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00:01Saxon.
00:02No.
00:03Tragedy waiting to happen.
00:06A well-made song will take you places that you would never expect to go.
00:10We have become pop stars.
00:14You are saving the world.
00:15This is our mission.
00:16What the smurfing?
00:30I'm John Link.
00:56I'm John Link.
00:58This show is called Words and Music.
01:02. . .
01:22Come on and go . . .
01:27With me . . .
01:31There's something new for you . . .
01:35To see . . .
01:39Come on and go . . .
01:43With me . . .
01:47Yeah, yeah.
01:49There's something new for you . . .
01:55To see . . .
01:59Just relax . . .
02:03Just relax . . .
02:07Oh . . .
02:13Oh-oh-oh-oh.
02:19Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh.
02:23something new for you when it hits you wonder what to do relax let me move you
02:33don't resist in the air just one taste will take you there
02:40flow right through you I know you're getting tired of the same old thing well I'ma break the rules
02:49gonna change again you'll be screaming my name and I'ma take you places you never seen you could
03:00picture this in your wildest dreams but don't fear cause you're here with me let's get lifted
03:14I'm gonna get you high I'm really gonna blow your mind
03:19we'll get lifted
03:25you're gonna feel it in your soul baby you will lose control
03:29we'll get lifted
03:35oh oh oh oh oh oh oh once you take a hit of this you won't ever want to quit
03:47you'll be so addicted
03:53oh have you spinning round and round crazy making
03:57freaky sounds you won't want to come down
04:03but I'll be seeing things and hallucinating even walking funny cause your legs are shaking
04:10all night we'll be blazing all night we'll be blazing I'll take a fork to the other side we can get high enjoy
04:20the ride hold tight we'll be all right we'll get lifted
04:24all right
04:26we'll get lifted
04:32I'm gonna get you high I'm really gonna blow your mind
04:36we'll get lifted
04:38we'll get lifted
04:42we're gonna feel it in your soul maybe you will lose control
04:48we'll get lifted
04:50we're gonna feel it in your soul baby you will lose control
04:51we'll get lifted
04:53Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, come on and go with me, I'll take you high, high, high, high, I will show you, I'll take you high, high, high.
05:23I will show you, I'll take you there, come on, let me take you there, yeah.
05:53Words and music, now people always ask me, which comes first, the lyrics or the melody?
06:07I usually start with the musical chords and then I start singing a vocal melody and I see where those things lead me.
06:17I mumble nonsense, syllables that make no sense over the melody until the lyrics sing themselves to me.
06:28And when the words and the music are a perfect match, the combination feels inevitable, kind of like a good marriage.
06:41My first album came out on December 28th, 2004, on my 26th birthday, a day my life changed forever.
06:53The album was called Get Lifted.
06:57Tonight I'd like to share with you the story of how I became the man, the artist, who wrote those songs and made that record.
07:08It was quite a journey.
07:10I started the album and tonight's show with the album's title track.
07:15When I decided to call the album Get Lifted, I was borrowing a phrase from Sunday morning church service, a phrase that could mean spiritual elevation.
07:28But of course, I was creating a secular album, an album of soul music.
07:33And I'm not the first to do that.
07:34Soul music has a rich tradition of artists who straddled that line between the sacred and the secular.
07:41There are artists like Sam Cooke, who took gospel music and changed the lyrics from the sacred to the secular.
07:50Ray Charles took a church song called It Must Be Jesus and turned it into I Got a Woman.
07:57Aretha Franklin, the daughter of a popular preacher, took her gospel singing and musical style and infused it into soul music that shot to the top of the pop charts.
08:09Yes, Marvin Gaye was another preacher's kid.
08:13He made sensual music infused with the spiritual.
08:19So to understand me and where my music comes from, you have to go back to the church.
08:26I was born and raised in Springfield, Ohio.
08:29I was born as John Roger Stevens to Phyllis and Ronald Stevens.
08:34My family belonged to the Pentecostal church and I was there from the womb.
