The Joe Jackson Interviews

Richard Harris versus Angela’s Ashes. ”There’s not a line of poetry in the book and we Irish love words!”

This is the third and last, for now, reading of one of the articles that were published to coincide with the publication of my new book, Richard Harris: Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven. This book extract appeared in the Limerick Leader and tells of Harris's hatred for Frank McCourt's misery memoir Angela's Ashes. It also tells of how enraged he was when folks said that the Harris's as part of the Limerick elite looked down on the 'peasants' dying en masse from poverty and starvation. 

 

Richard Harris got death threats from Loyalists in Northern Ireland and the IRA

This is the second in a series of three podcasts I'll upload today, December 2nd, 2022, during which I read recent articles about my book Richard Harris: Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven. Or extracts from my book that were published in newspapers. This article was published in the Belfast newspaper, The Irish News. Other recent reports, based on the film, The Ghost of Richard Harris, of which I am an associate producer - I wasn't too fond of the final edit - highlight only the fact that Harris was, allegedly, on an IRA hit list. Here I reveal he was a target for the IRA and Loyalists.   

’My friend Richard Harris. Joe Jackson recalls some fiery encounters.’ Joe Jackson reads his own article.

'My friend Richard Harris. Joe Jackson recalls some fiery encounters.' That was the headline on the front cover of the Irish newspaper, the Sunday Independent, on September 4th 2022. It was a 'hook' for 'A Turbulent Journey,' a 4-page article in the newspaper's Life magazine. The strap for that article said, 'Richard Harris and Me: The Journalist who cracked the actor's 'fake facade,' revealing the human behind the hellraiser. Journalist Joe Jackson interviewed Richard Harris for the first time in 1987. A deeply insightful and occasionally fiery encounter, it was the catalyst for a friendship that would endure until Harris's death in 2002. Here, Jackson looks at the conversations that inform his forthcoming biography of the star.' 

That book, Richard Harris: Raising hell and Reaching for Heaven is now published. In this podcast, I read the above article. 

Santa Claus Is Back in Town. Leiber and Stoller talk about Elvis’s recording of their song and ”dirty” blues.

Well, it's Christmas time pretty baby, and... I am reposting this fun chat with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 2005

Christine McVie. A fan’s tribute to the glorious Christine McVie. R.I.P. Repost.

I am deeply saddened to learn that today Christine McVie died. At the start of this interview we did, I told her that, ling before she joined Fleetwood Mac, her version of I'd Rather Go Blind, with Chicken Shack, was a single I bought and loved. May her soul rest in peace. 

Paul Weller 2000: The Music That Made Me. Formerly Under the Influence. Repost

For the first decade of the 2000s, I did a music series called Under the Influence.  That title then was "borrowed" by MTV for a similar series of their own. Cool. Now I see that the substitute title I choose in 2020  for the podcast version of that series, is being used as a series in an Irish newspaper! So, I am reasserting my ownership of the title and letting people hear again some of my favourite shows.  

Richard Harris was a hell raiser, we all know. But he also was reaching for heaven. A Joe Jackson ”singles” podcast.

Today, November 17th 2022, the biography Richard Harris once asked me to write, is finally published. It's called Richard Harris: Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven. This short podcast explains why I choose that title and tells you something few people know about Richard. My book is full of such revelations, mostly in his own words, as in here.  

Richard Harris reveals the ”central rupture” in his psyche. And reads a poem about his father.

I am an associate producer of the documentary, The Ghost of Richard Harris, directed by Adrian Sibley. Tapes I made with Richard over a fifteen-year period - many for the biography I have finally written, Richard Harris Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven, published later this week -  voice the 'ghost' and I am interviewed in the film. Sadly one of the most revealing scenes in relation to the hidden soul of Richard Harris, in my opinion, ended up on the cutting room floor. This has not made me happy. So, here is the backstory of that clip and, what was a two-minute film clip, extended to a great degree.  

Richard Harris and his battle with Jimmy Webb to record MacArthur Park

The middle section of Richard Harris's definitive version of MacArthur Park became my anthem when I bought the single in 1968. The song is loved by millions of people. Harris said, "it is the story of my life." Here,  in a section from my upcoming book Richard Harris Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven, he talks about the battle he had with c composer Jimmy Webb who, according to Harris, didn't want him to record the song. This is not how Webb tells the tale, I hasten to add. Then again, my book shows that they both have vastly different memories of their relationship.  

Richard Harris talks about the song Didn’t We and Jimmy Webb. A Joe Jackson ”singles” podcast

Here, Richard Harris, on August 8th 2001, discusses with me his 1968 recording, Didn't We. And takes some sideswipe at its composer, Jimmy Webb. It is from my new Biography of the man, Richard Harris: Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven. In the book, I finally tell the full story of his relationship with Jimmy Webb - at least from Ricard's perspective. And he could lie!