- 1 day ago
Matthew McConaughey opens up to Rolling Stone about the 10 songs that have soundtracked the Oscar-winning actor's life. He also reveals how he uses music to prepare for acting, dating back to his role in 'Dazed and Confused' with director Richard Linklater: "I just start making an album of what I'm hearing that I like a lot because I'm already listening through the the ears of my character and I'll put those playlists together."
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00:00I'm Matthew McConaughey, and this is My Life in 10 Songs.
00:08Pink Houses by John Mellencamp.
00:17My brother Pat turned me on to this.
00:19In my list of 10 songs, probably more than a couple will be ones that my brother Pat turned me
00:24on to.
00:24This song, and a lot of his albums, actually shaped my form of patriotism.
00:30And this is something that I specifically remember Sunday afternoons,
00:35washing my car, my mom and dad's car, in the driveway and jamming this.
00:43And it's a great story about Americana.
00:47It's promises, it's hypocriticals, it's dreams, it's reality,
00:52where those two meet and where those two do not greet.
00:56And it's still my sort of favorite American anthem.
00:59So when I was hiking through South America trying to make it to the Amazon River,
01:03because I had a dream about it,
01:04I thought it would be a nice sort of juxtaposition of something
01:08quintessentially American while I was in the middle of the jungle,
01:11hiking through with a machete.
01:13It did sound a little different.
01:15It was different than washing the car in the driveway on Sunday afternoon.
01:19Ain't that America, you and me, ha, ain't that America.
01:24So I do, A-I, new or D-U, Ali Farkature, Rye Cooter.
01:36This is a legendary, the African blues man, Ali Farkature,
01:40in an album that he made with Rye Cooter,
01:43who's done things like Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club.
01:47It's an album they did, and I think they did it in four days.
01:50And so the strings, the African strings, are very staccato.
01:54Ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, dong, ding, ding, ding, ding.
01:56They're beautiful, but they're very, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
01:59Rye Cooter plays that slide.
02:01Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.
02:04So he puts the syrup into the staccato.
02:08He puts the legato of the blues into the staccato of the African instruments.
02:13And actually, the blues started in Mali, which is where Ali was from,
02:18and then moved to Memphis.
02:19So this is Ali, who, when I heard this song,
02:24I'd had a dream that I needed to go to Africa,
02:26after the dream that I went to Peru and the Amazon.
02:30And I didn't know where the hell to go in Africa.
02:31It's a big continent.
02:33I happened to be listening to this album,
02:36and this had been one of my favorite songs,
02:39and I was like, where's Ali from?
02:42So I went up and I got the liner notes.
02:44I found out he was from Nia Funke on the Niger River.
02:47And knowing nothing else, I said, well, that's where I'm going.
02:50And I won't get a return ticket,
02:52but I'm going to get a ticket to Bamako, which is the capital.
02:54I'll find a hitched nine-hour ride to Mopti,
02:58met somebody with a boat,
02:59and we did a two-day trip up the Niger River to Nia Funke,
03:02where I went to town, and we were looking for Ali.
03:06Hours and hours and hours, I found Ali.
03:07All of a sudden, this land cruiser comes driving by
03:11through the desert sand and just smoked a turn right in front of us.
03:15Enough where we were like, gosh, damn it, who's that?
03:17That was kind of rude.
03:18And my guy at ease, he goes, this is Ali.
03:21This is Ali.
03:22So we went to find Ali.
03:24He was not at his first wife's house.
03:26He had multiple wives.
03:28He was at his second wife's house.
03:30And we went in.
03:32He had no idea who I was, which was beautiful about it.
03:36And he made lunch, and we sat and we ate.
03:38And I remember, he gave himself an orange crush.
03:42And I got water.
03:44Everyone else got water, but he gave himself an orange crush.
03:47I get there, and I wanted to bring up this song to him.
03:51Because I love the song.
03:52And for whatever reason, you know, sometimes you travel,
03:53and you lose a sense of space and time and memory.
03:55I forgot the damn name of the song.
03:57I love the song.
03:58I knew it was I do.
03:59And I'm sitting there going, I'm not remembering the name of the song.
04:01Anyway, he gets up with a VHS, and through translation, he goes,
04:06I want you to listen to this song of me in concert.
