been recorded or written for a moment before it was. It’s really laying claim to what I’ve learned and what I know. I surprised my husband a couple of weeks ago with the gift of your song, “Your Love Is Where I Live.” After being together 20 years and married for seven, the words you wrote, per- fectly summed up how I feel for him. Will you tell me about writing with Tom Snow again for this one? Ah… congratulations. Tom and I wrote that song
quite a while ago. We are old and dear colleagues and wrote “You Should Hear How She Talks about You” with Dean Pitchford. The song, as most songs that I write do, came out of a beautiful conversation. To have Stevie Wonder playing harmonica on it was just beyond belief. No doubt. You have such a wide array of remarkable artists around you on “You Gotta Love the Life.” Stevie Wonder, but also Dave Koz, Al Jarreau and Dionne Warwick. It’s amazing. I’m very fortunate that I’ve shared this journey with
all of those people. It’s magnificent that they said, “Yes.” There’s one song on this that I couldn’t quite get the mean- ing of and that’s “The Other One.” Were you writing about yourself at an earlier time of your life? Will you elaborate on writing this song? “The Other One” was written reflecting that, as
many people do in a relationship, you tend to not take care of yourself. You tend to not put yourself at the top of your “to do” list. You get lost in a relationship and you start to make the other person, your god. And, that’s just not healthy. Sort of the last thing that you notice, is that you have neglected taking care of you and being mindful of what your needs are. I have to talk about the stunning rendition of “Other End of the Phone.” To have Hal David create a lyric for you to write music to is truly phenomenal. Then to have Dionne Warwick join you for a duet with Joe Sample [legendary piano player/ composer], it’s just too much. Yes, it was Hal’s last lyric. It was historic. It was also
one of Joe Sample’s last performances. I have been hoping to work with Joe for thirty years. Because I’ve
known Dionne and admired and loved her singing for so long… it was a perfect circle. These are mag- nificent artists and they must be paid attention to and not dismissed. So, it was my lovely tribute to all of them. It was spectacular. It just reflects part of what informed me, as I was
growing up and what sustained me, as I was living through my journey as a young singer/songwriter. These are giants. It’s wonderful to hear you and Dionne sing together. Thank you. Also, “Other End of the Phone” sort of
defied conventional thinking and instead of having it sung between a man and a woman…to bring Di- onne in and have it sung between two women, it just brought a different kind of luster and a deeper, inner life was revealed. It’s beautiful. It must be so rewarding to be an adjunct professor at USC and teaching your class, “The Art of Conversational Singing.” When did you begin this and what have you learned from this experience? Well, I started four years ago and I’ve learned so
much. Everything that I’ve learned led me to be able to create You Gotta Love the Life through Crowdfund- ing. It was my students who opened my eyes to the world of Crowdfunding. One of my students became my project manager. In addition, I teach them what I know and what
I’ve learned from forty-five years in doing this. I share whatever they want to learn about…song structure or talking about the life. It’s just an unexpected adventure and it’s beautiful. I teach once a week and I’m taking a leave of absence this semester because promoting the album was just too complicated. Yeah and it’s so exciting for you to be doing this again! Oh, it’s incredible! It’s so incredible to be doing it differently. That’s the thing.
Melissa Manchester is performing for her You Gotta Love the Life tour at McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert on Thursday, April 9. For tickets and more information call 760.340.2787 or go
tomccallumtheatre.com.
MEMORIES WITH MANCHESTER
Melissa Manchester shares a bit more about her rich history as a singer through the years:
On “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” (Theme from the 1979 film,The Promise): It was a magnificent song to sing, written by my beautiful friends, Marilyn and Alan Bergman.
Here’s one… “Billy-A-Dick.” (For the Boys1991): (Laughter) I sang that with Bette Midler inFor the Boys. It was a great Hoagy Carmichael novelty-song. We had great fun and it was sensational working with Bette again. (One of Melissa’s first professional jobs was being one of the first “Harlettes” on Midler’s first tour.)
Peter Allen’s “Don’t Cry Out Loud.” (Composed in 1976/released in 1978): Peter wrote with Carole Sager and I wrote with Carole Sager. Peter and I never wrote together but we performed together. The first time I heard “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” it was a very quiet version that he had sung and I thought, “It’s just a magnificent song.”
Then, when I went into the studio and I heard this gigantic arrangement that I was going to sing on, it really shocked me! It alluded me, I couldn’t understand what resonated with people so much because Carole and I always wrote the ballads… absolutely crying out loud (laughter). Suddenly, I was singing the song “Don’t Cry Out Loud” in a very loud way. It took me a while to realize what this song really meant. What it really meant is that at the end, we each have to learn how to cope. That’s a very poignant and strengthening and humbling kind of message. I loved Peter. He was fabulous and it’s
ridiculous, that he left us so soon.
APRIL 2015 | RAGE monthly 21
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