Echo of November 3, 1996, Berlin, Germany, Radio Fritz

[trans]=Interviewer translates.

Crown of Thorns by Mother Love Bone fades out and Interviewer begins...

INT: Eddie, first of all, let me thank you for allowing us to broadcast this electrifying concert of yours. I was sitting here with my eyes closed and it just blew me away. Thanks.
Eddie: No problem. How do you say that in German? No problem. Piece of cake. No big deal.
INT: Kein problem. All right.
Eddie: Kein problem. [They laugh.]

INT: Get the show on, Eddie. Let's rock.
Eddie: Get the show on...ok, let me take my trousers off here and get comfortable in this little cozy van. Thanks for coming everybody tonight...if they're listening out in the parking lot. There's a few people standing right outside we can wave to.
INT: [trans]
Eddie: As a child you read about foreign countries and foreign cultures and you don't really think you'd see them firsthand, not to mention, play and share songs and words and ideas with them...and I still feel like it's a privilege and so I thank you.
INT: [trans] Eddie, kein problem. [laughter]
Eddie: Ok. [laughter] All right then. You're welcome. They've given me the opportunity to play songs, whatever I want. Hey. And I'm going to do just that. The first record we're going to pull a song off of is a band that I don't think is widely heard on any level. This was a record called Get Your Goat and it's a band called Shudder To Think and it's a song called "Pebbles."
[song played]

Eddie: Ok. So being real professional, this is Eddie Vedder telling you that that was a band called Shudder To Think...
INT: Great band, by the way. "I Want To Take You To New York. It's Gonna Be A Big Party." Remember that song from Shudder To Think?
Eddie: Oh yeah.
INT: Brilliant one, this one too. What happened to the band?
Eddie: Well, they took me to New York and there was a big party and they were all thrown in jail. [laughter] ...and we're trying to set up a benefit concert to get them out. That song is called "Pebbles" and that's off the Get Your Goat record and that's one of their best songs. To be honest, they are recording for Epic Records at this time. Craig the singer has had to battle with cancer and he's on his way to a full recovery so it would be very exciting to hear what they do next.
Eddie: You're listening to Fritz, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll where anything goes they tell me.
INT: Yeah. That's right.
Eddie: But also I figured out...so what is that? Fritz has replaced sex? Is that what's happened here in Germany?
INT: Sex on Fritz, you mean?
INT2: [explains to INT] No, has 'Fritz' replaced 'Sex' in the saying, "Fritz, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll."
INT: That's right, yeah.
Eddie: So lack of... Population will go down. [laughter] Record sales will go up.
Ok, this next one is from the Ramones. It was from the last record they put out, or one of the last records and this one I'm going to dedicate to Johnny Ramone and his wife who, now that they've retired...they're sitting by the pool. It's called "Strength To Endure."
[song played]

INT: Eddie, you're a very modest man so I don't think it's too uncomfortable for you in our small van here, is it?
Eddie: No, this fits my modesty perfectly.
INT: Super. What's next?
Eddie: What's next? We're going to play something off this guy. His name's Lou Reed. You know who he is. No need to explain, but maybe I'll remind you of a couple of the great lyrics he's written. One that I think of every day, which is, "Wine in the morning, fancy breakfast at night." Oh man, how does that go? [laughs]
INT2: I'm thinking about the German population going down, no more babies, and still there would be more record buyers, was that? Well, that's what I'm thinking about. Eddie asked me whether I knew how that song went on but probably we could listen to it, right?
Eddie: I don't have that one with me but... "all the troubles in this land...but oooo...none of them are mine, I'm beginning to see the light."
INT2: Ah, yeah.
Eddie: That's the name of the song. That was an old Velvet Underground song. This is a newer song, a couple of records ago. It's off the record called Magic and Loss and it's called, "Sword of Damocles."
[song played]

