover Cher anymore. They quote a line stating she's the "Sherman tank of divas." When asked if she wants to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame she says she doesn't need a hall to rock. In truth, Cher has defined fame and has broken many records in service of the industry of rock music. But a clique's a clique. Rock stars are so hypocritically insiders just posing as outsiders.

Cher jokes that she uses witchcraft to stay young. We get to see a young picture of Sonny shirtless. After watching so many episodes of The Sonny & Cher Show, I have developed a taste for seeing Sonny shirtless. Cher talks about how she came to fashion, how women would tune into the TV show to see what she was wearing. She started to care about it then, too, and it got "interwoven" (no pun intended) into her personality. I love how she talks about clothes being neither an aid nor barricade (in the theory of ex-boyfriend Josh Donen) to her true self. "Clothes are nothing" she says. 

I'm also so glad she's telling interviewers to piss off about her love life. That's so right. The last line of the interview is funny…Cher asking about herself, "Isn't she over?"

Note: the online posted Extended Transcript seems to go on much longer than the 13 minute interview. I haven't read it yet but it printed out to 18 pages!!

Cher at Grauman's Chinese Theater to see The Wizard of Oz
Cheroz2

This week, Cher made an appearance in Los Angeles. You can see clips of Cher at Grauman's in the CBS interview. Cher News also has photos.

Recap of interview in Gay & Night

Last week I linked to the interview in the Netherlands magazine Gay & Night. She talks about her record label, about the themes of this album and not intending it to be about women's empowerment, about how painful leaked songs can be and why "The Greatest Thing" came not to be. She says "Dressed to Kill" is "a drag queen dream come true. She talks about hesitations over touring again, about the only outfit she regrets having worn. (Think Take Me Home era roller skating party). She admits she's had "a couple" of loves of her life: "I've had three."

Oh boy, another Cher fan guessing game. I vote for either Robert, Gregg & Sonny or Robert, Gregg & Current Mystery Bf.

She talks about why she dated younger men and about what her tattoos mean to her now, how passe they have become (Miss Kansas at Miss America last week was half-tattooed). She also says she hasn't yet purchased a plot at Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris but that she still hopes to eternally rest there.

She talks about Chaz and her gay fans and she talks about her mother's circle of friends and her mother's lack of prejudice. Cher says her first best friend was Jewish. I would LOVE to hear more Cher-as-a-kid stories.

Cher talks about the structure of the possible Broadway show based on her life (which is very interesting and I hope that comes to be).

Recap of Interview in Canoe

Last week, I also linked to the interview in Canoe. She talks about paving the way for Katy Perry, Madonna, Lady Gaga and how rough it was for early Sonny & Cher with their then-unusual outfits. They talk about Cher's ability to hit high notes, the quality of her voice (Cher says she was pretty bad in the beginning), being able to watch her movies or look at photos of herself and how she loves Tony Bennett and Betty White.


ChershadesCher Interview in USA Today

Cher also appeared in USA Today. They called her a "stage warhorse" and "fashion daredevil." They talk about her voice, touring, Tina Turner touring. She "sips Dr. Pepper" during the interview and her cat, Mr. Big, attends. The article jokes about her age and "crossing the Medicare threshold."They talk about her album cover and how she was trying to to be camp, like a Playboy cover. Which just proves how much you can't do camp on purpose. She says people took it so seriously. She talks about being a fan of Bruno Mars and the civic duty of the stars to "give back." She talks about Buddhism and the 1980s being so fun. She says the low point for her being after her divorce from Sonny and all the financial trouble she was in. She says something interesting as she's talking about being in that financial hole in the mid-1970s, "A lot of people were gigantic, and then they were gone."

This is what constantly amazes me watching the Sonny & Cher shows…all those celebrities who were on top, more on top than Cher was, celebrities who Sonny & Cher had to pay deference to as guests on their variety show: Chad Everett, Lorne Greene, Sandy Duncan, Bobby Sherman (just the stars I watched last night alone) and they're all gone. Think of this, Sonny & Cher were equals with Peter Noone and Herman's Hermit's in the 1960s. Less than 10 years later, they had Peter Noone on one of their "Years" specials as a nostalgia act. All the hot 1970s stars then disappeared by the 1980s. The 1980s stars were gone by the 1990s, and so forth. There's a 1950s skit in the first "Years" episode of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour where Cher sings an satirical 1950s-style song called "Superstar" in a space outfit and then goes on a tirade telling everybody how "big" she's gonna get, bigger than all the guests on the episode, Frankie Valli, Dick Clark. The whole skit is eerie.

