Peter Asher: Everywhere Man (2025)

[bunniefuu]

You've been

a friend of mine

That's that one chord.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-You know?

We'll try it.

There was such a mishmash

of people in those days...

And I'm talking about,

I guess, the '70s? '60s?

Late '60s, perhaps.

...but nobody remembers

how they met.

But Peter was always a kind of

ghostly, legendary figure

that you heard about.

You always heard his name.

Peter Asher, Peter Asher.

This guru. Uh... you know.

Uh, record world...

I didn't even know

what he did.

Good evening,

ladies and gentlemen.

My name is...

Eric Idle,

and tonight, it is my honor

and privilege

to introduce to you all

tonight

one of the finest names

in show business today.

A successful pop star,

record company executive,

producer, manager,

and recognized

throughout the world

as one of the greatest...

I'm sorry. I can't read

your handwriting, Peter.

...one...

of the greatest...

things in the entire universe.

Uh...

"Humanitarian,"

blah-di-blah-di-blah-di-blah.

"Grammys,"

blah-di-blah-di-blah.

"Shagged Marianne Faithfull,"

I don't think so.

Um...

Will you welcome, please,

tonight...

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

-Peter Asher.

Peter... Asher.

When I see her

coming down the street

I get so shaky

and I feel so weak

I tell my eyes

"Look the other way"

But they don't seem to hear

a word I say

And I go to pieces

and I want to hide

Go to pieces

and I almost die

Every time

my baby passes by

Go to pieces and I cry

Every time

my baby passes by

Go to pieces and I cry

Every time

my baby passes by

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Well, this is, of course,

as it's billed.

This show is a memoir,

and so it may contain,

I warn you,

the acceptable proportion

of self-aggrandizing

revisionist history.

But I'll try to keep that

to a minimum, I promise.

So I guess the question is,

one of the questions

we're addressing tonight,

is how did all this happen?

You know, how did the son

of an eminent physician

and a classical musician

end up doing all this other

interesting stuff?

Actually, I kind of lurched

into show business

entirely accidentally

long before I started

singing professionally.

Now I can go and play

my favorite game:

watching the grown-ups.

The acting thing came

about in an interesting way.

I have two very beautiful

and talented sisters,

my sister Jane,

two years younger than me,

my sister Clare,

two years younger again.

My understanding is

it all began in the park

when somebody saw

the three of us

and said to Mother,

"Have you ever considered

putting your children

on the stage?"

or something like that.

-The hair. We looked so cute.

-I think it was--

-It was the hair.

-Yes, it was the hair.

This is

the actual page we found

in the Spotlight

casting directory.

In fact, it even says,

under "The Asher Family,"

"All have red hair."

I guess that was

the sales pitch, you know?

It wasn't "All are

incredibly great actors,"

or anything like that.

Daddy didn't tell me

he was sh**ting this morning.

Aren't you going to say

good morning?

I don't want to miss the g*ns.

Tell Daddy I'm coming.

Look out! It's a wolf trap.

If you got down under the net,

I could go and tell him

you'd fallen in.

No, you get under the net.

No, you. I thought of it!

No, I'd be frightened

down there.

Besides, boys can't act.

That was when my acting career

kind of gently...

tapered off, should we say?

Vivat Regina

I went to

what the English,

with their gift for irony,

called a public school,

which means it's not public

at all

and it's very hard to get into

and expensive.

Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!

Now, by that time,

I had persuaded my parents

to get me a guitar.

And while I was at school,

I noticed that there was

somebody else,

another pupil walking around,

holding a guitar case

from time to time.

His name was Gordon Waller.

Gordon, as you can see,

was incredibly handsome.

You know I can be found...

I mean, all of us

who played guitar and sang

used to stand

in front of the mirror

and pretend to be Elvis,

but he actually did

a very creditable job of it

and sang really well

with his big Elvisy voice.

To a heart that's true

I don't know

whether I heard Peter singing

or he heard me singing.

I think I heard him singing

and I started singing

in harmony with him,

and we actually realized

that we had a pair of voices

which sort of sounded okay

together.

If you

miss the train I'm on

You will know

that I have gone

You can hear

the whistle blow...

So we started working

up a little repertoire.

And then eventually we took

our combination of songs

and we started trying to get

some actual paid gigs.

We would go into pubs

and coffeehouses.

We bumped

into a couple of people

who owned a place called

The Pickwick Club

and they said, "Would you like

to come and audition?"

And we did our usual sort of

two or three demo songs.

They said,

"When can you start?"

Pickwick Club

was this sort of late-night

eating and drinking club

that all the cool, young

actors of the day would go to.

We were making

40 pounds a week each

plus tips.

I know it was nearly as much

as my father was making.

Now, at that point,

we had maybe a dozen songs

we could sing.

And as a duo,

we had a special place

in our hearts

for The Everly Brothers.

I'll never let you see

The way my broken heart

is hurting me

I've got my pride

and I know how to hide

Every duo

that there's ever been,

whether we're talking

Simon & Garfunkel,

Peter and Gordon,

or even Lennon and McCartney,

we all looked to

The Everly Brothers

as the best close harmony

singers of that era.

If I wait for cloudy skies

You...

That music, gosh, you know,

it shaped rock and roll.

You know, I was born in 1957,

so I was listening to

Peter and Gordon

and to The Beatles

before I was listening

to The Everly Brothers

and I became interested

in The Everly Brothers

because,

"Wow, these are the guys

that Peter and Gordon

and The Beatles..."

-Doing their best to copy.

-"...thought were cool." Yeah.

I'll do my crying

in the rain

We loved what they did.

We did lots of their songs.

We tried to sound as much

like them as we could,

which wasn't very successful.

I'll do my crying

in the rain

And then I realized

how it all works

which is you try to copy

people who you greatly admire

and in failing,

you come up with something

kind of interesting

and different, you know?

'Cause I'm a boy

With nothing

Who came from nowhere

But today

The people wanna hear

what I say

So one night,

we were in the Pickwick Club

doing our usual gig,

and we were approached by

this man in a very shiny suit.

He introduced himself to us

as Norman Newell.

Said he was an A&R guy

from EMI Records.

"Would you like to come

and have a drink at my table?"

Then he said he wanted

to take us in the studio

and record us.

Norman had

picked out some songs

from the set he'd just seen

in the Pickwick Club,

but he also said,

"If you know any other cool

songs that you'd like to try,

feel free to bring them along.

Maybe even a new song."

And at that point,

when he asked that question,

I thought, "Maybe I do know

such a song."

And that's because

there was a whole

other subplot to the story

happening at the same time.

When I quit acting,

my sister Jane stuck with it.

-Where are you going, love?

-London.

And of course,

she turned out to be

incredibly good at it.

Jane was a proper movie star.

Can I get you

a cup of tea, Alfie?

Take it easy.

You always wanna be

doing something.

She was very

well known

in England as an actor,

and also as a music lover.

And welcome to another session

of Juke Box Jury.

Jane was

on this TV show

where they had celebrities

rate the new records.

It's gonna be a hit or a miss.

So it was

in that context

she was approached

by a magazine

to go and see

this new band from Liverpool

that all the fuss was about.

Da-da da, da-da da da da

Da-da da, da-da da da da

If there's anything

that you want

If there's anything

I can do

Just call on me

and I'll send it along

With love, from me to you

Jane went to the show,

then she was taken

backstage at the end

to meet them,

as the visiting celeb.

And of course she found them

to be witty and charming

and all the things

that we know them to be.

She liked them all very much,

they liked her very much.

One liked her in particular

and asked her out.

...to hold you

And keep you by my side

I remember having met Jane.

Number one,

I thought she was blonde

because I'd only ever seen her

in black and white

on Juke Box Jury.

I think we all immediately

tried to pull her,

you know, being the order

of the day.

But I ended up with her.

And from then on,

I made strenuous efforts

to become her boyfriend.

I would get invited

to her house

and really I suppose

what solidified London for me

was the house they lived in,

57 Wimpole Street.

Paul would come visit,

come over for dinner.

He would bring his laundry

for our mom to do

and stuff like that.

You know.

I mean, kinda boyfriend stuff.

And he was there so much

that in the end

our parents took pity on him,

I think,

and offered him the guest room

at the top of our house

next to my bedroom

as a pied--terre

when The Beatles

weren't out on the road.

So I moved in

with the Ashers.

They're a fascinating family.

I was learning an awful lot.

Never known people to stuff

so much into a day.

And it was really like

culture shock

coming from the working class

in Liverpool.

Richard, the dad,

was a wacky medic.

Very intelligent

and rather eccentric.

My father

was an endocrinologist.

He was also very interested

in mental health

and particularly

in psychiatric diseases.

He identified and named

Munchausen syndrome.

Doctors, traditionally

when they identify disease

name it after themselves.

So one does find

a lot of people saying,

"Who was Dr. Munchausen?"

But in reality, there was,

of course, no Dr. Munchausen.

It was Baron Munchausen,

who made up fictitious stories

a bit like Don Quixote.

Mrs. Asher, Margaret,

she was really very nice,

very warm person.

Very mumsy.

And for a young guy

who liked his home comforts,

boy, did she spoil me.

My mother was

an entirely remarkable woman.

She had several different jobs

and did all of them

brilliantly well.

She was a working musician.

She was oboe professor

at the Royal Academy of Music.

She also gave

private oboe lessons,

and among the pupils that

she had was George Martin

who wanted to brush up

his oboe playing

and was recommended

to my mother

as the best oboe teacher

in town.

So long before my mother

met George

as her daughter's boyfriend's

record producer,

she already knew him

as George the oboe student.

