Hey everybody, it's Bill Gibson with Huey Lewis
and the News. You're listening to My Weekly Mixtape
with Brian Colburn. And get ready, it's a great
mixtape. I want a copy. Welcome to My Weekly
Mixtape, a podcast that takes the classic mixtape
approach to building a modern playlist. I'm your
host, Brian Colburn. Growing up, my parents,
I was blessed that they gave me a musical education
through the artists and bands that they most
resonated with. Which, for anyone who listens
to this show, knows that I'm talking about groups
like The Cars, Billy Joel, Pat Benatar, Tom Petty
and the Heartbreakers, Styx, and the band whose
drummer just so happens to be my guest curator
for this evening. I am truly honored to welcome
to the podcast Bill Gibson. drummer for Huey
Lewis and the News. Bill, thank you so much for
joining me on my weekly mixtape. Oh, you're welcome.
My pleasure. I'd like to start by asking you
the same question I ask all my guests. Bill,
the word mixtape, does that have any meaning
to you? Yeah, it reminds me of, well, the band,
we used to make mixtapes back in the day, and
my daughter, both my daughters actually used
to make mixtapes to take to school. You put together
a cassette with all your favorite tunes. And
that's what a mixtape is to me. Well, tonight
we are going to be making a mixtape of the greatest
songs from Huey Lewis in the news. Now, to put
that into perspective, in 2006, the band released
a greatest hits album. that has 21 tracks on
it. So right there, there are more songs on the
band's greatest hits compilation than we are
going to be including tonight. How hard was it
for you, Bill, to put together a list of tracks
that you're looking to contribute to the discussion
tonight? Pretty simple for me. Really? Oh, yeah.
I think I know the ones that have to be on there.
And then, like you say, there's certain personal
favorites that should go on. So we'll hash it
out. We'll see what goes on. I'm excited to do
that because this is going to be coming from
the fan perspective along with the artists themselves.
So let's get down to business. Tonight, Bill
and I will be curating the ultimate Huey Lewis
in the News playlist, and we'll use the old cassette
deck approach. Bill, as my special guest, will
begin side A with his first song choice, and
then I'll add a song that I feel best follows
up his choice. We'll then flip -flop choosing
songs until we've mapped out 10 songs for side
A. We'll then give our mixtape a proverbial flip
and we'll map out side B, only this time I'll
kick things off with Bill choosing second. Our
overall goal for the episode is to craft the
best Huey Lewis in the News playlist possible
through only 20 songs. At the end of the show,
you can take our conversation to the next level
by visiting the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com, where you can give our final curation a
listen via the embedded playlist. And if you
like what you're hearing on the show, please
consider becoming a Patreon mixtaper at patreon
.com forward slash myweeklymixtape. And a few
of the Patreon mixtapers chimed in with songs
they feel should kick off the playlist, and I'd
like to give a quick shout out to some of those.
Patreon mixtaper Cactus Pete chimed in with Couple
Days Off from Heart at Play, saying that album
doesn't get the recognition it should, and I
agree with that wholeheartedly. Patreon mixtaper
Mally Hart chimed in with, while she doesn't
know exactly what song she would start it off
with, she would definitely end the mixtape with,
if this is it. And Patreon mixtaper David Lee
Smith chimed in with, I want a new drug. Elsewhere
on the socials, people who follow me at My Weekly
Mixtape on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok,
and Spoutable also had a lot to say on this topic,
with a lot of the listeners chiming in with songs
like The Heart of Rock and Roll, Hip to be square.
Working for a living. Do you believe in love?
Jacob's Ladder and The Power of Love with some
nods coming in for awesome tracks like Some of
My Lies Are True, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Trouble in
Paradise, We're Not Here for a Long Time, and
many, many others. Thanks to everyone who chimed
in on this. So Bill, with that, I'm officially
pressing the record button on our mixtape and
the floor is yours. Why don't you dive into which
song you chose to kick off Side A? Oh, I didn't
know I was going to have to choose number one
on Side A. Yeah, opening things up. Well, I think
we're going to have to go with Horror Rock and
Roll. It was the first song on our biggest album.
It's pretty much quintessential HLN. I can't
think of a better one that really just says Huey
Lewis and the News than that one. Could not agree
more. Seven times platinum. This song, the heartbeat
that opens it up. Was that a kick drum that you
did in the studio or was that actually a triggered
sound effect at the opening of the song? No,
that was a Lindrum kick drum that I played with
my finger. Okay, awesome. There's just something
about that opening that just grabs your attention
and immediately pulls you into the song. When
you guys were recording sports, you were coming
off of an album that did reach number 13 on the
charts, which was Picture This. But that album
was not platinum. It was gold. So did you have
any idea the heights that sports was about to
reach? No, we didn't. We knew we had a great
album. And we had actually held it back from
the record company because they were going through
some internal struggles and we held the masters
back. But when they got their business together,
we gave them the masters and we knew it was a
good record. We knew we had a lot of, and at
the time, bands really need to have singles,
hit singles in order to thrive in that environment
at the time. So we knew we needed a hit. We had
no idea we were going to get five hits off it.
And we had no idea it was going to be as big
as it was. But thank God it was. Amen to that.
And following up the heart of rock and roll,
I am a sucker for album opening tracks. And the
albums that came out from the band between Picture
This and Four, I rank pretty much equally across
the board. Those three albums were literally
the first 15 years of my life. And the songs
on those albums resonate with me so much. And
I'm going to follow up an opening track like
the heart of rock and roll with the next album
in chronological order. And I'm going to go with
the opening track from four F O R E and the Bruce
Hornsby written Jacob's ladder, which I think
coming out of the heart of rock and roll, Jacob's
ladder was, I want to say the heaviest rock song.
from that decade of music now i know there were
some songs that were faster and a little bit
more punky from the first album in 1980 but jacob's
ladder had this passionate hard rock sound to
it that really set it apart from some of the
other songs that went across four because four
really did weave in and out of a lot of musical
styles that the band is known for so i'm kind
of curious was there some sort of collaboration
between the band and bruce hornsby working on
that song Well, we didn't work with Bruce on
that song. Bruce actually wrote that song with
his brother. Okay. And of course, we'd known
Bruce for a long time and had played with him
before. He'd opened up a bunch of our tours,
actually, The Range, Bruce Hornsby and The Range.
