Original subtitles

[upbeat low bass]

[vehicle screeching to a stop]

[low bass continues]

[crowd chattering]

[Host] Good evening to all. How exciting is this?

Come on, you gotta give it up for the Caf Carlyle, right?

New York City... 2020?

It's really been a pleasure to introduce this guy.

One of the most bon vivant.

I said it again, elegant, super intelligent,

nicest guy in the restaurant, right?

To Mara, the beautiful Mara, tells us what's going on.

The note comes under the door, right?

We don't know, Buster Poindexter, David Johansen,

Rama Lama Ding Dong!

He's got a personality crisis.

He's gonna bring it all to you right now, OK?

He's also got the best pompadour in the business.

He's here in person. Wait, he's right there.

Ladies and gentlemen, Buster Poindexter, David Johansen!

[crowd cheering as upbeat piano starts]

You're funky, funky but chic

A funky, funky but chic

Your funky, funky but chic

All right.

You funky, but, funky but

All right, all right, all right

Got a pair of shoes somebody gave me

My momma thinks I look pretty fruity

But in jeans I feel rockin'

I don't wear nothin', not too fussy or neat

I just want somethin' baby

To be able to walk down your street

Hey, come on baby, let's get on down to the boutique

Bring back somethin' that's a funky but chic

I said funky, funky but chic

That's right, boy.

[Band] Funky, funky but chic

I tell you I'll get down in any neighborhood

My friends will take me

The people out there they all itch and bitch

Lord, I swear they gonna break me

Well, I fly just to get downtown

Where everybody's crazy

I fly on down that street

Them folks stop acting lazy

And I say...

I don't wear nothing not to fussy or neat

I just want somethin' baby

To be able to fly down your street

Hey, get on baby, who at the boutique

Bring back something that's a funky but chic, yeah

[Backup singers] Funky, funky but chic

That's what I'm talking about.

Funky, funky but chic

Correct.

Funky, funky but chic

Oh, yeah!

You funky but, funky but

All right, all right, all right

[piano solo]

I got a little car, come on, let's go driving 'round

A '56 Mercedes-Benz I had painted cocoa-brown

It's brown.

I don't drive nothin', not too fussy or neat

I just want somethin' to be able to drive down your street

Hey, beep, beep, beep, baby

Let's get down to the boutique

I'll bring back somethin' that's a funky but chic, yeah

Funky, funky but chic

Oh, chic.

Funky, funky but

Oh tr s chic

-[band] Funky, funky but - Oh what chic, now

You funky but, funky but

All right, all right, all right

All right, all right, all right, all right

Got a pair of shoes somebody gave me

My momma thinks I look pretty fruity

But in jeans I feel rockin'

Cut 'em up!

I don't wear nothin' not too fussy or neat

I just want somethin' to be able to walk down your street

Hey get out of bed baby, let's get on down to the boutique

I'll bring back somethin' that's funky but chic

Oh!

-Yeah! -[crowd cheers]

Yeah!

Yeah!

All right, boys!

Oh, yeah!

All right. Oh, yeah.

[Conan O'Brien] You were the lead singer of the New York Dolls.

A lot of people credit you guys

with really helping to start the punk movement.

Well, yeah, but inadvertently, like,

we didn't do it on purpose.

[crowd laughs]

We were in Newcastle and it's a place in England

where they make this beer called Newcastle Brown Ale.

And we were young men and we had a reputation

of being able to hold our booze.

So they say, "Oh, boys, you gotta try the local brew."

And they give you these gigantic cans of

Newcastle Brown Ale.

And we're at like the Newcastle Polytechnic Institute

or something for a show.

We're drinking these things. "Have another one."

OK, Ok, another one.

So we drank maybe 10 of these things... and...

[Conan laughs]

Maybe, maybe 10.

We go on stage to play and everything is going fine.

All of a sudden, the drummer barfs about 12 gallons

of Brown ale onto his snare drum,

but he keeps playing.

[Conan laughing]

And so, you know, a good dollop of it hits me right in the nose

and you know how that is, it's like a chain reaction.

Yeah, I know how that is.

Why would I know how that is? I don't know how that is.

Well, I let loose and then the bass player let loose,

the guitar player let loose,

the audience was like... [gasping]

Everybody's throwing up

and at the end of the song, everybody's like, "Yeah!"

[Conan laughing]

And they thought it was part of the act

and then all the kids in England started doing this.

It became the rigor of, uh...

Oh, we gotta throw up like The Dolls!

You know, that kind of thing.

And that's... that's how the punk movement was born.

I would say that was the... if you wanted to bring it

down to a moment in time, that was the moment.

-[crowd cheering] -[soulful music]

[David] It's super sensuous, transcendental

something not to be explained in rational terms.

It's the Mansion of Fun show.

I hear that melody

On the street

My melody

Soft and sweet

Your melody, would you sing that song to me

Melodies hauntin' me

Memories just repeat

Your melodies even haunt me in my sleep

I tried to show you, you just couldn't see it

I tried to tell you, but your heart couldn't hear it

I tried to love you, but ya

Your heart had to slip away

Now that melody's hauntin' me

Melody got that beat

The memory just repeats in my mind

A melody, where I dance

In the place that I find romance

Your melody just won't give me a chance

I tried to show you, but your heart couldn't see it

I tried to tell you, but your heart couldn't hear it

I tried to love you, but your heart had to slip away

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah

Melody

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Melody

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Well certain songs I just can't take it

They start to play and my old heart starts achin'

Certain songs, I just can't fake it

They start to play and I just want to break 'em

I just can't take it

When I hear them play that song

Yeah that melody

Haunting me

A tender rhapsody, soft and sweet

The memory follows me

'Til it's insanity

Driving me

Now my melody's on the street

Oh, melody, soft and sweet

Oh, melody

Yeah, yeah, melody

Yeah, my melody

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

[crowd cheers]

Where am I?

Who am I?

[imitating animal sounds]

Ahhhh, ahhhh

Ahhhh, ahhhh

Well, I'm stranded in the jungle

I'm trying to keep a date

With my little girl, that was back in the States

I'm stranded in the jungle, I'm afraid of it all

Wondering how I could get a message back home

But how was I to know that the wreckage of my plane

Had been picked up and spotted

By the girl on Lover's Lane

I said, meanwhile, back in the States

Baby, baby

Let's make romance

Your old-time love hasn't got a chance

I said he's stranded in the jungle, bad as he can be

Come on, pretty darling, just you and me

Oh yeah, oh yeah

Meanwhile, back in the jungle...

Ahhhh, ahhhh

Ahhhh, ahhhh

[interviewer] Why come to a New York Dolls show?

[David] A lot of kids are like whipped dogs

and they feel like they're really terribly alienated

And I think we give 'em a feeling that they're not

the same people that feel these feelings

not the only people that feel these feelings

and that they're not alone.

They all can come together on our show

and see each other and meet each other.

[Sylvain] There's a thousand bands that are coming up

like from the streets, from the ghetto.

[crowd cheers]

[Billy] 1,2,3,4!

Trash, go pick it up

Take them lights away

Trash, go pick it up

Don't take your life away

Trash, go pick it up

Don't try to take my knife away

And please don't you ask me if I love you

If you don't know what I'm doing

What you know is

Trash, go pick it up...

[interviewer] Now, is it true that you were president

-of their fan club? -No. Not at all.

Well, were... were you involved in their fan club?

No. Not even slightly.

-[interviewer] A member? -Not even a member.

Tempted to send off of town for four months?

-Yes, it's all true. -Yeah.

-It's all true. -It is true.

You were in the fan club, you denied it.

-But it's true, isn't it? -I, I, I, I, I... was the fan club.

I was the fan club.