I like afternoon tea.

It's a very civilized thing.

And where is your oboe?

I had to sell it.

I needed the money.

You've still got yours?

Oh, yes, of course.

-You treasure it, do you?

-Yes.

She wasn't just

a nuts and bolts person

telling you how to handle

a bit of wood.

I mean, music was her life.

I'll give you one lesson...

-Would you really?

-...for nothing.

Sometimes, she would say,

"Would you mind if I gave you

my lesson in my apartment?"

So I would go along

to her apartment

and running around the flat

there were three

ginger-headed children.

In fact, the kids were called

the Carrots of Wimpole Street.

It was such a family.

Clare was a very nice

younger sister,

a lot of fun.

And then there was Peter.

He was an interesting,

bright guy.

I could talk to him

about anything.

And also very interested

in music, very musical.

So there was a lot

of connection there.

They got a piano in my room

and there was a piano

in the basement as well.

So when John came to visit,

we could write there

on the piano at the same time.

There was a little

music room in the basement

and I do remember

one particular occasion

shortly after Paul

had moved in.

John came over and he and Paul

went down to this music room.

They were down there

for a couple of hours

and then Paul called up

the stairs to me in my bedroom

and asked if I wanted

to come and hear

this song they had

just finished writing.

They sat side by side

at the piano

and hammered out

the first version

anyone had ever heard

of this brand new song

they had just finished

called

"I Want to Hold Your Hand."

So in that context, of course

I did hear a number of songs.

And I remembered hearing

this song

called "A World Without Love"

that Paul had explained to me

was actually

an unfinished song

and a sort of reject,

partly, I think, because John

didn't think that much of it.

In particular, John apparently

made fun of the opening line.

The song

starts off with a line,

"Please lock me away,"

and when I would play it

John would respond,

"Yes. Okay."

I would joke that

that was the end of the song.

So, when Normal Newell said,

"You know any other

cool songs?"

I asked Paul,

"Did anything ever happen

with that 'World Without Love'

song?

Gordon and I would like

to have a go at it."

So he said, "Okay, fine."

And to make sure

we got it right,

he did a couple of things

for me.

First, he wrote down all the

lyrics on a piece of paper.

This is the original

Paul McCartney draft

of the chords and the verses.

He also, on a reel-to-reel

tape machine

that I had in my bedroom,

made a little demo of the song

insofar as it existed

at that point.

Please lock me away

And don't allow the day

Here inside

Where I hide

With my loneliness

I don't care what you say

I won't stay in a world

without love

It's a good demo.

It's a good demo.

Of course, I did have

to nag him a little bit

as the date of our session

grew near

because he had to finish it.

We didn't have a bridge.

What happened was

I finally said, "Look, Paul,

it's only a week away.

You know, we really

wanna do that song."

He said,

"Well, hold on a second.

I'll go into my bedroom."

And he came back

about three minutes later

and he put, "So I wait

and in a while..."

"I will see

my true love smile,"

that middle section.

It all just gelled together,

when he finished that

middle bit and it just went...

So we took the song in,

played it to Normal Newell,

he said, "Fantastic."

So it's about six

or seven minutes' walk

down Grove End Road

and we'll find the studio.

Cool.

At the time when you

and Gordon went to EMI,

were you super nervous, or...?

Yes, we were.

We were nervous,

but also super excited.

We'd never been

in an actual recording studio.

The first thrill was hearing

ourselves back

on a proper microphone

with proper

recording technique.

That day was also pretty much

when I decided I wanted

to be a record producer.

Because in addition to loving

the experience,

I also loved the idea

that there was this job

where you got

to hire musicians

much better than yourself

and tell them what to do.

I thought, "That's genius.

How do I get in

on that racket?"

And here we are.

So is this sign

still the same?

Well, it used to say

"EMI Studios."

I think it was red lettering,

as far as I can remember.

We'd picked about five songs

to record on that first day,

cut them all,

and by the end of the session

everyone agreed

that "World Without Love"

was going to be

our first single.

Please lock me away

And don't allow the day

Here inside

Where I hide

With my loneliness

I don't care what they say

I won't stay in a world

without love

It came out

a month after we cut it.

Went to number one in England,

number one all over Europe,

and finally, it was beyond

our imagination,

went to number one in America.

With my loneliness

It was incredible.

Don't you think it's rather

a waste of

an expensive education

to have become pop singers?

Not at all.

-Why not?

-Not at all. I mean...

well, it's not a matter

of "waste of money," is it?

Education's education.

That's all there is to it.

She may come

I know not when

When she does...

What do you feel

about your song,

"A World Without Love,"

sort of getting into the top

or the hit parade

and edging you out?

Well, it's fine, you know.

I don't mind at all

as long as

it's one of our songs.

It's great.

You know,

Peter was famous.

Having the song

written by Paul,

which is a very clever thing

to do.

Yes. Exactly.

One that John hated,

apparently.

Was that true

or was that a rumor?

No, that is true.

He despised it.

Hi. This is Peter Asher.

You're listening to Sirius XM

The Beatles Channel.

And I'm here

at Abbey Road Studios

with the amazing Twiggy.

Cutting "World Without Love"

here in this studio

was 60 years ago.

-Did you do it here?

-Yes.

Oh my God. I have to tell you

a story about it.

-Okay.

-I was 14.

My mum and dad used to let me

go to the local mod dance,

and there was a rather lovely

young lad there

and he bought me a present,

and do you know what it was?

It was a record called

"World Without Love"...

-Amazing.

-...by Peter and Gordon.

And I'd played the record

over and over and over again.

And then the phone rang,

and it was this lad,

and he said,

"Well, the thing is,

I'm saving up for a scooter

and I can't afford a scooter

and a girlfriend."

"So I'm going

for the scooter."

But I still had

"World Without Love."

So I went up to my bedroom

and played it

and cried my eyes out.

Oh no. I'm so sorry.

So I wait and in a while

I will see

my true love smile

She may come

I know not when

One of the effects

of having a big hit

was that suddenly now

we were being approached

by big package tours.

And one of the tours

we got offered

included an act

that I knew well

'cause I'd gone to see them

very often

at the club stage

of their career.

Where I hide

with my loneliness

The most interesting thing

about that tour

is a sort of oddity.

We were not the headliners,

but neither were

The Rolling Stones,

because based on

his huge hit record

he just had at the time,

this gentleman

was the headliner on the tour.

Hear the happy feet dancing

to the beat of the Freddie

It was Freddie

and the Dreamers

and they did this absurd dance

called "Do the Freddie."

Then you're ready

The Rolling Stones would close

the first half

and quite a lot of the girls

would leave

'cause they had not come

to see Freddie do the Freddie.

They'd come to see Mick

do the Mick

which was much

more interesting.

So there we were,

and suddenly we found

ourselves part

of this whole

British Invasion phenomenon.

And when people talk to me

about that I always point out

that in my view,

it's pretty much 90%

The Beatles

and 10% all the rest of us

put together.

Yes, there were

a whole string of bands

who had hits in America

but if The Beatles

hadn't kicked the door down

in the first place,

it never would've happened.

I don't care what anybody

thinks.

I love The Beatles for them

and I'll always love them.

Even when I'm 105

and an old grandmother

I'll love 'em!

And Paul McCartney,

if you are listening,

Adrienne from Brooklyn

loves you with all her heart.

I love you, Paul.

These days,

people in England

don't think twice

about going to America,

but it was unheard of

for an English singer

to be going there.

Paul came back and said,

"Hey, guys,

you've got to get

over to America.

It's amazing.

You know,

it really is sensational."

From England,

the two London youngsters

who met while attending

Westminster School

and developed

into top-flight stars.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Peter and Gordon.

I don't want to see you

again

I hear that love

is planned

How can I understand

When someone says to me

"I don't want to see you

again"?

Why do I cry at night?

Something wrong...

America, to me then,

was a mystery.

I'd never been here

so it was also sort of

the promised land.

It was an exhilarating time.

I don't want to see you

again

And now, direct

from London to Boston,

Peter and Gordon.

The swinging sound

of Peter and Gordon!

Everybody welcome

Peter and Gordon!

Peter and Gordon!

We did a ton

of TV shows

'cause television

was still the major way

of promoting your record.

Woman

Do you love me?

Woman, if you need me

Then believe me

I need you

A love like yours and mine

The stars

don't have to shine

Listen to the bird

who sings it to the tree

And then

when you've heard him

See if you agree

Nobody I know could love you

more than me

Nobody I know could love you

more than me

Thank you.

Thank you.

Aubrey Richmond

on the mandolin and fiddle.

Jennifer Oberle on bass

and vocals.

Our drummer on this occasion

is a very skilled

percussionist as well,

Mr. Steve Aho.

And--

And our very own band leader

and keyboard player,

Jeff Alan Ross.

In America,

we didn't have our own band

so the local promoters

in each area

would put together a band

for us.

Of course,

the bands did vary in quality,

but there was one band

called The King Bees

who I rather liked,

and in particular, I liked

and admired

their guitar player.

They needed a backup band

for a short tour

of New England.

So we were playing a club

in New York

and I looked up

and there's Peter and Gordon,

they had come in

to check us out.

And for some unknown reason,

they picked us.

We really didn't have

much in common with them.

We were playing R&B.

So I didn't see how

we were gonna really fit in

with "World Without Love."

But we did.

I was immediately attracted to

Peter 'cause he was so smart.

We'd read a lot

of the same books,

we were interested in a lot

of the same stuff.

Same music.

He knew all about

rhythm and blues.

So we had a lot in common

in that way.