08:39We weren't just part of the church.
08:41We were the first family of the church.
08:43My grandfather was our pastor.
08:45My grandmother was our church organist.
08:47My mother was the choir director.
08:48And my father was a deacon who taught Sunday school, played the drums, sang in the choir and drove the church band.
08:54So I grew up going to a lot of church.
08:56A lot of church, Bible study, revival service, choir rehearsal.
09:04It shaped every aspect of my world.
09:06It was the foundation for my music, my family, and my education.
09:11Now, if you know anything about the Pentecostal church, our services are not boring.
09:16It's one of the more charismatic and energetic denominations within the Protestant tradition.
09:22We shout, we dance, we speak in tongues.
09:28And the music serves as the catalyst and the soundtrack for all of that.
09:33So my childhood was steeped in that music, steeped in the church.
09:38And that was the foundation for everything I did after that.
09:40When I got to college, I tried to make as much music as I could.
09:44I sang in an acapella group.
09:46I started writing my own solo music, and I still found a way to keep playing in church.
09:52I was hired to lead the music at an African Methodist Episcopal church in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
09:59It was at that church in Scranton that I met a young lady in my choir.
10:03Her name was Tara Michelle.
10:05Now, Tara loved to sing in the choir.
10:07She also loved my music, and she believed in me.
10:10And she also happened to be very close with a woman named Miss Lauren Hill.
10:17Yes.
10:17Now, Miss Hill had already taken off with the Fugees by that time.
10:22Killing Me Softly was a massive song.
10:24The score was a massive album.
10:27She was beautiful, stylish, phenomenally gifted as a singer and rapper and actor.
10:33And she was working on her highly anticipated solo debut.
10:38So Tara wanted me to meet her.
10:40And she said, Johnny, why don't you drive me over to Lauren's studio in New Jersey?
10:45It's just a couple hours away.
10:46So we drove to a house just outside of Newark, New Jersey.
10:50The house had a studio in the basement.
10:52And there was this incredible collective of musicians in the room.
10:57Several gifted writers and producers and instrumentalists who helped her make the album were all there.
11:03And they were writing a song.
11:05And I was trying my best to stay out of the way.
11:09Just witness the magic, stay in the cut.
11:12But when they were taking a break from writing, my friend Tara said, Johnny, this is your opportunity.
11:19Why don't you sit down at that piano and play and sing a couple songs for Lauren so she can hear what you can do.
11:26And so I sit down at the piano and I start singing for her.
11:30And I sang an original song that I'd written in school called Too Late.
11:34And then I sang a Stevie Wonder song called Love's in Need.
11:39And I guess she liked what she heard.
11:40And she asked me to play piano on the track they were working on then.
11:45You remember that one, Everything is Everything?
12:01Well, that was me on the piano.
12:04Now, I didn't know if they were going to use the track.
12:06I didn't know if they were going to use my piano parts for the track.
12:09But a few months later, I get a call from a woman named Suzette Williams.
12:14She was an A&R at Columbia Records.
12:17Now, she was Lauryn Hill's A&R.
12:19She wanted to know how to spell my name for the album credit.
12:24So I said, oh, you want to know how to spell my name?
12:29I said, it's John R. Stevens.
12:33For some reason, I thought I should include my middle initial R.
12:35John R. Stevens sounds like a great lawyer, somebody who could do your taxes.
12:42Not the best stage name, John R. Stevens.
12:45But then they asked me how much I wanted to get paid.
12:47And I said, I don't know.
12:50I'll call you back.
12:54So I reached out to my friend who had some experience interning in the music business.
12:59And I said, how much did I ask for?
13:02He said, ask for $500.
13:04I was like, all right.
13:07That was a lot of money for me back then.
13:09So I called Suzette Williams back up and I said, I would like $500.
13:18Suzette quickly agreed, quickly.
13:22No negotiation necessary.
13:27I told you that was a lot of money for me, so it was all good.
13:29A couple months later, the miseducation of Lauryn Hill comes out and it just takes the world by storm.
