great- with that comedy versus great harp playing going on. I don't know, it's hard to say. The list goes into the hundreds. (Laughs)
was Mad Dogs and Englishmen, and it changed my life. Tell me a little about your relationship with Joe Cocker and how you guys came to do this project. Well, Joe had this band called The Grease Band, and he had a tour booked over here in the United States, fifty cities I believe. And right before he came over here he fired his band. He was just gonna cancel the tour. And I believe it was the Musicians Union that told him that if he canceled all those dates, they would never let him back into the United States again. Well, his producer was Denny Cordell, and he asked me if I could put some- thing together in a very short amount of time, so Joe could play those dates. So I just basi- cally called up my friends and people that I'd played with before and set that show up in a few days.
I can understand that. During the six- ties you played on so many hit records as a noted studio musician and a mem- ber of The Wrecking Crew. What would you say are some of the most memo- rable sessions that you played on? Well, one time I played on a Sam Cooke record. That was remarkable. I was glad I got a chance to be there for that. Also, I played on an Aretha Franklin record for Columbia, and there was an orchestra on it. At the end of it there was the tapping of all these violin bows on the stands. That was pretty remarkable. Those guys are pretty cynical. They don't get very excited about anything. It was amazing. And of course there were the Phil Spector ses- sions, which were interesting, and a kind of experiment to see how many people you could get into a small room. (Laughs)
(Laughing) I guess the first rock and roll album I ever owned, I was turned on to by my Uncle John in California. It
Incredible. I just love that album. I've always been a sucker for live albums anyway. Then came the Concert for Bangladesh. Share your thoughts on the Bangladesh Concert, George Harri- son, and that whole project. Ravi Shankar had asked George to do that. They were having this terrible war and famine in Bangladesh.Willie Nelson told me in later years that the reason was because the U.S. Government had made them stop growing hemp, which was their main crop over there. They made their tents and rope and all out of it. The government made them stop growing it, and when they cleared the land it eroded. It was a nightmare. So Ravi asked George to help, and George asked me. I told him that rather than raising money just one time, that we should start a foundation, because that type of thing was happening around the world continually. we could put the money into the foundation and do 2-3 of those shows a year, and only use the interest from the foundation for the relief effort. I told him I thought a good person to head the foundation would be
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