On the other hand, Gordon

was the opposite of Peter.

Gordon wanted to get drunk,

chase chicks, and have a ball.

Now, Gordon,

it seems to me, that, um,

Peter, for want

of a better definition,

is the sort of "cute"

member of the duo

while as you represent

the sort of "mean," "moody,"

and "sexy" part of the act.

Would you agree with this?

Up to a certain extent, yeah.

I think I'm sort of wild type

when he's very reserved.

But I think I'm quite cute

sometimes, yeah.

We rehearsed

for a couple days

and then out we went.

I loved every minute of it.

I was a kid,

and here I am with stars

and teen audiences

going crazy.

I thought it was

the height of glamor.

Little did I know.

Lucille

You don't do

your daddy's will

The very first gig

we did in America

was the World's Fair,

and it was surrounded

by a moat.

So what happened is,

these girls all rushed forward

as soon as we came on stage,

jumped into the moat,

and swam across to the stage

which was in the middle

of the pond.

All these soaking women

running towards us.

It was terrific.

Lucille, please come back

where you belong

You know, mostly,

you got the feeling

that when they're chasing you,

even The Beatles,

they weren't really sure what

they'd do if they caught you.

There wasn't a plan.

Gordon,

what happened last night?

Just about

everything, I think.

We didn't have enough

policemen there

to hold out-- you know,

hold back the people.

Sometimes they just get

knocked straight over.

And this has happened

a hundred times to us.

Were your

clothes ripped off of you?

They weren't ripped off,

they were just sort of

loosened a bit.

These flaps on the back

of our jackets were taken off.

Asked her friends

But all their lips

were tight

Lucille

You don't do

your daddy's will

The weirdest fan moment

was when we were playing

an outdoor gig.

Girls running across the grass

to where the stage is,

I jumped down,

my glasses fell off

and hit the ground

and I reached down,

picked them up, put them on.

As I looked back again,

this girl was crouched

where the glasses had fallen

and was pulling the grass out

and eating it.

And I went,

"That's really cool."

You know? "That's bizarre."

Just you know why

I met Peter

at the Steel Pier

in Atlantic City.

I knew who he was

before I went there

from working in publicity.

Betsy was

The Rolling Stones' publicist

so she was

in the music business.

I knew that Peter

had a reputation

for being smart

and I hoped that

he would like me.

Betsy was a Nashville girl.

Her father

did not approve of me.

I mean, he was nice enough,

but you could tell deep down

he wouldn't have chosen

a long-haired Englishman.

Before I started

working in publicity,

I had heard about

Greenwich Village.

It was the start of Dylan

and the folk music.

So I just sort of ran away

and was a waitress

at the coffeehouses.

What Peter and I shared

originally

was that he was

a folk music fan.

Betsy was friends

with everyone in the Village.

She was very much

on the folk scene.

She introduced me to Phil Ochs

and a lot of people

I only knew by reputation.

And so we had

a wonderful, wonderful time

in New York City.

And eventually, she

came back with me to London.

True love ways

When I look back,

it was great timing for me

to have been in the Village

in the early '60s

to Swinging London

in the late '60s.

It was great timing.

Mid '60s, Swinging London,

hipness, decadence,

and exquisite tailoring.

We were going to change

everything, of course.

But mostly, we were going

to change the rules.

We grew up in the '50s

with rationing and...

-Exactly.

-...no television, all that.

Coming out of the w*r,

we admired

the "tighten your belt"

spirit of the Blitz,

but at the same time,

we thought, "Enough of that."

"Enough of that.

Let's put some flares on!"

"Let's put silly clo--"

Exactly!

I see her walking by

I feel this way

It was the first real time

youth had a voice, wasn't it?

Yep.

And I was 16 and a half.

I mean, it was insane.

Now I'm gonna

make her mine

It was exciting.

Girls weren't looking like

their mothers any longer.

And boys had decided that

they would grow their hair.

Everything seemed to have

a creative energy to it.

It was kind of like

an electricity.

Every suit of armor

ever made

Has a kink

Chain mail pants

with a missing link

Thank you.

It was all changing

and we wanted to be

part of it.

We wanted to catch up.

You've got a new business

starting.

Yes, that's right. Yes.

I opened a bookshop in London.

Whereabouts in London is it?

It's in Southampton Row...

-Oh yeah.

-...near the British Museum.

It was myself,

Barry Miles, and John Dunbar.

We intended to create

a bookshop and an art gallery

in two separate locations,

but sharing a common name.

The name we chose was Indica.

How did you

come up with the name?

Cannabis indica.

We always claimed it came

from "indications."

The future.

We were telling you

what was gonna happen next.

No, we all smoked dope,

basically.

That's why it was called that.

Indica.

-The full name of cannabis.

-Oh, is it?

-Yeah.

-Huh.

You learn something every day.

Okay.

You say you want

a revolution

I would work

behind the counter with Miles

when I wasn't out on the road.

My sister Jane came in

and helped.

And actually,

her boyfriend, Paul,

was a great help too.

I remember distinctly

him helping us

the day we had to put up those

shelves behind the counter.

Kind of a useful boyfriend

to have hanging around,

who can either write you

a number one record

or put some shelves up

depending on what's required

that particular day.

We all wanna change

the world

All in all,

this g*ng of people

from Indica

and the whole scene,

you know, is trying to do--

is trying to see where

we are now.

You know, it's just

a straightforward,

uh,

endeavor kind of thing.

Just to do something

other than

what's been done before

because what's been done

before

isn't necessarily the answer.

Don't you know

it's gonna be

Alright

Indica Bookshop

is one of the headquarters

of the group of people

who've come to be known

as the underground.

It's naturally the first place

to which

the International Times

arrives

after it's come

off the presses.

After all, the editorial

offices are downstairs.

The International Times

was a modest name

for a new newspaper.

But that became

the underground newspaper

of the day.

Don't you know

it's gonna be

Alright

The thing that people seem to

get wrong a lot about Indica

is that they know it was

a bookshop and an art gallery

but they often think they were

in the same place,

which they weren't.

The art gallery was here

in Mason's Yard.

That, and I don't know

what it is now,

it looks like

another art gallery,

that was where

the art gallery was.

Oh, cool.

- Peter Asher?

- Yes, that's me.

-Can we take your picture?

-Curiously enough.

Of course you can, yes.

That's hilarious,

the timing of it.

-Mind if we take a picture?

-No, I don't mind at all.

The first 45 I ever had...

-Yes?

-"To Know You Is To Love You."

Great. Thank you very much.

-Loved it.

-Thank you so much.

I do a tour

and talk about Peter

almost every day of the year.

Oh. What do you say?

Well, this is where the '60s

musicians graduated.

They came here,

and they could

all meet each other.

It became a breeding ground

for art and music

instigated by Peter

and his friends, you know.

-Yeah. Yeah.

-Thank you very much.

To know, know, know you

is to love, love, love you

Thank you.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you. It's a pleasure.

How weird. I didn't expect

to be part of a tour.

That's totally fine.

Yes I do

How would you

describe the London art scene

at that moment in time?

Very square.

Very square, very boring.

Just sort of sh*t pictures,

I used to call it.

Indica was a great gallery.

I mean the art

and also who it attracted.

In those days, galleries

weren't really that exciting

or they didn't draw people in.

And I have to admit,

I don't think I really went

to galleries before then.

John Dunbar once boasted

he never once had

a painting on the wall.

It was all objects

and super cutting edge.

John Dunbar

had been made aware

of this Japanese American

artist called Yoko Ono

and he thought she sounded

suitably interesting and wacky

to be in our avant-garde

gallery.

People wouldn't wait

until this crumples.

You see, people are not

that patient

so they like to eat it,

you know?

Or they like to steal it.

And then, of course,

famously, uh,

when we were hanging the show,

that was one of the days

that John Lennon showed up

in his little

wide wheelbase Mini

with a chauffeur.

She was having a show

at this gallery

and, uh, she had

all these things--

all these, like,

hammer-nail things

and there was this ladder

and a thing on the ceiling.

So I climbed the ladder

and on the ceiling it said,

"Yes."

If it had said, "No,"

I would have carried on

with my preconceived ideas

about art and artists,

that they're all sort of,

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure."

But it said, "Yes,"

and that was enough.

And that... that was

how we met, actually.

Thank you.

That's very interesting,

'cause that was a nice

little round of applause.

Sometimes it's a, "Aww."

Like,

"What a great love story."

But other times, it's a...

And the most dramatic one,

which has only happened once

but was quite startling

when it did,

was as soon as the clip

was over,

John says,

"And that's when we met,"

some bloke in the audience

jumped to his feet,

pointed at me, and yelled

at the top of his voice,

"It was you!

You broke up The Beatles!"

I reject soundly

any implication

that I was responsible

for breaking up The Beatles,

but there is a breakup

for which I do accept

some responsibility

and that was the breakup

of a marriage.

Before he opened the gallery,

John was a student

at Cambridge University.

When he came back,

he was in

an incredibly good mood.

He was grinning

from ear to ear

and he told us that he had met

the woman of his dreams.

Woman, do you love me?

Woman, if you need me

John was different from

any boy I had ever met.

He seemed to know everybody

you could ever want to meet

in London.

And he was great friends

with Peter Asher.

It was clear

they were madly in love.

And when John proposed

to Marianne,

he was kind enough to ask me

to be the best man

at the wedding.

That was a very long time ago.

And it was, uh...

Weddings, weddings...

What does "best man"

mean exactly?

They were so sweet together,

Marianne and John.

