All language subtitles for Mr.A.and.Mr.M.The.Story.of.AandM.Records.S01E01.WEBRip.x265-ION265_English

♪ Alright♪

♪ Here we go again♪

[man] Two guys in a garage
in Hollywood.

[man #2] Mr. A was a musician.
Mr. M was a businessman.

[Alpert] We just wanted
to release a record

and see what would happen.

♪ Give a little bit♪

♪ Give a little bit
Of your love to me♪

[man] I remember ordering
a million albums.

It was a major success.

♪ Oh, give a little bit♪

♪ Give a little bit
Of my love to you♪

[Childs] This was the '60s.

This was the civil rights period
of time. This was Vietnam.

♪ There's so much
That we need to share♪

♪ So send a smile♪

♪ And show you care♪

[Alpert] And here we were, you
know, on Charlie Chaplin's lot.

♪ Give a little bit,
Give a little bit♪

-Hello, there.
-Hi.

♪ Of my life for you♪

[Hall] It was a really magical
place to be.

♪ Give a little bit♪

♪ Give a little bit
Of your love to me♪

[Beeson]
There was music everywhere.

[Mendes] It was a great
environment to make music.

♪ Give a little bit♪

♪ Give a little bit of my life♪

[Friesen] They figured out
how to make a fantasy world

in a kind of Disney-esque way
that was a record company.

♪ Now's the time that
We need to share♪

♪ So find yourself♪

♪ We're on our way back home♪

[woman] I remember the logo
on the insides of the records

and just how important
those albums were to me.

A&M's secret is, um...
well, I can't tell you.

[Alpert] What is that element
that will give you goose bumps

when you hear a song
on the radio?

♪ Ooh, yeah, come along♪

[Childs]
A&M changed the whole format.

Believe in the music.
Believe in the artists.

We were the luckiest people,

the artists that
got to be on A&M.

[Stevens] A&M were family.
You know, it was my home.

[Adler] It was like a mama/papa
store looking like a giant.

[man] They were real people.

It wasn't like, you know, some
sort of faceless corporation.

This was Mr. A and Mr. M.

♪ Sing it tonight♪

[Hall] Herb and Jerry
started A&M on a handshake,

and they ended A&M
with a handshake and a hug.

[man] Gentlemen, let me know
when you have speed.

[man #2] Alright, do you need
a sentence from Jerry

to do that, or we okay?

-We rolling, gentlemen?
-Rolling.

[man] Action.

How official.

So, you guys has met, I read,
when Herb was in New York,

maybe a little bit,
and reconnect out here.

Is that how it goes?

I think this is one of the few
times that Jerry and I disagree.

You know, I always remember
meeting Jerry in New York.

For some reason, he remembers
meeting me in Los Angeles.

[both chuckle]

♪ Na, na, na, na,
Na, na, na, na, na♪

♪ Na, na, na, na,
Na, na, na, na, na♪

♪ Na, na, wa, wa, wa, wa♪

♪ You turn me on
Then you put me down♪

♪ Can't you run♪

Well, Jerry and I met
because of Ted Fagan,

who was the head promotion man
at Madison Records in New York,

and Ted told me that he was
the number one promotion man

in the country at the time.

-That's what I heard.
-That's what he said.

-Was that propaganda?
-Did Fagan actually say that?

-He actually said that.
-Wow.

-Did you pay him to say that?
-[man] It's promotion.

I can't believe...

♪ Oh, tell it to the birds
Wa, wa, wa, wa♪

In '61 or '62,
we used to go out at night,

and he'd take his horn
and play in piano bars

up and down
La Cienega Boulevard.

♪ Do you really think
That that's...♪

And Herbie, all this time,
used to make records for RCA.

♪ To a guy who loves you so♪

Late summer of '62,
I made the suggestion,

why don't you spend
about 400 bucks on your record,

I spent about 400 bucks
on my record,

and we'll make two releases
and see where we go.

We called it
Carnival Records.

And I was working on
this record called

"Tell It To the Birds."

♪ Oh, tell it to the birds♪

♪ Wa, wa, wa, wa♪

It became a moderate hit.

You know, we got,
I think, $500 for it.

-$750.
-$750. [laughs]

What happened
to the other $250?

[laughter]

[crowd cheering]

So with that money, we invested
in "The Lonely Bull."

♪♪

♪♪

I didn't think at the time
we were starting

a record company.

We were just trying
to put out a record like so many

other companies were doing
at that particular time in 1962.

There were a lot of companies
just operating

out of the trunks
of their car,

and ours was a little more
sophisticated than that.

We were operating
out of my garage.

One of the things we used
to do together

is go to the bullfights
in Tijuana.

