-I'm so happy you're here.
I'm honored that you're here.
You changed music for all of us with your magazine.
What year was it? 196-- -1967.
And rock and roll was a really small thing then.
The Beatles, of course, were out
and the Stones were out and Dylan was out.
But it wasn't anything like today.
And we just kind of helped bring it to the world.
Say, "Hey, this stuff is great."
-But no one took music seriously.
-Yeah. And we were the first people
to come along and really write about it
as kind of a very artistic, very meaningful,
very important thing that communicated with young people,
and that was going to be the, you know,
sound heard around the world. -Yeah.
-And we saw how much social meaning it had
and how much it conveyed ideas and feelings
and the way people should treat each other.
It had a real message.
-The first cover was John Lennon.
If I -- If I -- now, because I'm a fan of yours
and I'm kind of a student.
But the first one was John Lennon.
Was it "How I Won the War"? -"How I Won the War."
That movie. -He was dressed in a --
Yeah. And he was doing a movie.
So, that's the cover -- you got John Lennon for the first cover.
This must have sold a million copies.
-It sold 7-- We shipped 40,000 copies, that issue.
-Wow. -We got 35,000 back
in unopened boxes.
But really smart -- -So you sold 5,000 copies?
-If you had been there, you would've sold a million.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah.
But that's cool to get John Lennon
to be the first cover.
-Well, it was, in truth, it was the cheapest --
it was the only publicity still I could find.
We started with nothing.
So our choices were limited to what record companies
would give us free or movies would give us free,
and that was the best of the free ones.
-Yeah. -Now then, we did -- went on,
and he did many covers after that.
-Yeah, of course he did, yes.
Here's you, here, in 1967.
-My wife, Jane. -Yeah.
You went on to start with John Lennon.
You went on -- obviously every musician.
You went on to world leaders.
Here's you with Obama. -Oh, yeah.
-You said that Obama gave you a little --
[ Cheers and applause ]
He gave you a little gossip
when you were interviewing President Obama.
-Well, I had just been with Bono the night before.
I said I was going down there.
He said, "Oh, I was just -- I stayed the night two weeks ago
at the White House, you know." -Yeah, Bono.
-Bono, and -- with Barack, first names.
[ Laughter ] And I drank him --
and he says, you know, we went mano a mano
with the drinks until like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.
-No. -I just stayed with him.
And I'm seeing Obama the next day.
So, I said, "You know, I saw Bono last night.
He said that the -- he drank you under the table."
He says, "You're kidding.
He -- I put him away."
-What? [ Laughter ]
-"I had to carry him to the Lincoln bedroom."
[ Laughter ]
-That's not true. -It's the truth.
-President Obama said that he carried Bono
to the Lincoln bedroom? -Yeah.
Now, that's ver-- I'm not supposed to say that.
That's totally discreet.
-Yeah, of course. Yeah.
No one's watching. Don't worry about it.
No one's watching. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-It's my reputation. -Yeah.
You know, last night, you did a cool thing here in New York.
You got interviewed by one of your old pals and --
Bruce Springsteen. -That was great.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I was going to ask you, though, what's it like --
what's it like being interviewed --
even like right now.
But Bruce Springsteen, you've interviewed him,
and your magazine has --
-He's not close to as good as you are, firstly.
-Thank you. I appreciate that.
Do you hear that, Bruce? You can't host a talk show.
-But he does -- and also sings better.
I mean, no, you sing better than him.
Let's face it. [ Laughs ]
I've seen you play guitar.
-Yeah, what was Bruce -- -Bruce is terrific.
I mean, he is, first off,
one of the nicest people that I've ever met.
-He is.
-And one of the most thoughtful people you've ever met.
And we've known each other years and years.
We're quite good friends by this time.
And so, it was like a conversation between old friends
in which the audience of about 900 people
got to kind of watch and participate in.
And Bruce did a great job of interviewing.
-Can you tell the story that you were telling me
about the -- well, he was all in shape,
and he said he didn't want to be fat Elvis.
-Oh, God. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we were -- he had, like, whipped himself at some point.