Yes indeed

they were sweet,

but I suppose

I could have seen

some early signs of trouble.

About a year

before the wedding,

John called me up and said,

"Let's have dinner,"

and I said, "Of course.

And if you're interested,

I'm going to a party

after dinner this evening

and you can come with me

if you want to."

It was a party given

for The Rolling Stones.

Well spotted, yes.

Trouble ahead.

We all got to the party,

the Stones were already there,

and actually the person

who paid the most attention

to Marianne at the beginning

wasn't any one of the Stones.

It was their manager,

Andrew Loog Oldham,

and he wanted Mick and Keith

to write a song for Marianne.

It was incredible.

I was just standing there

and there was John

and Andrew Loog Oldham.

Andrew said to him,

"Can she sing?"

And that was that.

A week later,

I got a telegram,

"Be at Olympic Studios

at two o'clock. Stop.

Andrew Oldham."

As some of you

may already know,

Mick did in fact write a song

for Marianne

and much else besides.

Eventually,

they ran off together

and became the sort of scandal

of the day.

I suppose you could

charitably look at it

as being a kind of

full service best man,

you know, who gets you married

and then after your honeymoon

introduces your beautiful wife

to Mick Jagger

and off they go.

But it's not

a complete disaster

in the sense that we did end

up with a really good song.

The one that went, you know...

It is the evening

of the day

I sit and watch

the children play

Smiling faces I can see

But not for me

I sit and watch

As tears go by

What did you

learn about marriage?

Oh...

It just doesn't...

It just isn't the scene

for me, you know?

In late '66,

John Dunbar was having

domestic problems

which were coming between him

and his gallery.

I'd busted up

with Marianne,

so motivation had sort of gone

and it got to be

very difficult financially.

I really had to sort of

do business...

or not, you know,

and I kind of did not.

Well, John just didn't show up

to business meetings

or anything.

Yeah, he was just

hardly ever there.

Miles called me

and said,

you know,

"This is not gonna work."

We didn't mean for it to be

a fly-by-night operation

but it clearly was being run

in a slightly haphazard way.

Only

three years after it opened,

the Indica Gallery

and Bookshop closed down,

reflecting the end of an era.

You said what we did

From the start

Was no good

And you tried to stop...

Gordon Waller,

just half of the top act

Peter and Gordon.

Gordon, there's something

we ought to sort out.

I've been reading suggestions

that you're going to split up

and others that you're going

to continue working together.

Now, which is true?

But you cry

'cause I've gone

How would you

describe Peter and Gordon

as a duo?

They were

very different.

They were sort of chalk

and cheese, yes.

Peter was a human being.

I was just an animal.

I was something that had been

let loose into this world

and I realized it

and I took advantage of it.

I'd love to genuinely think

I regret it,

but I had so much fun

being an as*h*le.

One time we were on stage

somewhere in Ohio

or something,

and they were banging away,

playing their tunes,

and Gordon was pissed off

at something, he said,

"f*ck it!"

He just walked offstage

and left Peter onstage

by himself.

Gordon just f*ck'

walked off, man.

Gordon could get into

fairly fiercely bad moods,

and when he did that,

anything could happen.

We used to have some

pretty fearsome arguments.

I had a girlfriend

and she knew my heart

was singing rock and roll.

She said,

"You don't need Peter.

Peter's crap.

Peter can't sing.

Peter's this, Peter's that."

I said, "Well,

but we're Peter and Gordon."

"f*ck Peter and Gordon."

Gordon's made

a record on his own,

so we're not gonna do

as much continuous work

as we have been doing.

How good

did you think you were?

I think we were

perhaps not very versatile.

We only had one style,

you know.

And we weren't

particularly good songwriters,

though we wrote some songs for

albums and B-sides and stuff.

But, uh, I think we were

a very good duo.

I mean, I liked the way

we sang together very much.

Neither of us remember

the last gig we did

for the very reason that

at the time

we had no idea it was

the last gig, whatever it was.

Gordon and I

just kind of drifted apart.

We weren't sure if we were

simply on a break or what,

but it ended up that this

break lasted for 38 years.

There she was just a-walkin'

down the street, singin'

"Do wah diddy

diddy dum diddy do"

We toured

in America in 1964

with Peter and Gordon.

We had just had a number one

with "Do Wah Diddy."

She looked good

She looked fine

And I nearly lost my mind

There was one night

where we were stuck in...

I think it was

Cleveland, Ohio.

Fogbound at an airport.

I spent the whole evening

with Peter Asher,

talking,

and I could see that there was

a bigger horizon,

much bigger, for Peter.

I didn't think he was gonna

head out of music,

I just thought he was going to

head out of Peter and Gordon.

Hey, little girl

I'm in a whirl

After I left Manfred Mann,

my career was not going

the way I wanted it to go,

and I thought, "If I get

someone like Peter involved,

that would be a step forward."

So I rang him up

and I just asked.

You know, I said,

"Have you ever thought of...

actually producing records?

Becoming a record producer?"

And he said...

"Why do you ask?"

I confess,

I was surprised in the sense

that Paul provided

an opportunity

based on very little evidence.

To ask someone

to produce a record

who's never actually produced

a record before

shows a considerable boldness

and imagination

and I'm very grateful to him

for that.

And the rain will fall

It falls for you

The first track I ever did

was the Bee Gees' song called

"And the Sun Will Shine."

That was

Peter's choice, absolutely.

I don't think at that point

I even knew

who the Bee Gees were.

It was a minor hit.

It's only become notable

slightly now

because I did put

a good band together.

I wanted to take no chances

on my first time

in the studio.

I didn't realize

that Peter was going to come

to the very first session

that we did

having booked Jeff Beck,

Paul Samwell-Smith,

and Paul McCartney.

And I went, "Paul McCartney

on what?!

Drums?!"

And the sun will shine

If just for you

Peter sent me the 45, I said,

"Damn. It's really good.

How did he know?"

I was over the moon.

I couldn't believe it.

He's a producer.

Yes, it will

One of the things

I knew

is I wanted to be

a record producer.

But there I was,

a kind of half-baked,

half-retired pop star

deciding what to do next.

So it was

a very exciting moment

when, one night, I got a call

from Paul McCartney.

It's a business

concerning records,

films, and electronics,

and as a sideline,

whatever it's called,

manufacturing whatever.

But we want to set up a system

whereby people

who just want to make a film

about anything

don't have to go on their

knees in somebody's office,

probably yours.

So Paul said, "Look,

this is all going ahead.

Would you like to be head

of A&R for the label?"

Which means you're overall

in charge

of who makes

what kind of records,

who gets signed,

who produces whom,

and all that kind of stuff.

So of course I was thrilled.

It was a very huge idea.

It was gonna be

just everything.

You know, films, theater,

television, records,

spaceships.

There was just no limit

to what Apple was going to be.

Did you ever

spend any time at Apple?

Not really, but, uh,

I helped sort of name it

and start it off.

Paul and John were around

my flat on Bentinck Street...

Maybe we were on acid?

At least I probably maybe was.

...and we were talking about

what to do with the money.

What money?

That they were making.

They were The Beatles,

for f*ck's sake.

Evidently, someone

in accounting or something

had convinced The Beatles

that they had money

they needed to spend,

and among other things,

they bought

this incredible building

that happened

to be on a street

not previously associated with

the music business at all.

This is Savile Row

which, as you probably know,

is most famous, classically,

for incredible tailoring.

Handmade, beautifully made,

incredibly expensive,

made to measure suits.

You had to have

an introduction, a reference,

before they would consider

making a suit for you.

Right.

My office was top floor

on the left.

And The Beatles' office

were on

what we would call

the first floor.

Derek Taylor's

was on the second floor

and that was where

the fun was.

Derek Taylor was sort of the

public relations department

and, more or less,

the heart of the hippiness

or indeed the hipness

at Apple.

One day, he came to me

and said he had this girl,

this American woman,

who we had to find a job for.

I was

a Hollywood girl at that point

and Derek Taylor

called and said,

"I think you should come

to London.

I think you should come

to Apple.

This would be

a really good time to appear."

I had gotten there

on a Saturday.

Then, Monday morning,

boy, I was in that taxi

headed to Apple.

I had three months on my visa,

and so I was doing

anything I could

to get a job for Apple.

Anything.

I was running out of time.

But then Peter came to me

and he said,

"Would you like to be

my personal assistant?"

And I went, "Yes!"

"Absolutely."

Saved!

And then I ask you,

"What do I do?"

and you said, "I don't know.

I've never had

a personal assistant before."

So we just kind of winged it

at that point.

When I get to the bottom

I go back to the top

of the slide

Where I stop and I turn

and I go for a ride

Till I get to the bottom

and I see you again

The energy there

was just amazing.

From the time

you walked in the door,

throughout every room

every floor in that place,

there was so much going on.

During the day,

we would tend to work,

but by the time it got

to the c*ck hour,

one did tend to find

one's self in Derek's office.

-The drinks cabinet.

-He had the drinks cabinet.

I know.

And the drawer

of interesting substances.

It was a lot of Beatle madness

and weird hippies

wandering in and out.

Ken Kesey coming to visit.

The Hells Angels.

Do you remember

the Krishnas coming?

Yes, I do.

And you went, "Boy,

I hope that's not for me."

Well, it probably wasn't.

Yes, it was.

-It was?

-It was your next appointment.

Krishna, Hare Krishna

It was

kind of chaotic, I admit,

but at the same time,

one has to remember

that we did succeed

in putting out a number

of pretty good records.

And indeed,

we did try to follow

the original concept

of the label

which is that it would be

much more receptive

to outside material

than the record business

traditionally has been.