In USA Today, Cher talks about how much she didn't like her early voice, "My voice was so strange and different." She talks about Pink and writing "Lovers Forever" for Interview with a Vampire with her friend Shirley Eikhard and how her songwriting tends to be dark and personal.

My favorite quote: "Even Cher underestimates the power of Cher."

The Guardian Interview

Last week, Cher also appeared in The Guardian. She talks about where she learned all her British swear words, about Sonny and Mark Taylor being her favorite producers. Really? Sonny? After having to do all those takes?

She talks about how odd Phil Spector was and working on background vocals for a John Lennon album with Phil and Harry Nilsson. Which song(s) was this for???

She talks about song leaks and Hillary Clinton and showing her navel on TV.

The Sunday Morning Herald Interview

Cher was in Australia's Sunday Morning Herald this week as well. She talks about how "women should hang together" and stop "bitch fighting" which is why I think she regretted her Miley comments. The interviewer calls Cher, "two parts rock chick, one part opinionated lady, with side orders of mother and superstar…She's detailed like a prestige car."

She talks about not remembering how many albums she's made and forgetting she recorded certain songs, how for her Sonny was "total hero worship." The magazine claims Cher says their marriage was a happy one. Earlier this year, Cher described it as Russian Roulette. But she says they never discussed politics. She talked about how she struggled to get into movies and how Francis Ford Coppola made her cry (after telling her she should be in movies) and how brave Robert Altman and Mike Nichols were to finally cast her. She talked about making the documentary about her mom and the title of her new album….

…which I hope to get soon. I've been holding off listening to it until I get the physical thing in my hot little hands.

 

Sunday VCR Alert

Thismorning90s8 more days to a new Cher record! Whoo hoo!

I realized today that the last Cher record came out when I was living in Pennsylvania. I've lived in three cities since the last Cher album.

Cher scholar Tyler commented on the last post that Cher will be interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning this next Sunday.

Here is a link to Cher on This Morning years ago promoting her Love Hurts album from the early 1990s. The interviewer calls her the Grande Dame of the pop scene back then! She wasn't even 45 years old yet!

She talks about being the modern day girl in Rumpelstiltskin who wants to spin tears into platinum.

 

Cher Album Preview, Interviews, VCR Alerts

The album is coming out in two weeks. Hook up your seat belts. This is exciting time! It’s like a long, long wait is over. Wait a minute. A long, long wait is actually over.

You can now preview Cher’s album on iTunes. Go listen!

Remember these save-the-dates:

– Cher will be on David Letterman on September 24.
The Voice season premieres September 23.
– Cher will be on the Today Show concert series September 23.
Vmag

You can pre-order Cher’s most recent TV special, Dear Mom, Love Cher on DVD. This comes out September 24.

Cher’s interview in V Magazine is out. There’s a full spread Richard Avedon out-take from the 1971 Cher album (the Gypsys, Tramps & Theives album) and Cher talks about her duet with Jake Shears, being nervous on stage, how she likes to handle performances on live shows, acting vs. singing, her own idols, twitter, her mom, her family bonds and tattoos.


SweatOther news

Cher sweats for vets again this year. Read about it on Cher News and Cher World.

Canoe.ca has a new Cher interview. I haven’t read it yet.

Cher News reports news that Lady Gaga said on Watch What Happens Live that she pulled “The Greatest Thing” because she didn’t think it was good enough for Cher. Well young lady, you should have thought of that before you offered up the song and got the ball rolling. The song has actually grown on me. I didn’t think it was interesting enough for Cher at first either. But look at me?

Cher News also has posted an interview with Cher from Gay & Night.

A new Cher album! I feel dizzy.

 

Cher Concert Duet Idea

UnitedSo in Cher's most recent concert, her Caesars Palace show in Las Vegas, she performed a fantasy duet many Sonny & Cher fans had been harboring: she performed "The Beat Goes On" with an old Sonny Bono recording ala Natalie Cole doing "Unforgettable" with her father Nat King Cole. It was sublime. But how can she top it?

I would suggest a the following scene, which is a fantasy I developed just last weekend watching Sonny & Cher perform "United We Stand" on their 1970s television show.

I love their rendition of "United We Stand." It's one of my favorite Sonny & Cher songs because they sang it with legitimate sincerity on the record and in live performances, where they sang to each other with more than typical
United2conviction. I feel this record really meant something to them, having often felt their backs were against the wall. You still feel their connection in these performances from The Sonny & Cher Show in 1976 and later on The Mike Douglas Show in 1979. (In both peformances, they were already divorced, no less.)