And what was it that drew you to The New York Dolls?

Well, they were very violent.

They were very witty and they were very intelligent.

And as you know, most pop stars are not very intelligent.

and they're not very witty and not very violent.

Right.

[playing Suedehead]

And why-ha-hy ha-ha ha-hy

Why do you hang around

I'm so sorry

I-I-I-I'm so sorry

It was a good lay, good lay

Ah ha

[interviewer] Do you remember when you first saw the Dolls?

Mm, yes. I had gone to see them live in '72,

but their drummer had died three days earlier.

And everybody was expecting the Dolls to walk on the stage.

And of course they didn't.

There was just suddenly an announcement that

Billy had died and everybody just collapsed.

And then the next encounter was television.

They, they appeared very famously

on The Old Grey Whistle Test

which in those very dark days of '73

was a fantastic vision.

People forget how absolutely dank things were,

how dank life was and pop art was.

And there was no,

there was no sense of danger within pop music at all.

But I was obsessive.

I was, I was ridiculously obsessive.

This, this was the band for me.

This was the turning point for me.

[interviewer] Why have so few people heard New York Dolls?

[Morrissey] This is a blighted band.

I'd almost say cursed because if you listen to,

if you listen to, to, to the... the music they made,

every single song is really a hit single.

And there's no reason on earth why it shouldn't have happened.

But because they were connected

with drugs and absurdly transgender issues.

So here were boys who were calling themselves "Dolls"

and they looked like prostitutes, male prostitutes,

which at the time, you have to remember,

it was a long time ago

and all... and all of that kind of thing was really taboo.

And if a man walked

down the street wearing women's clothes,

he could be arrested and thrown into jail.

That's why they only made two studio albums.

And for a group who did so little really

and existed for such a short amount of time,

their impact has been extraordinary.

And the music, because it was such fantastic pop music,

it, it just seemed to me like

the absolute answer to everything.

Which of course... too dangerous.

[sad, solemn music playing]

[David] I just want to be like very welcoming.

'Cause the way the society is, I mean, it, it was set up is

like very strict, like...

straight, gay...

whatever, vegetarian,

whatever you want to, you know, anything you want to say.

I just wanted to kind of like bring those walls down and...

and have a party kind of a thing.

[soft instrumental music plays]

[crowd claps]

Oh, man, this is great. This is very nice.

This is a classy bo te, the Caf Carlyle.

And we are starting our semi-annual bisexual--

What am I talking about?

Bi-annual residency. And the cafe called Mara,

who runs this whole shebang up here and asked

if we'd like to come back.

She said, "Yes."

No, we love it here because, I'll tell you why,

you take the elevator to work.

My whole life I've been schlepping.

Oh, in some ungodly conveyances.

[crowd applauds]

Then came the... the question of what kind of a repertoire we

would present because you have to have a new one every year.

And I was in no mood for learning 20 songs.

There's only so many hours in a day.

[crowd laughs]

So we decided that we would do Buster Poindexter--

That's me--

singing the songs of David Johansen-- that's me.

[audience murmurs, applauds]

Because I know those songs.

And so here we are, both of us.

And... tonight, I'm gonna do songs that I wrote or co-wrote,

I guess from when I was a teenager, all the way up to now.

And the one thing I could say, the unifying thing

of my existence, is that there's always been plenty of music.

[piano plays Plenty of Music]

That's nice. Very nice.

Feeling a great sadness today

I don't want to shush it or shoo it away

It belongs to the whole world, the boys and girls

It ain't just mine

Like joy and love, it's always there

I don't know how I tune in, or why that I care

But I can't pretend it don't feel like the end

And everything is fine

I feel exiled from the divine

Me and these sad friends of mine

We're just waiting down here, drinking beer

And losing time

Well, I hear plenty of music

I see superfluous beauty everywhere

Why should I care

What does it matter to me

[piano solo]

Yeah, yeah.

All right, now.

The myth of life is a song

Yeah!

And nature, too, that's the song

All right.

Don't you destroy the song

'Cause when the song is gone

You'll be gone too

I don't know how it went astray

Seem like the whole world is an ashtray

Floatin' around

Some broken-down, low-end galaxy

I don't know what I did to get sent here

Must have been some bad that I done

There in the world gone mad

Feeling sad

[sighs]

I guess I'm sorry

I don't need no one to love me

Or place theirself above me

What does it matter, I don't need a ladder

What's it to me

I hear plenty of music

I see superfluous beauty

Everywhere

So why should I care

What does it matter

Yeah, I hear plenty of music

I see superfluous beauty

Everywhere

Why should I care

What does it matter to me

What's it matter to me

Nothing matters to me

What's the matter with me

Oh!

[crowd cheers]

Beautiful. Beautiful.

[guitar playing]

Poor boy

Poor boy

Poor boy long way from home

When I was down in Louisiana

Just doing as I please

Now I'm in Texas

I got to work or leave

Poor boy

[interviewer] You actually knew Harry Smith?

Well, I didn't really know him,

but I met him a couple of times.

[interviewer] You went to his place at The Chelsea?

Yeah, probably, yeah.

[interviewer] What was his room like?

[chuckles]

It was kinda like, you know,

a speed den, I think at the time.

You know, like when I was a kid

you would go to The Chelsea

and you'd get stuck in there for like a week,

going to different people's rooms and stuff.

I was probably 18 at the time, you know,

so I would like to go see people that were generally older

and could impart some kind of wisdom.

[interviewer] Was Harry Smith one of those people?

Well, I, you know... [laughs]

He could have been.

-[interviewer] Who's this? -[David] Who's who?

[interviewer] This guy.

-Oh, that's Harry Smith. -[interviewer] Oh.

He was, you know, like a polymath.

This guy was into a lot of really good shit.

He would be into something

and then he would be like through with it, you know?

When he was young, he started out,

he would hang with the Lummi people.

He recorded their traditional music

and he made a lot of like experimental films later on.

He would put ads in newspapers around the country,

asking people if they wanted to get rid

of their old 78s that were in the attic.

I mean, you know, he was the kind of guy

who would collect string, you know what I mean?

His record collection is pivotal

in the American music and rock and roll

and the folk boom in the 50s.

Everybody who wanted to be a folk singer

in the 1950s would learn songs from those records.

And there was a lot of different kinds of songs.

[guitar playing]

[David] He picked like, you know, really strange tunes.

[interviewer] You recorded a lot of songs

from the Harry Smith record collection

and you named your band The Harry Smiths.

Would you say that he's someone who inspired you?

Not at all.

[Interviewer chuckles] Well, you're very averse to...

No, because he was such a grouch, this guy.

I mean, I liked a lot of the stuff he did,

but I never thought, "Oh wow, I wish I could do that."

Poor boy

Poor boy

[David] I grew up in Staten Island

in a house that my grandfather built.

We had a lot of records in the house.

Music was on all the time.

You know, sometimes there would play a show

while we were having dinner or something, you know.

[interviewer] What about your dad singing?

What about it?

[interviewer] Like, did you sing with

your dad around the house?

Uh no, not so much, but he was a very good singer.

He used sing like light opera like Gilbert and Sullivan.

He knew a lot of operas.

[interviewer] How old were you when you had your first band?

[David] Thirteen or fourteen.

We used to play at you know, like school dances

and we used to go into the "Battle of the Bands."

We always used to come in second because this other group

from the ass end of Staten Island,

used to play these songs with like The Ventures,

like with the guitars behind their head,

which I always saw felt like, that's really a lame gimmick.

But... they won every time.

I remember the first time we played

I remember the first song, Boogaloo Down Broadway

by the fantastic Johnny C.

-You know that song? -[interviewer] No.