INT: The Eddie Vedder Radio Show here live from Fritz. Eddie, is it ok if we throw in some of our listeners who would like to speak to you?
Eddie: I don't like to talk to the common folk. [laughter]
INT: Nah, it's not the common folk, it's our listeners, all right?
Eddie: Oh, ok then, without a doubt. No problem. Kein problem.
CALLER1: Hi Eddie. Congratulations for the ??. Thank you.
Eddie: Yeah. No problem. It's nice to talk to you.
CALLER1: My question... [German]
INT: [translating] Eddie, what would you do if you weren't a musician? What would you do in life?
Eddie: Well, let's say I worked in a McDonald's, right? [everyone laughs but Eddie] No, but let's just say...I will tell you I'd be the best McDonald's worker they ever saw.
INT: Why is that?
Eddie: Well, because I'd take pride in my job. No matter what I did, I would just take pride in my job. I really feel...I don't know...I don't know if it's the same here as in our country but everyone feels like they can't rise above, and that they aren't going to make as much money as their parents and that there's nothing but negative things in their future. But I feel like I'm a living example that if you work as hard as you can, and you have some drive, and something that you're devoted to, that with hard work you can, you can achieve that...and so, you know if I was, uh, well...I wouldn't work at McDonald's because I can't support McDonald's. [laughter] I think I would be intelligent enough to know that they're doing a fine job at giving everyone diseases and making them overweight by using fancy colors to sell their product, which is meat. No matter what I worked at, I still would actually play music because I always loved music and it was very important to me and even if the songs would be heard by myself and my wife and maybe my little kid when he grew up, then I would do that. I mean, then my kid would know who his dad was because you could hear it in these songs so I still would've played music. But no matter what job I had, I would've done so well that I would've ended up the president of the company [laughs] and I hope everyone knows that they can do that.
INT: Ok, I'll try and translate that in a nutshell. [laughs]
Eddie: Yeah. [to caller] It's nice to talk to you though and thanks for the question.
CALLER1: Oh, please, please.
INT: [long translation] [laughter]
CALLER1: [German] ...and good luck, eh?
Eddie: Thank you and my next answer will be one sentence. I promise.
INT: [laughter] Hello Stephanie...
CALLER2: Yes, hi. Hi Eddie. I don't know if you can answer my question in only one sentence. I would like to know what you like about the United States and what you don't like about the United States?
Eddie: Hmmmm. The tough part is what do I like. No, it's... hmmmm...
CALLER2: Well, maybe I can ask to make it a little bit easier. Did you ever think about moving out of the United States to another country?
Eddie: I think what I like least is the American public is really tuned into their television and it becomes like "Big Brother" and they start believing everything they hear or everything they read through media and so I've thought about moving some place where they had no media and I could be in touch with my own self, the people that were close to me and the earth beneath me.
CALLER2: Like an island?
Eddie: Yes, exactly. [laughs]
INT: [trans]
Eddie: And then, what I like about it is that I have nice neighbors. My friends live there.
CALLER2: [laughs] I think that's something you could like, yeah. Anyway, thanks.
Eddie: Stephanie, thank you and I hope you have a really great life.
CALLER2: Well, yeah, same to you. Ok, bye.
Eddie: Ok, bye.
INT: Bye. You want to play some music or one more listener, Eddie? What do you want?
Eddie: Let's try one more. We've got all night for music.
INT: All right. Hello...
CALLER3: Eddie, my question is how do you think about life, life after death, death and suicide? I ask this question because I am a handicapped person and I...yeah, I'm a handicapped person and...
INT: [trans]
Eddie: It's a...this is a very intense question and thanks. I think I have an answer. I think that we all have troubles at some time and obviously you have more challenges than most just within your day-to-day... That takes a lot of strength. I think people can learn from others and see that others sometimes have a lot more to deal with than they do, especially when they feel like suicide is maybe their only option...when they feel like there's nothing else and that this is the option they must take.
How do I feel about the afterlife? I think that is why suicide is maybe not an option because you don't know and there's plenty of great, great things going on in this world, in the present tense and that it's worth surviving every day and maybe you know this. I think you were asking a question that you knew the answer to.
CALLER3: Yeah... I also wanted to know what do you think about life after death?
Eddie: Yeah, that's what I was saying. I don't think we know. I think it's the great unknown question. There are monks that will tell you that you have 39 days. First they told me that you're reincarnated and I said, "Well, I've always wondered how many days in between do you get?" and they said, 39. [laughs] And I wasn't expecting such a direct answer and they said, "You have 39 days and then during that time, it's not just time off. You have to deal with karma during that time." So basically that's what I'm doing in my life is trying to make things so I have almost every day of those 39 days as a vacation and I want to have really good karma. I want some time off. [laughter]
CALLER3: Ok, Eddie, I hope I see you back sometimes and yeah, bye.
Eddie: Thank you. Thanks a lot and good luck to you.
So I think the deal is, 3 questions/3 songs. So now we've got 3 songs. The first one's going to be the Who off their new live release which is live from 1971 and this is a song called, "Sparks." It's an instrumental.
[song played]