In support of that aim,

we actually took an ad.

"This man has talent.

He sent his songs in

and now he drives a Bentley."

We ran that ad

and we got huge response.

There were tapes everywhere,

all over his office.

Everything was just covered

with tapes.

They'd made a point

of saying,

"We're here to listen

to everybody's stuff,"

so we would get

just sackloads.

I had a lot of people

listening to tapes,

and then I would listen

to anything

that was even vaguely good.

Unfortunately,

most of it was awful.

I'm just gonna remember

a couple of things

from way, way ago in the '60s

when we were starting

a new record label

called Apple.

And, uh...

my friend, Peter Asher,

one day came to the office

and he showed up, he said,

"I've got this guy

from New York."

I said, "Go on. Come on,

let's have a listen to it."

And, um, for once,

it was someone really great.

Let's start

at the beginning of Peter.

How did you guys

end up meeting?

We met through

Danny Kortchmar.

The King Bees,

we ran out of gigs.

It just got to be too much.

We were playing

these shitholes.

We were playing

the dumpiest places

and we weren't

getting anywhere, so I quit.

And when I quit,

I called James.

James and I met

when we were 13

on Martha's Vineyard.

James hitchhiked

down to New York

and slept on my couch

and we made a band,

we started a band.

Now, a fish,

he kinda likes the water

I spent some time

in New York City making music

with a rock and roll band

in the Village

as paying my dues,

as they say, whatever.

...lives in the top

of a tree

But my eyes

are made for darkness

I quit that group

because New York City got

to be a little bit too much

in the commercial music

business and everything.

He had a really hard time

in New York

when we were with

the Flying Machine.

He was living in

a shitty little apartment

up on the West Side.

He was lonely,

he was miserable.

He liked playing, you know,

but he didn't like the rest

of his life very much

and, you know,

I think that's when he started

using heroin probably.

So he called his father

and his father drove up

from North Carolina,

picked him up, and drove him

back to North Carolina

where he started to rehab.

Next thing I hear from James

is, "I'm gonna go to London,

you know, uh...

Just gonna go there

and see what happens."

I said,

"If you're gonna go there,

get in touch

with my pal Peter Asher."

So he pretty much just

showed up out of the blue.

He called me up,

introduced himself

as a friend of Kootch's,

and I said, "Great,

come on over."

And he came over to my flat

and, uh, played me

the demo tape he'd made.

Then he picked up my guitar

and played me some stuff live.

I went crazy. I said,

"This is amazingly good.

I can't believe it."

A couple of days later,

I invited James

to come over to the office

and meet the proprietors.

There's something

in the way she moves

Or looks my way

or calls my name

Peter had set up

this audition with, uh...

with Paul and George.

It wasn't lost on me

how remarkable that was.

And he started singing

and it was just so beautiful

that right there and then

we said, "Okay."

And if I'm well, you can

tell she's been with me now

They listened and...

Paul said, "Yeah,

if you wanna produce him,

let's go."

I was the first person

signed to the label.

Now of course, I did want

to do things by the book.

I wrote an official-looking

memo,

and item 1: "James Taylor:

He is an American songwriter

and singer

who is extremely good."

I rest my case. You know?

I'll stand by that opinion

to this day.

In my mind

I'm gone to Carolina

The first James Taylor

album, I orchestrated a lot

and made more complicated

which was based

on my desperate desire

that James not be taken

just as another long-haired

folkie like all the rest.

So I decorated the record

to make people pay attention,

and I maybe was getting

in the way

of James and the songs

or something.

Can't you see

the sunshine?

To me,

that early Apple album

sounds primitive.

Primitive in that it's new,

it's raw.

It's a work in progress.

James Taylor

is somewhat tall

and he sings on Apple

his songs of tomorrow today

in an album

that fuses the mind to love.

It's a heavy experience.

It's all a matter

of opening up your eyes

It came out and it wasn't

particularly successful.

Got a couple of good reviews,

people were interested

in James.

People did admire

his songwriting.

I don't know if we didn't get

the album quite right or what.

I think part of it was

that at that same time,

Apple Records itself was

starting to fall apart a bit.

Some very good records

got made,

but this is when The Beatles

were falling apart themselves.

There were a lot of arguments

going on.

That's when they all started

suing each other and all that.

-Goodbye

-Goodbye

-Goodbye

-Goodbye

Goodbye

The general mood

that it created

was of impending doom.

Goodbye

And then,

at the same time...

My father was in charge

of the mental observation ward

at Central Middlesex Hospital.

He was an endocrinologist,

officially,

but treated mental patients

brilliantly.

Then one day, they decided

that the person in charge

of the mental observation ward

needed certain specific

psychiatric credentials

which my father did not have.

They took that role away

from him,

which made him very sad.

We were all horrified

and emotional wrecks.

We didn't talk about it

a whole lot, and still don't,

but, uh, it--

yeah, it changed things a lot.

I'm not generally a

particularly emotional person.

In a very English way.

Well, also, to be fair,

we were born in a w*r.

Yeah.

Emotions are not really

so much important as survival.

And, um...

You know, "stiff upper lip"

was a very important thing

'cause people are bombing you,

people are screaming

all over the place, you know.

You had to hold it in a bit.

Scary. Scary times.

Right.

Exactly.

- You alright?

- Yep.

I was concentrating

on looking forward.

I was looking forward

in particular

to building James' career.

James and I decided our future

would be best served

by leaving Apple.

So that's what we did.

We pretty much just sort of

packed up and left.

They were all busy arguing.

So I took the master tapes

out of the vault downstairs

and off we went.

Sunny Skies

sleeps in the morning

He doesn't know

when to rise

Why did you

move to California?

I'd always had that

in mind.

I mean, I'd been here

many times, of course.

I'd been to both ends

on the road.

But California was always

where I'd had the most fun.

In the '60s, I rented

a Mustang convertible

and drove down Sunset Strip.

I said,

"There's nowhere else to live.

This is it."

He knows how to

ease down slowly

Everything is fine

in the end

Now, Peter, here we are,

under a soft California sun,

lotus blossoms, champagne,

beautiful spread

you've got here.

Are you glad you left

the old country?

I'm glad I'm here.

I mean, that doesn't make me

necessarily glad

I left England.

Truthfully, I loved London.

I loved our life in London.

I wasn't keen to come back

to America, really.

But we rented a house

down on Longwood

for $450 a month.

The house was empty.

We didn't have furniture.

And it was coming up

to Halloween,

so the kids

from the neighborhood

came around trick-or-treating

and then went home

and told their parents,

"Hippies have moved in

down the street."

I came over here with

not much money to speak of.

Actually no money.

I had, like, $5,000

or something.

And I didn't really know

what I was going to do.

If James had been a failure,

I could have been sort of

down-and-out in Beverly Hills,

you know, in no time.

Ending with a friend

named Sunny Skies

When we decided

to leave Apple,

James stopped off

on the East Coast

for a bit of rehab.

I was in a withdrawal

from opiates

in western Massachusetts,

and Peter called

and said, "Listen,

I propose that we try to find

you another record label,"

and, um,

"and that I manage you."

I sort of digested that

for a while, and...

since I never had much in the

way of a good business head,

I called Paul and I said,

"What do you think of that

as an idea?"

and he said,

"I think that's a great idea."

And I said, "What do you think

one should pay a manager?"

and Paul said, "Pfft.

I don't know. One percent?"

Yeah.

Ideal was slightly better

than that, for me.

Peter

was obviously kind of a star

coming into the scene

'cause everybody knew

who he was.

He had the advantage of being

a well-known public figure

and having the added thing

of being part

of the British Invasion.

We used to hang out

at the Troubadour.

It was the hang

in the late '60s, early '70s,

for anyone in

the local LA music scene.

People always think

there's some sort of

a social scene

and a musical scene

all mixed in together

and concentrated in one place,

and usually it's not the case,

but the Troubadour was a

real case of that phenomenon.

If you weren't hanging out

in the Troubadour bar,

you should be.

And that's where a lot

of people met each other,

made friends, found lovers.

It was a happening scene.

That's when I first

got to know Peter and Betsy.

They'd invite us all

over after

and we'd hang out

and talk music.

James was there,

and Kootch, and everybody.

It was kinda an extension

of the Troubadour scene.

I was in London,

but somehow you found me

and you rang me and said,

"Would you like to come to

Los Angeles and work for me?"

Right.

So I must not have been

horrible.

And you're supposed to say,

"No, you weren't, Chris."

He said,

"You'll have to live with us."

So I did, I lived with them

and he had an office back

in the cottage, past the pool.

I think Peter,

when he got to America,

he actually kind of

let his hair down a little.

He found himself.

He actually was on his own now

and making his own career.

And not associated

with The Beatles.

When it came time

to make

the first American album,

we made a deal

with Warner Bros. Records.

And I wanted to keep it

very simple.

The Apple albums are quite

orchestrated and complicated.

So I put together

a small band.

The difference between

the Apple album

and Sweet Baby James

was that we essentially

had a band.

You know? A good band.

We already knew we wanted

to have Danny Kortchmar

play guitar, of course,

'cause we both love him

and love his playing.

And I found a drummer

who was perfect,

a guy called Russ Kunkel.

He was playing

with simplicity and clarity,

and I kinda went,

"That's my drummer."

But I was giving some thought

to who we should get

to play piano.

There's a ton of great

piano players in LA,

you know, proper studio guys

who can play anything

and incredibly dexterous

and jazzy.

But my instinct

was to avoid that.

So I had an idea.