[hums song]

Baby, oh baby

Boogaloo down Broadway

Yeah, yeah, funky Broadway

I closed my eyes for the whole first song...

and then I could hear them all applauding

and I opened my eyes

and I was like, "Oh, they like it."

OK, here we go.

I'm gonna just reminisce for a minute here, but...

[clears throat]

...it's my birthday today.

[crowd cheering]

And I'm such a sentimental old fool.

I was recalling how when I was like 16,

my friends and I went to...

and I had a very interesting group of friends,

kind of like Maynard G. Krebs type people.

The New York Avant Garde Festival was...

held on the ferry boat.

So we went to see Charlotte Moormon

-play the cello topless. -[audience chuckles]

That's the kind of crowd we ran with.

[crowd laughing]

We liked a little culture with our pornography.

[crowd laughing]

So a friend of mine said, "I work for a guy over there

and he's looking for somebody else to work there."

It was a little store on

St. Mark's Place called Matchless

and it was run by a fellow named Lore Wilson.

And it was nice.

They had tchotchkes, you know, around the store.

And I was sent down to the basement to work,

which was like... very dark, dank, stonewalls...

like it was dug out of rock...

with moss and water dripping down.

It was a Dickensian hell.

And my job was to cut logos

off of beer cans and soda cans, like Pepsi,

and then put a fastener on it and make earrings out of them.

It was kind of pop art jewelry.

But I noticed that along the walls there were racks

and on the racks were these big fat lush boas.

There was a huge sequined phallus.

There was... all kinds of headdresses and costumes.

And so I said, "Lore, what's the deal with this...

-cosplay stuff over here?" -[audience chuckles]

And he said, "Oh, well I'm the costume designer

for the Ridiculous Theater

and these are costumes for their next production."

I think it was Whores of Babylon,

or Conquest of the Universe, or something.

So I said, "Oh, can I go to the rehearsal with you?"

And he said, "Oh yes."

And then I met the most fabulous people I think

that I could ever have imagined at that point.

So I said, "Lore, I'm not gonna be coming back tomorrow."

I was like, "I'm gonna stay over here at the theater."

And... sometimes I would do the sound and...

sometimes I would do the lights,

sometimes I would nod out while I was doing the sound

and Charles Ludlam would have to like...

give me my cue like three times.

"And then the thunder rolled."

[grumbles]

"The thunder rolled!"

And then I would go. [imitating thunder]

Sometimes I was a spear carrier and went on stage.

It was just great.

And one time I was sharing a dressing room table

with Candy Darling and Black-Eyed Susan was complaining

about her waitressing job.

And Candy said, "I've been a lot of low things in my life,

but I've never been no waitress."

[crowd laughing]

I went from hell to heaven, you know, it was fantastic.

[Temptation To Exist plays]

OK, baby.

Yeah, yeah.

Temptation to exist

Give me another kiss

Tell me how you love me

A mesmerizing kiss

That I can't resist

Say I'm the way you want me

So I can breathe your perfume

Dancing with you 'round the room

Long after a masquerade

All right, baby.

Stripped of facade and costume

The drag with being born

It's really not a thorn

Baby, it's a dagger

Most people would deny

Say it's a piece of pie

To you it doesn't matter

I hear about all the sad affairs

Up on the heights of despair

Someone's always perishing

Ah...

By the self they've assumed

All right Ray, let's go.

[whistling]

Ol !

Yeah, baby!

Aw yeah.

[band playing]

Heh-hey!

Temptation to exist

Obsession to persist

Death-defying romance

Give me another kiss

Show me what I miss

Baby, since our last dance

So I can get back in tune

All right.

Dancing with you 'round the room

Long after the masquerade

All right, baby.

With no facade, no costume

[whistling tune]

[David] Here we go, boys.

[whistling]

[crowd clapping]

Ray Grappone, everybody,

Ray Grappone on whistling and drums.

Ray, I would whistle with you anywhere.

Well, thank you, boss man.

You know, Ray and I have been practicing

in the shower and it's coming together really well.

-Oh, Thomas! -[Ray] Did he say that?

-Thomas everybody. -Thank you.

You are a living legend.

Oh, oh, oh... God bless you.

If you need anything here at the Caf Carlyle,

ladies and gentlemen, just slip Thomas a "C" note

and he'll take care of it.

-I love you, thank you. -[Thomas] Same to you.

[crowd cheering]

What a class joint.

Oh, this is great.

I'm used to playing the 2:00 AM show in the Boom Boom Room.

You know what I'm saying?

Boys, we're in top form tonight.

Have you noticed?

This is The Boys in the Band Band.

Well, have you heard of a fellow named Morrissey?

If you haven't, I'll clue you in.

He was the teenage president

of the New York Dolls fan club in England.

He's kind of a Gloomy Gertie.

But he loved him some Dolls, you know what I'm saying?

And still does.

So... he called me and he said,

"I understand you're a pretty big Maria Callas fan."

And I said, "Yes, I happen to be

known for that in certain circles."

And he said, "Well, you know that film she made

where she did a fantastic concert

at the Royal Festival Hall?"

I said, "Yes, by heart."

He said, "How would you like to play the

Royal Festival Hall?"

I said, "Yes, I would."

He said, "Well, all you have to do

is get the Dolls back together."

[audience laughs]

And I thought, Royal Festival Hall, Maria Callas.

I combed every opium den in Chinatown

and I pulled that band together.

We were fantastic.

It was a big success.

They added a second show.

Then... it was the beginning of the summer

and all these festivals in Europe were

starting where they play in the fields.

I didn't know about these things.

They called, "Would you play?"

And I said, "Well, of course we would."

We were up and running.

We went all over the place.

Then we went all over the world.

Then we went all over the world three times.

And I was like, "OK, you know,

I've really seen enough of this world.

I want to go home, thank you."

I came home, my liver was like...

[imitates thumping]

So, I'm just saying this because like

if you haven't seen me around, that's why.

[Ray] One, two, three, four...

[band plays Better Than You]

Oh! That was some segue.

My baby

I don't talk nasty about her

You ain't even got no class

I'm gonna kick your ass

All 'cause my baby

Oh, wait a minute, I fucked it up.

I fucked it up. I fucked it up.

It's all my fault.

I was thinking of another song,

I was thinking of a Jimmy Rogers song.

[crowd applauding]

[New York Dolls play Jet Boy]

Who's so fly up in the sky

Faster than any boy could ever describe

Who's got that love so deep

With everything alive, I said

Jet boys fly, jet boys gone

Jet boys stole my baby

Flying around New York City so high

Like he was my baby

[guitar solo]

This is the kind of place where no one cares

What you're living for

And Jet Boy's so preoccupied

He don't care about before

And that's why

Jet boys fly, jet boys gone

Jet boy stole my baby

Flying around New York City so high

Like he was my baby

My baby

-Yes. -Very nice.

Fantastic.

I've never seen anything like it.

Yes, you've never seen.

Happy memories looking back? What is that?

What feelings are you feeling?

I feel invincible.

[Host 1] Yes.

[Host 2] Didn't you once get arrested

for impersonating a woman?

Well, it was in Memphis, as I recall, right?

But you weren't impersonating a woman.

I wasn't, I was kind of dressed

like Liza Minnelli at the time.

He invited everybody on the stage

and he got arrested for that in Memphis, Tennessee.

But they, they pegged it on dressing like Liza Minnelli?

Yeah, I had to go to jail dressed like Liza Minnelli

and Memphis jail is not Mayberry.

It's a real jail.

[David] No if you went to like the thrift store or something,

you would most likely have to buy women's clothes

to look like a rockstar, you know?

[interviewer] It's interesting that you guys,

that you thought that you had to wear women's clothes.

[David] Well, we didn't have to

but there was nothing else available.

