Sarah McLachlan on the Rosie O'Donnell Show, 9.13.99
She performed "Angel," then chatted with Rosie for a bit. I missed the first couple seconds of the conversation...Sorry!
ROSIE: ...And, um this- it really, really helped me- the CD.
SARAH: Well, thank you.
ROSIE: You know how it says, "May you find some comfort here"? (Referring to "Angel.")
SARAH: Mm-hmm.
ROSIE: I found comfort right here on this CD. (Holds up Mirrorball.)
SARAH: (Touched) Well, thank you.
ROSIE: I have to tell you, I really did.
SARAH: (Meaningfully) Music is a great gift. A healer.
ROSIE: (Referring back to Mirrorball.) This is a live CD...
SARAH: Yeah. Yeah...
ROSIE: ...Of some of your big hits.
SARAH: (Sarcastically.) Big hits! (Looks out at audience and laughs.) Like, one or two of them!
ROSIE: Well you had some big hits.
SARAH: Everybody calls this "The greatest hits," and I'm like, "Well....what greatest hits?"
ROSIE: Well, this is a big hit: (Presses a button behind her desk and all of the sudden we hear the Mirrorball version of "Adia" booming through the studio. The audience starts screaming and cheering.)
'Cause we are born innocent / Believe me, Adia...
(Sarah is startled by the loud noise, recognizes it, looks behind Rosie's desk, then looks around, laughing delightedly. Rosie sings along, into the camera. Sarah raises her arms and sways back and forth as if she was at a concert.)
ROSIE: (Turns off music.) Okay, who is Adia? Can you tell me, is that a person's name?
SARAH: Um, I found it- It's actually kind of embarrassing. I was scrolling through the credits on a TV show- on a sitcom- and I saw the name. And I needed a three-syllable name that didn't sound like "Emily." It started out as "Emily," but that's so obvious, and it's a famous Simon and Garfunkel song. "Emily." You know...?
ROSIE: Yeah.
SARAH: So I wanted something else.
ROSIE: Uh-huh...
SARAH: So there's certainly a person behind it...
ROSIE: But the person's name is not Adia.
SARAH: (Expecting disappointment, she looks down in mock-shame.) It's not Adia, no.
ROSIE: So here I am- I ascribed this whole thing to it: (Dramatically) That this was her friend she met in college who suffered a severe amount of depression, and was ready to end her life...(Sarah and the audience are both getting a kick out of this.) And you helped pull her out of the depths of...Isn't that really what happened?
SARAH: It's sort of more like...You know that song? (Starts to sing.)
You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille...
SARAH: You know, Kenny Rogers?
(Rosie starts to sing along with an exaggerated hick accent.)
Four hundred children and the crop lay in the field...
ROSIE: Yeah, I know that one.
SARAH: Well, for some reason, that song inspired this one...Even though it has nothing to do with it. (Laughs.) When ever I hear that song, it reminds me of it.
....If that gives you any insight.
ROSIE: Not really, but thank you.
(Audience and Sarah laugh.)
ROSIE: Another one I want to add....(Reaches to push another button behind her desk, then turns pointedly, to audience.) This is one of my favorite lyrics of the summer- my summer theme. (We hear part of Mirrorball's version of "Hold On." Rosie sings along again.)
Oh, God. If you're out there, won't you hear me...
(Sarah listens, nods.)
ROSIE: (To camera.) Listen. (Sings along.)
I know that we've never ta-ha-ALKed befoh-ore...
(Rosie raises her eyebrows and points her fingers upward on the high notes, singing like she can't go that high, but Sarah notices that she can. Then she turns the music off. )
ROSIE: I love that.
SARAH: You don't need those tools.
ROSIE: (Explains to audience.) I did my record, and I'm off key, so I was telling Sarah about these magic tools that recording artists use to make you be on the right notes.
SARAH: (Correcting Rosie.) Some recording artists. (Smiles mischievously.)
ROSIE: You don't use them, do you? You don't need it, 'cause it's a live CD! (Audience laughs.)
SARAH: (Mock seriousness.) I'd never tell....
ROSIE: You don't use it. Do you use it?! (Jokingly.) We will not bring out another guest; you tell me right now! (Sarah laughs.) Do you use it?
SARAH: Um, we might've. I think we've used them on some of the guitar parts.
ROSIE: How can you use it on a live CD, though?
SARAH: Well, because it had to be mixed, at some points. It all goes into the studio and gets mixed.
ROSIE: Oh, of course. I know that, because (Mock-braggingly.) I have a record coming out.
(Sarah and audience laugh.)
ROSIE: (Continuing with original conversation.) Well, it's that lyric and the one: "Let me be the calm you seek..." Like, there were all these little prophetic lyrics, and....Really, it's the only CD I listened to all summer, Sarah.
SARAH: Your poor neighbors...
ROSIE: (Laughs.) Yeah, really. You're not kidding. They were like, (Yells at audience.) "Not her AGAIN!! I don't care- Gimmie Beastie Boys- ANYthing but THAT!!"
(Sarah and audience laugh.)
