- 2 months ago
2 June 1996; Cliff is interviewed by Jørgen de Mylius after the concerts
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00:01Cliff, first of all, welcome to Denmark.
00:04And congratulations with the Sir title.
00:06Yes, thank you very much.
00:06It must be something very special.
00:08It is, yes, because I didn't expect it.
00:11You know, if I had been an actor, then it's possible to become a Sir.
00:15You know, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir John Gielgud.
00:19We're pop singers now.
00:20So I had no idea.
00:22So when I received the letter to tell me that I was to become a Sir, I was crazy for
00:27about a month.
00:30They use one another so aimlessly, not like lovers do.
00:38Well, I'm not like that at all.
00:45And some people belong for each other.
00:49They love to talk, hold it the other ones and they're always in the sky.
01:00Some people cry.
01:05Some people know when I hear the word underspoken with a voice and hope.
01:12When a thought is broken by a tendon.
01:16When a heart is moved.
01:19When a heart is thrown.
01:21The silence tells you you're not alone.
01:25Everyone sees the superstar Cliff Richard, some even claim they know him, at least a part of his career.
01:31But how was the little boy, Harry Roger Webb, you talked about?
01:35Well, I was born in India and I lived there till I was almost eight years old.
01:41But in 1948, I came, my father came and brought us all back to England because in India there had
01:49been some kind of civil war, some unrest.
01:52And it was a little dangerous where we were living.
01:54So he thought it was not fair for us.
01:55So he took the family and we came back to England.
02:00But I had a very good childhood.
02:02My memories of India are wonderful.
02:03Flying kites and having wonderful holidays in the north of India with my grandparents.
02:08And then when we came to England, of course, things were very bad for us because my father had no
02:13job.
02:13The war was only just finished.
02:16So we had no money.
02:18Okay.
02:19So it was a difficult time.
02:21It was when the English empire and so on, it was a big change to come back.
02:25Yes, it was.
02:26Because when we were in India, of course, we had, my father had a very, very fine job.
02:30And we paid for nothing.
02:32The people that we had, we had people that worked for, cooked for us and looked after us, the children.
02:38We didn't have to pay for the home.
02:40We didn't have to pay for any food.
02:42So we had a very, very fine lifestyle there.
02:45And when we came back to England, it was more difficult for my mother and father because we, as children,
02:51it doesn't matter where you are.
02:53Your children, you find friends, you play.
02:54It's nothing.
02:56But I think it was very difficult for my mother.
02:58You mentioned your mother.
03:00Rumor says that you have always been mother's little boy.
03:03Is that true?
03:04Well, all four of us are mother's children, you know.
03:07I don't know whether...
03:09But you more than me.
03:10No, not me more than anybody else.
03:11But I think somehow, as I'm the only son, it maybe makes a difference.
03:15But I never...
03:16She never said that to me.
03:17Oh, okay.
03:19You say you're gonna dab her, honey, please, let's face it.
03:25You just don't know what's going to replace it.
03:31Biles like a little, have or nothing on it.
03:34Real country music that just drives along.
03:39Yeah, honey, move it.
03:43Yeah!
04:11Come on, birdie, baby.
04:12Yeah, let's move it out of the room.
04:14Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
04:17Whoa, whoa, whoa.
04:20Dance, honey, dance, baby.
04:22Please don't lose it.
04:24Hey, hey, hey, yeah.
04:27Hey, hey, yeah.
04:29It's all over town.
04:31There's a brand new beat.
04:33Na, na, na, na, na.
04:36Na, na, na, na, na.
04:39And it's a hangin' in the air like a Mississippi heat.
04:43Before Elvis, there were wonderful singers like Sinatra and Crosby and Teresa Brewer, Rosemary
04:49Clooney, but they didn't inspire me to be like them.
04:55Yes, I recognize how good they were, but they were not for my generation.
04:59When Elvis came, many, many young people wanted to be like Elvis, and I was one of those people.
05:04So he influenced me completely.
05:06If you listen to the B-side of Living Doll or Traveling Light, you'll find rock and roll songs where
05:12it's obvious that I'm trying to sound a little like Elvis.
05:17But with songs like Living Doll, of course, I found a style that was my own, and I slowly moved
05:22away from that.