INT: Eddie, tell us about why you are playing the Who as one of the last songs tonight? You played the Who tonight together with the Fastbacks.
Eddie: Well, last night somebody asked me a question. They said, "What is your favorite word?" The first thing I thought is what a stupid, fucking question that is. [laughs]
Eddie: And so, I had to come up with something and actually, I figured it out within a matter of a few seconds. I realized that my favorite word was "Who." I could just stare at that word and feel joy. The band is so important to me and they are still important and they are out in the states playing Quadrophenia, a show called Quadrophenia...and my wife actually, my wife is in a band called Hovercraft... which there's no vocals and it's space music, trance music, but it's intense and they actually opened for the Who. So my wife opened for the Who, so... [first time I've ever heard a person grin. - Syn]
INT2: Just out of interest, the number you played, "Leaving Here," in fact, is an old Who number, right? It's a Motown song, isn't it?
Eddie: Well, the Who recorded it when they were called the High Numbers in 1963 and that's where I first heard it and then I found out that band called Jimmy Vaughn and the Cadillacs or something recorded it in Seattle so one of the recorded versions was actually a small R&B band in Seattle, which I thought was interesting.
INT2: We're going to hear your band now, aren't we?
Eddie: Yeah. I mean enough talk. Let's hear some music. This was a rare single given to the fan club during the first year. It's a little song...I remember writing it because Jeff...I was staying with Jeff at the time in his very small apartment and he went to a Christmas party and I didn't want to have anything to do with any kind of party. I was too happy being depressed so... [laughs] I went and had coffee and I went back to the house and I got locked out and I wrote the words to this song.
[Let Me Sleep (It's Christmastime)]

INT: [trans] ...just quickly translated what you told me about how this particular song came about in a very spontaneous manner.
Eddie: Oh, good. So then I don't have to say anything.
INT: [laughter] You don't have to repeat yourself, no, but we are coming along to another song...
Eddie: Oh, that was about the last one? I still have to explain the next one? Ok. Well, I'm not going to say much but it was Jeff and I and we were doing this little radio show and we made it up during the commercial break and it's still one of my... The gentleman next to me asked me if it was funny hearing my voice and there's some songs that, since they were written so quickly, you don't even hear it as your voice. You just hear it as a song that someone else wrote, or something. It's nice. You can just hear it as a song and not something that you worked on -- because you didn't work on it. It just came out. That's pretty exciting when it happens. It's 1:40 long and it's called Bee Girl.
[song played]

INT: Eddie, anything in particular to add to that song?
Eddie: No, the Bee Girl was...she was this little girl who was 9 years old in a video and I saw her, I saw how...there's no other word for it -- how obnoxious she was and she loved being a star...and I knew it wasn't going to last and my heart went out to her and I was just trying to tell her, "Man, that ain't the most important thing in life. It can't be. You're gonna die." [laughs]
INT: What was the name of the song again?
Eddie: It's called Bee Girl.
[unusual music played]
INT2: What happened to our deal? [laughter]
Eddie: Hey, that was...that's a song. It's Howard Johnson and Gravity. Howard Johnson's a tuba player and it was a tuba song. It was 22 seconds long and for that we thank Howard.
INT: Should we get to a couple of questions then while you're looking for a CD to play?
Eddie: That's a deal.

Radio Fritz, part two