You know, if Granny Takes a Trip,

had opened an outlet,

then we could have wore men's woman's clothes.

But we used to kind of improvise, you know.

[electric guitar music]

Come on, boys!

[interviewer] Were there places where,

or times where it felt a little more risky or dangerous?

[David] Well...

[interviewer] Or you might get beat up?

[David] Yeah, I mean, the first time we played outta town

we played at some like club in Long Island.

It was called like The Shark or something,

I don't remember what it was called.

It was just like a big room, like a warehouse kind of room.

And when we pulled up, there was all these

like muscle cars and stuff, pack of cigarettes

stuck in the shirt that was rolled up kind of a thing.

And I was like, "Oh man, people still doing this?"

[laughing]

And we started to play and all the guys moved

towards the back and the girls moved towards the front.

Somethin' happened. I don't even remember what,

but the guys started beating the hell out of each other

and then they opened up the doors on either side

-and pushed everybody out. -[interviewer] Why?

Because of the sound? The look?

What was so bad?

[David] It kind of caused a lot of sexual tension, I think,

between guys and girls.

It was a mess.

The thing about the Dolls, the original Dolls, was that

we all had very kind of similar ideas about

what it takes to be a great rockstar.

People who are really campy, but you know,

it's an old expression, but it's like the lie

that tells the truth, you know?

And it just kind of gets to the point.

[playing Jet Boy]

Baby, up all night

Baby, New York City

Baby, so so high

Baby, so so high

Don't you know that

Like he was my baby

Like he was my baby

Like he was my baby

I remember during this period when we were having this

reunion thing, the Dolls, we got a call from

one of our myriad record companies.

[audience laughing]

Every time we do a record, we get dumped.

So, they said, "Would you like to go to the island

of Kauai, Hawaii and make a record

at the home of Todd Rundgren?"

I said, "Yes... now? Like now? January now."

"Yes."

Showed up a few days early.

Todd was kind of pissed, but fuck him.

[audience laughing]

You know what I'm saying?

Who does he think he is?

So he said, "OK, what do you...

play me what you got. What do you got?"

I said, "We don't have nothing, man.

We'll get right to it though."

So, it was great.

It was verdant.

It was lush.

I don't know if you saw it in Architectural Digest,

but Todd's house,

it looks like a Cambodian drug lord's pagoda.

[audience laughing]

It's beautiful.

I was like, "Man, a gentleman of my stature

belongs right here."

You know what I'm saying?

We went back to the Bay of Honah Lee.

You know who lives there, don't you?

-Puff. -[audience laughs]

Oh, yeah.

We hung with Puff a little bit there, baby.

It was cool.

Normally it rained every day.

But intermittently, at intervals.

Usually, it stopped raining when it was time for us

to go in the studio and make some noise

with the pots and pans, but it was it was still beautiful.

[band plays Making Rain]

Anyway, we wrote this song there.

It's a good one. It's gonna be really good.

[gentle acoustic music]

Hate how the myth of separation

Really cast a spell on me

Never missing one occasion

Of the infinite varieties of agony

We pass on down our borrowed anguish

Our blasted joys, our jubilant despair

Leave us crying out here to languish

Poor outcast, it's too much to bear

Making rain

Yeah, making rain

It's always raining here

Sometimes I need a little shove, yeah

Remind me of my providence

Learn to bear the beams of love, yeah

Mending my conflict with circumstance

Just making rain

Yeah!

Yeah, making rain

It's always raining here

The heart's in pain

Crying in the rain

Here comes that rain again

Exacerbations, excruciations

That's the tears of things

[piano solo]

Yeah, baby.

Exacerbations, excruciations

Well, that's the tears of things

Very nice.

Waiting in a subway station

In some godforsaken neighborhood

It's as if my blood was dreaming

And resolved itself into melody

Yeah, making rain

Here comes the rain

It's always raining here

Our hearts in pain

Yeah, findin' the rain

Oh, the rain

Yeah, the rain

It's always raining here

Oh, the rain

Yay...

Yeah, it's always raining here

[chuckles]

-[audience applauding] -Yeah, baby.

Yup.

Keith Cotton, everybody, on the piano.

[audience applauding]

You know, when I was 18, I started hanging around at

this place, Max's Kansas City.

It was kind of like this place.

Great people.

My kind of people, you know what I'm saying?

Like, it was probably the greatest bo te of all time

after Caf Carlyle.

But still up there in the top two.

It was a lot like this actually. It was a lot like this.

Some of the greatest queens you'd ever wanna meet.

Oh, my god.

I remember one night...

I believe it was... [clears throat]

Penny, you'll correct me if I'm wrong.

Because Penny Arcade was there as well this evening.

-[audience applauding] -It was Ingrid Superstar?

It was you, Bill Vehr and Ingrid Superstar and me.

OK, Penny and I, my friend Bill Vehr

from the Ridiculous Theater. The author of Turds in Hell.

He was my best friend at the time.

We were biffing.

And Ingrid Superstar.

And Ingrid said,

"You're on a trip. You're on a trip.

You're on... everybody here is on a trip except for me."

And Bill very calmly said, "But, Ingrid Superstar,

you took eight Tuinals."

She said, "Yeah, but I'm not on a trip."

Anyway, I found that amusing, you know.

So much so, that I recall that after all these years.

[scoffs]

Something about certain turns of phrase in language

that are peculiar to each of us.

[Duchess] Written for you, Tina Louise.

-What's my real name, Duchess? -[Duchess] I don't know.

You really like to destroy people, don't you?

[David] Everybody you would meet would be alive,

freewheelin' and so much stuff going on.

[Bill] So that after you've come six times, six times,

you're gonna find out that you're Superman, you see.

There's something wrong with this.

[David] Charles Ludlum came to the show one night

and he just said, "I'm having a personality crisis."

And I thought, "That's really good."

And I kind of remembered it, you know.

[Leah] Here, let me pull through the bottom.

[David] I remember when I moved into my first apartment,

which was a seventh-floor walkup on the Hells Angels block.

I turned on the radiator and it just like started hissing steam

I really didn't know what to do about it.

And so, I knocked on, I guess it was my neighbor's door,

or two doors down and this guy came in.

He was like a college professor, but kind of like, you know,

a hip college professor kind of guy.

He was very nice and very political.

He told me that I should check out his group,

which happened to be the Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers.

I said, "OK."

And he kind of like would encourage me

because apparently,

I had the stuff to rally the street if something went down,

so I used to stay on the corner,

like go climb up a lamppost and say,

"We're not gonna let these cops,

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah."

And everybody'd be like, "No, no."

And then there'd be like some kind of a...

skirmish or whatever.

And my mother said to me about them, she said,

"You know what you are? You're a commie dupe."

[laughing] I had to think like, "Yeah, maybe."

Maybe I was.

There were so many characters on St. Mark's Place in,

you know, '69,'70.

I used to really like Abbie Hoffman a lot when I was a kid.

[interviewer] Did you meet him first?

Yeah, I used to see him all the time.

He was very personable.

We planted a tree in the middle of St. Mark's Place.

He was the instigator of that.

The ruse of it was that we need more trees

on St. Mark's Place.

He said, "Where're we gonna get a tree?"

I said, "They got trees all over Staten Island."

He got a van, came to Staten Island,

dug up a tree like in the Greenbelt

or something where there's a million trees.

[interviewer] And did you put it in like a bucket

or did you--

[David] No, I think they just put a mound of dirt around it,

as I recall.

They didn't expect it to stay.

It was in the middle of the street.

Like they just wanted to like do something.

We went to Lincoln Center.

It might have been the opening of Lincoln Center.

You know, those like industrial boxes of Tide

like they have at a laundromat so you can buy

like a cupful or whatever?

