-
>> [Music: Flaming Lips “She Don’t Use
Jelly”]
-
>> Wayne Coyne: You know we've always said that
-
as long as we can make more money being in the band
-
than we could, say, working at McDonald's or Target,
-
then we'll choose being in the band.
-
>> Jennifer Van Evra: Right.
-
>> Wayne Coyne: Only because that's what would
be left for us if we weren't doing this.
-
That's the kind of skill level of any contribution
to society that we would have.
-
Simply because we've spent our whole adult
lives pursuing this.
-
>> [Music]
-
>> Wayne Coyne: I worked at this fast food
restaurant in Oklahoma City, Long John Silver's.
-
Fried fish and french fries and stuff. I worked there for 11 years
-
from the time I was 16 to the time I was 27 or so.
-
I'd be working late at night and it was a
reasonably bad area of town
-
and we got robbed a couple of times. Especially
in the late 1970's
-
because the economy and everything really got horrible.
-
The first time we got robbed I was the only... I'm not saying this because I'm racist or anything
-
I'm just being pragmatic about it. I was the
only white guy.
-
I was working with a bunch of black women.
The guys who came in were black
-
and they were pissed off and they had biggest
gun I've ever seen in my life.
-
Only because it's pointed at me did it seem
so big. We all laid on the ground.
-
I thought, “fuck, this is… this is it.
Here I am, I'm 17 and this is how it ends.”
-
“You’re just working one second and the
next second you're laying on the ground”
-
“and some guy puts a bullet in your head.”
-
Obviously they robbed us and left and didn't
kill me. But I remember the elation of just...
-
We all cried. We couldn't stop crying and
laughing and jumping up and down.
-
We were celebrating like we had just won a
million dollars.
-
The idea of we are alive and isn't it a fucking
great thing? I think it changed me.
-
>> [MUSIC]
-
Wayne Coyne: I think the idea of sort of confronting
this always present idea
-
that people around you are going to die or
you're going to die or...
-
I think it makes living better, it really does.
-
To me, I hate this notion that I would ever
forget of how temporary this whole thing is.
-
You know life is worth celebrating and worth living
-
even though we're all headed to the same hole
at the end of the day.
-
Without sort of coming to terms with it you're
not coming to terms with
-
some of the joys of life at the same time.
-
>> [MUSIC]
-
Wayne Coyne: I don’t know. I think somewhere along the way
-
music allows you to sing and talk and think
about those things,
-
and it can be beautiful instead of being horrible.
-
I remember when my father was dying,
-
I remember listening to Bjork, and listening
to John Coltrane, and these things,
-
and I don't know why but music has the power
to transcend your physical being
-
and take you up just a little bit. Because
music has a metaphysical quality
-
it gets up there in these things and it really
makes your life beautiful.
-
>> [Music]
-
>> Wayne Coyne: It's the same thing for virtually
every human that's ever going to be alive.
-
Things that make them sad are going to be
love, loss of love, death, fear of isolation.
-
It's a really small little corner. So I think
any time you sing about those
-
you're probably going to have a crowd that
knows exactly what you're talking about.
-
But when you're sing about things that make
you happy, which I like to do that as well,
-
you know, you never know if you're going to
hit the mark.
-
That's why when I sing a song like She Don't
Use Jelly,
-
people go, “oh that's crazy, what are you
talking about.”
-
Even though they enjoy it, they don't understand it.
-
[Music: The Flaming Lips "Spoonful Weighs a Ton"]
-
Stuff like when I sing about the Spoonful
Weighs a Ton
-
and people understand this is about death
and meaning that you put into in your life.
-
They go, “oh, I know what you're talking
about.”
-
>> [Music: The Flaming Lips “A Spoonful
Weighs a Ton”]
-
>> Wayne Coyne: So when I go in there and I’m singing about things that seem to be personal,
-
they can be my own exact personal experience,
yet if I'm doing the job right
-
I can make it seem like it's your story at
the same time.
-
I'm not just simply pouring my guts out.
-
I'm pouring my guts out so they can feel like
your guts at the same time.
-
>> [Music: Flaming Lips “Do You Realize”]
-
>> Jennifer Van Evra: Well I should let you
go.
-
>> Wayne Coyne: All right, well thanks a bunch.
-
I'm sitting in the lobby where the elevators
come out.
-
People have all been looking at me in my bare
feet,
-
talking existential bullshit with you as they
get in and out of the elevators.
-
>> Jennifer Van Evra: Hilarious. That was
the odd ding I was hearing in the background.
-
>> Wayne Coyne: Yeah.
-
>> Jennifer Van Evra: Well thanks again and I really appreciate you taking out the time on a Saturday.
-
>> Wayne Coyne: Well I'm glad you called.
Okay.
-
>> Jennifer Van Evra: Okay, cheers.
-
>> Wayne Coyne: Alright, bye.
-
>> Jennifer Van Evra: Bye.
-
>> [Music: Flaming Lips “Do You Realize”]