I was kind of engrossed with--

There was like a brass band
in the stands.

There was something
that gave me goose bumps

when I heard this.

And my impression
of those afternoons

fell into this recording
of "The Lonely Bull."

I was listening to Les Paul,

and he layered his guitar
many times over,

and I was thinking,
"Oh, that could be fun

to try on the trumpet."

And I had two tape machines,
and I went from one tape machine

to the other and start layering
the trumpet and, bang,

that was the genesis
of the Tijuana Brass sound.

We made the record,

and when it came
to sticking a label on it,

we realized there were
two other Carnival Records.

So in a rush to get it out,

we just used the initials
of our names.

And this became the first
A&M record.

"The Lonely Bull,"
it was A&M 101,

and the record took off.

We were getting calls
from all over the world,

all over the country.

It was like a wonder.

In like two, three days,
it was happening.

[announcer]
The world hangs on the brink

as Russia hesitates.

The record was
a major, major success.

And the Cuban Missile Crisis
was going on,

and I was still
in the Reserves.

[Kennedy] It shall be the policy
of this nation to regard

any nuclear missile
launched from Cuba

as an attack
by the Soviet Union.

And I thought,
"Oh, my God,

I got a hit record, and I'm
gonna have to go in the Army.

We're going to war.
This is happening."

[announcer]
Then the first break.

The missiles go home.

Thank God
everybody went backwards.

♪♪

Gil Friesen and I were friends.

He was a promotion man
for Capitol.

We thought, well, if we could
ever get to the point

where we could hire
another person,

Gil would be that person.

[Friesen] Herb and Jerry
offered me a job

to come do work for them at A&M.

They offered me $250 a week
as the general manager.

There were just Herb and Jerry
and Jolene Burton,

who was the assistant secretary
in those days to Jerry and Herb.

Jerry got the idea
to do an album that incorporated

a lot of food titles.

I came up with the idea of,
let's do a concept album

of Whipped Cream
& Other Delights.

The Whipped Cream
& Other Delightsalbum cover

lives in history.

It had a sexual innuendo to it.

♪♪

We had an art director
that we used,

a guy named Peter Whorf,
and had found this model,

and he had
photographed her.

This cover, I remember seeing it
in the studio,

and I thought to myself,
I said,

"Man, this is maybe pushing it
a little bit too much."

It was a beautiful girl with
whipped cream, and it worked.

You know, whatever it was,
it worked.

Whipped Cream,
the album, just took off.

We had put out three
Tijuana Brass albums,

and it carried all those
first three albums with it,

so that at the end of the year,

we'd sold maybe
five or six million albums.

It was a breakthrough not just
for the small record label A&M.

It was a breakthrough
in the record business.

From that, we got
all the major shows--

Andy Williams,
Ed Sullivan.

When the door opens for you
and it starts raining,

it starts pouring.

It was beautiful.

With Herbie's success,
all of a sudden,

we now had the wherewithal
to really have a company.

We bought
the Charlie Chaplin lot.

We went in there
with 33 employees,

and it was like very spacious
place, and my father said,

"You think you guys
need all this room?" [chuckles]

My name is Victor.

I am the guard here
at the entrance to A&M.

[Garcia] It was beautifully
self-contained.

We had our own recording
studios, our own mix rooms.

And you could ask for no more
interesting vibe or heritage

than being located
on the Chaplin lot.

We found that there was traces
of Charlie Chaplin's

old swimming pool
underneath Studio A,

which was really interesting,
'cause Charlie Chaplin's home

was originally right up
on Sunset and La Brea.

And the studios
were like his backyard.

We never erased
the Chaplin footprints.

They were just
always there.

There were
definitely memories

and ghosts
floating around that lot.

It had character.
It had open space.

It was an immediate campus.

We hired a lot of people
we admired,

salespeople and promotion people
and A&R people.

So the lot
gave us room to grow.

And room to dream.

♪♪

♪♪

[Childs] In those days--
remember, this was the '60s,

this was the civil rights period
of time. This was Vietnam.

[Garcia] We were going through
the '60s riots.

There were marches
on Washington,

marches on the Sunset Strip.

Summer of Love.
All that was going on.

And here we were, you know,
on Charlie Chaplin's lot.

When you walked on that lot,

there was Jews, Gentiles,
Protestants, Catholics.

It was a multicultural
company.

And the fact that there was
no other Black executive

that worked for a pop company
in the business at that time

showed you what kind of people
they were.

[Garcia] Herb and Jerry were
on Nixon's "unfriendly" list.

So A&M almost had
this kind of reputation

for being a bit off the cuff

and, of course,
being very independent.

Tonight, I'm proud to present
a new look,

a new sound, a new approach.

