- 10 months ago
Sara x Ann Wilson
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😹
FunTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Sarah, and this is How I Wrote That Song.
00:03Today, we're talking to a singer-songwriter who's been ranked as one of the best in rock history
00:08since she made her debut in the 70s with her band, Heart.
00:12And with Heart, she has sold over 35 million records, and she also has a wealth of solo material.
00:18She's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and she is nominated for the Songwriters Hall of Fame,
00:23and she is a trailblazer for generations of women in many musical genres.
00:28We welcome Anne Wilson. Thank you for taking the time today.
00:32Well, my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
00:35Of course. So, on this series, we highlight specific tracks throughout an artist's career,
00:41and I wanted to start not at the very, very beginning, but close to it with Barracuda.
00:46So, at the release of this song, it was 1977, Little Queen, and we had already heard Crazy on You and Magic Man.
00:54We were already well aware of your abilities as a songwriter and as a singer,
00:59but Barracuda is interesting because it's got this great grit to it.
01:04It's got teeth. What do you remember about composing that song?
01:07Well, just that it was one of those songs that just came out of the air.
01:18There was no real effort.
01:21Like, I didn't have to sit there and belabor the words, you know, and figure out what I wanted to say.
01:26I had a problem with somebody who had insulted me and my sister, and I was really angry, and so they just went down on the page, you know.
01:42And then the groove was actually, the guys in the band were playing around with that groove in soundcheck,
01:54and it just had this galloping, driving thing about it that was perfect for the emotional impact of the song.
02:06It sounds like it was a very organic track.
02:10Totally, yeah, yeah.
02:13Didn't have to think too much about it.
02:15Just let my emotions flow.
02:17Nice.
02:18So when you write a song, and maybe it's typical, maybe it's not,
02:23but do you prefer to have a lyrical idea or a vocal melody in mind first and then put it to music,
02:29or would you rather have some music that exists first and then put words to it?
02:36Each song is different.
02:38They all happen, each one happens in a different way, but generally I will get an idea in my head from a phrase that I hear somebody say or I catch somehow in the ether.
02:56And then, like with my solo band, the Amazing Dogs, they are incredible musicians that come up with these great musical ideas just on their own,
03:12and that's been really inspiring for me.
03:17Is that your current band?
03:18Yes.
03:19Very cool.
03:20So after Barracuda and after Little Queen came Dog and Butterfly the very next year,
03:27and compared to a song like Barracuda, it's so delicate sounding, right?
03:34Yeah.
03:34Well, that was the thing about hard is that it could go all places.
03:40It wasn't just like a heavy grinding rock band.
03:43It could do that for sure and have it be real, but we also, Nancy and I came out of a folk background,
03:51and we came from a house with parents who listened to all kinds of stuff, Ray Charles and opera and operetta and just all kinds of music.
04:03So it wasn't much of a stress for us to write something like Dog and Butterfly.
04:09I mean, Nancy, at that time particularly, was a beautiful acoustic player and was really influenced by Paul Simon.
04:21Yeah.
04:22Yeah.
04:22You can hear that in that track in particular.
04:25Yeah.
04:25And so that was just, and at that time that that song was written, everyone we knew was reading Shogun, you know, the book Shogun.
04:37So there was an Asian influence in our whole camp.
04:43And in the artwork, too.
04:45Yeah.
04:46Yeah.
04:46And so that's where the story came from of the young person going up to like a guru and getting a simple little, just look at the dog and the butterfly.
05:04Yeah.
05:04So is there any truth to the legend that you looked out the window and saw these two animals frolicking and that imagery came to life?
05:12Yeah.
05:12At that time, I had an old English sheepdog and she was just so playful and like a big Disney dog, you know, and she just, she was playing with a butterfly.
05:25And of course, she'd never catch it, but the butterfly was really mischievous and was playing with her.
05:31And I thought, that's a metaphor, you know?
05:35Yeah.
05:36See, I would see that nowadays and be like, oh, that's a Pixar movie in the making.