Because by this time,

I had heard the original demos

that Carole King made

of all those songs

I loved so much.

And I realized that I loved

her piano playing.

Very simple, un-jazzy,

kind of singer-songwriter

piano.

So I went, "That would be

perfect for James."

So I got to meet Carole

through Kootch.

Luckily, he'd been in a band

with Carole called The City.

She didn't know who James was

but she agreed to come over

to my house to meet him.

I just remember Peter

gently but firmly directing,

"No, why don't you have a seat

at the piano

and James will play guitar.

Why don't you play something

that you both know?"

So we started playing.

I mean, he probably

started playing

and I picked up whatever key

it was and started playing.

'Cause one Saturday night

I was laying in bed

And I heard

that highway song

It was an amazing

musical connection.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

And that was

the beginning

of James and Carole's long

and successful

musical relationship.

We would all meet

at my house in the afternoon.

I didn't really have any

furniture, as you can see.

I did have a rented piano,

and the cat was free.

And that was about it.

With us, we rehearsed

and got to know each other

in Peter's living room

way before we went

into the studio.

So we got to know each other

and we got to learn how

to integrate our styles,

me on guitar, James on guitar,

and Carole on piano.

Empty and cold

We would go over there

in the afternoon

and sit on the floor

and James would play a song.

When Kootch and I

started working with Peter,

we had a very clear idea

about how we wanted

the music to sound

and my guitar was the center

of the arrangements

that we came up with.

That was

a relatively new thing.

We were all free to make

creative suggestions

or just play the thing

we think should be played,

and that's what made

the magic.

Peter was directing things

and he would let the thing go

wherever the creativity,

uh, was coming from.

In many ways,

he was responsible

for a different kind

of recording

beginning to happen in LA.

We would run the songs

in the living room first

and work them out,

and then go straight into

Sunset Sound and cut them.

They totally rehearsed

that album

so that when they went

in the studio,

the whole album cost $7,000.

And we got the

whole thing done in two weeks.

We named it Sweet Baby James

and it came out

February of 1970.

Our album, Sweet Baby James,

was basically the first album

where the musicians

were listed

on the back of the cover.

I do remember being

frustrated, as a music fan

and as a record collector,

not being able to tell

who these incredible

musicians were,

'cause they were not credited.

So I resolved to credit people

wherever I could.

That changed everything.

Because he'd listed

us musicians,

producers and artists

would say,

"Oh, those are the guys

that played on James Taylor.

Get them."

It changed all our careers

completely.

It gave us careers.

Take to the highway

Won't you lend me your name?

When we did

Sweet Baby James,

we didn't have

a permanent bass player,

but it was shortly after

we'd made the record

that James called me

and told me

that he'd found a bass player

as good as Paul McCartney,

and I said, "Good.

This will come in handy."

He introduced me to Lee Sklar

who has played bass on most of

the records I've made since.

Pass that way again

But you know

I could feel it

They were gonna do this gig

at the Troubadour

and they tracked me down.

So we went over

to Peter's house

and that was the first time

I actually met Peter.

And I'm sitting there,

looking at him, going,

"Peter and Gordon? Really?"

You know? I mean, it's like,

all of a sudden,

to be sitting in a room

with a guy I've seen

on Ed Sullivan.

I was fanboy.

And it was something

'cause that's the first time

I met Danny

and that was the first time

I met Carole.

So it was this whole thing

kinda came crashing together

at Peter and Betsy's house.

Kind of for all of us,

but I know for me,

I ended up going from

zero to 100 in an instant.

On a country road

Whoa

I played as a sideman

with James

and I was happy to be

a recording artist,

but at some point,

Peter, in his understated

British manner,

said, "We'd like to invite you

to go out on the road

with James,"

and I was like, "Well, no.

I have my daughters

and my life,

and I'm not a performer."

So Peter said, "No,

it's only on weekends.

We're doing a college tour

and it's only on weekends,

so you wouldn't be away

that much

and we just want you

to play piano."

She was reluctant

about playing,

and that's why she became

our opening act

at the Troubadour,

in order to experience

what was it like

to play to a live audience.

I don't know how many of you

know who Carole King is,

but, uh, I've known her

for about two years now

and I've worked an awful lot

with her,

and it's really been a

privilege and a pleasure to me

to be associated with and work

with such a fine composer.

And Carole wrote all the music

she's gonna play

for you tonight.

And some of the songs

go back quite a ways.

Please give a warm welcome

to Ms. Carole King.

Lookin' out

on the morning rain

I used to feel uninspired

I said to Carole,

simply playing the songs

she'd written

and telling people

she wrote them,

that'll amaze everyone

on their own.

They didn't know she wrote

"Up On The Roof"

and "Natural Woman"

and all that stuff.

Lord, it made me

feel so tired

That began a process for me

where I could become

a performing artist.

...like a natural woman

A natural woman

I had James out

working on the road

as much as possible.

You know, opening for people,

playing the folk clubs,

which he was starting

to sell out.

And it started to speed up.

Eventually, "Fire and Rain"

came out as a hit single

and people started to talk

about him in major terms

as being a new kind

of rock and roll.

Just yesterday morning

They let me know

you were gone

Suzanne, the plans we made

put an end to you

I walked out

on the morning

Well, I wrote down

this song

I just can't remember

who to send it to

I think Peter just got better

and better at what he did.

Producing is

a very broad term,

and sometimes it means

he's a musical prodigy,

and sometimes it means

he's a social worker

or a therapist.

And sometimes it means he

or she just enables somebody

who's musically gifted

to do their thing

and get out of the way.

And I think he probably

can wear any of those hats.

You just got to see me

through another day

So you hadn't

really been a manager before.

You've got James

and he's kind of a junkie.

Yes.

What made you so certain

you could base

your future on him?

Um, youthful naivete,

I suppose.

I just thought his music

was incredibly good

and if I liked it this much,

everyone else would too.

...and I've seen rain

I've seen sunny days that

I thought would never end

I've seen lonely times when

I could not find a friend

Throughout

some really dodgy times,

Peter stuck with me.

I think that's no small thing,

to make that happen.

Very, very few people

could do that.

As I started working

with James,

I also got to meet

his entire family,

who are extraordinary.

And I was super impressed

not only by James,

but by his sister, Kate.

When James

was making the record

in England,

I thought, "You know what?

I should go over and make sure

they're taking good care

of him."

So James took me to Apple,

introduced me to Peter.

Then, one afternoon,

Peter had a gathering

out in the country.

There was an ancient

stone-lined swimming pool

in the backyard

and James and I went down

into that pool

and we started singing.

I remember walking

by that empty pool

and hearing these

two amazing voices

and realizing that one of them

was Kate.

I got out

of the swimming pool,

I went back home,

and a month later,

the phone rings

and it's Peter,

and he said,

did I want to make a record?

I said,

"Let me think about it. Yes."

Basically.

Well, the sun

Is surely sinking down

And the moon

is slowly rising

So this old world

must still...

It was wonderful

working with Peter,

but I was green.

I was 19, excitable,

and didn't know what the hell

I was doing.

Everybody,

get on your feet

You make me nervous

when you're in your seat

Alright!

Take off your shoes...

She really wasn't

ready to go on the road.

She did, like, one night

at the Troubadour

and was fantastic.

She was jumping on the tables

and singing,

and everyone loved it,

but she blew

her whole voice out.

She was so, like,

manic with energy.

Hey! Well, honey...

I loved touring.

I loved the whole thing.

The singing, getting in front

of an audience, the band.

Loved it.

But by the time

the tour was over,

there was an inner voice

that was telling me...

"You're going down

the wrong path."

At that same time,

I was facing

my own personal dilemma.

It all began

when I was in New York

and somebody said, "You have

to go down to the Village

and hear this girl."

Whoa, you and I

Travel to the beat

of a different drum

I went down

and she was terrific.

The most amazing voice.

I've got my doubts

You can't see the forest

for the trees

She was incredible.

This barefoot, tan,

beautiful California girl

belting out

these terrific songs.

I was very impressed.

It's just that I am not

in the market

We met Linda. She was playing

at the Bitter End.

And we hit it off,

Linda and I,

and became friends.

She was fantastic.

Somebody told Peter

he should check out the show.

He had Betsy with him,

and they were so nice.

You know, they seemed to be

genuinely sympathetic

to what I did.

I told them to come

to the Troubadour.

So we hooked up there.

I was 26 years old.

I had had two hits

very far apart

and I didn't know

what I was doing yet.

I was just wandering around,

doing all this different stuff

that I liked.

I was singing

a country song here,

and a folk song here,

but it was hard for somebody

to make a cohesive product

out of it.

Linda had decided

she was gonna look around

for a manager.

And she approached people

like me at the Troubadour

because we were part

of the music scene.

I was so in love

with her voice

and her singing,

and I knew

she was gonna be a big star.

Everybody did.

It was just a matter

of getting

the right combination

of things together.

So she asked me if I had

any suggestions,

I said, "Look,

the only manager I know

is Peter Asher.

He manages James Taylor

who is a friend of mine,

and James says he's great."

So we went

to his office,

and I said,

"Will you manage me?"

and he said, "Yes."

So I was elated.

And then, about a week later,

he called me and he said,

"I have to decline."

I was crushed.

I didn't think having

two girls on similar paths

would be practical or fair,

and so I very reluctantly

said no.

He was really fair-minded

and there's always a lot

of reasons to do something,

but if there's one good reason

not to do it,

that's the reason

you should consider.

So I think the one reason

not to do it

was that it would not be fair

to Kate.

I was supposed

to go back out to California

and start on the new record.