And we were looking for material and he said,
well, hey, I got this one. And we listened to
it and said, sure. So we changed it up a little
bit from his version. And put the background
harmonies on there. And it was more rock than
his version, clearly. What made you guys decide
that that was the opening song for the album
for? I don't know. I think Huey did. I think
I think it just made sense. Huey pretty much
sequenced that record. Fantastic. Well, the floor
is now yours to follow up the heart of rock and
roll and Jacob's Ladder. OK, so you got two runners
on. You got to get them over to third base. So
you need a, a good number three hitter. And let
me look at, um, I have a list of songs. And that's
a, that's a, this is really a good question.
So do you go with all the big ones right out
of the gate? Maybe, uh, let's see. So we've got
hard rock and roll. Jacob's Ladder. Wow, man.
This is tough. There's so many songs. I know.
There's so many songs. I'm going to go with Bad
is Bad. Nice. What a great pick. Now, the last
two times I saw the band was when the band was
playing sports in its entirety. And to me, hearing
that song in sequence. was amazing hearing that
album and i love the little shtick that huey
did at the point of the end of the side where
this is where the album would stop and flip it
over yeah such an amazing tour and such an amazing
album to me bad is bad was always as essential
to the sports album as the five singles that
were released was that song always a fan favorite
yes yeah yeah everybody always loved that gave
me a chance to come down off the drum set and
um come up front and would, you know, we'd do
it during the acapella section of the set. And
that was always a big crowd favorite. Fantastic.
Well, I'm going to follow a crowd favorite up,
which one that might be. This is a deep pick
from the band for me in the four slot, but it
is always been one of my top three favorite Huey
Lewis in the news songs. I'm not sure if the
band has ever played it live. I know it wasn't
a single, but. I would love to hear more about
this song. So this is where the selfish part
of me comes in being a fan for 40 years and just
loving this song so much. And it's from the album.
Picture this. And it's the second track on the
album. Tell me a little lie with the reggae vibe,
the ska vibe that the song has. It really stands
out because you guys don't really. hit a lot
more of that reggae and ska feel until you get
to songs like perfect world from small world
down the road so i felt like this one was an
outlier on the earlier albums but was a different
side of the band then you take that reggae sound
and you layer in these amazing background vocals
which i know we're going to talk about tonight
because that is part of what makes huey lewis
in the news so special and so amazing was this
a song that just Never got the push from the
label or the band to become a single? Because
I've always felt like it's just one of the strongest
songs on the album. Wow. I'm shocked it wasn't
a single. Yeah, well, you're the first person
I've ever heard like it so much. Really? Yeah.
Oh, man. Oh, no. I'm doing a disservice here.
No, no. Chris Hayes wrote that song, I believe.
And yeah, it was just kind of a filler tune.
We saw it as a filler tune. We didn't see it
as a single or anything like that. Wow. And for
some reason, ever since I was a kid, I knew my
band has covered that song. I love that song
so much. It's easily one of my top ones. I'm
blown away to hear that. Yeah. Wow. Great song.
Well, following that up, you're now up for track
five. So I'm going to go heart and soul. Yes.
Yes. I'm going to stick with sports. I'm all
sports now. But I'm going to go Heart and Soul
because we had two up -tempo tunes to start.
Then we had Bad is Bad. Then we had Tell Me a
Little Lie. Now we have got to kind of start
ramping it back up. So we're going to throw in
like a mid -tempo rocker. And I think Heart and
Soul is perfect. And that was a Mike Chapman,
Nicky Chin song that Exile had done, the band
Exile, and also the Busboys, a band called the
Busboys. Yeah, yeah. And they pitched it to us.
And we listened to the exile thing and came up
with our own take on it. And, and it just fits
suited us really well. So that's why that one
made it. And that's one of those songs where,
when I tell my friends who are casual music fans,
but not music nerds like me, when I'm, when I
explain that this is a cover song and they go,
no, it's not. And I'm like, no, really. And you
play the exile or bus boys version. They don't
realize that the band really did take. which
was already a fantastic song, but you guys took
it to another level, which was why it was the
smash that it was. Yeah, I thought so too. I
thought ours was definitely the best version
of the three, although I did really like Exile's
version. Yeah, to me, that one's second to yours.
And later on in our live performances, we kind
of did the Exile. Exile had a little breakdown
in their version, and we did that Exile breakdown
live for a little while. Not long, but a little
while. That's great to mix it up when you're
playing the live show. Get some different changes
in the songs. Yeah. I'm going to follow that
up with one that I want to move up a couple of
years. And I want to keep that little bit of
a reggae vibe going. I mentioned this song when
I was talking about Tell Me a Little Lie. Now,
this one was a big hit for the band. And it's
one where the horn section is really prominent.
In a time in music where horn sections were becoming
less and less on modern radio. This was the late
80s. And I'm going to go off Small World and
go with Perfect World, which was a staple of
the band's live shows all the way through the
last time I saw the band play. This song has
always been to me an important part of the band's
catalog because it's one of those songs where
Huey Lewis and the News was big with sports and
they had other hits. And every time the band
put out new music. it always felt relevant no
matter what the scene changes were happening,
what was on popular radio. There was always a
way that the band found a way to fit in. And
I feel like the way pop music was in the late
eighties, this song just seamlessly fit into
top 40 radio. And I'm curious, was that something
that the band went into working on albums thinking
about, or was it more, we're just going to write
what we feel as a group and how it plays out.