04:09I stopped the rain this night.
04:12And he put a VHS in.
04:14It was a concert he was playing in France, and it was this song.
04:17And I was like, that's it.
04:20And so that song is why I went to Africa, where I went,
04:24and why I knew where to go,
04:26and which turned out to be the most important trip I've taken in my life.
04:31All predicated on going to find where does this musician,
04:36the writer of this song, live.
04:38And here's the other thing.
04:39I thought in the year that I had listened to that song,
04:43I thought it was a beautiful love story from a man to a woman.
04:48And I've come to find out, because it's in the language of Bambara,
04:52which is what's beautiful about hearing sometimes songs
04:54where you don't understand the language,
04:56you get a feeling of what it is.
04:58And yes, it is a love story,
05:00but it's not a love story of a man to a woman.
05:02It's a love story of man to mankind, of us to community.
05:09You must trust yourself to have trust in others.
05:13You must trust others to trust yourself.
05:15That's the two-line liner note.
05:16So it's about a love story between what we have with each other,
05:21with people, community.
05:23And so it is a love song,
05:24but it's not a typical romantic love song like I thought it was.
05:34Yeah!
05:35Steve Miller!
05:37Take the money and run.
05:38I mean, I know these guys.
05:40Go on, take the money and run.
05:44Great song for kicking off summer or a good night
05:47where you just chunk the morals out
05:50and let's go, let's just go pull some shit off.
05:52Two young lovers with nothing better to do.
05:54Get high and watch the two.
05:55One day, you get a bright idea.
05:57It's why my favorite comedy is Raising Arizona.
05:59Nicholas Cage, his wife in there, they're all about,
06:03what are we going to go?
06:03We've got to go steal some diapers because we've got a new baby.
06:06It's like beautiful, comedic, small-time crimes.
06:09I'll be taking these huggies and whatever cash you got.
06:12Trying to get away with it, you know?
06:14Not trying to be the richest
06:15or not trying to be a big jewel thief
06:17in Nice, France or anything or steal art.
06:19No, we're going to go rob a little quick stop, you know?
06:24Get enough to live to the,
06:26to drink well and smoke well and eat well
06:28until we get to the next place where we need some more.
06:31You know he knows just exactly what the facts is.
06:36Yo, Silver and Gold, U2's Rattlin' Hum.
06:39They came to collect silver and gold.
06:45That album got me through my year in Australia
06:49when I was an exchange student two weeks out of high school
06:51and I was living with a family in the middle of nowhere.
06:54There's a longer, great story of it in my book, Greenlights,
06:57but a shorter version is that album was calling me to task
07:03and I needed to be called to task because my world was chaotic.
07:07I was confused.
07:08I was insecure.
07:09I didn't know where, I couldn't find balance.
07:11I didn't know what I was, what I wasn't.
07:13I was lost and I needed certain disciplines
07:16or things to call myself on, to duty to do or believe in.
07:20And Silver and Gold and that album, you know,
07:24talking about Mandela being freed
07:27and it was a time when I was very, very strongly
07:29considering becoming a monk, still might be a good idea.
07:34And something that we still deal with today, you know,
07:38where we arguably define democracy as capitalism
07:42and it's not.
07:45Capitalism is a part of democracy, the commerce part of it,
07:48but it's not necessarily a synonym for it.
07:50And so in a world that rewards who has the most money,
07:54is that always the fair way to go?
07:56To declare the winner being the one that has the most money?
08:03Not necessarily.
08:04Some places, yeah, but not necessarily.
08:07So it was calling out that song and that album,
08:09it was a bit calling out that mendacity
08:11and Silver and Gold is as well
08:13in a really non-sentimental, with a bite way.
08:18I love that whole album.
08:19They were sort of, you two were swinging from the hip.
08:21It was visceral.
08:23It's a really visceral album.
08:30Yeah, this next song is called Lonely.
08:33It's by an artist named Mishka.
08:36I wouldn't cry, that might make a float.
08:42So my friend Cole Hauser, we're going to go on vacation
08:45and he's in Scotland.
08:47He goes, hey man, I found this guy,
08:48because we like reggae,
08:49and he goes, I found this guy.
08:50He was in a pub
08:53and I bumped my head in this tack on the wall.