Peter and I had talked about

what songs we were gonna do.

But as much as I was loving

being in Los Angeles

and immersed in this scene,

I was homesick too.

So I called Peter.

I called him, I said,

"I just need more time."

When Kate made the call,

I wasn't surprised, I admit.

It was clear

she was not very comfortable

in the role

of would-be rock star.

And I think Kate herself

told Linda.

She was opening

for James in Tanglewood,

and I said to her,

"You should call Peter."

I hear

that you called Betsy

and talked to her before

you approached Peter--

Oh, I probably did.

Betsy was the soft gate in.

Peter can be uncomfortable

socially.

He's shy, basically.

I'm a shy person too,

so I appreciate it.

Betsy was a good liaison

between Peter

and the rest of the world.

They worked together

very much as a team.

She had a very good ear

for songs

and for songwriters

and artists,

and I think he relied on it.

I think Betsy

was more excited

and enthusiastic about Peter

producing me

than Peter was.

I think he'd heard that I was

difficult to deal with

or something.

She did have a reputation

for being difficult.

But it was clear to me

very rapidly

she wasn't difficult at all.

Half the time, no one

had actually listened to her.

There was an awful lot of,

"Don't you worry your pretty

little head about that."

Nobody was really giving

Linda credit

for being brilliant.

Whatever masterstroke,

genius idea I had,

it was mostly just,

"Let's listen

to what Linda has to say."

And now here's

a very special guest of ours,

a very lovely distraction,

Ms. Linda Ronstadt.

I had this song

called "Heart Like a Wheel"

I'd suggested it to a couple

of different producers.

It became this sort of

test case, apparently,

'cause she'd play it to people

and they'd go, "Oh yeah,

it's quite pretty, but eh."

Some say the heart

Is built like a wheel

When you bend it

You can't mend it

Peter liked that song.

Peter understood it.

He didn't say,

"Where's the hook?"

I mean,

we're all looking for hits,

but that struck me

as a song so beautiful

it almost didn't need

to be a hit to be a hit.

It became one

of the biggest songs

of my career.

When Peter came along,

everything changed.

The records got a lot better,

the musicians he got

were all brilliant.

These are all like

the best cats,

Kenny Edwards and Andrew Gold.

Peter, back then,

was very aware

of how Linda really did well

on oldies.

He reorganized

"You're No Good."

We were doing it onstage,

but differently,

a different groove

and everything,

and the guys in the band

came up with the ideas.

Peter recognized that

from where he was sitting

in the control room,

he said, "Keep that."

Feelin' better now

that we're through

We did it a couple

of different times

'cause we were both convinced

it must be a hit

but it kept not sounding

like one.

So we did a version

that Andrew Gold

played most

of the instruments on.

He played drums and bass

and keyboards

and one of the guitars.

You're no good,

you're no good

You're no good

Baby, you're no good

We left a big section

in the middle,

16 bars I think it was,

with a sort of reggae beat.

We had no idea what we were

gonna put there.

We really didn't.

Andrew and I stayed

in the studio that night

working on some guitar solos

to fill that gap.

Multiple overdubs

and going crazy.

We'd been there all night.

And Linda came back in

the next morning,

all scrubbed and fresh

and, you know,

and we played it to her

and she went,

"Eh, I don't really like it.

It sounds like The Beatles."

Which was such

a letdown

'cause they were really

excited about it.

And I said, "I don't know.

Play it again."

They played it a second time.

I went, "This is a hit."

I'm tellin' you now, baby,

and I'm goin' my way

And then our engineer

accidentally pushed a button

and it erased everything.

By that time,

I was jumping up and down,

going, "This is really good."

And Peter didn't have a fit.

He didn't go, "Oh, woe is me."

He said, "Get your guitar out,

let's do it again."

They didn't finish until dawn.

That could have declined

into a whole,

"Your fault, your fault,

your fault,"

and it didn't.

That was Peter.

Baby, you're no good

I came in

right where her career

was blossoming.

I was working for

other producers in town.

I had not cracked

Peter Asher's circle yet.

But my good friends

were working for Peter,

so I went by the studio

one time

and my friend JD Souther

saw me

and he goes, "You gotta play

on this record, man."

And then I saw Peter go,

"Oh God."

You know, like, "Oh no."

So I'm just sitting there

listening

and I started going,

"I know what to do on this,"

and when I did it,

I could see Peter go...

"Whoa, what was that?

What happened just then?"

And after we did the take,

all of a sudden, things were

a lot warmer, let's say.

Unlike most producers,

Peter had Linda singing live

in the studio.

These songs

that were going down,

like "Blue Bayou"

is a live vocal.

I'm goin' back someday

Come what may

To Blue Bayou

Normally,

you would play a track

with what they call

a guide vocal.

But if you're going

for the performance

with the singer,

you're gonna make sure

you're on your game.

On Blue

It was extraordinary,

to be part of it.

Bayou

And the winner is...

And the winner is...

Why don't you open the letter!

Oh, Linda.

Hasten Down the Wind...

-Hey!

-...Linda Ronstadt.

I'd especially like to thank

Peter Asher. Thank you.

It's so easy

to fall in love

It's so easy

to fall in love

When I went

on the road with Linda,

Peter's concept was,

"I want the band that plays

on the record

to be the band on the road

so it sounds and feels

the same."

Peter was largely responsible

for a very, very different

paradigm.

We rehearse together,

we record together,

and we tour together.

So now we're a family.

And Peter, he was always

there with us.

He'd be out there singing

with me on my microphone.

He was always part of it.

Do I enjoy being onstage? Yes.

But I don't think I stepped

on stage gratuitously.

To my mind, at least,

I always had the excuse of

providing some

actual function.

But maybe not.

Maybe it was all just vanity.

He's a ham

like the rest of us.

You know.

You can't shake that.

-Seems so easy

-It's so easy

Yeah

We got out on the road

and we just became closer

and closer friends.

We would wind up

in some jacuzzi somewhere

with a bottle of cognac

and just completely

out of our minds.

...concerned

my heart can learn

Peter doesn't

seem like the kind of person

that would have done

a lot of drugs.

Oh, he loved it.

- He did?!

- Yeah.

Peter was always a pothead.

He loved pot.

But he maintained perfectly

on it.

I partook.

The actual quantity

we, you know...

we shall leave

for the history books.

But no, I had fun when

everyone else was having fun.

It's so easy

to fall in love

Whoa-oh

It's so easy

to fall in love

We had a lot of fun

but there were lots

of obstacles in those days.

Egos and narcissism.

And tons of drugs.

They got very heavy

in the '70s.

I'm surprised so many people

survived.

Me included.

Coke changed things, yes.

Particularly when used

in excess.

Things got a bit more intense.

They just got edgy, you know.

People spoke to each other

through gritted teeth.

Eventually, I think,

if you do enough of it,

you can just lose your grip

on reality.

And they'll start getting mean

and nasty

and saying shitty things,

and like that.

I've seen it happen

over and over again.

Cocaine was a lot of fun,

but it ruined everything.

I got taken away

in an ambulance.

Sounds like

a nervous breakdown

or something.

Yeah, it sort of was.

Yeah, it sort of was

a big one.

Betsy's brain chemistry

was too fragile.

She was a person that had

a lot of emotional problems

that we didn't realize

how sick she was.

She got to the point where

she never left the house

and, uh...

it went downhill from there.

She did end up taking

the drugs a bit seriously.

That's one of the mysteries,

is how some people can survive

drugs quite effectively,

um, and some people can't.

I got put

in Las Encinas.

I was in the nuthouse

for a long time.

She's been afraid

to go out

She's afraid of the knock

on her door

There's always

a shade of a doubt

She can never be sure

James and JD and I

were playing and then we just

started throwing words around,

and all of a sudden,

it became about Peter

and Betsy

and coming to the end

of their road.

It became about them

breaking up.

She gets the house

and the garden

He gets the boys

in the band

Some of them his friends

Some of them her friends

Some of them understand

How did

Betsy's disintegrating state

impact you and your career?

I don't know.

I mean, there's...

I don't know.

I'm sorry. I don't...

I mean, I just--

The career--

I suppose I took refuge

in my career, you know.

Somebody loves you

Somebody loves you

In 1977,

Peter Asher was clearly

the producer of the year.

And Rolling Stone

had begun doing

these awards and polls

to wrap up a year.

And then, when you're

bouncing ideas around

at an editorial meeting,

anything can happen.

They called me up and said,

"We're gonna do

a big story on you

and the fact that you manage

and produce these two acts.

Ben Fong-Torres

is gonna write the story,"

which he did brilliantly.

But they also said, "We want

you to do a photo sh**t

with Annie Leibovitz

in New York next weekend."

I went, "Yes! I'm in,"

you know.

"I'll get on the plane now."

But they did say,

"Oh, there's one more thing.

We are considering this

as a possible cover story,

but it'll only be

a cover story

if you bring

James and Linda with you

to the photo sh**t."

At that point, I'm the kind

of manager, usually,

who's very calm and rational

and kinda goes,

"We've been offered this.

What do you think?

Here are the pros.

Here are the cons.

Do you think we should

do it or not?"

But did I want to be

on the cover of Rolling Stone?

f*ck yes. So...

So I had no hesitation

in kind of bullying James

and Linda a bit.

I've been cheated

Been mistreated

When will I be loved?

I've been put down

I've been pushed 'round

When will I...

I suppose I do have

this sort of

generally optimistic view

that what I set my hand to

seems to work out okay.

I don't think it's necessarily

to my credit at all.

I think it could just be

a series

of fortunate circumstances.