It plays out. Well, um, Our good friend Alex
Call wrote that song. Alex was a member of the
band Clover here in Marin County that Sean and
Huey were members of. And Alex wrote that song
and pitched it to us. And we loved it. We just
thought, man, that's great. And we worked it
up at rehearsal and it just totally came together.
We got the Tower of Power horns to play horns
on it. So bingo, you know, it's going to sound
big. Yeah, we all loved it. We just thought it
was great. And we actually opened that small
world tour with Perfect World. An infectious,
soaring chorus, amazing Tower of Power horn section,
and a live staple throughout the decades. I feel
like it needs to be discussed on this list. Yeah.
And now, Bill, I am turning it over to you for
our next pick. So I think I'm going to go, where
are we at? We have six now? We're on track seven.
Track seven. Well, I got to stick with sports
and go with New Drug. Or does that come down
more down the line? No, I'm going to hold off
on New Drug. Okay. This is going to be a deep
cut for me. It's going to be Small World Part
Two. Nice. Sticking with the same album. The
Stan Getz sax solo with Tower of Power. And it
is just, I was there when Stan came in to do
the track. He came in and he listened to it.
We sent him a copy to listen to at home. So we
already knew what he was going to be playing
over. And he came in and he did one pass. And
then he did another pass. And that was it. And
I think we took half of the first. track or part
of the first take and most of the second take
or vice versa. Can't remember exactly how that
went, but I know we used most of one take and
a small piece of the other take. And it was magic,
man. I mean, it was just magic. And that's one
of my favorite things we've ever done as a band.
I was just going to say to have a jazz legend
of that level put his stamp on one of the band's
songs where jazz music and rock music really
didn't fuse together a lot. in pop music i think
of this and i also think of when it's stock perlman
played violin on billy joel's the down easter
alexa it didn't happen often but when it did
it made for big musical moments and to me this
is definitely one of those oh yeah that's that's
um i i think in my opinion or you know for me
and my career that was a definite milestone of
my career and a high point awesome well i'm going
to take your cue from Cause you were thinking
about sticking with sports and I'm going to dive
off of sports for one of my favorite songs from
the band. And also something that we haven't
talked about yet. The band's music videos, because
that is where I, I am the. product i guess of
an mtv generation i grew up watching these videos
and this is how i spent a lot of my childhood
just sitting glued to mtv all day back when mtv
did play nothing but music videos and i'm gonna
go with if this is it yeah i have to ask that
video what was it like being buried in the sand
and recording that because that is an iconic
80s video moment yeah well it was sweltering
And the makeup people, I just remember being
in there for maybe an hour and a half or so.
And the makeup people had to keep coming by and
wiping the sweat off our faces because it was
sweltering. That was filmed on the Santa Cruz
beach. And yeah, it was a hot day and we were
pretty miserable. Well, you didn't show it in
the music video, if that helps. No, music videos
were always a chore to do. It was a lot of hurry
up and wait. And, you know, some of them were
fun, some of them were not fun. That was kind
of a fun one, but it was hard work. But we enjoyed
it. We were having fun. And the vibe from that
song, growing up with my parents, who my dad
also, along with the rock music I listened to,
he used to rebuild. cars when i was growing up
so we would go to a lot of 50s car shows and
i would listen to a lot of doo -wop music and
a lot of the 50s and 60s golden oldies if you
want to call them that and i always felt like
the chorus to this song was almost an homage
to that doo -wop sound with a modern twist is
that a wrong way to interpret what you guys were
going for on that song no i know i think that's
pretty accurate uh you know johnny cola wrote
the song And actually, Johnny's influence for
that song was Sly and the Family Stone. Oh, wow.
Caught Fun in the Summertime. Okay. And it was
a summertime song. He had played with Sly Stone,
Johnny. And so his influence was caught fun in
the summertime. You know, the 12 -8. Yeah. And
he wrote it. And he actually wrote it as Who
Rocked, Who Rolled, which I never understood.
But that was his chorus. Who Rocked. who rolled
so he changed it to what what what do we end
up with i can't remember so it really was kind
of a doo -wop and johnny loves doo -wop as as
is evident in all his other vocal arrangements
so yeah but the real inspiration was sly stone
on that song wow that's awesome i didn't know
that see this is the reason i do this show is
to find out little tidbits like that sure So
now I'm tossing the mic back to you for track
nine here. Last song for you on side A. Okay.
I'm going to go with a very little known track
that's on our new album, Weather. It's called
One of the Boys. And it was written by Johnny
and James Hera and Huey. They wrote it for Willie
Nelson and pitched it to Willie Nelson. And we
never heard back from it. And when we were getting
ready to put that album together, I thought,
so nobody's ever done One of the Boys, huh? No,
nobody's ever done that. I said, we need to do
that. That is perfect for our band. It's the
right lyric for Huey. It was perfect for our
band. And actually, I was the one who got it
so that we put it on the album. And I mean...
Now, looking back on the career and that we can't
tour anymore, it's very prescient. And, you know,
and it's kind of bittersweet listening to it
for me now, you know, playing with my friends
till the music ends. One of the boys. So it's
it's it's got a lot of meaning for me. And I
think it has a lot of meaning for everybody else
in the band. That's amazing. I love that song.
And to me, I'm a big country fan as well. Something
that I developed in the 90s and throughout becoming.
And it was the last thing I expected to close
the album out. And I was blown away by it because
it was a side of the band that I'd never heard.
I've heard R &B stylings. I've heard doo -wop.
I've heard rock. I've heard reggae. Never did
I hear a country, almost bluegrass Americana
influence. Listening to that song, I said, wow,
they could have did an entire country album and
it would so work. A honky tonk blues on sports.