I go into, like, this buff, killer shape.
-Oh, he's Jacked. -And I said,
"Well, how'd you get --" He says,
"You know, I was on concert -- on stage one night,
and I looked up at the screen behind me.
And I looked at that guy up there, and said,
'That's the fat Elvis.'"
[ Laughter ]
So, then he got totally in buff shape.
Well, then, about three or four months later,
we are in Rio de Janeiro together.
We was playing Rock in Rio.
And we go with our friends and stuff like that.
And we're walking on the beach.
And apparently, I didn't see them,
but he saw these paparazzi, you know, following us.
So, we get to lunch.
Immediately on the phone, there's these pictures
that appear from some photo agency, you know,
where he is looking great... -Yeah.
-...and I'm looking like my gut is hanging out.
[ Laughter ] I said, "Thanks, pal."
I mean, thanks for -- he said, "I saw them there."
I said, "Well, thanks for alerting me."
-Thanks for warning me, yeah.
You're the one worried about -- yeah, you're Bruce Springsteen.
You're Jacked.
-But he had a very funny thing to say about it.
He says, "Because of the rapidity
of which those pictures appeared," he said,
"you can't go anywhere anymore and then you're everywhere."
-Yeah, and you're everywhere.
Yeah -- there's all sorts of fun stories and photos in here.
I like this picture of you --
your family with Paul McCartney and his family.
And I like this because you have a funny story.
Theo, your son, his nickname is Beetle.
-Beetle, right. -Yeah, Beetle -- B-E-E-T-L-E.
Right, sure? And, yeah.
And so, in this picture,
he actually went and found an actual beetle.
-And there's three beetles.
-Yeah, so Paul -- and actually, he's holding an actual beetle.
-There's one other thing that's important --
interesting about that besides that story,
is that Linda used to be a photographer for "Rolling Stone"
in the very early days, 1967 and '68.
And I think it was '68 or something,
she asked me if she could go to England, shoot the Beatles.
I said, "Why do you want to go?"
"I want to meet Paul."
So, we sent her. -Wow.
And the rest is history. -Yeah.
-Yeah, just saying, no big deal.
-No big deal. -Yeah, no big deal.
Also -- -I now get so many royalties.
Every time they play "Yesterday"...
-You're the fifth Beatle.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
And this is no big deal.
Just you sailing with Mick Jagger.
No big deal. Everything's cool.
Everything's fine.
-You don't want my life.
That's true. -Yes, I do.
Yes, we all do. -This is a struggle.
-But I will say, I do like -- I do like hanging out with you.
-Do you remember we hung out.
-Yeah. -We hung out with Mick.
-Well, I had a party for him at our house one night.
And you were among the guests.
-You had one of the best parties I've ever been to.
-That was fun. -Ever.
Epic. [ Cheers and applause ]
-It's a terrible life I live. I'm sorry.
-Jann Wenner throws a party.
And everyone you can think of is there.
I remember -- -So, you and Mick
leave the party.
And suddenly, for some reason on the stoop,
you guys start doing the dance-off,
you know, of who can dance better.
You, this one, and Mick makes his move.
-Yeah, Mick Jagger challenged me to a dance contest.
"Dancing in the Street"!
♪ Callin' out around the world ♪
♪ Are you ready, you ready, you ready ♪
[ Cheers and applause ] It got loud.
It got loud in the streets!
In New York.
-So, for every move he's making,
Mick is trying to top him.
Then it goes back. He's doing it down.
This goes on for about five --
Meanwhile, the entire neighborhood gathered around,
looking at the -- -Yeah, it was like
"West Side Story." It was unbelievable.
Yeah, we had a dance-off. -It was brilliant.
I became mayor of the street after that.
They loved me.
-There's so many great stories in here.
And, man, what a life well-lived.
And thank you for everything you've done for music
and just for being a good friend to us.
We love you. Jann Wenner, right there.
[ Cheers and applause ]
"Like a Rolling Stone" is out now.
Go pick it up. We'll be right back
with a performance from Little Big Town.
Stick around, everybody.