13:36You remember what it was like?
13:37It was the most talked about, most acclaimed album of the moment.
13:41She wins all the Grammys.
13:43She's on top of the world.
13:44And for a while, that's my claim to fame.
13:48I went back to school for my senior year.
13:50I told everybody, that's me playing piano on track 13.
13:5313, everything is everything.
13:56Look at my name, John R. Stevens.
13:57I said it so much, they started calling me track 13.
14:02Meeting Lauryn Hill at that point in my life was an amazing stroke of luck.
14:09They say luck is when opportunity meets preparation.
14:12And I'm so glad I was ready to make the most of that opportunity.
14:19Another lucky break happened a few years later when I was living in New York City.
14:23I had graduated.
14:25One of my roommates was a fellow Penn alum.
14:28Name was Devo Harris.
14:31Devo introduced me to his cousin, an up-and-coming rapper and producer from Chicago.
14:37His name was Kanye West.
14:40Yes, Kanye West.
14:40Now, Kanye and I began to work together, writing songs and making demos.
14:46When Kanye's first album, The College Dropout, became a huge hit, I was all over it.
14:51My profile was rising.
14:53Kanye was producing me.
14:55He really elevated my sound and made it feel more urgent and more ready for prime time.
15:00He brought his hip-hop production and sensibility together with my musicality and my roots in gospel and soul.
15:07And we made something together that was fresh and beautiful.
15:13Get Lifted became what it was because we worked together, because of our connection, the merging of our sounds.
15:20And I also had a pretty significant impact on The College Dropout as well.
15:25You hear my voice and musicianship on a lot of his records, too, even when you don't know it's me.
15:30I'm the one who sang that high-pitched, exotic-sounding instrument on Jesus' walks.
15:36I said, that was me.
15:49And my music kept evolving, kept getting better.
15:53And I could feel that I was getting closer and closer to where I wanted to be.
15:55In fact, during this time, before I got a record deal, I wrote most of what became Get Lifted.
16:02Songs like Used to Love You and Let's Get Lifted and So High and more.
16:08And speaking of Used to Love You, shall we sing that song together, everybody?
16:14That was my very first single.
16:17Some of you might be shy, but I want you to sing like nobody's paying attention.
16:21Are you ready?
16:22Your part's really simple.
16:27You say,
16:28Holla, holla, holla.
16:35Are you ready?
16:37One, two, three, let's sing it.
16:44Come on.
16:45Maybe it's me, maybe I bore you.
16:56No, no, it's my fault, cause I can't afford you.
17:01Maybe, baby, Puffy or Jay-Z would all be better for you.
17:08Cause all I could do was love you.
17:11Baby, when I used to love you, there's nothing that I wouldn't do.
17:17I went through the fire for you.
17:20Anything you ask me to.
17:22But I'm tired of living this life.
17:24It's getting harder to justify.
17:27Realize that I just don't love you.
17:32Not like I used to.
17:34Come on.
17:45Maybe I should rob somebody
17:48So we could live like Whitney and Bobby
17:54It's probably my fault, my bad, my loss
18:00That you are above cost.
18:03All I could do is love you.
18:05Baby, when I used to love you, there's nothing that I wouldn't do.
18:10I went through the fire for you.
18:13Anything you ask me to.
18:16But I'm tired of living this life.
18:18It's getting harder to justify.
18:21Realize that I just don't love you.
18:25Not like I used to.
18:27Come on.
18:32Oh, baby, when I used to love you, there's nothing that I wouldn't do.
18:54I went through the fire for you.
18:56But I'm not going to play the fool.
18:59No, I can't live this life.
19:01And I can't justify.
19:04And I can't make it my right.
19:06Because I don't love you.
19:09Not like I used to.
19:10Come on.
19:11Come on.
19:15Come on.
19:16Give it up for yourself.
19:27You sound good.
19:29Now, if you remember the music video for Used to Love You, you'll remember we set it out of church with a choir in the background singing the holla, holla, hollas.
