George Michael Forum

Jo: Hi, it’s lovely to see you, George Michael! (прим.скриптера – Здравствуй, Джордж Майкл!

)

George: Thank you, lovely to see you!

Jo: You’re looking very well, can I say?

George: Thank you.

Jo: And very trim (George: Thank you), and you, erm, (George: Thank you) cleaned out all the cobwebs, and you’re just (George: Thank you), you know, ready for, um, a new beginning.

George: Err, I hope so, I really hope so, I mean I think, you know, you… I don’t expect miracles at this stage in my career, it’s coming up on thirty years, and th… next year it’s thirty years, but I’m definitely inspired in a way that I haven’t been for a very long time. There are a lot of new songs that have been written, actually, most of them, erm, since, err, my release, which just… never happens, this speed of writing just doesn’t happen to me, because th… normally, you know, the bars have actually, (???) somebody let…letting you out of, of, you know, however brief four weeks is, it’s still for four weeks of incarceration (прим.скриптера – это слово значит «тюремное заключение»), and for some reason, erm, that absolutely inspired me when I came out, and err, and I wrote for, err, literally for about two to three weeks, I couldn’t sleep for writing, I was just writing and writing and recording, cause you can do the stuff at home now!

Jo: Yeah.

George: Which is unbelievable!

Jo: You’ve done some legendary duets in your time, is there anyone now you’re thinking of working with?

George: Well, there’s still somebody that I’m about to approach, but I’m gonna do it privately. I don’t wanna put on… the public pressure on, you know.

Jo: Er, male or female?

George: Female, female, and there’s a male also, that, erm, that I wanna sing with as well. I haven’t written it yet, but I’d love to write the, the world’s first hit – duet between two gay men. That would be pretty…erm, remarkable.

Jo: I mean, personally I would love to see a duet with you and Adele (прим.скриптера – Адель Адкинс, молодая британская певица, получила награду BRIT Awards Critics’ Choice и была названа открытием года 2008). I think (George: Uh-huh) that would be lovely (George: Uh-huh). Err..

George: She’s the one for, I love Adele, I think that her work is great, and I can’t, you know, her success at the moment is phenomenal, isn’t it, and fantastic, and I, and I really want someone to play me… th… I, I suppose (???) Youtube, the performance from the Brits, cause people said it was absolutely (???).

Jo: It was, it was jaw-dropping, it (???) really was (George: Er, really fantastic). And also I think, um, Bruno Mars on the, on the other side of the pond (прим.скриптера – идиома означает «по ту сторону Атлантики», то есть, из Америки), I think you’d (???) very well together, on a sort of dancey, clubby track (George: Uh-huh). Do you feel like (???)?

George: Erm, I think he’s talented, I don’t know enough of his stuff to actually comment, so, I, I couldn’t say anything about that, to be honest. But I saw a few things of his while I was on the inside, and I saw, you know, because you’re (???) there was one video channel and four regular channels, that’s what you had, so I saw a lot of modern music while I was, erm, otherways, erm, occupied.

Jo: Otherways engaged (George: Yes). And did you make any friends, do you think you’ll keep in touch with anyone that you met inside? (прим.скриптера – при всём уважении к Джо, это абсолютно идиотский вопрос).

George: Well, the thing is it’s not very… it’s not a very good idea for them, actually, erm…I think (???) anything else, but I’ve made, errr, I would say I’ve made some friends during the time I was in, and people were really nice to me. I had (???) great conversations with great people that you know, I thought actually… many of whom had less reasons to be there than me. I thought you know. But, erm, but no, I me… met great people, I, I think it’s probably da… more dangerous for them to (???) to keep (???) with them really, the various lives that they lead, so erm, err… it’s probably that’s…that, that isn’t really high on my list of things to do.

Jo: No, (???) to make friends. Finally, er, of the X-factor. Errr, we’ve been hearing all sorts of rumours that Simon says that you’re on the short list, or at least that’s what the tabloids say, anyway, so we probably shouldn’t believe that, but, th… th… you know, Simon Cowell is talking to you about the X-factor. I’m thinking maybe even the UK X-factor, there’s a big focus on the American X-factor, but I’m thinking you’d be right for the UK.

George: N… err, I don’t know any more about this than, than anybody here (???) about this today does. It keeps coming up and I always think it’s just part of the, you know, it’s just a kind of the reoccurring part of the whole, erm, X-factor publicity machine, so I don’t take it particularly seriously really… I’m sure if, erm, S… err, I’m sure if, err, Simon wanted me to do that, he would call me (???), you know. Erm, I know nothing about it, and I don’t read the, the n… I don’t know when it resurfaces because I don’t read the papers, you know.