They dumped one of those in the fountain.

And it just like started, it was like a comedy movie.

It just like started foaming up and all these people

who were like, you know...

uh...

society contributors to Lincoln Center, right?

They were all done up to the nines

and they were all like slipping in the foam.

And it was great. It was so beautiful.

There was a lot of liberation movements

in the East Village in those days.

They were all kind of interesting, so...

But the Yippies were the most ridiculous, you know,

so that appealed to me

and Charles Ludlam was ridiculous

and that appealed to me.

Ridiculousness is something that I've always kind of,

especially, if it's really intelligent ridiculousness

it's kind of appealing to me.

[indistinct chatter]

We've really expanded all definitions

and all mediums to where that you have to forget

those definitions that you learned in school.

[chuckles] But you got to forget that, folks.

So, you got to forget the definition of art,

the definition of music, the definition of video art now.

All these things are being expanded every single day.

Music does not aim at sound itself,

but is in a complex conception.

First, forget about sounds.

Sounds must be free.

[audience applauding]

[David] The goal of today's Mansion of Fun show

is to live with godlike composure

on the full rush of energy, like Dionysus riding the leopard

without being torn to pieces.

[sings O mio babbino caro]

[Jimmy Castor whistles] Hey, Leroy!

-[Leroy] What? -[man] Your mama.

She's calling you, man.

-[all laughing] -[upbeat music]

[Hey, Leroy, Your Mama's callin' You by Jimmy Castor plays]

You know, when I was a kid, I lived on East Sixth Street.

Before that, I lived on Third Street

on the Hells Angels block.

-Not my cup of tea. -[audience laughing]

I mean, it was all right.

But... one day there was a knock at the door,

which was in the kitchen,

which is also where the bathtub was located.

I opened the door and there stood this big viking

who was wearing a tutu and paratrooper boots

and some like ripped yellow tights.

Next to him was this little Colombian guy.

He was kind of like cleaning his nails with a stiletto.

But still I thought, "I gotta watch out for this big guy."

Turned out though it was the little guy

I had to watch out for.

Anyway, it was Arthur Kane and Billy Murcia.

-[audience applauding] -And... Thank you.

Arthur said to me, "I understand you're a singer."

I didn't really expect that voice,

you know, to come out of this Cossack.

I said, "Yeah, I like to sing."

He said, "Well, we're trying to start a band

and we need a singer."

And I said, "OK, I'm in."

I mean, you know, I made snap decisions in those days.

You know, like later on in life you start thinking,

"Well, what's this gonna be like in six months?"

You know?

This is like, at that point like,

"What's this going to be like" let me do the arithmetics.

Fifty years later, you're still like,

"Oh my God, what was that?"

So we went over to 10th Street

where Johnny Thunders had a very nice apartment.

The bathtub was in the bathroom, you know what I'm saying?

Couple other rooms.

I think his mother was paying his rent.

I mean, I'm not sure, OK?

-[band plays Lonely Planet Boy] -So don't quote me on that.

[Kurt Loder] New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders

was found dead on the floor of a guest house

in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Tuesday afternoon.

The cause of death hasn't yet been determined.

But Thunders, whose given name was John Genzale,

had a longtime drug habit.

[David sings] Our will is hard

Man, it's so hard

And it's a lonely planet joy

When you bring a song from your other boy

That's when I'm a lonely planet boy

And I'm tryin'

For your love

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah

You pick me up

You're out drivin' in your car

I tell you where I'm going

You're always telling me

It's too far

But how could you be drivin'

Down by my home

When you know

I ain't got one

And

I'm so all alone

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah

All right.

Well, it's a lonely planet joy

When you bring the song from your other boys

That's when I'm a lonely planet boy and I'm tryin'

Yeah, cryin'

Baby for your love

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah

[piano solo]

Oh, yeah!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah

Can't you hear me callin'

When I'm a thousand miles away

I don't wanna stay

I'm thinking of words I gotta say

'Cause I wanna be there with you

I know what to bring you

I remember

From the days

I got over

Everything

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah

Well, it's a lonely planet joy

When you bring a song from your other boys

That's when I'm a lonely planet boy

And I'm tryin'

Yeah, I'm cryin'

Oh, can't you see that I'm dyin'

Baby, for your love

Whoa, whoa whoa, yeah

Whoa, whoa, yeah

Whoa, whoa, whoa, yeah

[crowd cheering]

Let me tell you about the time I met Mara, all right?

My life was going along kind of like Groundhog Day.

I didn't really see much reason to continue

and then I met Mara and oh my God, you know?

[applause]

I don't believe it.

-I don't believe it. -[crowd cheering]

I love you, Mara.

I love you.

-Always will. -[applause]

It was a scandal.

Oh my God.

But... so worth it.

[laughter]

So anyway, I wrote this...

I wrote this lyric... [kiss]

for my love.

[band plays Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano]

Been cravin' more life

And more love

That lives in the soul

Of my heart

I don't wanna be

No artist

I'm a dancin', singin'

A work of art

Yeah, you lit my heart

With fiery aggression and you showed me

This feeling of love

Of sex and affection that ya owed me

Danger

And I ain't scared

In danger

I found the splendor there

I was dancin' on a flamin' pit

Dancing

We are creating it

We're dancing

Right on the lip

Of a volcano

Nature with its true voice cries out undissembled

Be as I am

Revealing its wildest most generous incarnation

In danger

Devil may care

Danger

The fire's everywhere

'Cause we're dancing

Atop a flamin' pit

We're dancing

We are creating it

We're dancing

Right on the lip

Of a volcano

Oh yeah. All right.

[guitar solo]

Yeah, man. All right, man.

Oh, yeah!

[David] Oh!

In the center of action of my psyche's need for love

I want liberation and joy

In a paroxysm of intoxication

Inspiration ain't no way to be coy

In danger

A blazing glare

Oh, yes!

In danger

I found the splendor there

Oh, yeah

Dancin' atop flamin' pit

Dancin', we're creating it

We're dancin' right on the lip

Of a volcano

Volcano

A volcano

Thrown in the dance with the mystics

It's burnin' us up with his music

It's sensualistic

It's ritual

It's polytheistic

-[crowd cheering] -Ye-heh-heh.

Whoa.

[Smokestack Lightning by The Harry Smiths playing]

Oh, smokestack lightning

Shinin' just like gold

Oh, don't you hear me cryin'

A-whoo-hoo

A-whoo-hoo

A-whoo-hoo

Oh, stop your tryin'

Let a poor boy ride

Oh, don't you hear me cryin'

A-whoo-hoo

A-whoo-hoo

A-whoo-hoo

A lot of these are from when I sang with Hubert.

A lot of Howlin' Wolf

Wang-Dang-Doodle and things of that nature.

Oh, here's Blind Willie McTell and his wife.

Apparently he shot his wife. He only winged her.

But from what they say, it may be apocryphal,

but they say that he stood in the middle of the room

and just, like, swung around rapid firing...

like a ballet dancer.

[interviewer] What's this one?

I don't know.

This is...

It says it's Buster's big book, so...

let's see.

[Interviewer 2] Explain to me your lyric book.

It's not just lyrics in there.

There's something else in there.

What's in that book that I used for the show?

[Interviewer 2] Uh-huh.

There's a lot of, like, devotional art in there.

There's millions of Hindu gods, you know.

You ever go to, like, Central Park

and there'll be a lot of, like, Cuban guys and Puerto-Ricans

and they're all playing congas and things like that.

Do they still have that there?

[interviewer] Yeah.

You know those guys that are into, like, the Orishas?

So, like, say you and me are playing.

'Cause you know, the rumbas all have, you know, like...

saints that each beat is dedicated to or whatever.

