i'm very excited about my first guest tonight in the late 60s uh he started making music that
sounded like no one else's and that remains a major influence on american music today he also
became one of the most controversial figures figures in the world of entertainment uh we're
delighted that he's here tonight ladies and gentlemen please welcome sly stone
thank you very much uh for being here we're very excited about this and i appreciate you coming by
uh yeah i'm sorry i know that's all right uh you you haven't you haven't uh performed
much in the last couple of years uh what about nine years i've been retired yeah nine years
that's a long time and first of all why did you retire well i got tired so i retired you retired
yeah i thought about that and that's the only way i can say it and then i got tired
of being retired so i'm working yeah now what what happened uh what was the one or
two reasons that caused you to be tired of being retired i mean that's everybody's dream to just
you know well i needed attention and money and i did i need to do songs yeah i have songs i've been
blessed to be able to play and i was encouraged by my mom mainly to uh kind of not take advantage
of my being able to relate to music and to be able to play it yeah if i didn't it felt like a lack of
contribution to uh society or are you going to be recording again soon or you're working before the
make some hit records those those are the kind to make by the way yeah yeah you you know all about
that now yeah now where are you working now if people wanted to see is this a a complete tour
of the country are you just working here and there what well yeah i got some guys in uh chicago that
i'm calling the one-eyed jacks well mainly because that's what they call themselves before i met him
and uh they're a good group yeah and uh as a matter of fact jack wanted me to give his phone
number out can i do that yeah yeah i can okay can jack give can sly give jack's phone number
out if somebody wants to book the group sure this man over there the producer says he can't be done
but then again you know okay no i don't know i see i think the problem is jack
might get all kinds of crank phone calls no that's okay jack's prepared
well then i'm telling you the truth then go ahead i mean okay i know it's fine i know you
i know what you're saying all right go ahead i don't know what's going to become of this
it'll be okay okay it's uh it's in chicago the number is 776.
you see we're organizing a production company and a promotion company uh when we first started
playing we would play and uh sometimes i have to pay a bond in case i was late
and that happened two or three times in a row now let me let me ask you about that now now
that you get the phone number out of the way what's the area code there in chicago the area
code's three one what 305 no three yeah yeah and ask for jack of the number seven seven six
i think three one two i think just call chicago information and ask for jack no okay hey look
these guys worked okay why i um now let me ask you you brought up the fact that occasionally
you would show up late or not at all now uh i've is that over i mean why did that happen
well when i first started i just got i came from college and i'd practice discipline for so long
when i started being late or i couldn't make all the gigs is what happened
yeah it seemed that there's no way to make all the gigs when you're playing three places in one night
and you only know about one yeah uh now did that hurt you do you think that uh well sure it hurt me
yeah and mainly it hurt the people you see what i forgot you know i'd have to pay money to uh uh to
you know if i didn't show up they'd keep twenty thousand dollars supposedly yeah well and then
i'd go to the city the place would be sold out and they tricked me man because they knew how
kind of person i was kind of you know kind of uh high strung a bit so you know and you know no no
and then i say things like sly if you're late tonight you'll never play in this city again
and my natural response at the time from impetuous youthfulness i would say well yeah
you know but i but but you know it's uh but that's in the past yeah well yeah but i forgot about the
kids in the audience to me spent the last 12 dollars or so but now if you schedule a date
you're going to show up i've made the last of i've been playing small clubs about 125.
i've not missed one i will not be late and there's nothing that can make me be late
uh if the money is strange i'll let the people in free you paid you you played for 27 people
during the blizzard up on high asphalt yeah yeah just because you know well that's good
and you're going to play here tonight uh we get a pause for a commercial we'll be back
ladies and gentlemen sly stone is here of course uh before you play let me ask you about the one
thing that maybe dealing with a reputation you may have had for not showing up for jobs and so forth
uh didn't i read just within the last month that you uh had some problems with the law
in the midwest where you were yeah well they had more problems with uh themselves uh no
you know the charges were naturally quickly dropped oh this is so the charges have been
dropped of course of course can we mention that you want to mention what the charges were or not
i'm not sure they everything was legal except there was a headlight out and um
uh we were in a van that had weird registration weird whatever the tags on the car not my van not
my nothing in there but i happened to be in there and somebody recognized me yeah and i am uh so you
know people have gotten a habit of uh i guess trying to corner me with something illegal and
so far it just didn't happen okay well that's good but i can't i'm glad that they attacked me because
i'll i don't fool around yeah but it's nice now that you're you're making an effort to get back
into the swing of things that that was those that was dropped yeah it was they dropped charges and
on and on and on but i don't blame them you know i have a reputation for not showing up but that
reputation will be all over as soon as this next record comes out and people find out that i make
everything i'm here at this show yeah and i'd like to have to be somewhere tomorrow the next
day and the next day you you are not only here you are here early and uh well-dressed and courteous
i mean let me ask you another question that may be a little embarrassing maybe
not it's it see it was presented to me as being uh at one time a popular rumor
that you were romantically involved or dating or whatever you do with doris day
but did you did you hear the the way those uh that's what i mean yeah if somebody says marijuana
they'll point right to me yeah it makes me hoarse i tried it before yeah i don't like it but no but
i know you know what i'm saying though yeah those kind of rumors start okay now do you
know what have you heard this rumor about sure yeah i know the lady she's a great lady i met
the lady through her son terry and terry is a in the music business isn't it
she's just a nice lady that's all i wouldn't date that lady i'm too afraid
okay all right ella tell me about uh your uh black folks got to be cool
uh are you still racing cars yeah i'm gonna get a [ __ ] next you never heard of a [ __ ]
well the guy the guy that designed the [ __ ] he also designed the uh the space mobile for the moon
so um but you did didn't you used to drive very fast in automobile i still do when i have the
room and you know it's all it's moving around yeah yeah all right uh okay i'll tell you in
the next segment uh what a raise no no no no uh sly and i will return we have a fine
program yet to come and he will be performing on this very show uh right after station
ladies and gentlemen uh mr sly stone singing if you want me to stay
will
you'll never
gonna be number one
one more time
i wish
oh
hey
oh
yes
thank you
very nice very impressive uh you're gonna do another one later in the show slide will be
back we got to go away for a commercial sandra bernhardt will be here very nice nicely done
thank you very much i want to thank everybody who is here tonight tomorrow night hunts hall
will be here bill maher and stupid patrick's ladies and gentlemen once again sly stone
getting stronger
baby
hey music's needy
baby baby