05:40Right.
05:41Yeah.
05:41That was a song.
05:43Right.
05:44Were you living in Seattle at this time?
05:47Yes.
05:48Yeah.
05:48You've spent most of your life in Seattle, right?
05:51Yeah.
05:52How would you say that place has influenced your songwriting?
05:56Well, Seattle is a really good place for artists because it's so dark and dreary so much of the year.
06:04So you're, you're, you're inside a lot and you're looking for things to do.
06:09And the creative outlet is, is really a good place to put your energy through all the dark months.
06:18So, you know, you're not out having fun in the sun necessarily.
06:22You're at home reading or writing or painting or playing guitar.
06:27It sounds, I've never been, but it sounds contemplative.
06:32It's beautiful.
06:34Nice.
06:34I want to fast forward to the nineties where you had a side project with your sister called the Lovemongers and you put out an album called Whirly Gig in 1997.
06:45And this came after a period of, you know, Hart had been working for a while with some outside writers and co-writers and all of that.
06:55So what was it like to have this side project to get back into your own songwriting?
07:02Oh, it was liberating.
07:03It was, um, our transition back toward our true selves from the more corporate eighties, uh, pose that we had been posing as for the last few years and, uh, doing other people's songs, which, which as a singer, I never really got into because there was not that much depth involved.
07:29There was no real substance to those songs.
07:33There were more kind of stable writers, you know, the LA writers pool that was just writing for the radio.
07:44And, you know, once you start writing to get on the radio, you're not leading anymore.
07:51You're, you're a follower.
07:53Um, that chapped my eye, you know?
07:58Sure.
07:58I think the other people in the band loved the eighties because they were playing guitars and synthesizers and it was more fun for them, but it was, it was pretty flat.
08:11So the love mongers were a really great escape from that and coming back into our own.
08:17Um, and, um, and we did a few of our own songs and we did a whole bunch of covers.
08:22The love mongers was a vocal band, heavy harmonies and, um, it was a gas.
08:29Nice.
08:30Well, with those songs, uh, and by those songs, I'm referring to the ones that you didn't have as much of a songwriting hand in.
08:38Like, um, I'm thinking of these dreams and alone from that eighties era.
08:45Um, they became such huge hits regardless of how you felt singing them.
08:49Um, so how do you feel performing them now?
08:52Has it taken on any sort of meaning for you?
08:55Because you performed them so well.
08:57I think that those two songs you mentioned were about the best two.
09:01Um, sorry.
09:05It's okay.
09:06We're about the best two from that era.
09:09Um, I think alone was a great song and these dreams is a great song.
09:14And what about love is a great song.
09:18Um, so it wasn't completely without merit, but, um, yeah, those, those are.
09:25Um, fun songs to sing that do really have some punch to them and, and, uh, went over well live.
09:36Well, on your new solo album, which you released just this year, you have a mix of original material and also covers, which is really interesting to listen to.
09:47It's quite the journey as a full album.
09:50I absolutely love it.
09:51I was wondering about the song Black Wing.
09:53Can you tell us about that one?
09:55Yeah.
09:55Um, Black Wing was written during the height of the pandemic.
10:01And, uh, and it was the time when we were all just staying home.
10:09We were totally living in fear of catching COVID because it was bad before the vaccinations.
10:18So nobody went out and, um, it's just day after day after day.
10:23I was looking out the window at the, um, my husband and I live on a river, looking at the river and looking at the seabirds and everything that were around.
10:36And, and, and, uh, and, uh, after a few months, I started talking to them and, and, and kind of bonding with them because they were out there free, you know?
10:47And, um, and, um, so that's, that's when I started writing Black Wing.
10:53Um, we live out in the country and it seemed like we were isolated, not only because of COVID, but because of being so deep in the countryside.
11:03I felt like we were on a, uh, uh, asteroid or something.
11:07And, um, in your own universe, striking up conversations with animals sounds a lot better than, you know, talking to some inanimate object, which during lockdown, I think a lot of people found themselves doing, but, uh, that's, that's really beautiful.