19:41And some of my earliest memories are of being in choir rehearsal with my mother, with my maternal grandmother.
19:51I wasn't allowed to sing in the choir just yet, but I was young and I was hungry.
19:55And I kept begging for them to let me sing.
19:59Let me join the choir.
20:01They finally let me join the choir when I was seven years old.
20:04I was the only young kid in the choir.
20:06And they had to make a special custom choir robe for seven-year-old Johnny.
20:11I was singing in the church, and that gave me that first taste of the joy and the thrill that I still feel right now when I'm with you.
20:22The feeling of making a crowd happy from connecting with them and feeding off each other's energy.
20:29And when you hear me playing the piano today, you're hearing my maternal grandmother's influence.
20:34I would go to her house on Sundays after church, and she would teach me how to play gospel piano.
20:41And my parents were prominent in the community.
20:43My dad was a factory worker, built trucks for a living, but he's also an artist, a painter and a tailor.
20:51And my mother was this brilliant, bright light, a gorgeous, talented woman with a beautiful singing voice.
20:57And she was beloved in our community, a sort of local celebrity.
21:01She sang at a lot of the churches in our area.
21:04And when I got a little older, my mom would bring me along to sing and play with her, too.
21:10So you would look at all that and say, what a wonderful family.
21:13They're raising their kids in a healthy environment and giving them a good, solid foundation.
21:18But in the middle of all that, a major trauma shook our family to the core.
21:26And it caused a rupture that was lasting and really affected my entire adolescence.
21:34When I was 10, my maternal grandmother, the one who taught me to play piano, died suddenly from heart failure.
21:44She was only 58 years old.
21:48I was heartbroken.
21:50Our whole family and community were.
21:53But nobody was more lost than my mother.
21:57They were so close.
21:59They'd led the choir together, spent a lot of time together.
22:02And after her mother died, my mother spiraled into depression and addiction.
22:08And for a decade, she was out of our lives.
22:12In losing my grandmother, then my mother for a time, I lost the two people who were most influential in my music and education.
22:22They had disappeared.
22:25These losses forced all of us to step up.
22:30But it especially forced me to step up as a musician.
22:34I had lost my mother and my grandmother, but our church had lost their organist and their choir director.
22:42So suddenly, I had to play the keyboard, direct the choir, assuming musical and leadership responsibilities at the age of about 12 or 13 that were very far beyond my years.
22:55But all of that helped me prepare for what was to come.
23:00Because when you're leading the music in the church, you're arranging vocals, you're coming up with ideas for what to sing.
23:07You're in charge of making the service move.
23:10It turns out to be perfect training for what I do now.
23:15And as I was moving into adolescence, I kept growing as a musician.
23:19My musical horizon started to broaden beyond gospel music as well.
23:25This is the early 90s, so I got into R&B from the 90s.
23:29You remember the 90s?
23:30Some of y'all do.
23:32I love music like Jodeci and Boys to Men, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Luther Bandros, Guy, Tony, Tony, Tony.
23:44And then my dad would play us music from his era, too.
23:47He loved Motown.
23:49He loved the Smokey Robinson classics and Temptations.
23:53He would walk around the house singing,
23:56I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.
24:02So many great soul artists.
24:05A lot of those same artists who bridge the sacred and the secular.
24:09And those artists are still with me.
24:12They're still in my hand.
24:14And you can hear them in my music.
24:18You can hear them in songs like this one from Get Lifted.
24:23It's the oldest song I wrote on Get Lifted.
24:28A song called Stay With You.