That certainly spells
Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66.

♪ Are bound to follow, but
The root is still that note♪

♪ Now this new one
Is the consequence of the one♪

The thing that we established
very early on

is that there were all kinds
of music that affected us.

We responded
to different great people.

And I would say the first
major artist we signed

was Sérgio Mendes
& Brasil '66.

♪ There's so many people who can
Talk and talk and talk♪

♪ And just say nothing
Or nearly nothing♪

In the summer of '63,
the Jobim album was one of

my favorite albums,
still is, of all time,

and I loved Brasil '65.

You know, it was just
incredible bossa nova music.

♪ I will pour into
That one note♪

♪ All the love I feel for you♪

And as luck would have it,
I was having breakfast

with our Seattle distributor,
and he said,

"Capitol let Sérgio go,
and they're doing a new band,

and it's Brasil '66 now.

He's got two new singers,

and they're rehearsing
at Geordie Hormel's."

[scatting]

♪♪

We walked in the room
and heard this incredible sound.

It was terrific.

It was something
we hadn't heard before.

[Mendes] I call it the magic
of the encounter,

and I liked them immediately.

It was like, wow,
here I'm meeting somebody

that is starting
a new company, very fresh.

So it's a great opportunity
for me.

[scatting]

♪♪

♪ He will find himself
With no show♪

♪ Better play the note
You know♪

♪ He will find himself
With no show♪

♪ Better play the note you♪

♪ Know♪

And then Herbie said,

"Look, not only
will I produce you,

but you'll come on the road
with me."

♪♪

At that time, The Tijuana Brass
was screaming hot,

and we had them
open the show for us.

It was really
an amazing experience

because we had been playing
in small clubs.

We were playing to maybe
120 people a night,

and all of a sudden, we were
in front of 20,000 people.

And then when they returned
to L.A., I produced

their first few records,
and then, bang, it happened.

It's called
Herb Alpert Presents

Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66.

It's on A&M,
and it's a tremendous album.

[Mendes] "Mas Que Nada" became
my first hit.

The first time a Brazilian song
in Portuguese hit the charts.

[Hall] I don't speak Portuguese,
but when I heard this music,

I wanted very much
to sound authentic.

And so I would write
everything phonetically,

and I really worked hard
on the accent.

[Mendes]
I met Lani Hall in Chicago.

I was putting together a group
that became Brasil '66.

Lani was the sound
of Brasil '66.

That's really Lani singing
all those songs.

Some of today's finest music

is written by John Lennon
and Paul McCartney,

the Rodgers and Hart
of Carnaby Street.

And this is one of their latest.

♪♪

♪♪

♪ Day after day♪

♪ Alone on a hill♪

♪ The man with the foolish grin
Is keeping perfectly still♪

♪ But nobody wants to know him♪

♪ They can see that
He's just a fool♪

We were
around Herb Alpert a lot

because we opened the show,

and then when we came back
from the tour,

he produced the albums.

So all of a sudden,
we were becoming friends.

And then, of course,
became something that we both

didn't imagine it becoming.

We both fell in love.

♪ Spinning 'round♪

He's just the most
wonderful man I know.

I mean, he's, uh--he's bright,
he's funny.

Handsome. He's very handsome.
[laughs]

And he's very creative.
He's an original.

He's a great trumpet player.
[laughs]

♪ A thousand voices talking
Perfectly loud♪

Lani has this little
magical little something.

She doesn't sing anything unless
it's coming from a deep place.

♪ Seems to notice♪

♪ But the fool on the hill♪

She's my muse
and best friend.

Best thing that ever happened
in my life.

♪ In his head, see the world♪

♪ Spinning 'round♪

[cheers and applause]

That's "Alfie."

-The song, not this.
-[laughter]

I've never really given
this a name.

Although at times I felt like
calling it a couple things.

The man who wrote "Alfie"
and "What the World Needs Now"

and so many other songs
is probably one

of the most important
modern composers today.

Mr. Burt Bacharach.

[applause]

I knew Burt Bacharach
from the early days.

We worked out of the same office
in the Brill Building

in New York.

And he became just
absolutely huge

as a songwriter
in the early '60s.

It was just one hit
after another.

In 1966, I got a phone call
from Burt that he'd just done

the soundtrack
to Casino Royale,

and would Herbie be interested
in doing a song?

Within a matter
of a couple of days,

got a dub over to Herbie,
Herbie liked it,

we recorded it.

It brought me in contact
with Burt again.

[applause]

♪♪

I said, "Well, why don't you
just come with us?

We can provide
a tremendous home for you.

You can record
whatever you like."

I wasn't even looking
for a record company.

I mean, I just was a composer
making records for other people.