08:55I turned around and there was this white Rastafarian guy
08:58and he just looked cool and I pulled it off
09:00and he was promoting his album.
09:01I got the album.
09:02I think you're going to love this album.
09:04Two weeks go by, we go on vacation.
09:06Heavy party in the first few nights.
09:08And I happen to have the room
09:10where the club next door is jamming ska music
09:14as loud as you can imagine at 7 a.m.
09:18to clean up the place.
09:19Not what you want when you're partying
09:21till sunrise when you're trying to get a little bit of sleep.
09:24Four days in, I've got to get some sleep.
09:26And I'm not at any.
09:28And through the ska music playing from next door,
09:31which the guy would not not play,
09:33even though I asked him, he was like,
09:34no, I hear this melody coming from down low
09:39and the speaker's down below the first floor.
09:42It's playing outside.
09:42For whatever reason, even though it was so much quieter,
09:45it cut through that
09:46that ska is not good sleeping music.
09:50And I drifted off and I went to sleep finally
09:53and I slept for five hours.
09:54And I came outside about 3 p.m.
09:58and the other people who started their day.
10:00And I said out loud, I said,
10:01there's something playing this morning.
10:03I was like, right?
10:04And my buddy Cole goes, come here.
10:06We walked over.
10:07He pulled it out and he goes, was it this?
10:09I was like, that's it.
10:10He goes, that's the guy I was telling you
10:12I knew you'd like.
10:12I was like, oh.
10:13Anyway, that album became our album
10:18for the two week vacation, number one.
10:24And I was also like, I got to find this guy.
10:26I got to find this guy.
10:28And I went looking for him.
10:29Couldn't find him.
10:30Years went by.
10:32Four years later, I get a call from my office.
10:34I'm saying, hey, there's a guy named Mishka
10:36opening up for this act at the House of Blues in L.A.
10:39I go, go find out if it's him, please.
10:42And if it is, could you give my number?
10:43I'd love to talk to him.
10:44Because I was out of the country.
10:45It was him.
10:46We talk.
10:47I know his music up and down.
10:49I've listened to prior music.
10:52I've listened to that.
10:52Love this album.
10:53Lonely was one of my favorite songs.
10:54He hears my passion for his music and everything.
10:57We decided to say we're going to work together.
10:59Started a record library with J.K.
11:00Living Records the next day.
11:01He comes on.
11:02We work together.
11:03Produced a couple albums with him.
11:05Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
11:06Turns out that in the bay of the house
11:11we were staying at on that vacation
11:12when I couldn't sleep for the sky music
11:14but heard it lonely
11:15and drifted off to sleep finally
11:17in the bay in front of us.
11:19It was the turn of the millennium.
11:21It was the New Year's turn of the limb,
11:2299 to 2000.
11:24He was on a boat.
11:26His father's boat anchored right there in Eyeline.
11:30In 99 turn 2000.
11:32He was there.
11:33Never met.
11:34Nothing.
11:35But that's exactly where he was.
11:36So another beautiful.
11:38These stories when music takes full circles
11:40is incredible.
11:42I don't know if I can swim that good.
11:47Little Devil by The Cult.
11:55Oh man, The Cult.
11:57One of my favorite rock bands ever.
11:59Rhythm rock bands.
12:00That's why I like ACVC too.
12:02It's a,
12:04the locomotive just never stops.
12:07They just train through it.
12:08So many good tunes.
12:09I've been to so many cult concerts
12:12and in LA at that time
12:14you could find them on So Said Tuesday night
12:17playing at the Viper Room or somewhere
12:19or the House of Blues
12:21and just I would always get to the front row
12:25for them.
12:25And then I also always knew
12:28that anything before 11 a.m. tomorrow
12:34was going to be hell
12:36because I was going to go hard
12:38and I mean I would come out of there
12:40my neck would be so sore
12:42from just thrashing on the front row
12:45singing and dancing and rocking
12:48and dripping pools of sweat on the ground.
12:51Love a front row of a cult concert.
12:53One of my favorite experiences
12:54I've had many, many times.
12:55Probably made the first connection with him
12:57in a House of Blues show
12:59where Ian was up there
13:00going into one of his monologues
13:02asking these big questions
13:04and do you know why?