24:30We've been together for a while now
24:48Growing stronger every day now
24:52Feels so good and there is no doubt
24:56I will stay with you
25:00As each morning brings a sunrise
25:03And the flowers bloom in springtime
25:07On my love and you can rely
25:11And I'll stay with you
25:12And I'll stay with you
25:15I will stay with you
25:18Through the yawks and the downs
25:22I will stay with you
25:26When no one else is around
25:29When the dark clouds are right
25:33I will stay by your side
25:37I know it will be alright
25:40I will stay with you
25:45Though relationships can get old
25:55Have the tendency to grow cold
25:59We have something like a miracle
26:02We have something like a miracle
26:02Yeah
26:03And I'll stay with you
26:06I will stay with you
26:10Through the yawks and the downs
26:14I will stay with you
26:17When no one else is around
26:21When the dark clouds are around
26:25I will stay by your side
26:28And I know it will be alright
26:31I will stay with you
26:36And I'll be here
26:39Heartaches and pain
26:41Through it all
26:46We will remain
26:48In this life
26:53We are known
26:54Friends may come
26:56And they may go
26:58But through the years
27:00I know
27:01I will stay
27:03In the end
27:07I know that we'll find
27:08Love so beautiful and divine
27:12We will be lovers for a lifetime
27:16But I'll stay with you
27:20I will stay with you
27:23Through the yawks and the downs
27:27I will stay with you
27:30When no one else is around
27:34When the dark clouds are right
27:38I will stay by your side
27:42And I know it will be alright
27:45And I'll stay with you
27:49Everything will be fine
27:52And I'll stay with you
27:56Through the end of all time
28:00I will stay with you
28:06Let's talk about Ordinary People
28:21Ordinary People was almost a Black Eyed Peas song
28:29One day in 2004
28:34Will.i.am invited me to a session
28:37To write with him
28:38And he asked me to come
28:39And write some hooks
28:40For the Black Eyed Peas
28:41And he would just play me
28:43Musical ideas and beats
28:44And I would sing
28:45Whatever ideas came to my head
28:47So he starts playing this beat for me
28:49I'm listening
28:55And eventually
28:56I start singing a little bit
28:59I said
28:59I told you my songs start out as gibberish first
29:16I just sing melodies until I figure out what I want to say
29:20And I finally figured out that night
29:23What the lyric for the chorus for that song would be
29:26And I recorded the chorus for Ordinary People that night
29:31And it was supposed to be a Black Eyed Peas chorus
29:36With a hip-hop beat
29:38But after a few days
29:40I told Will.i.am
29:41You know what
29:42You can keep all the other ideas we wrote
29:45But I want to keep Ordinary People for myself
29:48I'm glad I kept it for myself
29:51Aren't you glad I kept Ordinary People for myself?
29:53The song really connected with people in 2005
30:03That stark, simple arrangement
30:06Didn't sound like anything else on R&B radio
30:09And I think people connected with the honesty
30:13The heart in the lyrics
30:16And that became my signature
30:19I wrote the songs that helped people
30:24Voice their most intimate thoughts on love
30:27The balance that helped them profess their commitment
30:30And grapple with the complexities of their relationships
30:33And honestly
30:36I didn't know what I was talking about
30:39I wasn't in a serious relationship at the time
30:41But my family inspired me
30:46I told you the story of my mother getting caught up in addiction
30:50She was even incarcerated for a time
30:54And I've learned through experience
30:58That people going through those mental health and addiction struggles
31:02Don't need more punishment and more brutality
31:05They need more help
31:09They need more love
31:10You'll be happy to know my mother's been sober for decades now
31:15She's in good health
31:19She's a wonderful grandmother
31:21We love having her back in our lives
31:23And she's been one of my inspirations
31:25When I put myself out there
31:27For a more just and merciful criminal justice system
31:31For ending mass incarceration