And Jerry said,

"Why don't you take your songs
and make an album?"

So he did--came over

and became just a magnificent
presence in our lives.

If it hadn't been for him--
you know, I needed a push.

I needed somebody to say,
"Why don't you do this?"

Burt Bacharach was a huge
addition to our whole culture.

Burt Bacharach.

[applause]

I had the experience.

I'd recorded
for a major record company,

and I was listening
to a playback

of one of the songs I did,
and I wanted a little more bass,

so I went over to the bass pot
and lifted it up,

and the engineer
slapped my hand,

and he said, "Don't ever touch
that board again."

You know, I looked at him,
thinking to myself,

"Man, isn't this
music business

supposed to revolve
around the artist?"

And I said if I ever had
a chance to have my own company,

it's gonna revolve
around the artist.

And you can't force
a musician to play well.

You can't force a writer
to write great.

And--But what you can do is
you can create the environment

for creative things
to take place.

And essentially, I mean,
that's what A&M is all about.

The key was we were
an artist-friendly label,

and certainly the fact that one
of the partners was an artist

was a bit of magic
that no one else could claim.

They were behind
the artist all the way.

And I think that's what made A&M
so important and so different.

Our competition
in those days was fierce.

A&M had a certain style--
believe in the music,

believe in the artists.

Every other company
was a profit machine

with responsibility
to stockholders

and was run strictly
as a business.

A&M was the only one that was
run with the orientation

of doing right by the artists
first and making money second.

One of the exciting things
is watching

people develop
over a period of time

and watching artists happen,
you know?

We realized we were good
at what we were doing.

We were gonna come at this
business with respect for it

and honor people
as they honored us.

If you were that way,
you had a better chance,

especially as a smaller company,

to pull an artist in,
to seduce them.

It became the formula
on how to run a record company

and how to deal with artists.

[Friesen] Herb Alpert
and Jerry Moss

are what make all of this work

and what make all of this
a very special experience.

The A&M secret is people.

So, that's how
we competed.

It was our treatment of people
and our essence,

so to speak,
that made us different.

And that's what we wanted to be.
We wanted to be different.

[guitar playing]

1967, Jerry goes to
the Monterey Pop Festival.

We were basically
the first rock-and-roll festival

of that size.

♪ Rock me, baby♪

♪ Rock me all night long♪

Jerry was in
a different music business.

The nomenclature at the time,
I think,

was M.O.R.--
middle-of-the-road music.

But it was not radical.

The Monterey Pop Festival
was about as radical

as music was at that point.

We did not have
a performer there,

and that bothered me because
I saw all this amazing music

and we were not
represented.

I came home, and I told Herbie
we should do something about it.

That was the pivotal
moment for him.

He realized he needed
to get into the rock business.

You're in a business

where the future kills
the present.

You have to have the next thing
in order to keep going.

The future of the label
required us to do

what Jerry saw clearly
at the Monterey Pop Festival.

So through a bunch of deals
in England with Island,

Regal Zonophone, Chrysalis,
they got their rock acts.

From that came an outpouring
of some amazing music,

and I realized that we had
to have our own company

in Great Britain.

We hired four people,

and that was
the beginning of A&M UK.

In 1969, we got a tape
in the mail,

and it was a song
called "Marjorine."

♪ Marjorine,
where have you been?♪

♪ Did you meet the Queen,
Marjorine?♪

A&M was a small company.

All of a sudden has Joe Cocker,
and that's a blip

that goes all the way
to the top.

♪ Why did you go?♪

Joe Cocker
is an amazing performer.

It was impossible for him

to sing out of time
or out of tune.

His voice was just
that magnificent.

♪ Searching for me♪

♪ Marjorine♪

And by '69, at Woodstock,
we had Joe Cocker.

♪ What would you do♪

♪ If I sang out of tune?♪

♪ Would you stand up
And walk out on me?♪

He's the real deal.
Nobody could make Joe Cocker up.

Nobody could,
in the studio, say,

"Joe, be a little wilder
on that vocal."

♪ Oh, baby, I get by♪

♪ With a little help
From my friends♪

♪ All I need is my buddies♪

♪ Try with a little help
From my friends♪

A&M was just marketing
and promoting him

and presenting him to the world.

It was kind of
capturing lightning.

♪ Said I'm gonna make it
For my friends♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh♪

I didn't really understand
rock and roll

until we signed Joe Cocker.

And the Mad Dogs
& Englishmen,

they were rehearsing
on the A&M sound stage.

I sat on the sound stage

and started listening to this
thing that was like, "Wow."

I mean, I was getting
goose bumps.

And, you know, Joe was
doing his gyrations.

I don't know. He thought
he was a guitar player,

whatever it was.