But I've never really known

what I was going

to be doing next.

When will I be loved?

Tell me

When will I be

Loved?

Wendy and I first met

at a party in Malibu.

Fell in love, got married,

had a kid.

I mean...

It's not a highly original

story.

I'd never been sure

if I wanted children or not,

to be quite honest,

but I was thrilled

and delighted

when Victoria arrived.

It was a super fun

household to be in

because there was just

tons of people all the time

and different characters

that were living in the house

and a lot of creative people.

You'll never see

this few people at this table.

It's always, you know,

Wendy's, Wendy's, Wendy's,

Wendy and Peter,

Wendy and Peter.

Joni Mitchell lived

a few doors down

so we just had dinner

at each other's house

every three nights.

We'd switch.

Peter used to come home to

big old parties at our house.

He'd call and he'd say,

"Can I talk to Wendy?"

and they'd say, "Who's this?"

He says, "Peter.

I live there."

'Cause he was

on the road all the time.

At one point,

Peter had said that

he might have been just happy

producing James and Linda.

Yes, I was pretty busy.

But at the same time,

when opportunities arose

to produce other people,

particularly people

I'd idolized, you know...

-Diana Ross.

-Diana Ross, for example.

And, baby

Every time you touch me

Wish your heart

was a heart of stone

Just say

what you want to say

He was born on a summer day

in 1951

I was a good kid

Goodbye, Norma Jean

Though I never knew you

at all

Qu rosas tan encendidas

I knew absolutely nothing

about Peter

except that, um...

Here, I'll show you.

This is what I knew

about Peter Asher.

That my mom had some albums,

these Peter and Gordon albums.

And that's basically

all I knew about Peter Asher

until he was suggested

as a producer.

With a shiver in my bones

just thinking

About the weather

A quiver in my lip

as if I might cry

What we love about pop music,

those of us

who love pop music,

is that in that

three and a half minutes,

there's this kind of

ecstatic energy

and this moment of bliss.

There's an art to being able

to find those moments

and accentuate those moments

and render those moments,

and I think that Peter

has that ability.

We're never meant

to be apart

We said,

we've been working on songs.

We're thinking of it

as bluegrass,

so we didn't know

what Peter thought of that.

I love good songs

that stick in your head

regardless in which field

they're written.

What is it

that drives both of you

to take risks

and to leap off cliffs

into new territory?

I've never thought about it

as leaping off cliffs--

I just was gonna say that.

I never think of it as a risk.

A risk would imply,

"I have this career,

but if I do this

my career will go away."

Right. Yeah. Exactly.

Part of it

is just being unguided.

And seeing something,

as I say, as an opportunity.

You kind of go, "That should

be interesting or fun

or maybe I'll learn

something new if I do that."

And the winner

is Robin Williams!

-Come up here.

-Yes!

Comedy Album

of the Year

was not a Grammy

I ever expected,

that's for sure.

Robin was just a friend.

I had sort of talked myself

into the gig.

I want to thank Peter Asher.

We call him DJ Mensa.

Thank you, Peter.

God bless you.

He's English.

He knows more than we do.

God bless him.

As much as

he's great at music,

he was great at picking out

the best bits.

It's kind of like

a live music album,

so you really get the feeling,

"This is what it's like

to be on the road,"

and that's why I thanked him.

-Busting on Robin?

-Yes, I am.

-No, it was sweet.

-Gonna intrude.

This is a man--

Look at this suit.

Look at this suit.

Peter dresses amazingly

with, like, Edwardian stuff.

It's things that even, like,

a g*y leprechaun would go,

"It's too much.

Can't wear that."

Now, I would be remiss

if I were to end this show

without catching you up

on the Peter and Gordon story.

I must admit,

as those decades rolled by,

it had always been

my assumption

that we probably wouldn't

sing together again.

And then all of a sudden,

out of the blue,

we got this phone call

from Paul Shaffer

who was putting together

a benefit.

You saw in the paper

that Mike Smith,

lead singer

of The Dave Clark Five,

fell off a fence

and was paralyzed.

Cathy said, "You've got to do

something for Mike Smith,

a tribute of some kind."

And I started getting

this idea,

I could base this thing

around the British Invasion.

Cathy said, "Well, you gotta

get Peter and Gordon."

"Gotta get Peter and Gordon."

And he went,

"They're not gonna do it.

He's never gonna do it."

I said, "Ask him."

So he called me

and I realized

that if we were ever gonna

try singing together again,

this would be

the right time to do it.

I said, "I'll call you back."

He phoned me up and I said,

"Don't be silly. Of course

we'll do that for Mike.

No problem.

Get me there, I'm your man."

When I see her

comin' down the street

I get so shaky

and I feel so weak

I had to learn

to sing the songs properly,

'cause I'd been singing them

on my own

in the way that I would like

to sing them

for the last 35 years.

Peter hadn't sung them at all

for 35 years,

so I don't know

whose job was harder.

I said yes,

and then later on, it dawns

on you that saying yes

extends to the moment when

you actually have to do it,

and that was scary.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Peter and Gordon!

Go to pieces

and I wanna hide

Go to pieces

and I almost die

Every time

my baby passes by

I think it dawned

on me towards the end

we still probably

sounded okay.

People seemed to like it.

We seemed to still

sound like us.

I reach for her

but she's not there

To all of a sudden

have that harmony

alongside me

that I'd been looking--

I mean, I've tried--

I must have tried 50 people,

and no one can get close.

My baby passes by

So, thanks, Peter.

...when she said,

"Goodbye, baby"

"We'll meet again soon,

maybe"

The gig was a success

and that's when

the question came up,

"There are other gigs

available.

Are you interested

in doing them?"

And we did a few of those.

Us and our guitars.

Same way we started.

You realize that these songs

played a considerable role

in people's lives

and how much that means

to people.

You actually see people

in the audience crying.

If you miss

the train I'm on

You will know

that I have gone

If you talk

to them afterwards, it'll be,

"That's the song

I proposed to my wife.

That was our song."

...a hundred miles

Sounds like a clich,

but it actually is a privilege

to be able to be part of

an operation in reminiscence.

You can hear the whistle

Blow

A hundred miles

Thank you very much.

Just you know why

We lost Gordon

in 2009.

He was one of those who didn't

look after himself at all

and kept getting

doctors' warnings,

you know, and things.

But his voice remained

completely intact.

The beautiful baritone that

I had so fallen in love with

all the way back in school

remained

almost exactly the same.

...ways

Sometimes we'll sigh

When Gordon died,

I had the choice,

am I never gonna sing

these songs again?

That's when I had this idea

for a show that's

half talking, half singing,

that would tell stories.

So I began to assemble

what I eventually called

A Memoir of the '60s

and Beyond.

True love ways

And I get to sing the songs

with various different people

including Lyle Lovett,

or whoever, you know,

Gordon du jour happens to be.

I don't care what they say

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

-I don't care

-I won't stay

"I don't care what they say"

is unison, right?

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

in a world without love

-That's it. That is exactly--

-Okay.

Okay, great. And, uh...

Birds sing out of tune

And is that in unison?

-Do it one more time?

-I'd love to.

So I wait and in a while

I will see

my true love smile

She may come

I know not when

When she does, I'll know

So, baby, until then,

lock me away

And don't allow the day

Here inside

Where I hide

With my loneliness

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

in a world without love

What do you

think is Peter's reason

for going out on stage

at age 80 and change?

Well, he didn't start at 80.

You find yourself to be 80

and still being able to do it,

just about.

So I wait and in a while

I will see

my true love smile

Okay, your verse is coming up

pretty soon.

Stand by.

Here we go.

So, baby, until then

Lock me away

And don't allow the day

Fabulous. You sound great.

Here inside where I hide

With my loneliness

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

in a world without love

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

in a world without love

Thank you very much.

Thank you to my fabulous band.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Fantastic.

Please lock me away

And don't allow the day

Here inside

Where I hide

With my loneliness

I don't care what they say

I won't stay

in a world without love

Is it true

Mike Myers modeled

his character Austin Powers

after you?

Yeah, baby! Yeah!

Rumor has it

they modeled Austin Powers

after Peter.

Oh, really?

That's hilarious.

Does Peter know this?

I kind of...

Yes, I sort of get it.

Yes, it's possible, I suppose.

I see Peter.

None at all.

- None?!

- I don't think so, no.

The Buddy Holly glasses.

I think Peter

had a velvet suit

with a, you know,

ruffle collar.

Oh, behave!

You wouldn't voluntarily

choose bad teeth

and glasses, you know.

Yeah, but you're a pretty

snappy dresser, Peter.

Thank you. Thank you.

Yonder mountain

So high

I can't make it all

on my own

Rolling river

Why so wide?

To sweep me up

And to bear me on

And up against

the sky so bright

That I can't even

close my eyes

I know I will follow

Follow love

I know I've got to go

Follow love

Yes, I will follow

Follow love

Follow love

Growing slowly

Like a tree

Someday soon

Darling, I love you

I love you

And soft and gentle

full summer moon

To set my soul free

Thank you, baby

And drifting like a cloud

in the sky

I can see myself

from high above

I know I must follow

Follow love

Even if I'm called to love

Follow love

I guess I will follow

Follow love

Follow love

Oh, half the future

And half the past

They're waiting

inside those eyes

And after all this,

to last and last

Till at last

it's your time to rise

Rise

I will follow love

-Follow love

-I will fall in love

Follow love

Somebody

gonna hold my hand

Follow love

Somebody

gonna lead me home

Follow love

Somebody

gonna take me there

Follow love

Everybody follow love

Follow love