The Joe Jackson Interviews

Leonard Cohen 1988. ”Sing with a voice that is true.”

An exchange with Leonard during our 1988 interview that should be taken on board by all singers. Find, then sing in, a voice that is true and true to you. 

”Elvis did not want to record Blue Christmas!” Gordon Stoker, of the Jordanaires.

I became a music interviewer to meet and talk with my music heroes. I have always loved the work the Jordanaires did with Elvis ever since I heard the gospel album His Hand In Mine. I'll do a podcast about that. But here, Gordon Stoker tells a little-known story about Blue Christmas and Millie Kirkham, who sang the "high part" and hated it! 

Happy Christmas to my podcast listeners. 

Bob Geldof erupts when asked why he mocked Paula Yates in a song.

I knew Bob socially as a kid growing up in Dun Laoghaire. I photographed the launch of the Boomtown Rats' first album and interviewed Geldof for the first time in 1989. I also interviewed Paula Yates while they were married. Bob has hated me since this interview in 2000. Maybe he has every right to, given this line of questioning. You decide. 

”Roddy Doyle degrades the Dublin working class,” Christy Dignam 2001

This is an "outtake" from the Sinead, Chriusty and Shane podcast I posted earlier. I agree with Christy. 

Sinead O’ Conner, Christy Dignam and Shane MacGowan, gone in 2023. R.I.P.

This podcast anthology, with clips from three previous podcasts of mine, is my attempt, at the end of 2023, the year in which we lost Sinead, Chrirsty and Shane, to bring it all back to where it all began - their music. And that space in which they will live forever.  Amen. 

Kirsty McColl 1993. A Personal Tribute from Joe Jackson

Now that Fairytale of New York is back in the charts let's not forget the late Kirsty McColl, who adds her own musical magic to that timeless Christmas classic. In 2020 when I originally posted a podcast of just her talking about the song, I realised I was doing her memory a disservice, so I immediately followed that podcast with this. Repost. 

Kirsty McColl 1993 talks about Shane MacGowan and Fairytale of New York. Repost

Today, December 8th 2023, here in Dublin, Shane MacGowan's funeral will take place. To mark this tragic moment I am reposting this 2020 podcast based on my 1993 interview with the late Kirsty McColl, who says, ironically, "Shane will probably outlive us all." May Shane and Kirsty rest in peace. By the way, I am also reposting the full Kirsty interview. 

Shane MacGowan 1994. ”Smokey Robinson is a better songpoet than Bob Dylan!”

The third and last podcast I am sharing with people to mark Shane's passing. Here, we talk about the music that moved him - the likes of Lou Reed, Ronnie Drew, Hendrix, Elvis, Coletrane, etc - poetry in song form and his belief that Smokey Robinson is a better song poet than Dylan. Oh, yeah, Shane also insists that intellect is overrated and that most rock critics get it wrong! Excuse me while I disappear! 

Shane MacGowan 1994 ”I’m proud of Ireland and good that Irish people are proud of me.”

I uploaded the first part of this 1994 interview as a podcast in 2020. I reposted it two days ago when I got the tragic news that Shane had died. May his soul rest in peace. This "singles" podcast is part two of three podcasts from that Irish Times interview. I am delighted that so many people in Ireland in particular, have listened to and downloaded the first Shane interview and put him at the top of an Apple Irish Music interviews podcast charts. And I love, as many will, him saying here to me, "I'm proud of Ireland and good that a lot of Irish people are proud of me."

Shane MacGowan RIP. His body is gone but his spirt cannot.be silenced. 2020 repost

First, Sinead O' Connor. Now Shane. It is truly heartbreaking to be reposting at a time of their deaths podcasts I made when both were alive - especially given that each was someone I knew, albeit only socially. We all partied together in Dublin at one point. Here, you have Shane this time 29 years ago, sitting in the tea rooms of Dublin's Shelbourne Hotel, talking with me about the music he loved and we loved.