Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its something people have never seen before in a musical setting, he teased to us.
Its presenting live music onstage in a way that I dont think anyones done before.
I like that most of my shows have a theatrical element to it.
So I thought it could be a nice challenge!
They react a little bit differently.
Probably half of the audience at that point!
But thats probably not appropriate at a Broadway theater.
If people do it, its totally fine, but I want to ease into it a little more.
Especially with people who arent too familiar with my work.
American Utopiahas been referred to as a special event ever since its Broadway announcement.
There are quite a few musicians whove been doing relatively short runs on Broadway these days.
A lot of those are concerts, or the same concept theyve been doing somewhere else.
We want to make it clear that this reallyistheatrical, but its not a play.
Theres not a lot of acting in it.
Its not a musical in that sense of the word.
Its a little hard to define.
I dont know what category it falls into.
Are you going to include any autobiographical elements?No, its not particularly autobiographical.
This is differentfrom Springsteens show.
I do tell a couple of anecdotes from my life, but mostly its broader than me.
All of the elements from the stage show are staying, too the choreography, the design.
Thats a key part of the show.
Its something people have never seen before in a musical setting.
Does that mean youll remain shoeless?I will.
I cant speak for everyone, but a couple of band members had arch issues.
They had to wear little footies by the end to help them out.
I never had any problems!
And then the song kind of provides the answer.
Not in the literal sense but in the emotional sense that only a song can do.
I think the audience senses that.
Its like a persons journey and how they discover themselves and how they can engage with the world.
How did you grab the songs that ultimately made it to Broadway?
Its important to balance between those tiers so people dont feel like Im indulging myself too much.
Ive done that in the past, where Ive only played new stuff.
But most importantly, all of the songs need to go together in one piece.
People saw it was working, and the audiences were really enjoying what we were doing.
There was no need for imagination.
It was a great relief.
Its going to set up whats to come in the rest of the show.
The same goes about Dont Worry About the Government.
It became the opposite of what everybody was doing in the folk scene at that moment.
Everybody thought I was being ironic with the song because of the lyrics and the context.
But I think people will see a certain truth to it now.
Its not a great virtue living in an apartment filled with cockroaches.
You dont have to have a penthouse, but people want to have a decent life.
Everyone can accept that in some way.
Itll be seen and understood in another way with the passage of time.
The other new addition is One Fine Day, which was a collaboration with Brian Eno.
Did you two work together again to find the best placement in the show?He knows about it.
Im going to end the show with this song, actually.
I know a lot of people dont know it, but theyll understand what its about.
I knew thats how we should do it really stripped down to get that emotional feeling.
Its dicey to talk about an ending we havent tried yet, but thats what were aiming for.
We think we see it all, but we dont.
Dogs hear better than us, dogs smell better than us, and they know things we dont know.
A dog tries to imagine driving a car!
For Every Day Is a Miracle, the verses are quite surreal.
The chorus is sincere.
Things can be bizarre but can still be wonderful.
In the rest of the world, it was very big.
Lots of bouncing and all that.
Well, let me contrast this club song withnotbeing energetic with being lazy.
Let me make laziness sound really sexy.
It doesnt come in during a club scene in the show but rather the bigger emotional arc.
Theyre all also a big step forward in the development of the character, who the show is representing.
Well, its not a character, itsme, but its not totally autobiographical.
Its a way to indulge in something that you dont always do as an artist.
I heard her recording of the song, and I thought it was incredible.
It was a way of talking about that subject without being too didactic about it.
It was celebrating the lives that have been lost.
I remember first thinking,Should an older white guy do this song?
How would that go down?So I gave Janelle a call, and she loved the idea.
But its a moving and important song, and Ive had many people tell me that.
That message will continue in the Broadway show.
I put it near the end.
Its presenting live music onstage in a way that I dont think anyones done before.
You dont have to know any of my songs.
You dont have to know Talking Heads.
You dont have to know what Ive done.
Lets hope the first response comes out on top.