True. Yes. But to this level, I feel like one
of the boys was even more leaning into, like
you said, it was written for Willie Nelson. So
that old style hinge. Yes. Yeah, I agree. All
right. So closing outside a, I'm going to go
with a chart topper, massive hit. One of the
biggest songs of the band's career, because this
is the only time I get to close out a side. So
I want to do something with a little bit of a
statement. And to me, as an 80s kid, I probably
watched no movie more than Back to the Future
growing up. And I'm going to go with The Power
of Love to close out the side. I was going to
go with that for the start of the second side.
OK, so there you go. See, so we're very close.
To me, this song is just. 80s rock perfection,
the keyboard, everything about it. I was shocked
it never made it did end up making copies of
four on international editions, but it was mainly
recorded for the soundtrack. And I know there
was a lot of stuff going on with the band and
soundtracks prior to the power of love because
of the whole I want a new drug Ghostbusters situation.
Was the band still concerned stepping into. back
to the future to give two songs after everything
that had just went down in the years prior not
at all not at all uh you know ghostbusters was
found to have been a copy of new drug so it wasn't
we did nothing wrong when we wrote a song that
that you know was pretty much stolen from us
so um we you know we knew this was it was all
original I think Alex Call wrote a little bit
of that. And Johnny and Chris wrote Power of
Love. Huey wrote The Words. And that was, I mean,
I agree. It's pop perfection. It really is. Our
biggest song, Easily. And just a great song with
great playing on it. Chris's guitar solo is fabulous.
Just the whole vibe was perfect. Absolutely love
it. And that, folks, closes out side A of our
ultimate Huey Lewis in the news mixtape, which
kicked off with The Heart of Rock and Roll from
Sports, Jacob's Ladder from Four, Bad is Bad
from Sports, Tell Me a Little Lie from Picture
This, Heart and Soul from Sports, Perfect World
from Small World, and then Small World Part Two
from the same album. If This Is It from Sports,
One of the Boys from Weather, and the power of
love from the Back to the Future soundtrack.
Be sure to visit MyWeeklyMixtape .com to hear
all the songs we've discussed in this mix through
the playlist embedded on the episode page. Now,
Bill, I'm a massive fan of cover songs, and I'd
like to ask a question that I've been trying
to figure out for the better part of a few decades
now. On the duet soundtrack, Huey recorded the
cover of Smokey Robinson's Cruisin' with Gwyneth
Paltrow, and it became a massive hit. And it
was featured on the band's 2006 Greatest Hits
album, but credited to just Huey and Gwyneth
Paltrow. Was that something that the news actually
played on, or was that a house band for the soundtrack?
That had nothing to do with the news. Zero. No
one in the news participated. Okay. That was
some deal down in L .A. that they asked Huey
to do and duet with Gwyneth. Got it. Got it.
Well, one thing the band was never shy about
was paying homage to the songs that influenced
you guys musically as a band, such as the Four
Chords and Several Years Ago album, which is
an homage to 50s and 60s R &B, as well as 2010's
Soulsville album, which is a tribute to the amazing
Stack Records catalog. With that said, what are
some of your favorite covers that the band has
recorded over the years personally for you? Function
at the Junction, which was on four chords. Some
Kind of Wonderful was great. It was kind of semi
-hit for us, but it's all right. The J .J. Jackson
tune. There's a song, there's a fast blues shuffle,
and I can't remember what was the name of that
song on four chords. It's right at the end. I
think it might be the last song on the album.
Are we talking about Going Down Slow? Going Down
Slow, yeah. That's one of the best things we
ever recorded, in my opinion. Yeah. Great. Chris
plays his ass off on that. And it's a grooving
track, man. I just love that. It really is. It's
a fantastic one. And now that last question I
asked you, I want to flip it. Sure. Because a
lot of bands have covered. Huey Lewis and the
new songs over the years, be it punk renditions
like a newfound glories cover of the power of
love all the way to comedic parodies like Weird
Al Yankovic's. I want a new duck. What does it
mean to you when other bands or artists either
reimagine or cover songs from your catalog of
songs? Well, it's imitation is the greatest form
of flattery, isn't it? Yeah, it's a compliment.
It makes me feel proud that we did something
that someone else would want to redo. You know,
what was your thought the first time you heard?
I want a new duck. Wasn't that I want a new truck
or was that I want a new duck. I want a new duck.
Yes. I don't know that I heard it much. I can't
remember the words or anything like that. So
I don't know. I guess I thought it was funny,
but I thought, Oh, here's some guy kind of grifting
off other people's hits. Cause he used to do
it so close to like, he had to eat it like just
a month or two after beat. It was a huge hit,
you know? And so it was almost too close to the
hit, you know? Got it. But, um, you know, funny,
certainly funny. Especially for a kid at the
time who was seven, eight years old. And my parents
were huge Huey Lewis and the news fans. Hearing
that, I was like, hey, dad, you got to check
this out. He's a very creative guy, Weird Al.
Yeah, definitely. Well, now we're going to dive
into side B and I am going to kick things off.
And I want to go back to start the side off because
we use the heart of rock and roll and Jacob's
Ladder as the first two songs on side A. And
I'm trying to think of what songs would really
kick off a side well. And I want to go all the
way back to the beginning to 1980s self -titled
album. And I want to go with the opening track
again. Some of my lies are true sooner or later.
To me, this song and this album as a whole. And
I want to use quote marks in the air because
I want to make sure I'm clear with this. I feel
like this album has the most. punkiest vibe using
quote marks there's a definite rawness and an
energy to it that certain songs on the album
like don't ever tell me that you love me and
who cares i hear a little bit of a punk vibe
in that was that something that the band was
going for on that album yeah well yeah yeah of
course it was our first album we were excited
as hell to be in a studio And we played everything
way too fast. We didn't use any click tracks
or metronomes or anything like that. We just
launched into it and played it. And being a bunch
of youngsters at the time, we just played everything
way too fast. We might re -release that album,
by the way. I would love to hear it re -released.
