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A Conversation with Ben Taylor (continued)
PM: There are things of course that new and old fans want to know about your life growing up, but the questions are way too jive. So I ask for your help in phrasing the questions in some way that's palatable to you.
BT: What, about the folks?
PM: About growing up as the son of James and Carly. I mean, did you guys--well, I guess you were pretty young when they separated.
BT: I was. I was, and my time for a while was pretty equally divided between the two of them. All I really have to say about it is they're great parents, both of them, which is impressive in and of itself, given the fact that they're both celebrities, because it's hard to be a human being with your feet on the ground, much less a good role model, if you've been cursed with celebrity. You know?
PM: Right.
BT: I don't mean "cursed" with it, because as my Uncle Livingston says--and I think it's funny but also true--he says that the worst thing that you can possibly be is poor and famous and the best thing that you can possibly be is rich and anonymous.
PM: [laughs]
BT: And I think that's true. And I'm kind of shooting for somewhere in the middle. But my folks ended up with a huge amount of notoriety, both of them, and a huge amount of public recognition. So it's hard, because basically, at best, what singer songwriters do is write and sing songs, and that doesn't make them anything except, if they're good at it, exceptional artists. Unfortunately, the public misconception tends to put them in a position of supposedly knowing more about life than the rest of the people, and they really don't.
PM: Right.
BT: I mean, it's absurd when I hear my mother or father getting interviewed and they're asked about politics. I think to myself, "Why are these people expected to give some kind of political analysis? They're fuckin' rock stars!"
PM: [laughs]
BT: I think the danger is that you fall into that belief and start thinking that you actually are in a position, because you're a celebrity, to know more than the average joe. But neither of my parents are that way. They both just sort of figure, "We're good at what we do, let that be enough." And that's the way they always approached it. They never made me feel like anything else was different. [then to someone on his end] Hello, my cracker...
PM: [laughs]
BT: The only really, really bad part of my crew is this guy, Larry Ciancia, who is always just on my ass and he can't play drums at all.
PM: Right, he's a real son-of-a-bitch, I could tell. A real ball buster.
BT: [laughs] He is, for sure. He just walked in. [to Larry] I'm doing an interview for a webzine. [Larry says something I can't quite hear.] No, I already talked about you and said nice things when you were not here. [Larry makes another comment, Ben laughs.] He's paying me off now.
PM: "Safe Enough to Wake Up," that's such a beautiful song. Will you tell me something about the person or situation that inspired that song?
BT: You know what? I feel like in life there are a lot of people who are sort of blissfully sleeping their way through the truth, the sometimes unpleasant and painful truth of what we're going through on a day-to-day basis. And "Safe Enough to Wake Up" is about the fact that it's really, really easy to just open our eyes and look around and see what's going on, even though it's a lot more tempting to remain blissfully asleep. But we, as Americans especially, but as human beings in general, are really in a position to do a lot of good if we realize what's going on. So "Safe Enough to Wake Up" is just a reminder that even though it might seem nice to keep sleeping, it is safe enough to wake up and be aware.
PM: I like, too, the song "Just Like Everyone Else." It was a really cool song that had a much rootsier vibe musically, a good change of pace from the more pop produced songs. Do you listen to much music that's in that vein?
BT: I listen to good music, whatever it is, and I enjoy it, if it's good. But that song, lyrically, it's just sort of an anthem to my own hypocrisy. I don't mind being called hypocritical, I know I am. But with that song, that particular element of production seemed like the right thing for it.
PM: Yeah, I really liked it, and I thought it lent a lot of color. continue
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