05:23But I still feel that if there had been no Elvis, then no Cliff Richard.
05:30All right.
05:32Did you, or do you have any other idols, Michael Schumacher, Michael Jackson, or any other Michaels?
05:37But no, I mean, I like tennis players.
05:39I mean, yeah, I have, yes, I like to watch people like Agassi and Sampras, and in fact, the French,
05:45watching the French Open, you know, you suddenly realize it looks so easy.
05:49Yeah.
05:49You know, when you watch.
05:50But it isn't.
05:50No, and I go to Wimbledon every year.
05:52About two years ago, they asked me if I would want to be a member of the Wimbledon Club, and
05:57I said, oh, yes, please.
05:59So I go to the every day of the tournament, and you sit and watch, and it really is inspiring.
06:05It's like Elvis for singing.
06:06You watch these wonderful players, and they make it look so easy, you know, and then you go home and
06:11try, and you realize it's not so easy.
06:13Yeah, that's right.
06:14Talking about idols, as a teenage superstar in a big part of Europe, only 17 years old.
06:20How did you cope with the success?
06:22Well, it wasn't so difficult, I suppose, because we were really the first.
06:26You know, the Americans were, they gave us, they gave the world rock and roll.
06:32But it was obvious that after a little while, America could not take control of rock and roll.
06:37It belonged to everybody, even though it comes from their roots.
06:40And even from them, it comes from Africa, you know.
06:42So as soon as we started, when we started, we were 17 and a half, it was so exciting, you
06:49know.
06:50I couldn't believe that one year before I was in school, the next year I was making a record, and
06:55before I was 18, my record was number two in the charts.
06:59So it was just very, very exciting.
07:01And I don't think we had the same pressures as they have now.
07:06But did you stop up and did you have time to enjoy it?
07:10Oh, yes.
07:11No, no, I loved it.
07:12I enjoyed every minute of it.
07:14It was, remember, I was 18, so I was heading up towards my 20th, 21st birthday.
07:19I'd already had my childhood, you know.
07:21Okay, I think it made me grow up more quickly.
07:24But that's not such a bad thing.
07:26But I was an immature person anyway.
07:28I don't think I really, I never really felt I was a man until I was 30.
07:33Before that, I still felt like a child.
07:35Then it is the question, when are you growing up?
07:38It's very difficult.
07:39It's difficult.
07:40It's different for different people.
07:41I still believe, though, that the age, you know, in England, I don't know if it's the same in Denmark,
07:47but you used to be given the key of the door.
07:50When we were 21, that's the time officially we were supposed to be grown-up men and women.
07:55And they make it 18 now.
07:57And I see some 18-year-olds and think, well, they're not really grown-up.
08:01They're big boys and girls, but they're not really men and women yet.
08:07Is that too much to ask, or do you think that I'd be asking too much?
08:41I wish you'd change your mind and stay.
08:48It's really much too late to play the games
08:56All I want is just to talk to you
09:03I'd even sing it if you want to
09:16Have you ever doubted that being unmarried was so vital for your career?
09:20It wasn't the beginning, but not now.
09:22No, I mean, nobody minds now.
09:24If I want to get married tomorrow, I could be married and nobody would mind.
09:26No.
09:27But when I was starting out, it was the time when rock and roll was very, very new.
09:32And if a rock and roll star was married, he kept it a secret.
09:36Didn't tell anybody.
09:38The fans.
09:39Yes, because the fans, I don't know why, they're not the same anymore.
09:43They're different.
09:45But the fans seem to want to believe that you belong to them.
09:50And I can remember I was going out with a girl and we were leaving a theatre in London.
09:54And I sat in the front seat, the driver was on the other side.
09:57And some of the shadows were in the back.
09:59And my girlfriend got in and she sat on my lap in the front seat.
10:02Because there was no more room.
10:05And I went to wave to the fans and I saw them throw my photographs and going, stab me like
10:09this.
10:10It's very frightening.
10:11I was there.
10:12I was 18 years old.
10:13My career was only just beginning.
10:14And I thought, oh.
10:15So, you know, I started to keep my girl...
10:17It answers my next question.
10:18Because it was, how is it possible to take such a decision so young, so early, with all these girls?
