WEBVTT 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:13.780 >> [Music: Flaming Lips “She Don’t Use Jelly”] 00:00:13.780 --> 00:00:15.300 >> Wayne Coyne: You know we've always said that 00:00:15.330 --> 00:00:17.310 as long as we can make more money being in the band 00:00:17.310 --> 00:00:19.240 than we could, say, working at McDonald's or Target, 00:00:19.250 --> 00:00:20.740 then we'll choose being in the band. 00:00:20.740 --> 00:00:21.660 >> Jennifer Van Evra: Right. 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:24.820 >> Wayne Coyne: Only because that's what would be left for us if we weren't doing this. 00:00:24.820 --> 00:00:30.170 That's the kind of skill level of any contribution to society that we would have. 00:00:30.170 --> 00:00:35.039 Simply because we've spent our whole adult lives pursuing this. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:45.239 >> [Music] 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:48.660 >> Wayne Coyne: I worked at this fast food restaurant in Oklahoma City, Long John Silver's. 00:00:48.660 --> 00:00:51.600 Fried fish and french fries and stuff. I worked there for 11 years 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.760 from the time I was 16 to the time I was 27 or so. 00:00:54.760 --> 00:00:58.929 I'd be working late at night and it was a reasonably bad area of town 00:00:58.929 --> 00:01:01.489 and we got robbed a couple of times. Especially in the late 1970's 00:01:01.489 --> 00:01:04.080 because the economy and everything really got horrible. 00:01:04.080 --> 00:01:08.130 The first time we got robbed I was the only... I'm not saying this because I'm racist or anything 00:01:08.299 --> 00:01:11.110 I'm just being pragmatic about it. I was the only white guy. 00:01:11.110 --> 00:01:16.350 I was working with a bunch of black women. The guys who came in were black 00:01:16.350 --> 00:01:21.330 and they were pissed off and they had biggest gun I've ever seen in my life. 00:01:21.330 --> 00:01:26.220 Only because it's pointed at me did it seem so big. We all laid on the ground. 00:01:26.229 --> 00:01:31.809 I thought, “fuck, this is… this is it. Here I am, I'm 17 and this is how it ends.” 00:01:31.809 --> 00:01:34.899 “You’re just working one second and the next second you're laying on the ground” 00:01:34.899 --> 00:01:36.820 “and some guy puts a bullet in your head.” 00:01:36.820 --> 00:01:42.880 Obviously they robbed us and left and didn't kill me. But I remember the elation of just... 00:01:42.880 --> 00:01:46.880 We all cried. We couldn't stop crying and laughing and jumping up and down. 00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:50.340 We were celebrating like we had just won a million dollars. 00:01:50.350 --> 00:01:56.219 The idea of we are alive and isn't it a fucking great thing? I think it changed me. 00:01:56.219 --> 00:01:59.779 >> [MUSIC] 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:05.500 Wayne Coyne: I think the idea of sort of confronting this always present idea 00:02:05.509 --> 00:02:08.509 that people around you are going to die or you're going to die or... 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:11.020 I think it makes living better, it really does. 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:17.230 To me, I hate this notion that I would ever forget of how temporary this whole thing is. 00:02:17.230 --> 00:02:19.740 You know life is worth celebrating and worth living 00:02:19.740 --> 00:02:25.450 even though we're all headed to the same hole at the end of the day. 00:02:25.450 --> 00:02:28.680 Without sort of coming to terms with it you're not coming to terms with 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:31.400 some of the joys of life at the same time. 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:33.880 >> [MUSIC] 00:02:33.880 --> 00:02:35.420 Wayne Coyne: I don’t know. I think somewhere along the way 00:02:35.420 --> 00:02:39.280 music allows you to sing and talk and think about those things, 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:43.960 and it can be beautiful instead of being horrible. 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:45.320 I remember when my father was dying, 00:02:45.320 --> 00:02:49.080 I remember listening to Bjork, and listening to John Coltrane, and these things, 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:56.500 and I don't know why but music has the power to transcend your physical being 00:02:56.510 --> 00:03:01.390 and take you up just a little bit. Because music has a metaphysical quality 00:03:01.390 --> 00:03:06.530 it gets up there in these things and it really makes your life beautiful. 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:12.460 >> [Music] 00:03:12.460 --> 00:03:16.680 >> Wayne Coyne: It's the same thing for virtually every human that's ever going to be alive. 00:03:16.690 --> 00:03:22.830 Things that make them sad are going to be love, loss of love, death, fear of isolation. 00:03:22.830 --> 00:03:26.760 It's a really small little corner. So I think any time you sing about those 00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:30.070 you're probably going to have a crowd that knows exactly what you're talking about. 00:03:30.070 --> 00:03:36.020 But when you're sing about things that make you happy, which I like to do that as well, 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:38.920 you know, you never know if you're going to hit the mark. 00:03:38.920 --> 00:03:42.170 That's why when I sing a song like She Don't Use Jelly, 00:03:42.170 --> 00:03:44.700 people go, “oh that's crazy, what are you talking about.” 00:03:44.700 --> 00:03:47.960 Even though they enjoy it, they don't understand it. 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:51.420 [Music: The Flaming Lips "Spoonful Weighs a Ton"] 00:03:51.420 --> 00:03:53.740 Stuff like when I sing about the Spoonful Weighs a Ton 00:03:53.740 --> 00:03:58.220 and people understand this is about death and meaning that you put into in your life. 00:03:58.220 --> 00:04:00.220 They go, “oh, I know what you're talking about.” 00:04:00.220 --> 00:04:06.220 >> [Music: The Flaming Lips “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton”] 00:04:06.220 --> 00:04:11.220 >> Wayne Coyne: So when I go in there and I’m singing about things that seem to be personal, 00:04:11.230 --> 00:04:17.910 they can be my own exact personal experience, yet if I'm doing the job right 00:04:17.910 --> 00:04:20.600 I can make it seem like it's your story at the same time. 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:22.280 I'm not just simply pouring my guts out. 00:04:22.280 --> 00:04:26.240 I'm pouring my guts out so they can feel like your guts at the same time. 00:04:26.260 --> 00:04:34.720 >> [Music: Flaming Lips “Do You Realize”] 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:35.940 >> Jennifer Van Evra: Well I should let you go. 00:04:35.950 --> 00:04:37.110 >> Wayne Coyne: All right, well thanks a bunch. 00:04:37.110 --> 00:04:39.790 I'm sitting in the lobby where the elevators come out. 00:04:39.790 --> 00:04:42.160 People have all been looking at me in my bare feet, 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:46.740 talking existential bullshit with you as they get in and out of the elevators. 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:49.540 >> Jennifer Van Evra: Hilarious. That was the odd ding I was hearing in the background. 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:51.780 >> Wayne Coyne: Yeah. 00:04:51.780 --> 00:04:54.800 >> Jennifer Van Evra: Well thanks again and I really appreciate you taking out the time on a Saturday. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:56.000 >> Wayne Coyne: Well I'm glad you called. Okay. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:56.820 >> Jennifer Van Evra: Okay, cheers. 00:04:56.820 --> 00:04:57.480 >> Wayne Coyne: Alright, bye. 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:57.980 >> Jennifer Van Evra: Bye. 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:05.040 >> [Music: Flaming Lips “Do You Realize”]