13:06And I started giving a response
13:08from the crowd.
13:09Loud.
13:10And I was answering clearly.
13:14And he went into his thing
13:16and I'd answer back real loud
13:18and know it was dead quiet.
13:20And he'd go on his thing
13:21and I'd answer back
13:22and after about the fifth thing I answered
13:24he looked up and he goes
13:26Tripper!
13:28I was like, yeah man, let's go.
13:37Janet Jackson,
13:38That's the Way Love Goes.
13:39That's the way love goes.
13:45What a cool groovy little tune.
13:47It's also the reason
13:48I quit smoking weed.
13:50It was right around the time
13:53weed started turning hydroponic.
13:55A lot of y'all don't remember.
13:56Weed used to be
13:57you could roll a joint,
13:58smoke it, pass around.
13:59Everyone giggles,
14:00gets some munchies
14:00and maybe runs off
14:02and tries to get some snuggle time.
14:04Well then it started getting
14:05this hydroponic stuff
14:06where like one took
14:07the subplots could become unmanageable
14:10and people would implode.
14:11Anyway, it was around that time
14:13and I was headed to,
14:15it was a night I was,
14:17this particular night
14:18I was headed to my own
14:21birthday party
14:21that my friends were throwing at
14:23for me at a club.
14:24We'd taken over the club.
14:25My birthday party.
14:27I'm going to drive myself.
14:28Before I go,
14:29my buddy hands this joint
14:30and goes, here man.
14:32I'm going to have some of this.
14:34It's super fun.
14:36Well I get there
14:36and I take a toke in the car.
14:38It was not like the weed
14:39I'd smoked before.
14:40I listened to Janet Jackson's
14:42Best the Way Love Goes
14:4624 times in a row
14:47and when I finally got out of the car
14:49to go into my birthday party
14:51no one was in there
14:52because it was over.
14:54They'd all left
14:56because I sat in the freaking car.
15:01Listen to Best the Way Love Goes
15:0324 times
15:04because I thought at the time
15:05that was more important
15:07than going to my own birthday party.
15:08Loved the song.
15:10Didn't love the weed.
15:11I was like, whoa man.
15:12Again, as my buddy Bindler says,
15:14the subplots became unmanageable.
15:17Still like the tune though.
15:18I'm going to get people
15:20on the bus.
15:23Beating around the bus.
15:34My brother Pat turned me on.
15:36This is Beating Around the Bush
15:37by ACDC.
15:38We're talking about Bon Scott, ACDC.
15:41Okay?
15:42Let's go back in time.
15:44Highway to Hell is the album.
15:46One of the great all-time rock and roll albums.
15:49I mean, if you don't know this one,
15:51you like rock and roll,
15:52get you some Highway to Hell.
15:53This is not Back in Black.
15:55This is not, no, no.
15:56Those are the gaming,
15:57kind of only our generation knows those
15:59probably a little bit more,
16:00but go back and check out Highway to Hell.
16:01It's loaded with badass,
16:03badass rock tunes.
16:04Beating Around the Bush
16:07is the tune,
16:08one of the tunes.
16:09So my brother is older.
16:10So say I'm 11,
16:11he's, say I'm 10,
16:12he's 17.
16:13He got a midnight curfew.
16:15I'm not going out.
16:16I'm at home sleeping.
16:17He would do this really cool thing
16:18that my big brother did
16:20is when he'd get home from his curfew,
16:22he'd come in,
16:24wake me up,
16:25out of bed.
16:26I'd get up my tighty-whities,
16:28hop in the shotgun seat of his Z-28,
16:31and he'd turn me on to music
16:33and we'd jam in the front,
16:34in the driveway,
16:35in the front of the house.
16:36And one of the tunes,
16:37rock and roll,
16:38he'd turn me on to
16:38was Beating Around the Bush.
16:40I'd do that.
16:42He would always do the,
16:43he'd always do the,
16:45he'd always do the,
16:46he'd always do the bass line.
16:48I remember Pat doing that all the time.
16:49What a great introduction to rock and roll.
16:52Thank you, Pat.
16:52The way I watched you last night,
16:55beating around the bush.
16:58The next song's Shout by Tears for Fears.
17:07So, very popular song,
17:09but here's why this song's important in my life.
