The following is a transcript from a telephone interview with Eddie Money, conducted on January 7, 2010.
Your publicist mentioned that I should ask about your never-ending tour and workaholic personality.
Well, you know, I’ve got five kids and I’ll do anything to get out of the house. (laughing)
Is that what keeps you going?
Yeah, well I work a lot too. If I don’t work a lot, I think I’d lose my musicians to Survivor or Styx or Foreigner. Somebody would pick them up cause I’ve got really good guys back there. I always feel like it’s not really work cause what we do is really a lot of fun, you know. I look forward to hitting the stage and getting out there and rocking and rolling. It brings a lot of people back to a different place and a different time with songs like “Two Tickets to Paradise” and “Baby Hold On”. It’s like me listening to “Sgt. Pepper’s”, you know?
Oh I agree, but after forty years in the business, aren’t you looking forward to enjoying some of this success from the sidelines and relaxing or are you just going to keep going?
Well, I don’t know. I play a lot of saxophone and the more you play sax, the better off you’re going to be. So every time I hit the stage, I’m going to be a little bit better on the horn, which is great. I don’t know, to me it’s like, what am I going to do? Kick back and do nothing?
Yeah, but with your acting gigs, the musical and everything else, I think you’d have enough to keep you busy.
Yeah, but I got the kids too! (laughing) And I’ve got my daughter’s (Jesse Money) career, which is taking off, which is great. She was on the TV show “Rock the Cradle” and she’s a great little singer. She’ll be out there doing her thing as well and you’ll love her.
So, she’ll be with you on the 15th?
Yeah, yeah, she’ll be there, sure.
Is she the only one of your kids who is interested in the music business?
Actually, one of my sons plays drums, another son is going to Berkley School of Music, and he’s a guitar player. All of the kids have turned my garage into a studio, so now I have to get my car washed ten times a week, which really sucks. Yeah, they play a lot of music and I think they’ll do well. Of course, I really wish they’ be doing something else besides music because they all look at me and say, well dad made it and he’s not that good. (laughing)
I’m sure they don’t say that.
No, I guess they think I’m good but I don’t think they’ve got a realistic approach to music cause I made it and I’ve got all the gold records on the wall around the house and a lot of awards from people, stuff like that.
Do you worry about them following in your footsteps?
Yeah, I don’t think that music is really a very lucrative field, you know? I think that they should probably be going into law or medicine or computers or something else but, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.
You really sound all wrapped up in the family thing, which is something that you don’t hear from a lot of rock stars.
Well, what are you going to do? I mean, my father never forgave me for quitting the police department, even though I became a rock star. You know, once a cop, always a cop.
Is the whole family outlook what got you involved with your extensive charity work?
We do a lot of work for the kids. We work with the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric Aids Foundation; I do a lot of work with the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association. We do a lot of charity work cause I think that part of being a rock star is giving back. As a matter of fact, a portion of our merchandise sales goes to charity.
That’s really great that you put so much time into helping others.
Thanks.
Tell me about this musical you’re doing based on your life.
Oh, the music’s great. If you want to our website (http://public.me.com/singereddiemoney) you can download the script and the music. I think that the music is really great. They’re kinda Broadway tunes, they’re not rock tunes. There’s a song called “I Only Want The World For You”, which my mother sings to me while my brother’s in Vietnam and I’m getting ready to leave home. There’s another song called “There’s No More Goodbyes” that I sing outside my mother’s door when I’m sneaking out to go to California. It’s got some great material.
How strange is it to be on stage watching someone else play out your life?
It is kinda weird cause the kid that plays me, I mean he’s a pretty good actor but he wasn’t singing correctly. But they’re really cool kids and we’ll see what happens with the play. Broadway’s kinda crowded right now, so we might put the play out in Las Vegas or someplace else.
What should we expect at the show on the 15th?
I think the show’s going to be great. I’ve got a really great band; Tommy Girvin on guitar and he’s been with me for twenty-three years. He’s a great guitar player; I think he’s one of the best guitar players in the country. Glenn Symmonds is on drums; he used to play with a reggae band called The Untouchables. He’s got great hands man; he can snap those sticks like you wouldn’t believe. We have Lee (Beverly) on bass; he’s a great bass player. The whole band has been together for at least eight or nine years, so everybody’s in the pocket and with twenty-six songs in the Top 100 it’s easy for me to write a set list. But believe it or not, the fans wrote the set list and I have to knock on wood cause we’ve been getting great reviews. The fans were right; they wrote a better set list than I did. We end the show with “Walk on Water” and “Baby Hold On”.
What about the audience reception to your newer material?
You know, we do some of that. The last CD I did was songs from the 60’s. We do “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Love is Lifting Me Higher and Higher” and “You Don’t Know Me”. Really, it’s a fun record and we sell them at the shows.