So they kind of just, like,

beam it up and then it comes back down to you.

It's not like we're playing, like, at each other.

[Interviewer 2] So when you'll turn a page,

there'll be a different image there

that's associated somehow with that song.

It could be associated with that song.

It's just something that reminds me of what I'm there for,

you know.

Because it makes it a lot more fun for me, you know.

Music to me is, you know, they say playing music, you know.

They don't say like working music.

You're supposed to be playing.

So...

If I don't do it as some kind of a devotional thing,

it's gonna become a grind for me.

[orchestral music plays]

You're in the Mansion Of Fun

with Sri Rama,

Poindexter, Johansen.

Where...

aestheticism

and eroticism...

are two sides of the same coin.

And unwillingness to see this exacts a terrible price

in prudery, misery

and warped lives.

I'm just a bad boy

La la la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

All dressed up in fancy clothes

I'm taking the trouble

To blow my bubble

Away

Bad boy

La la la la la la la la la la la la

La la la la la la la la la la la

Life is just a bowl of cherries

I'm taking the trouble

To turn my night into day

You, were in the vanguard of punk, new wave,

with the New York Dolls.

Legendary group.

Now, what made you completely abandon

that kind of rock and roll that you were doing?

I understand in Cleveland you just decided

that you had enough of it.

Well, I'll tell you.

Contrary to popular belief, you know,

because the Dolls were such, like,

a shock kind of troop battalion that...

I think a lot of people didn't realize that

the Dolls music was...

built like basically, you know,

the roots of the thing was really rhythm and blues.

And it was, like, a classic rock and roll band.

What makes a classic rock and roll band?

Big Fat Mamas Are Back In Style.

And... uh Lavender Coffin?

Lavender... All I want is a lavender coffin

and what I call pre-haze cold rock and roll.

[interviewer] How did Buster Poindexter become?

Well, basically, after the Dolls, you know

I did the David Johansen show for many years.

I was on the road for like 250 nights a year.

And I had a lot of fun.

But after a while, you know, you want to come back home

you want to kind of establish relationships

and things like that.

So I came up with this brilliant idea

to come up with an act that could only play in New York.

There was a club in my neighborhood called Tramps

and I thought I was gonna do four Mondays there

because, it was a Blues bar

but they didn't have acts on Mondays.

And so I thought I'd do, well, since there's nobody there

on Monday, I'd try this little cabaret thing

with, like, three guys as a backup band.

And I started doing it and

it caught on and all of a sudden I was making my nut,

so to speak.

And I wasn't going on the road.

I wanted to do a show that would entertain my peers,

so to speak.

Now your peers, you're what, 36 now, about?

I'm 37.

-Thirty-seven now. -For a few more minutes.

Really inching up there.

-"Inching up there," to where? -Well, I don't know.

-To the end. -The next thing you'll be 40.

-This is the big one. -[laughter] Right.

OK, there's two Yiddish hipsters.

It's a short joke.

Two Yiddish hipsters sitting on a park bench

and one of them says

"Oy."

And the other one says, "I'm hip."

OK?

[interviewer] Do you ever write down, not jokes,

but, like, banter and things you wanna say?

Banter?

Like things you wanna say between songs that aren't jokes?

You mean that aren't funny?

-Yeah. -No.

No.

I mean, you know, if I'm playing in, like, a big place,

I'm not, like, telling jokes because...

The David Johansen band went on this whole tour

with Pat Benatar and you know, she's great.

She can really belt out a tune.

But...

they would kinda look at me

like I was a bug a lot of the times in those...

hockey rinks, you know?

[interviewer] Like you were a little guy

or like you were a freak or...

Like a bug. [laughter]

[interviewer] And what kind of songs can Buster sing

that you can't sing?

Uh...

Everything. I mean, you know,

I can sing, you know, a lot of kinds of songs, but...

I think I already went through this with you.

Like, Buster is just like, I can do anything I want.

People aren't...

expecting something else.

They come because it's unexpected,

what I'm gonna do, you know?

And they kind of trust that it's gonna be good

and it's always good. What can I say?

[Totalitarian State plays]

I woke up late one day

And turned on my TV

They said they'd take it all

When I was asleep

Well they were bringing down doors

They were purging and burning

People just like me

Well I fixed a drink, I switched around the channel

But that was all I could see

Well it's such a boring feeling

When you find that you're fallin' to a

Totalitarian state

Well, I know what's left

It don't seem right

You just don't feel so great

Well it seems we're all camping

And the Mexicans was laughing

Down at the detention center

They didn't seem to care that they were there

I couldn't find one dissenter

I didn't feel communal

I was incommunicado

I couldn't see it getting any better

I couldn't call no one

I wish I had a gun

I couldn't even send a letter

It's such a boring feeling

When you find that you're falling

To a totalitarian state

I know what's left

It don't seem right

You just don't feel so great

When they came to get me

I'd hope they would forgive me

I tried playing dead

I finished my drink, assessed the situation

Put the covers up over my head

I quit

[piano solo]

[drum solo]

[rock music]

Well, me and my friends

All hang out in a non-litigious crowd

We're sensitive to other people's needs

And on this we are proud

But this situation really bites

I mean, for crying out loud

I don't know what to do

I feel like a fool

This time I'm gonna sue

It's such a boring feeling

When you find that you're fallin' to a

Totalitarian state

You know what's left

It don't seem right

It just don't seem so great

-Oh! -[crowd cheering]

Whoa. Whoa.

Hey, hey.

Hey, hey.

Totalitarian State... Baby!

[interviewer] It sounds like you've never really been bitter

about the fact that

the Dolls never garnered these huge wages,

whereas you could look at bands like

Kiss and Aerosmith

and they made a pretty good dime off

-Yeah. -[interviewer] essentially a

watered-down version of what you were doing.

Yeah, no. We, we were a band's band, you know?

In a lot of ways.

And we influenced a lot of bands

and a lot of kids were influenced by us

who started bands, you know.

Take the Ramones.

The Ramones saw us and they,

they looked at each other and said,

"Hey, if these guys can do that, we can do that."

And to have influence like that on people,

I think, is really good, you know.

To give people the...

the idea like,

"Hey, I could do that."

[Piece Of My Heart by Emma Franklin plays]

Wow, listen to how sweet that is.

Didn't I make you feel

- Like you were the only man -Whoo!

That's probably Aretha playing piano.

- Didn't I give you everything -You know that?

That a woman possibly can

-Is this her sister? -Yeah.

But with all the love I give ya

It's never enough

But I'm gonna show ya, baby

That a woman can be tough

[interviewer] Is there any music you just don't like?

Most, most stuff on the radio. [laughs]

I don't even know what I don't like,

because I just don't hear it.

You know? It doesn't,

if I like something it stops in the middle of my head

and it just rattles around

and if I don't like it it just kind of goes through me and

I don't grab it.

You know, my show is not like

something that...

your average kid would understand.

[interviewer] Why not?

Why not?

Because it's, it's out of the ordinary,

you know, it's kind of like...

it's got, it's like peculiar to my taste, you know.

[L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Havanaise) plays]

That Marilyn Horne version, she gets right to the meat.

Did the folks play that stuff?

-How'd you get turned on to-- -Oh, you know, my old man,

he was an opera singer.

And it's like, all that we heard

had been classical music when I was a kid,

-[woman] Oh. -which used to drive me crazy.

-[woman] Mm-hmm. -My old man would be like

wearing his army clothes, paint in the house

and the Texaco Opera on the Grundig

would be in the window, blaring out.

And my friends would come by,

on Saturday and I'd be like holding the ladder

and I'd be like...

[music continues]

[David] My old man would be up there like

[loudly imitating opera singing]

[interviewer chuffs]

And now...

and now it's all over your radio show.