And is there such a thing as a good Sonny impersonator? Isn't it time Cher sang with one? It's not all about Cher impersonators, is it? I would love to see Cher duet with a faux-Sonny (maybe doing "United We Stand").

If impersonation is an act of tribute, doesn't Sonny deserve some mimicking flattery?

 

The New Cher Video!

It's finally here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjPWL-23w-w, the first new official Cher video in I Found Some Blog history.

And in honor of the new Cher video, I gathered back together the
group of people who attended my Armenian Dinner and Cher Video party for Cher Zine 3. The group includes one Cherfreak (me), a Cher appreciator (C. Crumpet Swank), Julie (a
friend from Sarah Lawrence College who likes 80s Cher primarily), Julie’s
boyfriend Dave, Mr. Cher Scholar, and Natalie (not a Cher fan and too young to
remember anything before “Turn Back Time”). We can't find the woman named Jewel from the party.

Anyway, Swank started things off with some elaborate comments and pictures he emailed me after watching the video.

Swank

I actually like this video! Props to her for including such a wide range
of women in the video, not just a bunch of attractive 20-somethings. I love the inclusion of the older/old women,
the thin/the fat, the tall/the short, the Down's Syndrome girl, the toothy
Ruthie, all the different nationalities. Mixing up the bodies in sections also
works for me, connecting all the characters despite their external differences.
It's a good device that nods to the unity which serves as the premise of the
song (even if the lyrics are trite).

It must be said, the opening wig is FANTASTIC!  Very,
very cool. It looks best, however, up close when you can see the detail of the
newsprint–the colors, typography, etc. When they pull too far away the
fact that it is newspaper is lost and she ends up resembling an Armenian
komondor:

Closeup
PERFECT VIEW

Longview
NOT SO PERFECT VIEW [freeze video at the ten second mark for
an even better comparison shot]

Dog
IT'S A WOMAN'S WORLD

I also kind of wish she had headed over to Cyndi Lauper's
house and borrowed the True Colors skirt for this video, but I know that Cher doesn't like to look, as Joan Rivers would say,
"too matchy-matchy."  A boy can dream though… 

Lauper

I also like the frizzy orange wig Cher
wears–very nice/unexpected/different, and a great match to the Sanctuary style
dress. She looks like a gorgeous medieval wench/queen.

Other moments I appreciate:  

  • @57/58 seconds and 1:04 she looks so happy and relaxed!
  • @1:47…some actual physical oomph!
  • @2:40-42…"Every–boooooodddddy in the club"…love
    the vocal stretch of the word as she skedaddles through it and the music
    spirals up and up, synched to the visual of her arms making fists [the
    boobs nicely flex here too] and then throwing her arms up into the air, like
    she just don't care…
  • @2:46-48…the knowing use of the signature "teeth
    & lip lick" punctuated with a droll nod perfectly timed to a climactic
    moment of silence in the song. Very meta. Very witty.
  • @2:55…freeze it for the most extreme cheekbones I have
    ever seen in my life. Who is that woman? She's beautiful and scary all at once.

And my favorite two moments: 1:34/5, the old lady with
no rhythm on the right looks like she's having the time of her life, and she
looks beautiful and stylish in her cowl neck sweater and black knee high boots;
and at 2:19 she reappears with the older sexy bald black lady who looks so
fantastic and fierce and rocks her iconic Jody Watley earrings–remember those?

Lastly,  any idea how
they make Cher's skin look so flawless in the
close-ups?  It seems impossible that she could have such perfect skin at
67.  Is there a "live" version of Photoshop? 

Julie

I enjoyed
the video. It is nice to see so many types of women dancing and being
empowered. The sliding body panels reminded me of our childhood toy Fashion
Plates. I used to mix my fashion plates with my monster plates to make very
bizarre creations. 

The point of the video is somewhat blown just by the fact
that Cher refuses to age. I agree – she looks
great – but if she really thinks all types of women are awesome, then why not
allow herself to age? This is kinda like Mary Kay empowering women to be their
own boss and go out and unempower other women by convincing them they need a
lot of makeup.

I love all her wigs especially the newspaper one, although
it’s a bit drag queeny. The song isn't catchy to me and it doesn't have anthemic
power. 

Mr. Cher Scholar

Okay, I'm
definitely getting a Godley and Creme "Cry" mixed with Michael
Jackson's "Black or White" video vibe off of this. Which is okay because
I always felt that Michael Jackson's video was a rip off of Godley and Creme.

