Friends of Michael

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannan Foundation.

Michael Silverblatt (0:37)

From KCRW and kcrw.com, I'm Michael Silverblatt and this is Bookworm. You've just heard something brand new, Bookworm's new theme music written and performed by the fantastic brilliant thrilling rock band Sparks.

I have Sparks here with me today. I'm so excited to be talking with the legendary rockers from Sparks, brothers Ron and Russell Mael. Now, I'm so completely thrilled. This is the dream of a lifetime. For me, if George Gershwin had written the theme song for Bookworm, it couldn't be better than Sparks.

It came as the result of a request and the result is a dream come true. Tell me, how did you write the song?

Ron Mael (1:26)

Well, to be honest, Michael, it's a dream come true for us as well partly just because of our respect for your show and for you personally. So to do something so personalized was something really special for us.

Then we've been working in the song territory for like 250 songs now and so of late, we've been working in longer and longer and longer ways to break out of that cycle. So when we were approached to do a theme song for your show, it was kind of running counter to our whole mindset of late to do something that only lasted 30 seconds and kind of had to say everything. So it was both an exciting and a daunting kind of assignment and we're really pleased that it was accepted. We're working as a band, we kind of pride ourselves on kind of a certain amount of illegitimacy and so to kind of have a theme song on a book show like this gives us legitimacy that we can't achieve in any other kind of way.

Michael Silverblatt (2:38)

I wanted to remind myself not to be too serious, but I know of no better way to remind myself not to be serious than with a Sparks song.

Ron Mael (2:48)

Is that a compliment or an insult?

Michael Silverblatt (2:50)

That's a supreme compliment for me because all I have to do is hear a Sparks song and I start to smile and it makes me feel like, oh, talk like a human being.

Don't go over people's heads. Be one of us. And when I first heard the song, which sounds to me like an orchestra and chorus assembled together to play a song for the circus, I thought, my God, now how do you make such a big sound? I mean, in all reality, that's just Russell and the machine.

Russell Mael (3:28)

As of the last, I don't know, six or seven albums, we record everything. We have a studio in my house and we do everything there. And it's very streamlined and modern and compact, but it can be powerful when it needs to be.

Michael Silverblatt (3:50)

Now, how many tracks are laid over one another for that?

Russell Mael (3:54)

Well, for the vocals, we tend to stack up lots and lots and lots and lots of me. So, I don't know, there's probably...

Ron Mael (4:02)

It's a big circus.

Russell Mael (4:03)

Yeah, to get a big circus, you need a lot of me. So, I don't know, it's maybe close to 50 of just the vocals on that track. On this one, though, actually, Ron is chiming in on the gang sort of singing and where would they be?

It's Ron and I done about 50 times.

Michael Silverblatt (4:25)

I am so happy. I want to take this moment to confer upon you the Bookworm sword of gratitude.

Ron Mael (4:36)

We'll kneel.

Russell Mael (4:38)

We are kneeling now.

Ron Mael (4:39)

We kiss the ring.

Michael Silverblatt (4:41)

I am dubbing them with the literature's sword of gratitude. You may rise, brothers.

Alan Howard (4:51)

From KCRW and kcrw.com, I'm Alan Howard. Welcome to a special series, A Bookworm Retrospective, a celebration of the 33 years of Bookworm on KCRW with producer-host Michael Silverblatt. Michael is on hiatus because of health reasons.

The excerpt you just heard was from September 2010, when Michael revealed the show's new theme music composed and performed by Sparks, the brothers Ron and Russell Mael, who had joined Michael's circle of friends. This is the last of 10 shows to journey through the 33 years of Bookworm and offer a retrospective look at Michael's accomplishments on behalf of writers and readers.

Michael frequently begins his conversations by stating that he's honored to talk with today's guest. I can testify that he means it. For decades, I have watched his guests transform because of the honor he bestows on them. He has read almost all of a writer's work, not just the book which has been most recently published. I've watched them glow as they realize that they've been seriously witnessed by Michael Silverblatt, the Bookworm. All the writers on today's show have become friends of Michael's and friends of Bookworm.