[instrumentation peaks]

This next song, I wrote it to

a Lightnin' Hopkins song.

Texas Blues.

I gave the lyrics to Brian,

see what he wanted to do with it.

And he came up with this really great song

and we're gonna sing it for you now.

So the only one who sounds like Lightnin' Hopkins

in this version is me.

[audience laughs]

I give you that Eddie Murphy smile, like...

[audience laughs]

[Wandering Spirit Prayer plays]

I keep watching and wondering

Why a little bird flies up to the sky

Only God knows, maybe he don't

You know that holy talk has been a lie

I keep praying it's the truth

And I ain't got no death to die

I ain't got no death to die

Yeah, I keep hollering and prayin'

I don't have to be such a hurtful bum

How could I sometimes be so good

And turn around and be so wrong to some

Ah, what's the use of all this praying

When I don't know the spirit from

The spirit from who this prayer have come

That old eternal spirit

Always whispering in my ear

Radiance of the infinite

Seems to be everywhere

But my weary eyes can't see

And I'm afraid my old ears cannot hear

Afraid my old ears cannot hear

You've been a consolation of my life

And you will be of my death

And I pray that you'll have mercy

Moment of my last breath

I know these words of weariness

Just don't make me wander from death to death

Don't make me wander from death to death

[audience cheers and applauds]

Beautiful.

[audience cheers and applauds]

[Ben Vereen] Now, our next guest is truly a unique rock star.

I mean he's what you call a free spirit, a knockout singer,

starting a heat wave right here at the Waldorf-Astoria

singing Hot Hot Hot, Buster Poindexter!

-[audience cheers] -[Drummer] One, two, three!

-[Hot Hot Hot plays] - Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole

Ole-Ole-Ole-Ole

That was like, the bane of my existence, that song, you know.

I don't know how I feel about it now.

I haven't heard it lately.

[interviewer] Would you hear it like

all over the place like--

Oh, God, that's ubiquitous, that song.

It was like, forget about it.

It's like, you know,

they play it at weddings, bar mitzvahs. It's like...

[interviewer] Six Flags.

Six Flags! [laughs]

Hot hot hot

Hot hot hot

Hot hot hot

[David] They used to have a show on VH1 called One Hit Wonders.

And I was on it twice because I sang,

you know, like that Animals medley thing as David Johansen.

And then I sang Hot Hot Hot as Buster,

so I was a one hit wonder twice.

[interviewer] Did you have like a vision for

what your life would be like at this point?

[David] You can make plans and they're fun to do,

but they're rarely...

What you want to do by the time you get there.

I think I used to be like...

five year increments.

Where I'll be in five years or whatever, when I was a kid.

[interviewer] Yeah.

[David] Somebody said that some guy

who was a record producer,

he was a... he was a millionaire.

And I thought, "Wow, a millionaire."

He was 23, you know?

And I was like, "Wow, a millionaire at 23.

That'd be great."

But I didn't...

I came to realize, well, that's not really so good.

Because the guy, turned out,

he was a murderer.

[both laugh]

-Do I want to do like this? -[Mara] Yeah.

Yeah. I like this.

[Mara] Get the oil off your chest.

Just because I'm not like responding,

doesn't mean I'm not in ecstasy.

[Mara laughs] I know that. We're married.

Here you go.

[interviewer] So what were you saying Mommy

about what we wanna make sure we get in this?

[Mara] You spend a lot of time putting on a show,

while you're keeping hidden not just your interior life,

but a lot of other aspects of your life, right?

-And-- -Yeah.

You guys see the pants?

[interviewer] I can see the, the pants are yellow.

-That's good. -[interviewer] But I can't

see like the whole style of the pants.

That's OK.

[interviewer] You wanna see what you look like?

I wanna see what you're gonna shoot.

It's best to leave an incomplete--

-[Mara] Yeah. -picture of yourself.

[Mara] Can we have the, uh,

like can we have the coquettes showing on the book?

[interviewer] I was gonna have David

look at that book, actually.

[Mara] Oh!

I mean let's face it. We've been very happy together.

We're very happy and Leah is very happy.

That's like really good because...

occasionally we have to deal with like, you know,

I don't wanna use the word crisis.

But you know, whatever.

-Something that's-- -[Mara] We've had some crises.

Yeah.

[interviewer] As we get older, we accumulate ghosts.

'Cause, you know, there's a lot more dead people

than there are the living.

I've lived through like, Vietnam War,

the AIDS epidemic...

and so many things, you know?

And had people who I love

that have died from COVID very recently, you know.

Put your sweet lips

A little closer to mine

You know, there's Hal Wilner, for example.

[interviewer] Given that you lost someone

in your band at 21,

was an early death something that you yourself feared...

-when this-- -No.

No. I never learned my lesson.

[soft music playing]

You know, after I was in the original Dolls,

the ones that there was a lot of you know, catastrophic stuff.

I had a band called David Johansen Band I made for...

[clapping]

We got in a van and went back and forth,

across this country about, I don't know, nine times,

opening for heavy mental acts at hockey rinks.

Oh my God.

When I think of that...

It killed me. It actually killed me.

These guys, they called magazines, books.

[laughing]

OK.

So, what are you readin' there, pal?

Viva.

My book.

I said, that's not a book. That's a Viva Magazine.

You know what I'm saying?

Thank God they had, they'd come out with Walkmans by then,

you know.

And of course gin, you know, which they always had.

A one, two, three, four...

[plays Frenchette]

You call that love in French, but it's just Frenchette

I've been to France, so let's just dance

I get all the love I need in a luncheonette

In just one glance, so let's just dance

I can't get the kind of love that I want

And I need

So let's just dance

You come on like it's all natural darling

But you know

Oh it's really only naturalette

It's just like all of your leathers darling

They don't scare me

I know what's really only leatherette

I could take it down and wash it down

I scrub you on down in any old launderette

I can't get the kind of love, that I want

Let's just dance and I 'll forget

I want you to come in my kitchen

Not my kitchenette

I want you to come in my dining room

Not my dinette

I can't get the kind of love

So let's just dance and I'll forget

I can't the kind of love that I want and I need

So let's just dance

I can't the kind of love that I want and I need

So let's just dance

Come on, boys! So let's just dance!

[guitar solo]

Oh woah-wo-wo-wo-wo

Come on, every one join.

Oh woah-wo-wo-wo-wo

Remember how we marveled darling, we was marveling

We were marveling at The Marvelettes

Yeah we fell in love with Veronica

And every last one of The Ronettes

It sure got hot when Levis Stubbs

He got burned boy

Messing around with Bernadette

You call that love in French, but it's just Frenchette

I've been to France, so let's just dance

I get all the love I need in a luncheonette

In just one glance, so let's just dance

Let's just dance

Let's just dance now

Let's dance

Let's just dance

Going to take a little roll with you, honey

Let's just dance

A little stroll with you, honey

Yeah, let's just dance

Just dance

My doctor said to take it easy, baby

So let's just dance

My doctor said to take it easy, baby

Let's dance

Come on, let's just dance

Yeah, baby

Let's just dance

All right.

Let's just dance

Come on, let's just dance

I can't get the kind of love that I want

And I need

So, let's

Just

Dance

[audience clapping]

Oh, hi... [chuckles]

You know, when I was a... a kid,

I was probably like, not a kid.

I was probably like almost 30-years-old or something.

Maybe I acted like a kid.

I... went to...

see Milos Forman

to audition for a...

a part of one of the two,

like lead guys in Hair.

In the movie Hair.

You know, I figured, an actor, what is that?

So, I think I have all the prerequisites,

completely irresponsible,

drunk a lot.

Hey, I can go on and on.

But... I fit the bill.

So I went to see Milos and...