10:23But I must admit, I must have made a decision very early on.
10:27I mean, I didn't want to spoil my career for any reason at all.
10:29Nothing at all.
10:30And now, nowadays, it doesn't matter.
10:32It really doesn't matter.
10:33I could have been married many times and people wouldn't care.
10:38But I don't want to be married now.
10:40Do you feel any jealousy?
10:42I'm available, though.
10:46So, you're not, I mean, you don't think that you're the only one.
10:50There's no space for another person in your life.
10:53Oh, yeah.
10:53I mean, that's what I mean.
10:54If you, you can never cut it away.
10:56No.
10:57If it was going to be, then it's fine.
10:59You make space.
11:00You have to make space.
11:01That's the big decision.
11:02Most people don't make that decision.
11:04They don't make space.
11:04And that's why three out of five people are divorced.
11:08But if you thought to yourself, before I make this decision,
11:11I have to remember that I'm going to make a commitment
11:13to another human being.
11:15And I have to make space for that person in my life.
11:17There's no games here.
11:18We can't play games.
11:19This is not just saying, let's go to bed.
11:21You know, this is about a commitment.
11:23And I don't think people make the commitment.
11:25That's why I think, in a way, my decision was a really good one.
11:28I did think about it.
11:30And because I respect marriage, as a Christian,
11:33I believe it's something that's given to us by God.
11:35Therefore, I'm not going to fool around with it.
11:37If I get married, it'll be forever.
11:39A lot of young people today, they think,
11:42oh, let's marry, we can all be divorced.
11:44Yes, that's right.
11:44But that doesn't come into the Christian thinking.
11:47No.
11:47Not at all.
11:48Even if I was married and it went bad,
11:50I still wouldn't become divorced.
11:52You're not afraid of, in many, many, many, many years,
11:55to be alone.
11:57No, I'll never be alone.
11:58Well, I've got many friends who are also,
12:00some of them married, some not married.
12:01We all get old together.
12:02And they'll always be coming around.
12:04And at 80, I'll still be playing tennis.
12:06Okay.
12:06It really doesn't matter to me
12:12I guess you're leaving what's meant to be
12:16It's down to you now
12:18You want to be free
12:23Well, I hope you know which way to go
12:28You're on your own again
12:33Don't come crying to me
12:35When you're the lonely one
12:40Remember what you've done
12:43Come on
12:43Oh, it's so funny
12:47How we don't talk anymore
12:53It's so funny
12:56Why we don't talk anymore
13:20Keeping the young look, the slimline, the smile for such a long time must be very difficult.
13:26Well, I think keeping fit is difficult these days
13:29You know, we eat very well now
13:30And what I have to try and do is
13:32I eat good food, but I try not to eat too much
13:34So I try to stick mainly to one meal every day
13:39And then I take vitamins
13:40Because if you only have one meal
13:42Then you can't have enough vitamin pills
13:43So I take some vitamins
13:46But exercise is really important
13:48And I started making some exercises
13:50Because I wanted to put on some weight
13:52To make muscle
13:53Muscle
13:54But it's much more difficult
13:55And I only succeeded in putting on seven pounds
13:57And it doesn't even show
13:58You don't smoke?
13:59No
14:00No, I never smoke
14:01Do you have a drink?
14:02Yeah, I like wine
14:03I enjoy, I do enjoy wine at my dinner
14:05But not a lot
14:07No, gone are the days
14:08There have been about four occasions in my life
14:11That I can remember back
14:12When I was much younger
14:13When I became drunk
14:15And I didn't like the feeling
14:16And I kept thinking to myself
14:18I don't understand it
14:19But I know some people
14:21They wait for Friday
14:22Just to become drunk
14:23And I found it always a terrible pain
14:26I was sick
14:27I had headaches
14:28I thought
14:29This can't be right
14:30But four times
14:31It's very, very little
14:32It's four times that I can remember
14:34And I didn't like it at all
14:35So now if it happens
14:36It would happen by accident
14:36And I heard a story about
14:38You don't touch candy
14:39Is that right?