It was great.

♪ Ride, Louise, ride♪

Eh?

♪ Ride, Louise, ride♪

♪ Let me be your guide♪

♪ Take you anyplace
You wanna go♪

You think that Joe Cocker
is that guy.

Mad Dogs.

He's very shy,
and he's very quiet.

♪ And I'll show you
All the things♪

It's something about
that's deeper

about the persona of
the musician that's encompassed

through the music
that he expresses.

Here's the person,
here's the music,

and there's something else
about that person.

If you really look hard,
you'll see something

come through,
and that's like a secret.

The really fun part was
to see somebody just explode.

It's those moments
when you know that

there was something
historically happening.

[cheers and applause]

Joe was really hot.

And then they decided to go
on the road with this big group.

♪ Give me a ticket
For an aeroplane♪

♪ I ain't got time
To take no fast train♪

One of A&M's first movies,
Mad Dogs and Englishmen,

directed by Pierre Adidge,
an A&M film.

This was a big project for A&M,

a big way
of exposing Joe Cocker,

a big way of putting their foot
into the film business.

♪ Listen to me, mister♪

♪ Don't you hear me ravin'♪

♪ For my baby once more?♪

♪ Anyway♪

Joe was the kind of guy
that he really worked

and worked hard.

♪ I'm gonna find my way♪

It took a toll.

-[man] Joe Cocker.
-[woman] I can't believe it.

It surprised me so much...

[chuckles]

Joe really had a problem
with taking certain additives

in those days, you know?

[man] Jerry Moss was saying
that to get you back on the road

at first, it was more
or less a hard thing to do.

There was a lot of people
sitting down having a talk

about a loss of sessions.

Was it a hard decision
to make to go back after

such a long period of being off?

They got these worries that
I was turning into an alcoholic.

And they, you know,
asked me to go into

this hospital
and get a check-out.

And when the tour was over,
he just slipped into the inkwell

or went back to England,
and he was nowhere around.

♪ Yeah, baby♪

The Mad Dogs and Englishmen
album became a huge hit

for us in 1970.

♪ I've got some whiskey♪

[audience cheering]

Joe Cocker had had his apogee,

and then there's this
continuation of a career

that could've gone south.

♪ Have some cocaine♪

[audience cheering]

But you hear Joe's voice, and
it's like no one has that voice,

and no one's had
that voice since him.

♪ I'm gonna keep moving,
Darling♪

♪ Till I'm back
In your arms again♪

♪♪

♪♪

Let's talk about
the good old days.

In those days, we listened
to music all day, all night.

It was a thing
about album covers.

It was a toy.

My job was to create things
for kids to collect.

The product we make,
it's art.

You don't sell it the same way
you sell packaged goods.

[Young] We didn't need
marketing and strategies.

We just had, "I know
when I listen to this,

someone's gonna like it."

[Ayeroff] Words like "tonnage,"
which were loosely used

all through the industry,
were banned at A&M.

We were not allowed to call
a big ship on a record tonnage.

This wasn't appropriate.

This isn't the way
you talk about art.

I remember getting a call,
I was in the office at the time,

from our distributor
in St. Louis,

ordering 104,000 albums.

I said, "Are you kidding?"

He says, "No, and you got
to get 'em to me quickly."

I said, "You must really
like this album."

He said, "I never heard it."

But he said--this is something
that's stuck in my head,

and it'll stay there
forever.

He said, "I'm selling
a lot of tonnage."

You know, it's the first time
I thought of music as weight.

[laughs]

Hi. I'm Roland Young, graphics
director of A&M Records.

Everything you see
coming out of here

is my responsibility.

After Monterey Pop,
we were so impressed

with what we'd seen up there

that we took on
the whole art department.

We didn't have any artists
up there,

but we picked up
their art department.

Herb, Jerry, Gil, and I,
we were in our 30s!

Not knowing, but because of not
knowing, it was the start

of something that we've never
done before.

And Gil had the instinct.

Gil was one of the first guys
in the record business really

to think about the advertising
and album covers

being an extension
of what the artist did

and not just a marketing tool.

The amount of attention

that A&M gave
to its album covers,

it will never be repeated again.

Every artist had a personality,

and what you tried to do
was to absorb that.

We were influenced by the music.

But it also had to be
incorporating the person.

You were really following
the artist.

♪♪

♪ My lady D'Arbanville♪

♪ Why do you sleep so still?♪

I grew up in
the West End London,

which is kind of like Broadway,
so music and entertainment

were surrounding me,
and neon lights and everything.

So it was a natural
kind of step for me.

And music was just a fast track
to expressing myself.

♪ My lady D'Arbanville♪

Cat Stevens,
he's a very magical artist.