31:34Around the year 2000
31:37My mother started to return to our family
31:40She literally had a come to Jesus moment where
31:44She re-embraced her faith
31:47And started to surround herself with people who could support her
31:50Help her get off drugs and stay off drugs
31:53She even reconciled with my father
31:57Yes, my parents remarried
32:00A fairytale ending
32:06Until it wasn't
32:09Right around the time
32:13I was writing this song
32:15Ordinary People
32:15My parents had been remarried for a few years
32:19And they decided they didn't want to be remarried anymore
32:21They got divorced for a second time
32:25So they were my inspiration
32:31When I wrote that song
32:33We're just ordinary people
32:36We don't know which way to go
32:38Girl, I'm in love with you
32:44But this ain't the honeymoon
32:46We're past the infatuation phase
32:51Right in the thick of love
32:56At times we get sick of love
32:59It seems like we argue every day
33:03I know I misbehave
33:07You've made your mistakes
33:10We boast
33:12Got room left to grow
33:14Though love sometimes hurts
33:19I steal
33:20But you first
33:22And we'll make this thing work
33:25But I think
33:26We should take it slow
33:29We're just ordinary people
33:32We don't know which way to go
33:38Cause we're ordinary people
33:43Maybe we should take it slow
33:49Take it slow
33:53Oh, oh, oh
33:56This time we'll take it slow
34:01Take it slow
34:04Oh, oh, oh
34:07This time we'll take it slow
34:13This ain't a movie, no
34:18No fairytale conclusion, y'all
34:21It gets more confusing every day
34:24Sometimes it's heaven sent
34:29Then we head back to hell again
34:32We kiss, then we make up on the way
34:36I hang up, you call
34:40We rise and we fall
34:43And we feel like we're just walking away
34:48But as our love advances
34:52We take second chances
34:55Though it's not a fantasy
34:59I still want you to stay
35:03We're just ordinary people
35:06We don't know which way to go
35:11Cause we're ordinary people
35:16Cause we're ordinary people
35:17Maybe we should take it slow
35:23Oh, oh, oh
35:26We're just ordinary people
35:28We don't know which way to go
35:34Cause we're ordinary people
35:40Maybe we should take it slow
35:46Take it slow
35:49Oh, oh
35:52This time we'll take it slow
35:58Take it slow
36:01This time we'll take it slow
36:10Take it slow
36:14Slow
36:17This time we'll take it slow
36:22Take it slow
36:26Baby
36:31Baby
36:32Baby
36:32Baby
36:32We'll take it slow
36:34Baby
36:36We'll take it slow
36:38This time
36:46We'll take
36:49We'll take take it slow
37:11Take it slow
37:12We'll take it slow
37:14Take it slow
37:17Oh
37:26It's slow
37:47So I told you about my unfortunate stage name John R. Stephens
37:54So you may be wondering how did John R. Stephens become John Legend
38:03Take you back to the early 2000s
38:07During those sessions with Kanye and we were working with a spoken word artist from Chicago named Jay Ivey
38:14now Jay
38:16heard me singing
38:18playing and doing all I was doing on those college dropout tracks and
38:23He was impressed. He said ma'am
38:26We're gonna have to call you the legend
38:30Okay, obviously I'm an old soul. I've got this throwback voice this throwback style and
38:37he thought I should be called John Legend and
38:40He started calling me that Kanye started calling me that and I and I laughed it off at first
38:45But after a while a bunch of people in our crew started calling me John Legend then Kanye's putting out mixtapes and
38:52Referring to me as John Legend he put out another mixtape put it in the credits song by John Legend
38:59All right, all right, so this
39:02Name I hadn't officially chosen was starting to gather some momentum
39:07I was gently being nudged in that direction and I had to make a decision
39:11I'm starting to think about it should I make it official or not?
39:17I've been performing as John Stevens for my entire life, but more and more people began to know me as John Legend
39:23So I had to decide whether or not I was gonna assume this stage name now part of me is saying
39:28How you gonna call yourself?