17:12Everyone, you know,
17:13in some way or fashion,
17:15wants sort of a respect from their father.
17:18And you get it in different ways.
17:19And I got respect from my father
17:21in many different ways,
17:21but I particularly remember it this way.
17:23He was a traveling pipe salesman,
17:25and so he'd go drive within three hour radius.
17:29And he'd go a lot of times,
17:30but when I could go with him,
17:31I'd go with him.
17:32And he'd take me with him.
17:33And we'd go meet people,
17:34try to collect or sell or what have you.
17:36He drove this Ram Charger
17:38and he smoked
17:39and he'd have the window down
17:40with the AC on high
17:41and he'd flick that ash
17:43in the general direction of the ashtray.
17:45I mean, the whole,
17:46the floor mat was just charred and burned
17:49because it would just...
17:50Anyway,
17:50we're driving down the road
17:52and he'd lean it up,
17:53AC on high,
17:54window halfway down.
17:55I remember if he wasn't listening
17:57to music,
17:58which I got to play for him on the trip,
18:00he'd have the...
18:00If the station was like 98.9,
18:03he'd always have it on like 98.8.
18:05So it's gonna come in,
18:07kind of,
18:07kind of,
18:08kind of come in.
18:08And he liked,
18:09he liked that it was
18:11one frequent,
18:12one-tenth of a frequency digit
18:13off the main station.
18:15I don't know why.
18:15Anyway,
18:16I remember that clearly.
18:17Anyway,
18:17this,
18:17one of these road trips
18:18where I was going with him,
18:20I had gotten into
18:22Tears for Fears
18:23and I put that song on
18:24and I'm riding over the shotgun
18:25and we got a ways to go.
18:27So I'm just gonna put it in my...
18:28I put the cassette in
18:29my dad's car
18:31while we're driving down the road.
18:33And I'll never forget
18:35that even looking at me,
18:36he reached over
18:37and he turned it up.
18:39And I remember as a young boy going,
18:42my dad just turned up
18:43one of my tunes.
18:45And after the song,
18:46he looked at me and he's like,
18:47I like that boy.
18:48I like that.
18:49And I was like,
18:51it was a big rite of passage
18:52as a young man,
18:54his son.
18:55My dad turned up
18:57one of my songs.
18:59Yeah.
19:06This is...
19:07You'd have to be crazy
19:08about Willie Nelson.
19:09It's plump out of my mind
19:12to fall out of love with you.
19:16Yeah, what a beautiful love song this is.
19:19It's not your typical romantic love song.
19:21Being in that place
19:22where you're kind of going mad.
19:25And I've been there,
19:26following ants
19:27as they crawl across the ground.
19:29Burning your hand on the lamp
19:30when you're rubbing the bottle
19:31hoping a genie will come out
19:32and save your ass.
19:33It's kind of, you know,
19:34one of those times
19:35when you're like,
19:36I think if I'm going to
19:37leave my bed today,
19:38I need to put on a helmet,
19:39a chin strap,
19:40and a cup
19:42and ask if the walls
19:43are insulated.
19:44And don't get me around
19:44motorized vehicles
19:45or glass.
19:46I don't know.
19:47I think we've all had those days.
19:48I know I have.
19:49But in the middle of all that,
19:52the madness
19:53and the implosions
19:55when the subplots
19:56are becoming a little unmanageable,
19:58the love of somebody
19:59that you have
20:00is something you can rely on
20:01that you go,
20:02nope, I know that's real.
20:03I know that's true.
20:05Even though I'm losing my mind right now,
20:07I can rely on that.
20:08So don't forget that anchor.
20:10And that's where the song goes,
20:12yeah, but, you know,
20:14I'd have to be crazy
20:14to fall out of love with you.
20:16I am crazy,
20:17but I'd really have to be crazy
20:18to fall out of love with you.
20:19I've had those people
20:21in my life
20:22in times where that was the anchor
20:24to rely on
20:25by hook or by crook,
20:27no matter what.
20:28That just kept my sanity
20:29just enough.
20:31And I may not be normal,
20:34but nobody is.
20:37Is that 10?
20:38No, you didn't.
20:38You skipped some
20:39because I was giving long answers.