Loving the paper wig. I would go out with anybody that wore
shredded newspaper on their head. But no smoking and forget about blowing out
the candles on your birthday cake.

This is why newspapers are better than electronic media. I'd
love to be the paper boy on this route, that lucky sonofabitch.

Just imagining what it'd be like in bed after a night
of drinking. Kind of like making love in a hamster cage. Love it.

Is that Chelsea Clinton?

Also love the straight red wig. It's like something you'd
find in the potpourri section at Michael's. Cut the broomstick off, stick it on
your head, and let's shoot this thing.

I think I just saw my mom.

Honestly, I really love this video. I mean I know Cher never saw any of these people and probably
green-screened her part in her living room, but it really feels inclusive of
ordinary women and people (unlike someone else's video that recently came out).

I also feel like this video and song are primed and ready to
become huge hits overseas. It made me want to be a woman so I could be Cher's waist on top of an old lady's legs. Or maybe
I could have my face on Cher's chest with
Chelsea Clinton's legs.

I noticed there are no Inuit women in this video. Maybe just
an oversight, but even still, Cher may have
some explaining to do on twitter.

Trying to pick out who from this video will go on to other
things…

I don't know what's more discomforting: the people who
aren't really into it or the people who are WAY into it.

Think I just saw my mom again. She seemed like she was WAY
into it.

Dave

I think behind the scenes it's interesting how she can
change her outfits so many times again, just like in her concerts, except this
time it's other people's bodies.  I thought it was fresh, unique, simple,
and I enjoyed it very much.

I also really like her 'print' hair.  kinda feels like
her 'in the news'.

And she has a marvelous plastic surgeon.  She doesn't
AT ALL look plastic, just REALLY REALLY good.

Natalie

Wow she's "green". Her hair is made of recycled
paper.

OMG she looks like a Barbie. Goth
Barbie with that eye makeup. Eco-Friendly Empowered Goth Barbie… watch out
world…

This is a woman's world? Bouncing boobies? Dancing and trying to look sexy?
Seriously?

What animals, plants and minerals were harmed in the making of all those
wigs?? Scratch eco-friendly. 

Cher Scholar

I have to
say I really like this video. At first I did worry that it was too plain but
then I saw Lady Gaga’s video and I’m like, yes…plain is the new interesting. I
love most the Cher close-ups. I love the
makeup, the eyeliner, the wig. Don’t love the newspaper hair outfit (why is
everyone wearing those pants? Are we selling them?), but love the other two
ensembles. Cher can do no wrong while wearing
big hoop earrings. I love all three wigs, the black and white one, the red one
(that can’t help but make me think it’s a tribute to Kathy Griffin).

Cher’s still putting the back of her hand to her face dramatically
like a young ingénue. It’s the bent wrist and teeth lick for the 2000s. In the
end Cher gets more passionate about the song
and that’s when she makes a real connection, (since she’s not doing a Mick
Jagger-gymnastic performance anymore). I loved the plethora of female types. I realize
there’s only so much room in a video but I would have loved more international faces and
cultural outfits (like the Indian woman), and more yoga moves (which kick ass).

 

New Cher Interviews & Promos

BBCinterviewThere’s a new Cher interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23955477

BBC News posted this on Sept 4 and Cher
looks great in a blonde wig with pink streaks. She talks about naming the new album
and how Closer to the Truth was only a working title but she could have named
it “Dressed to Kill.” Ultimately she liked the ambiguity of
Newcher1 Closer to the Truth.

She talked about her farewell tour not being a true farewell and she said this
album changed her mind and that she’s not particularly compelled to be on stage
(as 12 years away should indicate). The interviewer told her the new video is
mesmerizing. She calls it a plain video, not the greatest ever seen (it did
better than most of her videos in my test group), except for the newspaper wig
(“everyone has one of those,” she jokes).

She says she only has a finite amount
of energy and will have to see if she’s still up to the tour, mostly the
changing cities part. 

Newcher4Canada
Interview:  http://www.cherworld.com/cher-news/et-canada-chats-with-cher-on-new-album/
– here Cher tells leaker of Gaga duet to go f^#k themselves.

 

Newcher2

 

 

This should be funnier and cooler than it comes off but Jackie Collins has recorded a dramatic reading of the new song “Woman’s World:” http://www.chernews.blogspot.com/2013/08/chers-womans-world-as-read-by-jackie.html

It reminds me of when Steve Allen tried to do a dramatic reading of Donna Summers’ song “Hot Stuff” on some TV special back in 1980. Maybe hilarious at parties, but not a professional enough joke.