I didn't even do the audition.

I mean, we got along like a house on fire.

I mean, "Oh God, David. David, I love you."

And we were drinking schnapps

and we were smacking each other on of back

and we were having a gay old time, OK?

Oh my God, it was so great.

So then he calls Twyla Tharp and he says,

"I got, I got the guy.

This is the guy. I'm gonna send him over.

You see if he can dance."

In order to get this part,

the... one of the major parts that you had to pass.

Milos, Twyla...

and Galt MacDermot,

who wrote the music.

So I went over to Twyla Tharp's.

I was...

dancing... like Nijinsky.

I mean, I was like...

like a gazelle.

Back and forth

with the whole troop back and forth, like throwing flowers.

I mean imaginary flowers, but still.

Twyla calls up Milos,

"He's, he's great. He's a natural. He's great."

I'm thinking, you know, "Hollywood, here I come."

I'm like picking out real estate,

you know what I'm saying?

Next day I go to see Galt McDermott.

It's up on one of those Broadway rehearsal rooms,

you know, at the piano and everybody's standing around.

He's got the piano and I come in

and I decide to sing the song Hair.

I figured, you know,

I hadn't really prepared.

You know and... but Galt McDermott stood up.

He shut the... the... the lid of the keyboard

and he said, "This guy can't sing!"

I was like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.

I don't, I don't act.

I don't dance, but I'm a singer.

You know, I, that's what I do. I'm a singer."

I didn't get the part anyway.

My dreams were crushed.

But I only had those dreams for three days.

So it wasn't like a lifetime.

You know, years later...

I saw...

Galt McDermott at an awards ceremony.

We were both getting a medal for something and...

he was in his dotage.

And... we shook hands and the whole thing.

He didn't remember me from, from that day.

But, I didn't remind him I didn't mention it.

You know, I didn't mention it.

I'm not that kind of guy.

[audience laughing]

[Maimed Happiness plays]

This is nice.

It's a maimed happiness

I keep trying to acquiesce

It's like a tempestuous child

You play with and humor to keep

Quiet as you possibly can

'Til finally it goes to sleep

Life takes a lot of finesse

It's a maimed happiness

I keep myself to every way

Both refined and uncouth

Then maybe once in a while

I can be with the truth

Don't know

If there's that much to be said

I thought this world and all the time

That we spend

Still I think

I want to live

This crazy life over again

Yeah, I've been to the doctor

He said there ain't much he can do

Said you got the human condition

Boy, I feel sorry for you

There's a sorrowful joy

I know it since I was a boy

Joyful sorrow, I guess

It's a maimed happiness

[audience clapping]

Beautiful!

You guys have been great.

Thank you. Thank you.

[music begins]

My friends.

[interviewer] Maimed Happiness.

I feel like that could be your thesis for the show.

Yeah. Mara, what's that...

Those two brothers, they were writers,

but one was a philosopher.

[Mara] Henry James and William James?

[David] Who wrote that book?

[Mara] Well, Henry James was the novelist.

Right. So it was William James was the philosopher.

-Right. -[Mara] Yeah.

I was reading that William James

Variety of Spiritual Experiences,

I guess it's called.

At one point he used the expression "maimed happiness."

"It's kind of like a maimed happiness," whatever he said.

And it just stuck in my mind, you know.

It's just, existence is...

maimed happiness.

[Freddy] Happy birthday, man.

-Freddy. -A lot more energy tonight.

Yeah, I slept like 10 hours last night.

You are not today who you were when you were 17.

So...

-you were this innocent... -Hmm...

Listen, sorry.

You were spinning around

on the parking meter in front of Gem Spa.

I was spinning around on the other parking meter.

[David] It's the Mansion of Fun show

where we do our thing and we don't worry about the outcome,

because we recognize sorrow as of the essence.

Because when there's time, there's sorrow

and we can't rid the world of sorrow,

but we can choose to live in joy.

[Man] Look how beautiful.

[Mara] Hi, baby.

Long time no see.

[interviewer] Like when was the first time

you felt like your sadness

kind of connected you to the world?

Oh.

[L'elisir d'amore: Una furtiva lagrima by Luciano Pavarotti plays]

Yeah, in 3D.

[sighs] Oh, man.

Then the ostrich comes out.

People think I'm so young, right?

And I'm sure people say that to you, "You're so young."

'Cause it took us so long to grow up.

Like we hit every crack.

We had to be...

we fulfilled the premise of becoming.

-That's right. -We fulfilled it.

-What's the rush? -What's the rush?

[David] There's a lot of different things that

you can hear or see,

you know, people overcoming obstacles.

Surviving.

[L'elisir d'amore: Una furtiva lagrima by Luciano Pavarotti plays]

[band plays Personality Crisis]

Come on!

Wow!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah baby no

Go baby yeah

Yeah, no, yeah, yeah

Wow

Wah-hah!

We can't take it this week

And her friends don't want another speech

Hoping for a better day to hear

What she's got to say

All about that personality crisis

You got it while it was hot

But frustration, heartache that's what you got

I gotta say about the personality

Yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Now you're trying to be something

Now you gotta do something

Wanna be someone who cow wow wows

But you thinking about the time you did

They took every ounce

Well it's sure gonna be a shame

When you start to scream and shout

Wow

You contradict all the time

You were butterflying about

Butterfly

But that personality crisis

You got it while it was hot

It's always hard to know when frustration

Heartache that's what you got

It's just a song about personality

We are

[guitar solo]

[applause]

And you're a prima ballerina

On a spring afternoon

Turn into a wolfman howlin' at the moon

Yahoooooooo

With a personality crisis

You got it while you was hot

It's always hot.

Frustration, heartache that's what you got

Oh, I'm talking about your personality

Now with all the crossin' fingers

Mother Nature said

Your mirror's getting jammed up

With all your friends

Personality

It was just starting to blend

It ain't like one.

With the personality

When your mind's going to bend

Personality

Glad you know a friend, of a friend of a friend

Friend of a friend

Personality

One that has celebrities ever mend

Lookin' fine on television

Personality crisis

Yeah, you got it while it was hot

It's frustration, heartache

It's what you've got

All right.

Personality crisis

Please don't cry

A personality crisis

Please don't stop

Because you walk with personality

You talk with personality

Yeah.

Yeah, baby.

That's what I'm talking about.

Personality.

Yeah.

[audience applauds and cheers]

You know, Plastic Bertrand goes around saying he...

invented punk rock,

but I think that one was really good.

[audience cheers]

You know what I always say?

Nothing recedes like success.

[laughter]

Am I...

[audience claps]

[plays Heart of Gold]

You think I'm a whore

But I got a heart of gold

You're lockin' your doors

You're leavin' me out in the cold

Well I've been bought and baby

I've been sold and I

I need protection from the cold

You may think that my humanity

Has been the cause of all this insanity

This whole damn world's got so much uncertainty

I sure wish you'd see something in me

You think I'm a whore

But I got a heart of gold

You're lockin' your doors

You're leavin' me out in the cold

Yeah, I've been bought, baby

I've been sold and I

I need protection from the cold

[audience applauds]

[soft piano music]

[slow bass guitar solo]

[audience applauds]

Happy birthday, boss.

[audience cheers]

And many more.

Oh, baby.

[band continues playing Heart of Gold]

You may think that my humanity

Was the cause of all this insanity

Hm-hmm.

This whole damn world's got so much uncertainty

I sure wish you'd see something in me

You think I'm a whore

But I got a heart of gold

You're lockin' your doors

You're leavin' me out in the cold

I've been bought and baby

Yeah, I've been sold and I

I need protection from the cold

Yeah, man.

I need protection from the cold

All right, baby.

I need protection

From the cold

[audience applauds]