This is a guy who you sat down,
and he did his album covers,

and he worked with Roland.

He loved Roland Young.

And I would sit and watch.

♪ Why do you breathe so low?♪

All the albums
were designed by me,

drawn by me or painted
or photographed by me.

I was always
in the art department.

He wanted to be
a graphic designer at one time.

Thank God he decided
to become a musician instead.

♪ I loved you, my lady♪

[Stevens] A&M was family.

You know, it was my home
in a way

because it was such a nice team.

Jerry, you know,
was always, you know,

"Hey, you know, whatever
you want to do, it's up to you."

I thought, "Wow, you know,
fantastic."

♪ This rose will never die
I loved you♪

They just let you do
what you naturally want to do,

you know, as far as music
is concerned.

They're not hung up with
the business end of it.

It's just the independent--
I mean, people who have

good ideas are now coming to
the front, which is great.

You don't have to go through
the big mill.

♪ La, la, la, la, la, la♪

♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la,
La, la, la, la, la♪

Cat Stevens had
his peak of success with us

with Tea for the Tillerman
and Teaser and the Firecat.

Those two albums each sold
five million each

in the first year,
and then just kept on going.

♪ Ooh, baby, baby,
It's a wild world♪

[woman] You set yourself
a really hectic schedule,

a whole world tour.

Doesn't this worry you
that maybe it's a bit

too much to take on?

You know, that four months
almost of solid touring,

that it might
sort of weaken you somewhat?

No.

♪♪

Did you touch him,
did you?

-Yes!
-What was it like?

Beautiful!

Fame creates
a kind of separation

between you and yourself,

and you're creating an image

which has to be bigger
than life.

I mean, I toured
with Jimi Hendrix, you know,

and you can imagine what
kind of lifestyle we adapted to.

He was an artist
who was out there.

You know, it was sex, drugs,
and rock and roll.

[Stevens] And then you find out,
you know, a few years later,

Jimi Hendrix dies, and you say,

"Well, hang on.
I don't want to do that."

There is something
very heavy

about being as big a star
as Cat Stevens.

Around 1977, there was the sense

that Cat Stevens
was running too fast.

I was trying
to look after my future,

but one of the big questions
was, you know,

"Well, what is the future?"

♪ Well, if you want to
Sing out, sing out♪

And that's where I started
looking deeper into my life

and my identity
and where I was going.

♪ 'Cause there's
A million things to be♪

My music was based,
most of it, on my real life

and what I was searching for,
and that resounded so strongly

with so much of my generation.

♪ You can do what you want♪

♪ The opportunity's on♪

It became important to them,

so important to them
as it was to me.

I do realize
that, let's say the public,

when people listen to me,

really get involved
in what I'm saying,

and they associate a musician
or a lyricist or a poet

can be like someone
that you trust,

and you follow their instincts,
and you follow their ideas.

♪ Now, I've been happy lately♪

♪ Thinking about
The good things to come♪

♪ And I believe it could be♪

For the majority
of my kind of musical years,

I was searching for my identity.

♪ Dreaming about
The world as one♪

So therefore I had to go through
a great learning curve,

which didn't end for many,
many, many years.

♪ I was on the edge
Of darkness♪

Before I actually found out a
little bit more about who I was.

♪ Well, peace train
Take this country♪

♪ Come take me home again♪

There's another major part

which Jerry of A&M
played in my life,

and that was when I went over
to his beach house

one afternoon for lunch.

I went for a swim,
and that was the day

I discovered that I was human.

So, we were
at the beach house,

and we were talking
with his manager

and noticed that Steve was
having some little difficulty

in the water.

I was not able
to stay afloat.

It was a point in time
where I'd lost all my energy.

And I could see the house
on the beach.

And I could not get any closer.

This was gonna be death.

That moment, I didn't have
any hesitation

in finding out
what I believed.

I called out to God,
and I made a promise.

This wave came
and pushed me forward

as if the tide had turned.

And it's a miraculous thing
I can't explain,

because suddenly I was back,

you know, and my life
had been handed back to me.

He came back in
a little shaken,

but we, you know, dried him off,
and he was fine.

Now, supposedly, he had
an epiphany in the water

and went home that night and had
a meeting with his brother,

who gave him a copy
of the Koran,

and he took that as a sign
to do what he had to do.

Jerry was very understanding
when I came to the point

where I said, "You know what,
I want to just take a break."

I think he understood
my creative energy

was no longer the same
as it was before,

so I needed that break.

We didn't know
it was gonna be 27 years,

but, you know,
that was a surprise.

