A Conversation with Bruce Hornsby (continued)

PM: I think the first time I ever heard your name, actually, when I was a Marin County boy, was from the guys in Huey Lewis.

BH: They knew me before I got my deal.

PM: Right.

BH: I had this song that Huey wanted to record. We didn't let him, but we became friends because we thought it was going to be our big song, it was going to get us signed. And that of course didn't happen.

PM: What was that song?

BH: It's called "Let the Girls Rock." It was sort of a sardonic commentary on "Sorority Girl."

PM: Wow. And so the song didn't even see the light of day exactly, or?

BH: It never did. Bruce Willis actually recorded it, but he never released it, either. So "Let the Girls Rock" has never come out.

PM: Bruce recorded it back in the day or--

BH: He recorded it in probably the late 80s. But this is early 80s when we wrote it and Huey heard it and wanted to cut it.

PM: Because I thought that either Chris Hayes or Mario Cippolina was telling me at the time that, "Well, there's this guy that you don't know yet, but he’s one of our favorite guys, and we play him on the bus all the time, Bruce Hornsby." And I remember taking a note.

BH: Yeah, right, Mario was definitely a fan, yeah. How is Mario?

PM: I haven't seen him for years and years. Great guy.

BH: I just saw Lou and Sean Hopper and Billy Gibson. Both bands were playing this Memphis festival, Beale Street Festival, about a month ago.

PM: Oh, wow.

BH: And I saw Huey on Broadway in November. He was playing in Chicago, the Richard Gere part. So that was great fun to see him.

PM: Oh, really? I didn't even know about that.

BH: Yeah.

PM: He's doing the Richard Gere part?

BH: Well, he's done now. He did it for like two months. But he was good in it. He did a good job.

PM: Oh, wow.

BH: Yeah.   continue

print (pdf)     listen to clips      puremusic home