14:40Sweets
14:40Sweets, yeah, right
14:41Well, yeah
14:42But I don't have any great craving for candy
14:45But I don't mind
14:46But it's not boring
14:48In my Danish ears
14:49It sounds a bit boring
14:50Not to
14:52What, to be alive
14:53No
14:53And healthy
14:55No, no
14:56It's unfortunate
14:57But some of the nice things
14:58That you want to do
15:00The thing that stops my life being boring
15:01Is that life is full of disciplines
15:03And there's nothing boring about discipline
15:06In fact, it keeps you thinking all the time
15:08So that sometimes you say to yourself
15:09Okay, this weekend
15:12I'm going to eat chocolate
15:14Because I don't eat it every day
15:15And then I have a fantastic time
15:17Sit in front of the television set
15:19And then after that
15:20I don't have it again for six months
15:21Okay
15:22But that's called discipline
15:23And that's because I would rather be alive longer
15:26I'd rather be bored and 400 years old
15:28Than really have a fantastic time
15:30And be dead when I'm 40
15:32Because I'd be dead by now
15:33Sure, sure, yeah
15:33It matters to me
15:34Because I think life is so fantastic
15:36Look where we're standing
15:36I'm looking around
15:37You can't see it
15:38But I'm looking out here
15:39And I can see
15:39There's a tree that blossoms and stuff on it
15:41If I was drunk
15:42I wouldn't appreciate this
15:43If I was drugged
15:44I wouldn't even see it
15:45I would see something quite different
15:47You said in the middle of the 50s
15:49You look like 40 maybe
15:51And you probably heard it many times
15:53How do you do that?
15:54Is it what we've just been through with the food?
15:57Well, some of it is that
15:58I do think
15:59You haven't had a facelift?
16:00Not yet, no
16:01But I will
16:03I think some of it is to do with exercise
16:05And eating good food
16:07And not doing anything to excess, you know
16:11Everything in moderation
16:13That helps
16:14But I do think also that I must be very lucky
16:16These are words of hatred
16:20Words of contempt
16:24Only one who loved her could sing
16:32Only one who suffered
16:36And the hands and the heart
16:39Of a woman who stole
16:43Both his life and soul
16:48Be with me always
16:52Possess me and pardon me
16:55Take any harm or take none
17:03Be with me always
17:07In flesh or as a ghost
17:11And you'll learn
17:13As the edge shall survive
17:18Learn what your sin has done
17:26Who is my protector
17:31Whence comes my help
17:33Who is there to come
17:37But she
17:41God shall be my witness
17:44That I pray she will know
17:48Not one moment of rest
17:52In the cold, cold ground
17:57Be with me always
18:01Possess me and pardon me
18:05Take any harm or disguise
18:12Be with me always
18:16Share all my despair
18:20And to learn
18:21Nothing justifies
18:29God bless you
18:30Jesus doesn't come into your life
18:32And leave you exactly as you were
18:35The whole reason for a conversion
18:38You know, conversion is
18:40Like you can convert a river
18:41You know, if it flows this way
18:42And you put a big dam here
18:44It goes like that
18:44And it turns and it comes around
18:47And that's what conversion is about
18:49So when I became a Christian
18:51My lifestyle changed
18:52I started to go in different directions
18:55I started to think differently about myself
18:57And I thought differently about other people
18:59And if you do that
19:00It affects everything in your life
19:02So even my career has
19:03I have a different approach to my career
19:06I think a much more positive approach
19:08To my career than I had before
19:09So it made a very big
19:12And a lasting impression upon me
19:15I heard that you give away
19:16A big part of your income
19:18To charity
19:19To the church
19:19You're not afraid of being abused
19:21No, not at all
19:22Because I'm not a crazy person
19:23I mean, I'm not a baby
19:24I know
19:25And also I formed a special trust
19:27And one of the men
19:29Who works for me in my office
19:30He looks after that money
19:31And he receives many, many requests
19:34But he checks it all out
19:36And says, you know
19:37Yes, I think this is a good one
19:38That maybe not so good
19:39This one
19:40So when we give the money away
19:42We feel certain
19:43That we're helping people
19:44Who really need help
19:45I mean, one person
19:46Trying to help is nothing really
19:48You know, mine is only one charity
19:50And it's not a very big charity
19:52Because it's only me
19:53But I still work
19:55Alongside that
19:55I still work for organizations
19:57Like Tier Fund
19:58Which work in many, many
19:59Third world countries
20:00And to me, that's even more important
20:03Because you reach bigger groups of people
20:06But it's a necessary part of life
20:08I think
20:08If you're a responsible human being
20:10You have to recognize how lucky you are
20:12And then say
20:13Look, I can have a part to play
20:15I remember somebody saying once
20:17That one man cannot change the world
20:21But you can change the world for one man
20:25Did you lose any friends
20:26When you sort of closed your door
20:29And opened the Christian door?