♪ Oh, it's not time
To make a change♪

♪ Just relax, take it easy♪

♪ You're still young♪

♪ That's your fault♪

♪ There's so much
You have to know♪

I realized in the end that it's
what you do in this world

is what you take with you,

is, you know, your belief
and your good deeds.

And I certainly hadn't
piled up enough of those,

as far as I was concerned.

♪ To become♪

♪ When you found something♪

I think my fans, when I left,
some of them understood

because I'd--by God,
I'd said it in my songs that,

you know, I'm on the road
to find it.

You know, if I find out,
well, come on.

Time to--you know,
to get off this machine

and, you know, start living.

♪ How can I try to explain♪

But I think the big problem
was that the media took

a rather aggressive approach
to my freedom of choice,

and it was because of that,
more than anything,

I found impossible to live with.

And so I just had
to cut myself off

because I couldn't endure that.

♪ There's a way, and I know
That I have to go away♪

♪ I know♪

That epiphany
is what set him off

on a spiritual journey
that has probably satisfied him

a lot more than
his actual career did in music.

Some people burn out.

You know, they just
fall out of the bottom.

He kind of flew out of the top.

Cat Stevens had a voice
that compelled you

to listen to a lyric,
which is what I think

a voice is all about.

It certainly happened
with The Carpenters.

We got this tape,
and I forget whether the tape

was flung over the gate, but
the tape made its way to Herb.

♪ Talking to myself
And feeling old♪

I put on this tape, you know,
not expecting anything.

Had my eyes closed,
and this voice came out.

It felt like this chick was
sitting right next to me.

♪ Hanging around♪

♪ Nothing to do but frown♪

♪ Rainy days and Mondays
Always get me down♪

Karen had a presence
in her voice

that was just
extraordinary.

♪ What I got they
Used to call the blues♪

And the sound
was beautiful.

There was this passion.

It was this type of music

that came right through
The Carpenters.

It was love.

♪ Walking around♪

♪ Some kind of lonely cloud♪

♪ Rainy days and Mondays
Always get me down♪

Herbie heard the tape,

we signed the contract,
we took a picture,

and that was pretty much it.

When we finally did get
into A&M records,

it took Herb Alpert,
who was a musician,

and he saw what he liked
musically in it

and didn't stop to think
whether it would sell or not.

He just took us
because he dug it.

♪ Go while the going is good ♪

♪ Knowing when to leave may be
The smartest thing♪

Herbie said,
"This is the kind of music

I'm proud to have on A&M.

♪ Foolish as it seems♪

Guiding in our philosophy
was figuring out artists

that had something new to say,

that were artists instead
of entertainers or performers.

And most other labels
were concerned

with finding the next Bob Dylan.

♪ I'm sure that no one can tell
When our wishes and hopes♪

So when Herb signed
the Carpenters,

he wasn't signing
the next anything.

♪ Sail when the wind
Starts to blow♪

♪ But like a fool,
I don't know♪

♪ When to♪

♪ Leave♪

The one thing you noticed
was that Karen

was the band's drummer.

If you'd ask Karen, I said,
"What's your strength?

What are you really, really,
really, really good at?"

She'd say,
"I'm really a good drummer."

I mean, this girl
with this magical voice

thought she was
a drummer, you know.

If you play drums,
you're doing four things

simultaneously anyway.

Then you add
a vocal into that,

and she was all of 19,
and she could do all of this.

The Carpenters, "Close to You,"
take one.

I call Hal David,
and I asked him a question.

I said, "Man, is there
a song you find yourself

whistling in the shower?"

Well, three days later,
he sent me "Close To You."

♪ Why do birds suddenly appear♪

And, you know, luck be have it,
I gave it to The Carpenters,

and, bang,
that was the song.

♪ And just like me♪

[Carpenter] I remember saying,
"To me, this is either gonna go

to number one, or it's never
going to see the light of day."

♪ On the day that you were born,
The angels got together♪

♪ And decided to create
A dream come true♪

It debuted at 56,
then went to 37, 14, then 7,

then 3, then 1,
and it stayed there for a month.

♪ That is why
All the girls in town♪

♪ Follow you♪

♪ All around♪

♪ Just like me♪

♪ They long to be♪

♪ Close to you♪

Once "Close To You" clicked,
one person wrote,

"The Carpenters didn't just hit,
they exploded."

We were headliners
within a year and a half.

Richard Carpenter
was very instrumental

in the success
of The Carpenters.

He understood a good song.

He knew how to get
the best out of Karen.

He was very good at creating,
you know,

these vocal backgrounds
that he wrote.

So it was the combination
of the two.

It was The Carpenters.

♪ We go on hurting each other♪

♪ We go on
Hurting each other♪

♪ Making each other cry
Hurting each other♪

It's just an easy listening
sound that appeals to all ages,

not necessarily everybody,
but to all ages.