11:23I mentioned that there are a handful of covers on this album when you are trying to pick out a song that is already recorded, already out there, not your own.
11:35What do you look for in a cover song?
11:38What appeals to you?
11:40Well, for me to get really excited about doing a cover, it has to have a real emotional impact.
11:49That I can pour myself into because I feel on stage, like, um, that's what I'm there for is to really tell a story that has meaning and depth.
12:03So it has to have a real good story.
12:06It has to have emotional impact and it's gotta be, um, full of beautiful melodies and a song like forget her by Jeff Buckley has got all that, you know?
12:19You know, um, love of my life, the queen song.
12:25Beautiful thing.
12:26Yeah.
12:27So beautiful.
12:28Uh, this year you also collaborated with disturbed on their new album, which is pretty cool.
12:34A song called don't tell me you and David dream and both vocal powerhouses.
12:40So it's another really fun.
12:42Listen, how did that collaboration come about?
12:45Well, they, they got in touch with me and they, they, I think they were just sitting around one night and they were going, well, you know, disturbed has never had a guest artist.
12:57Um, but if we were going to have one, who would it be?
13:00And somebody else said, well, somebody like Ann Wilson.
13:03And then somebody else said, well, let's just call Ann Wilson.
13:07So they call me.
13:09And, and, uh, of course I said yes right away.
13:12Cause I'm a, I love disturbed.
13:14I love David Freeman.
13:16I mean, he's such an intelligent singer.
13:18And, uh, uh, he's like a almost Shakespearean, um, and just has all this grit or tenderness, you know, I love the way he says his words and it's just, it was really an honor to get to sing with him.
13:38Um, yeah, like I said, a very cool track and a very cool surprise as I'm listening to this disturbed track, your name comes up.
13:46And I thought at first I was a little taken aback and then it's, you know what, this makes sense.
13:51This makes perfect sense.
13:52Cause like I said, both of you have this very operatic presence.
13:56It's, it's a really great blend.
13:58Yeah.
13:58Yeah.
13:59Very cool.
14:00So next year, 2023, believe it or not, marks 50 years since the formation of Heart, the band that got all of this started.
14:09Do you have any plans to celebrate that milestone?
14:13Well, right now, um, not really.
14:16I mean, we're just, we're just kind of doing our solo things right now.
14:24And, and, uh, I'm not one for big memorializing stuff.
14:29You know, I, I think that it's going to be good just to, just to let it live.
14:36And, um, we are, is it okay if I talk about the Grammy?
14:41Yeah.
14:41Yeah.
14:42We are, um, uh, going to get a Grammy for lifetime achievement this year.
14:48Wow.
14:49That's amazing.
14:50Yeah.
14:51Congratulations.
14:54Wonderful.
14:55So that's one way to celebrate.
14:57Yeah.
14:57See that, that seems like the ultimate way to me.
15:03Excellent.
15:04Yeah.
15:04Well, and thank you so much for taking time out of the day.
15:08I see that you're, uh, hard at work in the studio.
15:10Is there anything that you can tell us about that?
15:12Well, we're working on our, me and the amazing dog.
15:15So we're working on our second album together.
15:18And so far we have about nine or 10 songs that we all really like.
15:25And, uh, we're going to write a couple more and then we're going to start tweaking them and
15:31hopefully have an album out.
15:35We'll just say, uh, September, May, May.
15:40Sorry, sorry, sorry.
15:41Yeah.
15:41Correct.
15:42Yeah.
15:42September.
15:43Sometime in 2023.
15:44It sounds like.
15:46September.
15:47Yeah.
15:49Excellent.
15:49Well, very much looking forward to hearing that.
15:52And if you have not heard it yet, definitely go listen to Fierce Bliss.
15:58And thank you so much for talking about your upcoming projects and your legacy today.
16:02It's been an honor.
16:03Oh, well, thank you for having me.
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