We might remix it and re -release it and do some...
some things to it so remix it well now i have
to dive in i have to dig a little bit here i'd
be i wouldn't be doing my due diligence remix
the album yeah johnny and i have been talking
about remixing it so um that may may or may not
happen i it'd be fun to do that but yeah everything
was so fast and you know i had just come off
when i joined the band I'd been playing with
the guys in a Monday Night Live band, which was
a local Monday Night Live get together where
we jammed and backed up people like, you know,
Van Morrison, Boss Gags, Ricky Lee Jones, Tommy
Johnston from the Doobies. You know, we'd back
up all these star local stars who would come
in and we kind of through that, we started writing
our own songs and demoing them up. And that's
really how Huey Lewis and the News started to
go. So we started writing those songs and we
recorded them. And I was playing with Jack Cassidy,
the Jefferson Airplanes bass player in a band
called SVT, which was a true punk band. And we
were punk all the way. And so there was a little
bit of that flair coming into putting the news
together. So that was there. That element was
there. And I think it was just a matter of being.
really excited to be in a studio and just playing
everything too damn fast well it definitely worked
because there's a certain yeah there's energy
energy to that album that i think that if you
played the songs a little slower you might have
lost that because there was this this angst and
this energy that is just different than the rest
of the albums in the catalog yes i agree so i'm
glad we were able to talk about that and now
i'm passing it back to you to follow that up
with track two on side b Okay, so you had Some
of My Lies. That's a great choice. That's one
of Huey's favorite songs. I'm going to go with...
So we only have nine left. Yeah. And so I'm going
to go with one of my favorite tunes, R &B, another
12 -8 shuffle, Hope You Love Me Like You Say
You Do. Nice. Kind of a deep cut. It was a single,
but the only single that really was... Big was
the one that got our foot in the door. Do You
Believe in Love was the big single off Picture
This. But Hope You Love Me was our friend Mike
Duke from Alabama wrote that song. That was the
day we met the Tower of Power Horns was when
they came in. We asked them to come put a horn
section on it. And they came down to the Ottoman
San Francisco. And that was the day we met all
those guys. So that was a huge thrill for us.
And it's just a great song. Mike Duke's a great
songwriter. singer -songwriter. And that song
is great. He wrote Doing It All For My Baby,
by the way. I was just going to say those two
songs to me have a similar connection across
two different albums. I always felt like if you
played them back -to -back live, it would almost
feel like it was a medley and they would work
well together. They could. Yeah, you could do
that as a medley. So I'm going to go with Hope
You Love Me. I am now, I'm afraid to do this
because my last deep cut kind of fell flat. But
I'm going to do it one more time because this
was another song that really resonated with me
as a child. And there was one song in the catalog
that resonated with me because it told a story
from start to finish. And I felt like the song
could have been a movie in song form. And I'm
staying on the picture of this album. I'm going
to go with the song called The Only One. This
song I have loved since a child because one,
the verses, it brings it down and you're just
doing the kind of Tom groove and it really draws
out the lyrics and the story that Huey's telling.
And then obviously the third verse drops down
to just voices and the acapella section. And
then it picks back up really, this song to me
was a motion picture, picture this, no pun intended,
in a song. And I'm curious. Was this song a true
story that Huey was writing? Is this something
that meant something? Because the passion in
this song, you could just feel this song meant
something. At least it came across that way on
the record to me. Very intuitive of you to think
that because it's true. It is a true story. Really?
Yeah, it's about a guy from our high school,
our local high school in Mill Valley, who was
just a stud. He was the guy that everybody looked
up to and he just kind of... had a lot of issues
and, you know, dropped out of school and kind
of went downhill and augured in and eventually
ran out onto the highway 101 there in Mill Valley
and got hit by a car and killed. And, you know,
it was tragedy, but it is, it's a true story.
Yeah. Wow. And obviously that song was never
released as a hit. I didn't get played a lot,
but it always meant something to me because I
felt like when I sat down to listen to that song,
I can close my eyes and almost see it unfolding.
And I didn't know any of these people. And to
me, that's, a sign of a fantastic storyteller.
Yeah. And that's something that you don't talk
about with Huey Lewis in the news, but this song
is reason why you should. Yeah. Cool. I like
that. So with that bill, I'll toss it back to
you for a followup. Okay. I got to go new drug
just because it's new drug. And, uh, and you
know, the lyric is catchy as hell. The tune is
catchy. It was, there was really nothing that
sounded anything like it. At the time on the
airwaves. And I just think that it's really quintessential
Huey Lewis in the news from that period of time.
Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, seeing sports live
in its entirety made you realize how important
albums were, because this was hit after hit after
hit after hit. And even the songs that weren't
hits from that album. Every single person in
the audience was singing along to every single
word as if every song on the album was a hit.
And to me, that is something that lacks in modern
music because I don't think artists are thinking
of an album as a statement anymore. It's more
singles driven. That's exactly right. And I loved
hearing albums in their entirety as a kid, which
is why I always on this show kind of go to deeper
cuts. Because to me, if they're part of an album
that has a hit song on it, to me, I've already
heard the hit song the same amount of times as
the deep cut. And that's sports for me. That
is literally what the album says to me. You could
have released every single song on that album
and it probably would have been successful at
the time. The band was just on the wave. I agree.