♪ Can't we stop
Hurting each other?♪

♪ Gotta stop
Hurting each other♪

♪ Making each other cry♪

[applause]

How about this?
Fourteen gold records,

20 million sales,
and they keep singing

"We've Only Just Begun."

[laughter]

Once the records hit,
Richard and Karen

became everybody's
favorite musical act.

♪ We've only just begun♪

♪ To live♪

♪ White lace and promises♪

♪ A kiss for luck,
And we're on our way♪

♪ We've only begun♪

♪ Before the rising sun♪

♪ We fly♪

♪ So many roads to choose♪

♪ We'll start out walkin'
And learn to run♪

Lou Adler--
dear friend of mine--

we started together in the
business in 1956, I think.

Lou, at the time,
wrote poetry.

I put some music
to his poetry,

and we went
into Specialty Records.

This was like 1957,
I think.

Sonny Bono
was the A&R man.

And Sonny listened
to our material and says,

he says, "I'm serious,

I think you guys ought
to get out of the business.

I mean, you guys
don't have it."

-[laughs]
-That was encouraging.

Everybody admired Lou,
and it was time for him

to take his label
Ode Records somewhere.

And we made
a distribution deal.

I couldn't deal
with the corporate system.

I was much more
independent feeling.

That's why the A&M fit
was so good.

Lou brought us Mary Clayton,
Peggy Lipton, and Carole King.

The Tapestryalbum was recorded
in Studio B at A&M.

Lou did
a very clever thing.

He recorded Carole King
like it was a demo.

He didn't overproduce it.

It was very simple,
just relying on great songs.

♪ Tonight, you're mine
Completely♪

She'd come to
the office at A&M,

and we'd go over the songs.

She'd play them on piano.

♪ So sweetly♪

Lou Adler, when I was
making Tapestry,

had the ability to just quietly
make a suggestion,

"Why don't you layer
your voice?"

And with each new layer,
I heard new parts.

♪ But will you love me
Tomorrow?♪

♪ Is this a lasting♪

The drift and the buzz
and everything

came from the A&M lot.

The buzz was this
is a special record.

♪ Tonight with words unspoken♪

Tapestryhappens,
and the next thing you know,

she's the biggest artist
in the world.

Literally sells millions and
millions and millions of albums.

♪ Only one♪

You know, my time at A&M

was like chapter headings
in a great book.

You know, you get to the end
of one chapter,

and there's a great story
that ends that chapter,

and Tapestrywas one
of those great stories.

There was always a chapter
to read, to experience at A&M.

We were able to start the '70s
with three major artists--

The Carpenters, Cat Stevens,
and Carole King.

And we were feeling pretty good
as a label.

We were feeling
real good.

As a matter of fact,
people offered us a lot of money

to sell the label
and do all that thing.

But we enjoyed doing
what we were doing and...

and making these records.

This was fun.
This was really great fun.

We were at the right place
at the right time,

and we walked right
through the door,

and it was--
it was pretty beautiful.

♪♪

♪ Peace Train sounding louder♪

♪ Glide on the Peace Train♪

♪ Ooh, ah, ee, ah, ooh♪

♪ Come on now, Peace Train♪

♪ Yes, Peace Train holy roller♪

♪ Everyone jump up on
The Peace Train♪

♪ Ooh, ah, ee, ah, ooh♪

♪ Come on now, Peace Train♪

♪ Get your bags together♪

♪ Go bring your
Good friends, too♪

♪ 'Cause it's getting nearer♪

♪ It soon will be with you♪

♪ Now come and join the living♪

♪ It's not so far from you♪

♪ And it's getting nearer♪

♪ Soon it will all be true♪

♪ Oh, Peace Train
Sounding louder♪

♪ Glide on the Peace Train♪

♪ Ooh, ah, ee, ah, ooh♪

♪ Come on now, Peace Train♪

♪ Peace Train♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh♪

♪ Now I've been crying lately♪

♪ Thinkin' about
The world as it is♪

♪ Why must we go on hating?♪

♪ Why can't we live in bliss?♪

♪ 'Cause out on
The edge of darkness♪

♪ There rides a Peace Train♪

♪ Oh, Peace Train
Take this country♪

♪ Come take me home again♪

♪ Oh, Peace Train
Sounding louder♪

♪ Glide on the Peace Train♪

♪ Ooh, ah, ee, ah, ooh♪

♪ Come on now, Peace Train♪

♪ Yes, Peace Train holy roller♪

♪ Everyone jump up on
The Peace Train♪

♪ Ooh, ah, ee, ah, ooh♪

♪ Come on, come on, come on♪