geoff: Ahead of tonight's grammy
awards, I sat down with a giant
of the music industry who at 75
years old is still trying to
make his fans dreams come true.
♪♪
legendary singer-songwriter
Daryl hall is back on stage
preparing for a new tour.
♪♪
best known for being one half of
the iconic rock and soul duo
Paula notes, his -- hall and
oates, his new album is the
first collection of his solo
work.
Material found on five albums
from 1980's sacred songs to 20
elevenths laughing down crying.
It also includes highlights from
his long-running online series
live from Daryl's house where he
has collaborated with a range of
artists including Sammy hagar,
Sharon Jones, smokey Robinson
and cee lo green.
♪♪
we spoke with Daryl hall in
upstate New York.
You are about to get back on the
road.
What have you missed the most
about live performance?
>> The actual performance.
Everything else is terrible.
It is just travel.
It is very military.
Hurry up and wait.
When you are on stage for
whatever time you are, that is
when it gets good.
You never know what is going to
happen.
Geoff: How did you maintain your
creative process during the
pandemic?
>> I hibernated.
I did not fight it.
I did not even play my
instruments.
I did not read any songs.
I stayed in one place, which is
totally weird because I've been
traveling since I was a
teenager.
Geoff: Where did the idea come
from to do before after?
>> Part of that was that time of
reflection.
I think a lot of people -- you
reevaluate things.
I whole life changed her to life
changed.
If not now, when?
It is trying -- it is time to
show the world.
I have been showing my
alternative side and alternative
career basically.
I played a lot of those songs
over the years on the show that
I never really released any
compilation or paid that much
attention to the recorded
versions of these albums I've
made over the years.
I thought now is the time to do
it and to show that is what I
do.
I do stuff with John oates.
I do stuff with other people.
It's put it all out there.
Geoff: Paul got his start in the
Philadelphia music scene as part
of the group called the temp
tones while steadily at temple
university.
>> A street corner group.
That was popular back then.
I made my first record with
Kenny gable and romeos.
A four track studio on north
broad street.
I was involved in that whole
world.
It was the beginning of what
people know as the sound of
Philadelphia and I was part of
that.
Geoff: After college is when you
met John oates.
>> He was sewed of -- he was
sort of play guitar in the temp
tones but we decided to do
something for real after we got
out of school.
Geoff: Daryl hall and John O
it's released their first album
in 1972.
Eventually becoming the most
successful duo in pop history.
They have earned all kinds of
accolades.
Rock and roll hall of fame
museum inductees, a star on the
Hollywood walk of fame.
All for their enduring hits such
as samara -- such as Sara smile.
♪♪
private I -- private eyes.
♪♪
rich girl.
♪♪
you make my dreams.
♪♪
they topped billboards hot 100
half a dozen times.
These days there music is simple
by rappers and they continue to
find new young fans online like
YouTube stars Tim and Fred
Williams famous for their
reaction videos.
♪♪
>> They got that little jazz.
>> That little blues that make
you one of -- -- state -- that
make you want to
geoff: Hall says despite the
success or because of it, at
find he found it hard to branch
out creatively.
Since his solo work is more
adventurous and less commercial
than what he recorded with John
oates.
>> It is a really hard thing to
do.
I did not always succeed with
There is a lot of frustration
involved because the business of
music has a different agenda
than the creation of music.
In my particular situation, I
was sort of a victim of success
where I had to compete with
myself.
The record company was looking
at the cash cow.
They were looking at what was
going to make them the most
money.
That was Daryl hall and John
oates.
The other stuff I was doing even
though I was having success with
it, when you balance it out, are
they going to do?
They're going to push to the
other side.
Geoff: Rca refused to put out
one of your solo album so you
licked it to music journalists
-- so you leaked it to music
journalists.
>> They said it was so crazy.
It was really a groundbreaking
album.
That was not rich girl Jr..
Geoff: How do you write songs
that are timeless and enduring?
What is your process?
>> It comes in many different
ways.
Sometimes it will be a drum
groove.
Sometimes it will be a cord
progression.
Sometimes it will be just a
phrase that runs in my head.
Any combination of that can make
a saw.
I do not really have a formula.
Geoff: Did you know so many of
your hits would be hits when you
wrote them?
>> No.
I never think -- I don't think
of songs as I'm going to write a
hit.
Occasionally I will think this
could be a hit but you never
know.
Sometimes a song I think is
going to be a hit is not a hit.
Geoff: To what do you attribute
your longevity in this business?
>> It is hard for me to say.
I think I write songs that --
obviously they cross
generations, which is fantastic.
I love that.
.
It is so fulfilling.
Some timeless quality.
Some universal thing that I know
how to touch on.
It has to do with my personal
experiences that I guess
everybody else shares.
It is the best way I can put it.
Geoff: Timeless songs sustaining
Daryl hall towering 50 year
career.