I agree. You get us, man. You get us. That's
my goal. 40 years of listening. I'm glad it's
paying off, man. Well, following it up, I am
going to go with what to me is one of my favorite
songs from the band, but over time has become
one of the band's most, I'm going to use the
word infamous songs, not on any part of your
own, but I am going to go with for track five
hip to be square from the four album. I originally
bought the 45 because it was the first single
released from the album. I had the 45. I fell
in love with it. The day four came out. I ended
up getting it on vinyl. And years later, I was
very lucky to find a Japanese edition of the
CD with actually having the power of love in
the track listing, which I thought was really
wild. Wow. And hip to be square was always one
of my favorite songs from the band. But then
in the early 2000s. a movie American Psycho made
the song even more infamous for the band to the
point where Huey did a spoof of the movie with
Weird Al years later. I would love to know one
going into the studio to follow up sports must
have been a stressful time for the band because
you are trying to follow up a seven times platinum
album. And I feel like Ford does a fantastic
job at that. I feel like musically the band.
kicked it up a notch wherever they could and
needed to. And it's just as strong of an album
as sports, in my opinion. But this song, I'd
love to hear the story behind it. And I'd also
love to hear how the whole movie scenario unfolded.
And if you guys were involved with that, or was
that just studio and pencil pushers in the background
getting that to happen? Yeah, that's exactly
what happened there. We were asked, I think they...
contacted Huey and asked if they could use the
song. And Huey said, sure, why not? But without
really knowing what it was going to be. And then
the movie came out and it was a pretty grisly
scene that songs played under. And I wrote that
song, by the way. I wrote the music of that song.
Huey wrote the words. He wrote the words originally
in the third person. He used to be a... He used
to fool around. He wrote it in the third person
and made a lot of sense to us. Then he, right
at the last minute when we recorded it, he changed
it to the first person. So a lot of people thought,
oh God, these guys are square. You know, they
want to be square or they're not hip. It's, you
know, nobody got, it's a joke. It's a joke, but
that nobody got. And it was literally the theme
song of the Los Angeles Police Department for
a while. it's hip to be square you know so clearly
nobody got the joke but um you know it's held
up over the years it's we we you know till the
end we played it till the end and it was a crowd
people loved it and you know it's who knows i
don't even though it was he's and and actually
at the end he changed the lyrics to too hip to
be square he would sing too hip to be square
so he went through Well, from a drumming standpoint,
because I've listened to that song probably more
times than I could even count at the end of the
song, you know, you're doing the course on the,
on the high hat. And then it sounds like you
go to like a halftime on the ride and you do
these fills that are a little slower than the
vibe of the song. And to me, that always stuck
out to me in a positive way because it was. musically
jarring, but in a way where it brought your focus
back to what was happening. And it changed the
groove just enough where something I haven't
talked about enough tonight is how the band always
played to the song. There was never anybody overplaying
the song. That's right. There were nuances in
the music like that ending where you switch to
the ride and it continued. That song could have
went on for another three minutes as you were
jamming on the ride. And that's where the song
fades out. Yeah. Was that just part of the live
performance catching you or was that something
you always did when you played it? How did that
all come together? Well, I'm going to let you
in on a nasty little secret here. That's a drum
machine. That's not me playing. What? No, it's
a hybrid. It's a drum machine kick drum and a
drum machine snare drum. I went in and played
the tom -toms, the hi -hat and the cymbals. Wow.
And right at the end. I was behind my whole kit,
and I was just... I just went... It's a hybrid.
It's not me playing the whole kit. Wow. Now,
was that like a production technique that they
decided to do for the song to give it that modern,
quote unquote, modern mid -80s sound? Yes. Wow.
I never knew that. Bad as Bad is a Linn drum
as well. Bad as Bad is a drum machine that we
used to wheel out on a wagon on stage live. A
few others are drum machines too. New Drug is
a hybrid of me. Any song that we use a drum machine,
except for Bad as Bad, was a hybrid of me playing
along with the machine. Wow. I knew that on Bad
as Bad because the drums are a little bit more
of that. electronic sound strictly pro i program
that man yeah and and and that has that 80s kind
of synth drum sound wind drum sound yeah yeah
exactly it's identifiable yeah and there's something
about that that colored the song in a way that
i don't know if you didn't have it it might change
the entire vibe of the song it would it would
i agree all right well we're up to track six
now and i'm throwing it back to you Okay. Boy,
there's a couple of deep cuts that have been
going through my mind, but there's so many hits.
Way too many hits. Way too many hits. Let's go
with... I'm going to have to go with another
deep cut. And it's off the Small World album.
And it's another one of your reggae jobs. It's
Bobo Tempo. Nice. Which was cut entirely live.
Really? Yes. The only overdubs were vocal overdubs.
And we got all our friends to come down to the
studio one night and sing all the backgrounds.
It's a big, massive group, background vocal.
Yeah, yeah. That's all our friends and family
and everybody who came into the studio. And we
all did it that night. But the track is all live,
no dubs. And it's just got a feel to it that's
fantastic. I think I love it. And I think this
production is great. The sound is great. Love
that track. That's an absolutely amazing song.
And I'm curious. I've mentioned reggae now three
times between Tell Me a Little Lie, Perfect World
and now Bobo Tempo. Who was the catalyst for
bringing that reggae sound into the band's fold?
Like, was there a member that really kind of
leaned into that more than everyone else? Yeah,
I think Sean, well, Bobo Tempo, Clover played
Bobo Tempo. And I'm not sure if they did it the
way we did it. I never heard them play it. But
yeah, Sean came in and had that whole thing on
his synthesizer. He had that whole riff going.
And so. We riffed on that for a while and really
had fun playing it and decided, hey, let's do
just do it live and put it on as a as a filler
track, you know, then it just came out great.
Well, one of the Patreon mixtapers that supports
the show chimed in because I always ask our listeners
what songs they would start off the tape with.
And he had his answers, which were a couple of
days off, Power of Love, Hip to be Square. And
he said, but there's only a certain number of
songs and you got to. talk about some deep cuts.