Jo: Not surprising, really.

George: It’s not surprising, you know (Jo: Because I (???) that), (???) not do when you’re George Michael.

Jo: All of this rubbish stuff gets written. But you did… y… er, erm, very recently during a TV show you denied a story (George: Yeah) about yourself and Kenny.

George: It was actually a bit of… a bit of an experiment, because I just started on Twitter on Friday, and which is… which I find terrifying, actually, erm, because it’s so powerful that I, I was… I, I’ve just checked out, just seen on the Internet that I h… h… that supposedly Kenny had walked down on me, which wasn’t true, and erm, and and I j… literally, I just put it into Twitter, I said, oh, could someone please tell Matthew (???) that he’s a… that Sun’s lying through its teeth, as usual, and two minutes later he was talking about it on the television, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’. The power of this thing, you know, it’s just, just on your mobile phone, erm, and so I just decided to call out and say th… and, and, and tell the truth, which was really, it was, it was a sad attempt by, by, erm, by the usual erm, the usual culprits to overshadow any genuine apology I wanted to make to people (Jo: Mm-hm), you know, and erm, and it partially, erm, succeeded, you know, it partially succeeded. So… It’s very, it’s a… erm, it’s…I’ll get it again and again from the same news group, and probably it’s over the day I die. So erm, I’m, I’m used to, and, and I have come to the conclusion that, you know, you know, they do their worst and, and ultimately I’ve got, erm, different things on my side (Jo: Yeah, definitely), do you know what I mean, I think I’ve got a different part of people’s consciousness on my side, which is that they love music, and, and I’m, I’m a… err… a decent person (Jo: Yeah). Do you know what I mean, so I’ve… th…th… ultimately I just have to take in the old fashion, to use the old fashion, do you know, it’s when they are not writing about you that you have to worry (Jo: Yeah), you know, that’s the only way to look at this, there’s, there’s no other way, otherwise it’d drive you crazy, wouldn’t it, you know (Jo: I mean, do…), constant lies, the, the constant lies, but actually in a strange way helping my career.

Jo: Yeah, exactly. And now there’s something, you know, Twitter, erm… it’s obviously that suddenly you’ve got a really really big f… I know that you, you like to have control over, you know, what (?) it goes out (???) things (???) at that, this is the perfect way of doing it.

George: Well, is it or isn’t it, because ultimately I don’t really like to be drawn into it (Jo: Mm-hm). Because I don’t, I don’t like to be drawn into the energy of th…of this kinda headlines, it’s kind… it’s necessary at the moment, I’m doing my bit for Comic Relief, you know, it’s really necessary and I really, really want people to buy it for Comic Relief rather than steal the music the way (???) I really would like to do that, do something that… err, would be… err, a proper contribution, so, erm, I’m doing my bit but actually, er, I don’t want to be drawn into the energy of the kind of conversations that I would find myself having if I constantly, you know, go on, I mean maybe I’ll go on there occasionally to (???) point out something that’s a lie, but then people assume the things that you don’t bother with aren’t, do you know what I mean? And the truth is (???) actually the vast majority of things that I read when I do pick up a paper, erm, erm, about myself are, the vast majority even with all the, the scrubs I’ve made, the vast majority are still…erm… f… y… false, so erm, I don’t wanna go on, I don’t wanna be drawn into that conversation, I’ve, I’ve shut those people out of my life in certain ways by not reading the newspapers (Jo: Yeah) or watching the news… err, f… for several years. And… it works for me, so… as a man who doesn’t even own an answer-phone I’m really being on Twitter, it’s (Jo: I know), you know…

Jo: It’s just one of those things that now everyone is talking about the fact that you’re on Twitter. Until you’re just gonna be, if I invite you tomorrow you’ll probably have 2 million followers.

George: I don’t think so, I think… I don’t think so, I think (прим.скриптера– тут помню, тут не помню

Скриптер долго ржалЬ

) they will be too busy wa… watching Charlie Sheen, won’t they, you know, I think it’s (???), it’s Charlie Sheen or Oprah, or, erm, for the more politically minded, err, Colonel Gaddafi, but I think, I think I c… I come way down on that list (???)

Jo: I don’t know, you’ll be surprised, we’ll see.

George: We’ll see, I suppose, yeah.

Jo: George Michael, thank you very much (прим.скриптера – Спасибо тебе, Джордж Майкл!

)

George: Thank you so much.