Cher News also posted information on celebrities’ favorite Cher Songs:

  • RuPaul picked “Save Up All Your Tears,” “The Gunman,” and “Bang Bang” with Bon Jovi
  • Debbie Gibson picked “Half Breed” and “Turn Back Time”
  • Cher picked “Song for the Lonely” and one of her new songs, “Sirens”

 

Album Covers and Track Lists

While I was gone, Cher News posted some great information about Cher's new album covers and the track lists.

Cover1The basic album cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Track1The basic album track list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Track2The Deluxe Edition track list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TargetcoverIt turns out Target will be selling a Super-Duper Deluxe version with even more tracks.

 

 

 

 

 

Track3The Target Deluxe Edition track list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information and breakdowns of the track-lists, visit Cher News:

If you are a Cherfreak like me, you will be purchasing all three. Such is our lot in life.

 

Wig Art

Wig2MY MOVE IS OVER. Finally! Geesh.Thank god.

In 1977, I left Albuquerque in the middle of watching The
Sonny & Cher Show
(1977, age 7). Thirty-seven years later I’ve moved back to Albuquerque at age 44 and
am again watching the show by way of TV Land's old airings in a Cher Scholar special request research
project to find the Vamp episode that contains “Wine for Caesar.”

Cher’s new video coincides with my quest because I’m
assuming Renate Leuschner created the amazing paper wig in the video. I’m
seeing some amazing wigs again on the Sonny & Cher shows…not just by “Rena”
as she went by in the show's credits, nor "Renata" as she went by in Celebration at Caesars or Renate Leuschner as she appears in the the 
Wig1credits of some Cher movies (like Mask) and concert
programs. This woman is a brilliant wig artist. I have many favorites re-watching
the shows (some are not quite culturally appropriate anymore but that’s another
essay). My all-time favorite (started by the prior wig maker on the show Jim Oertel), is the bun made up of many buns. I also love the wig of braids that
look like the wig-equivalent of a jungle gym.

Cherbuns

50 Years of Cher and Mick Jagger, Cher on SNL

MickWhile I was on my writing weekend in AZ last month, a friend of mine
had the Mikal Gilmore interview with the Rolling Stones from Rolling Stone Magazine
(a magazine whose interviews are way shorter and less interesting these days). I woke up
before everyone else one morning and read it. Two parts reminded me of Cher’s comments of late:

Energy Levels

I’ve been arguing with a friend and Cher appreciator about Cher’s energy level in live performances. I’ve been arguing how unfair it is for him to
compare Cher to her younger self. He then brought up Mick Jagger as an example of an energetic performing septuagenarian.
I responded, Mick Jagger doesn’t have any feet problems and hasn’t been through
menopause or Chronic Fatigue. I wasn't getting anywhere. Thankfully Mick Jagger himself came to my rescue
in this article (he also mimics Cher pleasure
over what key they’re still singing in):

“When I’m on stage,” he says, “I’m not just singing. I want
to do a performance, as well, so that’s waving my arms around and running
around, and I’m dancing. That takes 50 percent of your breath power, so my
challenge is how to balance that with my vocals. You don’t want to be out of
breath when you do the ballads. That’s a  kind of balancing act. I have things that I
can do at home for keeping my voice together. I do karaoke singing, and I write
songs a lot, and I do demos and sing them. I’m very lucky in a lot of ways,
because—I do all the Rolling Stones songs in all the same keys as they always
were in, so my higher end is still there, maybe better than it was, because I
don’t smoke anymore, and I don’t drink as much and whatever.”
(May 23, 2013
issue, p50)

Longevity

Mick Jagger was also being asked to explain his success and
longevity. He has a similar response to Cher's:

“….there has been some toll—though not equally
distributed—in the life of the Rolling Stones. But not enough to deter them, or
any audience, in the past 50 years. What is it that sustains that appeal?
Answers Jagger, “I could say just these things I usually do, but the answer is
that you don’t really know. Why do the Rolling Stones endure?  I always say, because they’re successful.
Because people still like them. However much we might like to do it for
ourselves, if nobody wants to see you, then we probably wouldn’t do it. But you
ask me what we mean to ongoing and changing audiences, I don’t know what we
Chermickmean. I haven’t got a clue. I do think our sort of longevity adds an extra sort
of layer to the appeal. Adding a patina to the piece of old furniture. Because
you’ve been around for 50 years, it does add this kind of …this luminosity, if
you want. But in some ways, it’s kind of a disadvantage, because then you’re
tempted to rely on it, you know?”
(May 23, 2013 issue, p 53)

Incidentally, my dream of seeing Cher
on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine is moot. The articles are now truncated to
keep up with the bathroom audience; but I still have my Saturday Night Live
dream.  I just saw a rerun of Bruno Mars
on SNL from last year. He was freaking amazing in so many ways. Cher
could so do “a Justin Timberlake” on that show too and be both host and musical guest. She could
show them she’s been there, done that and can do it all again in a week. Show
the over-excitable divas what’s what.