And he literally ended with Bobo Tempo saying
the majority might not be familiar with this,
but end of book, like what a great song this
is. So Cactus Pete, I want to give a shout out
to him because somebody else had that one in
their list as well. And that's awesome to hear
you bring that up as well. Cactus Pete knows
what he's talking about. He's got good musical
taste. I love it. So following that up, I'm going
to do something that's a little bit of a curve
ball here. But it's something that I mentioned
earlier in the episode, and I think we need to
go back to this. Huey Lewis and the News is a
band full of amazing singers. And the harmonies
in the songs, to me, harmonies always take a
good song and make it great. There are certain
bands where you listen to the music and can you
picture hearing these songs without the vocal
harmonies? When I think of bands like the Eagles,
Fleetwood Mac, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young,
and Huey Lewis and the News. Now, you guys got
to the point where you were able to just say,
screw our instruments. Let's take a song that
everybody knows by Curtis Mayfield as a funky
R &B song and let's strip it down and sing it
acapella. And it became a hit on radio and in
live shows. And I am going to follow it up with
your cover of It's All Right from the People
Get Ready, a tribute to Curtis Mayfield album.
To me, this song was a gutsy cover because you
are taking the music out of a song that is ingrained
in people's musical DNA. And you're changing
it completely, flipping it on its ear and turning
it into an acapella song. And it's so good. What
was the thought process behind that? Because
I really feel like if there were ever to have
been a video for this song, you guys should have
been standing underneath the streetlight on a
Friday night, all in a semicircle with people
walking by, like almost like, you know, just
it has that vibe to it. But all the different
like between the bass all the way up to the tenor,
it's so perfectly done. I'd love to hear the
story behind this cover. Well, we started doing
acapella to warm up before shows. And then we
would have parties back at our hotel after the
gigs, get a bunch of people, and we'd end up
in the bathroom singing all these old R &B tunes.
And we did Chain Gang and Amen. And that's really
how we... came upon the acapella deal and Johnny
started doing arrangements of different songs
and we decided, well, what the hell? We'll put
a couple in our set and see what happens. And
everybody loved it. So that just became a staple
of our live shows. And Johnny came up with the
arrangement of that and we did it and we loved
it because it's a great song, you know? So, I
mean, that's just, we love doing it and that's
the way we warmed up. Well, we've got three songs
left, two of which are coming from you and one
from me. So track eight, what do you got track
eight? I think I'm going to go with, well, I
know I'm going for my last track. If you don't
go with it first, I'm going to go with boy. It
might be another deep cut. No, I'm going to go
with a couple of days off. Nice. I'm going to
go with a couple of days off from heart of play.
that is a great song that we almost missed, but
we did, we got it just right. And yeah, it's,
it's a great song. Nothing wrong with that song.
No, it is awesome. And honestly, that just made
my last pick even easier because I was flip -flopping
between, cause I didn't, we didn't touch hard
at play yet. And that is another fantastic album.
And that song again, musically. The dynamics
of music were shifting when this album came out.
Yeah. I mean, we are talking, this album came
out in 1991. When Nirvana hit. Yeah, Nirvana,
Pearl Jam. And yet, a couple days off, still
was on Top 40 Radio and still sounded like it
belonged there. The band was a musical chameleon,
being able to kind of find the vibe that fit
that current style of music. And it's such a
great tune. Yeah. Well, that makes my job easier
because now I have only one song left and I'm
going to go with the song that my parents introduced
me to Huey Lewis in the news with. So to me,
it's a nice little coda at the end of my contribution
to this mixtape. And it is off of Picture This.
And it was a song that was originally called
We Both Believe in Love, recorded by the band
Supercharged on their 1979 album Body Rhythm.
When I found out that Robert Mutt Lang. Was the
original person behind this song later in life?
It blew my mind. I had no idea. And now when
I went back and heard the original, I'm going,
wow. Like I had no idea. This is another instance
like heart and soul where the original was good,
but Huey Lewis in the news, his version is untouchable.
It is the definitive version of this song. And
if it wasn't for this song, I wouldn't be the
fan of the band that I am today. So thank you.
Do you believe in love? Well, that, you know,
Mutt's been a friend of ours. Mutt produced Clover's
albums when they went, Clover went to England
in 77 and Mutt produced their records over there.
So Huey's known Mutt forever. And when we started
our band, we met Mutt immediately. And we've
been friends since, you know, 1979. So we've
always just kind of thrown ideas back and forth.
He actually wrote, what was the other one we
did off of? Hard at Play. Are you talking about
Hit Me Like a Hammer? Hit Me Like a Hammer. Mutt
wrote that song, yeah. And Mutt's a great guy.
We all, we love him. And thank God for Do You
Believe in Love. That got our foot in the door.
With that one song, man, and I'll never forget
where I was when I heard it for the first time,
driving down through San Anselmo, California,
my little VW beat up VW bug came on the radio
and I had to pull over and I listened to it.
I went, that's us. We're on the radio. Oh, man,
it was a big deal. And that is the kind of song,
like I mentioned earlier, if you take the harmonies
out of that song, it's still a good song, but
the harmonies make that version. Just amazing.
It's got that doo -wop call and response, but
it's still heavy. It's funky. It's everything
I love about this band. And without this hit,
does the band go on to sports? To me, this is
the catalyst. Probably not. I mean, we had one
more shot after we had a three -album deal with
Chrysalis. And after Picture This, we had one
more shot. and it was with sports and who knows
if sports would have been um received the same
way it had if we hadn't had a big hit off the
picture this yeah now later in the years the
band reimagined the song for their live shows
can you talk about the kind of the mindset behind
that yeah we we got tired of the you know the
the foreigner kind of deal you know yes and we
were more into an r &b vibe at the time so we
thought you know let's let's just slow it down
a little bit and you don't bump bump bump bump
bump which made sense you know it's i don't know
if it's any better or any worse but it worked
you know i think probably the original is a little
better but there you go now did the band ever
record that in a version of that in the studio
or was that only for live live not in the studio
Okay. Well, Bill, we're 19 songs in. You got
to kick things off at the beginning of the night,
and you get the honor of closing us out for the
night. So what song are we going to end with?