39:30Legend you don't even have a record deal yet
39:33there
39:35But maybe the better part of me said you know what we're gonna make this work
39:41This name is going to announce my presence. It's gonna make people pay attention
39:47And then I just got to go and live up to it
39:49I believed in myself enough as a musician as an artist to believe that I had the ability within me
39:56To live up to this name and I didn't want to doubt myself so much that I wouldn't take the name because I was afraid of the name
40:04It was time for me to stop hedging my bets
40:09Stop worrying about my backup plan
40:12Start to bet on myself and on my future have faith in myself and my purpose
40:19So I was like fuck it
40:22I'ma call myself John Legend
40:27Okay, so I'm in the studio calling myself John Legend
40:33I'm introducing myself to record labels as John Legend
40:36And that's when my lawyer told me we had to trademark the name John Legend
40:44And lo and behold
40:49There's a porn producer
40:51I kid you not a porn producer who dabbled in rockabilly music and he went by the name Johnny Legend
41:00Now the key with trademark laws is if you're in the same business
41:05You can't have a name that confuses the marketplace
41:09So the fact that he made music made rockabilly music and his name was Johnny Legend meant that
41:15There was a possible trademark infringement case. So we had to figure this out. We had to find
41:21Johnny Legend
41:23Negotiate with him
41:25Cut a mutually exclusive deal stating that he was Johnny Legend
41:29Johnny Legend and I was John Legend
41:32He wouldn't sue me. I wouldn't sue him
41:35He wouldn't try to get into the soul music business pretending to be John Legend
41:40And I'm happy to make clear that I kept my side of the agreement
41:46I didn't produce any porn
41:49Didn't make any rockabilly music pretending to be Johnny Legend
41:54We worked it out
41:56So John Legend signed to Columbia records in May of 2004
42:02Get lifted came out like I said on my 26th birthday December 28th
42:092004 and you know what it really did feel like a new birth
42:14Like a new birth
42:15That's why so much of the mood of the album is one of optimism and celebration
42:21That's why I wrote songs like so high
42:27Like so high
42:28Like so high
42:29Like so high
42:34Like so high
42:35Like so high
42:36Like so high
42:37Like so high
42:41Baby, since the day you came into my life, you made me realize that we were born to fly.
43:02You showed me every day new possibility, and you proved my fantasies of love could really be.
43:16Let's go to a place only lovers go, to a spot that we've never known, to the top of the clouds we've flown.
43:30To the way, ooh, this feels so crazy, all this love is blazing.
43:41Baby, we're so high, walking on cloud night.
43:50So high, so high, so high.
44:01Oh, maybe later we could go up to the moon.
44:12We'll sail among the stars before the night is through.
44:23And when morning comes, we'll see the sun is not so far.
44:29And we can get much closer to God than where we are.
44:35Oh, we'll go to a place only lovers go.
44:41To a spot that we never know, to the top of the clouds we've flown.
44:49To the way, ooh, this feels so crazy, all this love is blazing.
44:59Baby, we're so high, walking on cloud night.
45:10So high, so high.
45:18Ooh, this feels so crazy, all this love is blazing.
45:35Baby, we're so high, walking on cloud night.
45:53You got me up so high.
45:55You got me up so high.
45:59You got me up so high.
46:03You got me up so high.
46:06My shoes are scraping the sky.
46:10Ooh, ooh, ooh.
46:26Ooh, ooh, ooh.
46:32Yeah.
46:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:38Let's go.
46:40Let's go to the moon, ooh, let's go to the moon, ooh, let's go, go to the moon, baby.
47:10So, so, so, we're so high.
47:40You know, I played you a couple beautiful songs about being deeply in love on Get Lifted.
48:04But I was a fraud. I didn't know what I was talking about.
48:10It wasn't until after that album that I actually was able to know for myself what it felt like to be deeply in love.
48:19It started in 2006. My second album, Once Again, was about to come out.
48:24I had a photographer friend named Nabil Eldigan, and he had the idea to make a music video for a song that he loved from Once Again, a song called Stereo.
48:34And his video treatment would feature me and a love interest.
48:38Who to cast?
48:40Well, he had recently worked with this up and coming model at a billabong photo shoot, and he thought maybe he should cast her.
48:51So he showed me a picture of her and asked me if I wanted her to play my love interest in the video.
48:58And I, I said, yes.
49:00I looked at those pictures and I was like, yes, absolutely, please do cast her in the video.
49:07And that's how I met my future wife, Chrissy Teigen.
49:16We shot that video in mid-September 2006.