SARAH: That happened to my back-up singer. She lives in an apartment building and the guy that lives below her had is windows open all summer and played nothing but me. And this was after we'd been on tour for two years, so she was so sick of all those songs. And he wouldn't stop. He was a nutbar.
ROSIE: Did she start singing harmony out her window?
(Audience laughs.)
SARAH: No, I think she just threw eggs down.
ROSIE: Really? Now is it good to be off the road, finally?
S: Yeah, it's nice.
ROSIE: It was an unbelievably long tour for you.
SARAH: Actually, it wasn't that bad. It was only thirty-seven shows, which is much more sensible. Last time was fifty-seven.
ROSIE: (Realizing that the audience may not know what they're talking about.) Lilith Fair.
SARAH: Yeah, Lilith Fair.
ROSIE: Lilith Fair, as you all know- The, uh, brainchild of this talented woman.
(Lots of cheers, screaming, and clapping from the audience.)
SARAH: Thank you.
ROSIE: But it really, really took off, then, didn't it? It grew.
SARAH: Yeah, it was pretty amazing. You know, it started out as this pretty simple thing: This desire to get a bunch of women artists together and....It was more selfish than anything, really. I was always on the road and never got to meet these people- my peers, essentially. And I just wanted to get to know them, and hear their music and, uhm....From that it blossomed into (Wags eyebrows, smiling with expression.) Lilith Fair.
ROSIE: ...Friendships with everybody on the bill?
SARAH: Yea-aah. You know, it's a strange business, especially for women, so it's nice to connect with your peers and talk about the weirdness....Whether it was that or, you know...(Pretends to check out Rosie's imaginary skirt.) "Oh, wow. Where'd you get that skirt?" You know....Silly things.
ROSIE: Yeah. Usually the Gap.
SARAH: The Gap.... (Here comes big-mouth Sarah...) Boycott the Gap.
ROSIE: Do you know that....What?
(Sarah is unaware that the Gap has just given scholarships to some kids on that show, right before she came on! Yeah, oops.)
SARAH: Boycott the Gap.
ROSIE: Why do you boycott the Gap?
SARAH: Child labor.
ROSIE: (Surprised.) Really?
SARAH: Oh yeah.
ROSIE: Do you think?
SARAH: I am.
ROSIE: I don't think the Gap...
SARAH: (Suspiciously.) I don't know...
ROSIE: Do you really? I don't think you can...
SARAH: (Ooops!) Of course, I'm probably not supposed to say that on national television. (Giggles, embarrassed.)
ROSIE: No, it's okay. You know why I like the Gap? I'll tell you right now. It's because they give so much to charity. (Good save, Ro!)
SARAH: (Interested.) Really?
ROSIE: Yeah, when we call them up, we say we have a Superkid, and she needs job and four-years of college. And you know what they say? "Okay." They are the only company who, every single time we ask....
SARAH: Well, that's pretty cool, then.
(Applause.)
ROSIE: And anytime you think about it, in some parts of the world, there's always child labor.
SARAH: Yeah.
ROSIE: I don't think they go off seeking children to make their Gap sweaters.
SARAH: I know, I know. It's just hard. You know, when you start reading all these stories, and it's just like, "Where can I buy clothes that..." You know?
ROSIE: That's true. We'd all be wearing Q-tips. Although where'd they get the cotton? You never know...
(Sarah and audience laugh.)
ROSIE: What is it sprinkled with? You can't tell. (No one really gets it.) Anyway...
(Sarah suddenly bursts into laughter. She gestures that it went right over their heads, making a swoosh sound.)
ROSIE: Also this record is tragically, sadly, so associated - "I Will Remember You"- with John Kennedy's death.
SARAH: (Sadly.) Yeah, I know.
ROSIE: And all the, you know, MSNBC...
SARAH: And Columbine.
ROSIE: And Columbine.
SARAH: In Colorado, as well. It's just a song that- I don't know- I guess it just really struck a chord in people, and it got used a lot, for different purposes.
ROSIE: Did you ever flip through (Clicks an imaginary remote control.) and catch all the images of JFK...?
SARAH: You know what? I didn't. I was either on the road, or uhm....You know, I don't really watch that much TV much when I'm at home, so I missed a lot of it. I mean, I did see quite a bit of the JFK thing because I was on the road and I did the Good Morning, America show. They flew us up to Colorado to play that song, and "Angel" as well, as part of the tribute.
ROSIE: It will be forever linked, in my mind. You know, because the most difficult thing about this summer for everyone, I think, was the passing of that whole...family. It was so unbearably tragic and um, then I would turn on MSNBC and hear that song to it, and...I don't know. It will be forever linked in my mind. (Wrapping it up.) But I'm so happy to have you here, Sarah I really am.
SARAH: (Smiling.) Thank you.
ROSIE: And I'm thrilled with the CD. It really did help me- I'm not kidding. (To the camera.) The CD is called Mirrorball. If you don't have it, go out and buy it, because it soothes the soul, as it did mine. (Cheers and applause.)
Serena Williams, U.S. Open champion. We'll be right back...
That's all, folks! Maybe, when I get time, I'll digitize it and get you a sound byte or pics. Or maybe even a video...
~Transcripted by Bridget