It's a no -brainer, and it's the song that we
closed every show with for the last 35 years,
Working for a Living. Got to have that one. If
you're making a Huey Lewis list, you got to have
Working for a Living. Even the Foo Fighters like
it. Everybody loves that song. My Bad covers
that one as well. We have so much fun with it.
That is, again, that still has a little bit of
the punk flair from the first album, but it's
more honed in to fit the Huey Lewis sound. Well,
actually, that was more in the Dave Edmonds,
Nick Lowe rock pile vein. That was that's Rockpile.
That's Terry Williams on drums, you know, and
and Nick and Dave, who are friends of ours as
well. And, you know, we we but it's fast. It's
up tempo. Boy, on that album, it's really fast.
And this is something we didn't talk about at
all tonight, which I almost feel like. And I
apologize to Huey for doing any disservice. His
harmonica playing is amazing. And we haven't
talked about it enough tonight because that's
yet another layer. Where you guys have all of
these talented musicians in the band, but being
able to find a way to work between the harmonica
solo, the guitar solo, the horn sections, depending
on the song, and have it all flow so naturally
shows that there's a musical conversation happening
amongst the members of the band that cannot be
defined outside of the core of the group. you
guys again it always fit the song when Huey came
in with the harmonica it fit and when there was
a sax solo it fit or when there was guitar solos
it just all worked and this was one where there
was multiple solos in it and it just really closed
out every one of the band shows with that musical
camaraderie and with that energy and at the end
of the day this is pretty much to me at least,
a biographical song about the band because for
the better part of four decades, this is what
you've done. Yeah. To me, Huey Lewis and the
News is a band that for four decades in my life
has been that hardworking, take no prisoners
band. You guys went out there and did exactly
what you did. No matter what the challenges or
music scene changes were, you went out there
and you were Huey Lewis and the News. And at
the end of the day, That is why I am such a big
fan of this band and why this song is a perfect
way to close out tonight's playlist. Yeah. Great.
Well, there, folks, you have the end of Side
B, which kicked off with Some of My Lies Are
True sooner or later from their self -titled
album. Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do from
Picture This. The Only One from Picture This.
I Want a New Drug from Sports. Hip to Be Square
from Four. Bobo Tempo from Small World. It's
All Right from People Get Ready, a tribute to
Curtis Mayfield, Couple Days Off from Hard at
Play, Do You Believe in Love from Picture This,
and Working for a Livin' from Picture This. You
can always head to myweeklymixtape .com to hear
all the songs we've discussed in this mix through
the playlist embedded on the episode page. Now,
Bill. Being a big fan of the band, I'm always
going back and forth looking for new songs to
check out. And I noticed that there are some
expanded deluxe editions of the band's album
that are being released in Japan this year that
have bonus tracks. Some of them, the sports is
two discs and has like 25 songs on it. Is that
something that the band is behind? And are they
going to do something in the U .S. for that?
News to me. Really? Oh, yeah. I had no idea that
was happening. Wow. Yeah. Just goes to show you
how much they include the drummer in decisions.
I was going to say, I would figure this would
be something where the band members would be
privy to this information. I'm sure I would have
heard about it eventually. But no, I did not
know they were doing that. Sounds great. Yeah.
I'm excited to get my hands on them. Unfortunately,
they're overseas, so they're imports and they
come at a premium. So I was hoping. With the
fact that the band is not touring, that maybe
there would be a resurgence of re -releases of
the albums to kind of keep that music in the
discussion. Are there any plans with the band
happening right now? Obviously, given everything
that happened with Huey's disease and everything,
that touring really isn't possible. But is there
any activity happening with the band? Yeah, touring
is not possible, unfortunately. Huey's hearing
is so bad, he can't even put on an album and
he can't listen to music. And that is heartbreaking
to me, man. We've had several long discussions,
he and I, about how he gets through that. Because
at the beginning, he was quite depressed. And
he's managed to pull through it. And I mean,
he grades his hearing on a scale of 1 to 10.
Every morning, he gets up and he'll go, oh, it's
like a 1 or a 2. And when it's a 1 or a 2, he
just can't hear. Some days, it's as good as a
6. So there's a possibility that we have not
really looked into yet. But I think there's a
possibility that on one of his good days, if
we were to write some new music and the stars
aligned and everything was perfect, he could
possibly sing to a new track, which leaves open
the possibility of more recording, which would
be great. As far as shows go, we can't book shows
because there's no telling. And when he wakes
up and his hearing's at two, he says any music
sounds like a jet engine to him. Just, you know,
distortion, complete distortion. And so he can't
hear pitch. And he's just not, he can't, he just
can't sing. So we're hoping that maybe Johnny
and I are going to look into maybe, you know,
doing some writing. recording some new music
and maybe on a one -off good day he has we can
grab him and see if he can sing it you know so
that's a possibility like i said we're looking
at remixing um the first album and we're all
we also have three live shows that we're looking
to remix and possibly release so um yeah there's
things in the works we got irons in the fire
I was going to say any new music from Huey Lewis
in the news to me is a good day because as a
decades long fan of the band, this is the music
of my youth and the music of my life. So it has
been an absolute honor to talk with you about
these songs tonight. Bill Gibson, thank you so
much for joining me on my weekly mixtape. Oh,
well, thanks so much for having me. Remember,
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Until next time, enjoy the tunes.