49:21We had instant chemistry, and I fell in love with her.
49:27I fell in love with her sense of humor and how dynamic and spontaneous she is.
49:34She's the fire to my ice.
49:37She makes my life a lot more exciting.
49:39And she can cook.
49:41Oh, yes, she can cook.
49:42Lord, she can cook.
49:44Make you want to write a song.
49:47So I proposed to her in 2011.
49:51We got married in Italy on September 14th of 2013.
49:55Our rehearsal dinner, the night before our wedding, was the exact seven-year anniversary of the day we met.
50:01And in another full circle moment, on that day, we finished shooting the music video directed by that same director that introduced us,
50:11Nabil Eldakin, for a very special song that I had written for Chrissy, a song called All of Me.
50:18I was excited about it when I finished, and I wanted Chrissy to hear it.
50:25But I didn't play her the record.
50:26I sang it for her.
50:28I whispered it in her ear.
50:30And she cried.
50:33I don't want to embarrass her, but she did cry the first time she heard this song.
50:38She doesn't cry like every time she hears this song.
50:40She's heard it like a billion times now.
50:42But she cried the first time, and she knew it was for her, from the first lyric,
50:48What would I do without your smart mouth?
50:55And for our wedding reception, I got to sing it live for the very first time.
50:59And, of course, it's been a part of some of people's weddings and celebrations since then.
51:04But the first time I sang it live was at our own wedding, in the presence of our family and friends.
51:11And I want to sing it for you tonight.
51:13Is that all right?
51:15Applause
51:17What would I do without your smart mouth?
51:32Drawing me in and you kicking me out.
51:36You got my head spinning, no kidding.
51:41I can't pin you down.
51:44What's going on in that beautiful mind?
51:48I'm on your magical mystery ride.
51:52And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright.
52:00My head's under water, but I'm breathing fine.
52:07You're crazy and I'm out of my mind.
52:13Cause all of me loves all of you.
52:20Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections.
52:27Give your heart to me.
52:31I'll give my heart to you.
52:34You're my in and my beginning.
52:38Even when I lose, I'm winning.
52:42Cause I give you all of me.
52:48And you give me all of you.
52:58How many times do I have to tell you?
53:03Even when you cry and you're beautiful too.
53:06The world is beating it out.
53:10I'm around through every move.
53:14You're my downpour.
53:16You're my muse.
53:18My worst distraction.
53:20My rhythm and blues.
53:22I can't stop singing.
53:25It's ringing in my head for you.
53:30My head's under water, but I'm breathing fine.
53:37You're crazy and I'm out of my mind.
53:42Cause all of me loves all of you.
53:49Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections.
53:56Give your all to me.
54:00I'll give my all to you.
54:04You're my end and my beginning.
54:07Even when I lose, I'm winning.
54:11Cause I give you all of me.
54:17And you give me all of you.
54:29Cries on the table, we're both showing hearts.
54:36We're risking it all though it's hard.
54:41Cause all of me loves all of you.
54:48Love your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections.
54:55Give your all to me.
54:59I'll give my all to you.
55:02You're my end and my beginning.
55:06Even when I lose, I'm winning.
55:10Cause I give you all of me.
55:16And you give me all of you.
55:23Oh, I give you all of me.
55:32And you give me all of you.
55:37And you give me all of you.
55:40Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
55:50Thank you so much.
56:07I began my life as a musician in the church.
56:13And music has always been about elevation for me, bringing us closer to God, helping us experience our humanity and our spirituality at their highest heights.
56:32Helping us feel more love, making our world more beautiful.
56:38And as we celebrate the album that began my career, I'm so grateful.
56:48I'm grateful for the legacy I'm building and for the soul music tradition that I'm continuing.
57:00I'm so honored that my music has been a part of your lives and that you've been such a huge part of mine, that we've been getting lifted together for all these years.
57:17Here's to many more.
57:24Thank you so much.
57:31I give you all of me.
57:39And you give me all of you.
57:48Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
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