 

I Think a Song from Cherished Changed My Life

Cherished1Cherished was the last album Cher did with producer Snuff Garrett in 1977. She was also working with Gregg Allman on a duet album that year and this was the kind of confused personna mash-up that probably occured years later when Cher tried to work on her Vegas shows and her new band Black Rose at the same time. One album personna was gritty, another one was pop.

But if you were 7 or 8 years old when you laid your little hands on this album, you may have loved it as much as I did. I bought my copy, along with Bittersweet White Light and Cher's Greatest Hits (MCA), from a three-dollar bin at our local department store, Styx, Bear & Fuller. I listened to its dramatic story-songs in a constant looping rotation. My best friend at the time would come over and we'd re-enact them all out in our living room where the furniture-sized record player lived. We played the pregnant girlfriend of the pirate, the failed actress, and the groupie.

Flash forward 35 years and the Peter Allen song, "She Loves To Hear the Music" came up on my iPod shuffle. I had a weird epiphany about the song.

I've always felt there are different kinds of celebrity obsession. I'm the kind of Cher fan who collects the stuff. I'm a fan of the product. I never really looked to Cher to model my life after, admire as a hero, or fall in love with. But as a teen I had my share of those kinds of celebrity obsessions. I fixated on a given rock star here and there. With my friends, we'd plot backstage meetings and fantasize about hookups. But I could never carry it through (as if I could carry it through). But even if we ever came close to dumb-lucking ourselves into a situation, something always held me back. Some fact of pride actually. And listening to this Cher song again after all these years, it occurred to me that internalizing this song's story did in fact influence my behavior during these times.

Let's review the lyrics:
Cherishedalt

She's just a secretary
at a small recording firm
and when it comes to music
there ain't nothing she can't learn.

Everything she lives and breathes
Is written on an album sleeve.
She can tell you who's hot,
who will make it and who will not.

She loves to hear the music.
She's got every lyric down.
She loves to hear them say
she's got the greatest ears in town.

Hangs around the studios,
ain't a rock star she don't know.
Sometimes they take her home
but she always wakes up alone.

Men that want to marry her
never satisfy.
In the rhythms that she hears

are all that keeps her high.

So they turn around and go
and leave her by her radio.
She didn't love 'em anyway,
not like she loves the men who play.

She loves to hear the music.
She's got every lyric down.
She loves to hear them say
she's got the greatest ears in town.

She's there at every studio,
the first to come, the last to go.
Sometimes they take her home
but she always wakes up alone.

Years will not be kind to her.
Her world is for the young.
Bands that played so tightly and knit
will soon become unstrung.

She'll be just another face,
out of time and out of place.
When the songs revive again,
she'll come to life and tell them when:

She loves to hear the music.
She's got every lyric down.
She loves to hear them say
she had the greatest ears in town.

She could of been somebody's wife.
Music men destroyed her life.
Each night she took one home
but she always woke up alone.

What a crazy lady, I thought when I was eight years old. I knew then this girl was ultimately a loser, in many ways. And she scared me. Who could throw themselves at a rock star if that legacy was looming over you? Not me.

I was conflicted about this for many years. I remember the day I decided to give up lusting after rock stars. I was in my shower feeling more tired than sad. I said to myself, today is the end of it. I started really looking at the men I was dating as real (and interesting) people after that. I met a string of quite amazing and facinating people before finding Mr. Cher Scholar.

I've seen, since then, how "bands that played so tightly knit" have in fact "become unstrung." Rock stars have come and gone with such unbelievable regularity that it makes the Cher phenomenon seem a bit bizarre.

Peter Allen was a great storyteller and the sentence structure of his lyrics: very bright. But I like Cher's version of this song better. Her voice brings the kind of authority the story needs.

Is it at all ironic that one of my childhood celebrity obsessions subconsciously cured me of my later heartthrob celebrity obsessions?

 

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