20:31No, I didn't
20:32No, I didn't lose any friends
20:33I think they thought it was very strange at first
20:37And they didn't understand
20:39But after all these years
20:40You know, they realized that it was for real for me
20:43That it was not a gimmick
20:45And they're still my friends
20:46And they know that
20:47I don't think myself any better than they are
20:50In fact, really, when I look at some of my friends
20:52I just feel more lucky than them
20:54Not better
20:54More lucky that I found this God
20:57Because I still have friends who are not Christians
21:00How does one know that one is Christian?
21:04Well, there's one very simple fact of realization
21:09If you read the New Testament
21:11There are pieces in the Bible that says
21:14The person that has the Son of God
21:16Has life eternal
21:17The person that has not got the Son of God
21:20Does not have this life eternal
21:22So there's one indication there
21:24That really Jesus is the answer
21:26So I remember lying on my bed one night saying
21:28Okay, Jesus, I would like you in my life
21:30Please come in
21:31I think anybody that says those words
21:33Or words like that
21:34Then they will know
21:35That God, who does not tell lies
21:38Receives them immediately
21:40And so I know
21:41I know that I'm a Christian
21:42Even though I know I'm not a very good Christian
21:44None of us can be like Jesus
21:46But we have Jesus to look at
21:47We try to be like Him
21:48So that all the things we've talked about
21:50Only came into my life
21:52Because I'm a Christian
21:53Giving my money to charity
21:55Working with charities like Tearfund
21:56That, I never did that before
21:58And so
22:00Because I've given my life to Him
22:03I can feel the difference in my life, you know
22:06And therefore I can look back and say
22:07Yes, I am a Christian
22:09Because these things happen to me
22:10I do these things
22:11Why do I do these things?
22:12I don't always want to do them
22:13But I'm motivated by Jesus
22:15And He remains a part of my life
22:17But basically
22:18If you say
22:20Jesus, I'd like you in my life
22:23And you mean it
22:23And only you know
22:25If you mean it
22:25Yes, for sure
22:25He has to come in
22:27That's the promise
22:33Come tell me I'm married
22:35I'm fired off the job
22:36Maybe I got my misery
22:37But I had a lot of fun
22:38Oh baby
22:40Yeah, baby
22:42Woo
22:44Baby
22:45Having me some fun tonight
22:49Stop the job
22:50With the long gone selling
22:51Come to me
22:52Come and let me
22:53Get back in the alley
22:54Baby
22:54Yeah, yeah, baby
22:57Ooh, baby
23:00Have a little fun tonight
23:02Take it away
23:19Gonna have some fun tonight
23:21Have some fun tonight
23:25Have a little be alright
23:27Have some fun tonight
23:30Have some fun, have some fun tonight
23:33You sound somewhere like a very happy monk or something like that.
23:38You're no women, no alcohol, no cigarettes.
23:42Are you a happy person?
23:43I am happy.
23:45I do drink alcohol, remember?
23:46I don't smoke, but I have a lot of women friends.
23:49But the only reason why, if I give the impression of being happy and settled,
23:53it's because I'm inside, I'm settled.
23:57Spiritually, I'm settled.
23:59And I'm happy spiritually.
24:01Sometimes if my record doesn't get any airplay, I feel real sad.
24:05I mean, I can't help it.
24:05I'm a human being.
24:06You know, and when I've been through relationships that have broken down, you know, you feel bad.
24:14But deep down, inside, I'm a settled person because spiritually, I feel I'm walking in the right direction.
24:23Programmeet var produceret i samtidig.
24:25I'm all I've been through relationships with one of my traditions that I've been there.
24:25People don't have to come back in.
24:25You know, I have to get and Post-Überувати.
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