20:40She skipped some
20:41because I was giving long answers,
20:43didn't she?
20:43You're running out of tape over there.
20:4550 ways to lose your lover.
20:47I'd like to help you
20:48in your struggle
20:49to be free.
20:51There must be
20:5150 ways to leave your lover.
20:54Yeah, so my brother Pat
20:55turned me on that song.
20:56What a cool tune.
20:58It's my alarm clock song.
21:01It is a great example
21:04of where the spoken word
21:05can be beautiful.
21:06Paul Simon,
21:07he's like a spoken word
21:09through most of it.
21:09And it's beautiful
21:10when he's like talking to her.
21:12But his diction
21:14and his voice
21:15is just beautiful
21:16spoken word.
21:17And people like
21:18Kurt Vonnegut
21:18like to hear spoken word.
21:20But it's a great
21:20spoken word
21:22could be musical.
21:22Now,
21:23I haven't
21:25asked him,
21:26which I should.
21:27I don't know Paul,
21:28but I know he lives
21:29out near Austin.
21:30I think there's a
21:31missing fourth verse.
21:33So the whole song
21:34is he's with this lady
21:36saying,
21:36look, look,
21:37I'm trying to leave
21:37this lover,
21:38can you tell me?
21:38And she's like,
21:39hey, don't sweat it.
21:39It's easy.
21:40You can slip out the back.
21:41Drop off the key, Lee.
21:42Da, da, da, da, da, right?
21:43Hop on the bus, guys.
21:44Don't need to discuss much.
21:46And everything's cool.
21:46And then he says,
21:47yeah, yeah,
21:47well, I don't want to be crude,
21:48but you know,
21:49yeah, yeah, yeah,
21:50it's easy, it's easy, it's easy.
21:51They go to sleep
21:53at the end of the night.
21:55And the song's over.
21:56I think the fourth verse
21:58that's missing,
21:59Paul, I'm not sure,
21:59is that he should wake up
22:01in the morning
22:01and she's gone
22:04because she just left him.
22:07I always thought,
22:07I was like,
22:07oh, that's the finish
22:08of the story
22:09and I wonder if they
22:09recorded that
22:10and didn't do it
22:11or if Paul would go,
22:12oh, good idea.
22:13Or if he'd go,
22:14no, that's not what
22:14I wanted to do
22:15and here's why.
22:16Very, very cool song
22:17and a great way
22:18to wake up easy
22:19in the morning.
22:19You really try
22:20to get in character,
22:21obviously,
22:21well in advance to roles
22:22it seems like.
22:23Do you use music?
22:24As I'm getting the character,
22:25I don't think about,
22:26oh, here's this.
22:27I just start,
22:28I just start
22:29making an album
22:30of what I'm hearing
22:30that I like a lot
22:31because I'm already
22:33listening through the,
22:34starting to listen
22:34through the ears
22:35of my character
22:36and I'll put those
22:37playlists together.
22:38Then you can sort them
22:41for what the rhythms
22:42of the characters
22:43our journey is
22:43through the entire story
22:45and so the entire album
22:47becomes like one song
22:49that you follow
22:50a rhythm to.
22:52Yeah, I do that
22:53for everything
22:53and that's so fun.
22:54I learned that though
22:55in the coolest way
22:56with Richard Linklater
22:57on Days Confused.
22:58Rick's first direction
22:59for everybody
23:00was he gave them
23:02a cassette
23:02and goes,
23:03hey, here's what I think
23:03your character
23:05will be listening to.
23:06It's like,
23:06how badass is that?
23:08Oh, I'm going to go
23:09drive around
23:10and listen to this cassette
23:11and I'm doing homework.
23:14But it's beautiful
23:16because music
23:18doesn't tell you
23:18what to do
23:20and no one likes
23:21to be told what to do
23:22but you put them
23:22in a place,
23:23you give a sense
23:24of space
23:25and place
23:28isn't about making sense
23:30it's about knowing a rhythm
23:31does something
23:32to do to your shoulders
23:33does something
23:34to how you sit
23:35so I always
23:36since then
23:37I don't know
23:37if it's because of that
23:38or if it's just instinctually
23:39I always make
23:40certain playlists
23:41for every single character
23:42I'm getting prepared.
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