You know in pop music, it was always the same thing
Like eh I like it, it's something
What is it?
I dunno, the drums? I'm not sure.. something
You probably don't know
Is it true you once skinned and ate a squirrel?
Is that true?
Mmm, I lived in Vermont - they eat squirrels in Vermont
I lived with a guy with a guy who didn't want to get a job
but he would go out squirrel hunting all the time, sometimes I'd go with him
You know
I never really was attached to squirrels, I kinda thought they're tree rats kinda
But he came home with adead animal and said
I got some people coming over... here
And I looked at him and I was like what am I gonna do with a squirrel
I was raised Italian so we made it in a sauce
You know, it's like a little squirrel-nese I guess
So let's see, chopped the head off, took the fur off, he took the bones out
Then I took the meat I had, you know
Is there a lotta meat in it>
Depends how fat the thing is, I don't really remember all I know is
I cut the onions up, put the bay leaf in, garlic and basil
And I used alcohol just incase to kill whatever germs
Then I took the tomatoes, little bit of salt, pepper, put the sauce in
And you know, tomatoes and then
A guy came over and he had dinner
Did you tell him?
I didn't wanna tell em, he said to me
This is delicious, what kind of meat is this?
It's chicken
So the guy said no it's not and I said yeah it's chicken
And he said no it's not and it went on and on so finally I just got up and said listen
It's squirrel and I showed him the pelt and he got really upset and left
I figured, you're in Vermont - that's what they do here. When in Rome ...
You know, what can I tell ya?
And the Tony Award goes to ...
Girl, you're gonna have fun tonight! Cyndi Lauper!
You know, most my life, I had to fight to write
I was just toldshe should just stand there and sing
Just stand there, listen to the producer, they'll tell you everything you need to do, just do it
In the back of my head I'm always saying really?
Cos when I get that lobotomy I'll be right in touch with you
You know, what are you supposed to do? Not have a brain?
I'm not a robot
I wanna thank Harvey Fierstein for calling me up, I'm so glad I was done with the dishes
When Harvey called me and had that kind of faith
all of a sudden it was like I was five years old again
I was singing the different characters
and you start to hear the other voices
And it creates a world
And Harvey let me right different jams for everybody
You know, in pop music it was always the same thing
Where's the hook? is that hook? I like it, that's a good hook
You know I like it, there's something
What is it?
I dunno, the drums? I'm not sure, something
That's how I kinda grew up in the music business
And then...
And then Harvey comes along and I say okay
why don't you just tell me what the rules are now so I know my guidelines?
So you start with that and then...
And he said there were none
So that was really wild because I kept coming to him with different ideas
Listen, some of the things I did
You should have seen their faces, shocked
I just kept writing and...
I was reading your memoir that you have quite vivid dreams
Is it true that you saw angels when you wrote True Colors?
True Colors came to me around the time, around the time one of my y best friends died
Gregory
And, um...
His nickname was blue, cos... he had blue eyes
He had a very rough childhood and ...
He died of AIDS
I was so sad
I heard the melody and the words
'duh duh duh duh duh' and I sang against that
And somehow that simplicity and that stripped down approach
Really gave that song a weight
And as I went to the studio and every time we tried to put music on
It kinda lost its weight
And I just kept singing it until we broke that barrier
I don't know what it's called, sound barrier? I don't know
But there's a
There's a level
There's something that opens up at a certain time in the song
Where you do see things
And I did see angels on the top of the room
And I did feel like I was in a different place and all of a sudden I saw the different people I would be singing to
And what it would mean
So I remember when we did it and the promotion men got it they were like
Where's all the music? What the heck is this? What are you doing to me, Cynd
Cyndi Lauper, what a fun conversation, thank you so much for your time
Sure
Really appreciate it