George Michael Forum

Chris: (прим.скриптера: начала не было изначально

)… worldwide, topped the charts from Austria to Australia and packed out stadiums across the globe, and now he is back, back, back, truly back with a brand-new single and a superb video to go with it. Now, George dropped in yesterday for a world-exclusive chat with us about what happened last year when he nearly died due to a bout of pneumonia. I began by asking him, was this really nearly the case?

George: It was really nearly the case, I was thinking ab… about, I was thinking about getting a T-shirt which said ‘I nearly died’, you know, but erm, no, that was really the case, I don’t… I’m in a way not really ready to talk about it, even though I’ve got…I have to talk about it (?) about... really, I’m kind of, you know, I’m gonna try not to draw on about how awful everything was, and just concentrate on the f… on the mm, th-the celebration of the fact th… that it didn’t kill me, you know.

Chris: What was it? What happened exactly?

George: Well, th… the really sad thing about it is I nee… I didn’t need to get that err, close. I, I mean I don’t know if you remember, but when I came to London last year, for the Albert Hall shows, I erm, I cancelled a night, and… due to what I thought was, you know, th-th-the kind of bug that was going around the tour, and… I did one performance in real pain, I had back pain, I had head pain, I couldn’t understand what was going on. And erm, it didn’t really occur to me it was anything to do with my lungs, my, my temperature shot up and my p… heart rate shot up, but, but the… all of those things stopped after that day, and I was told ‘You go and get yourself properly checked out, you know, just ‘cause, you know, your age and what you’re doing and everything’. And I knew I was a bit run down because of th-the very, very heavy schedule, it was five nights a week I was playing, erm, you know, and it’s not the same at forty-eight, as, as it is when you’re twenty-four, it is not the same, I felt fine and I cancelled that show, but didn’t go and get myself properly checked out, which I should have done and so I mean I just took it for granted that I just fought off flu or something, err, so I, I didn’t get it checked out and I (?) play it for another three weeks around Europe, and then one afternoon, erm, I was having lunch, I had a show planned for that evening, having lunch and suddenly felt really odd and just said to one of (?) ‘I just need to go and lay down for half an hour on my own before we go off on the next um, thing and that’s the last thing I remember for the next five weeks.

Chris: No way!

George: Yeah. Yeah, it was just, it was three weeks of them trying to save my life and then two weeks, err, awake, in which I, er, I mean I literally, I had to l… learn to walk again and, and err, weird stuff, because when they keep you stated for that long, erm, your m… your muscles literally atrophy at an incredible rate, erm, and I, I just woke up like this kinda feeble old man, and, and I suppose all I really can say about it is it was a horrible experience and I won’t go into all that nasty details of how to get rid of pneumonia, but it’s pretty gruesome and erm, it’s a horrible experience. Why, I just… I feel blessed that I wasn’t one of the people watching it rather than going through it, you know.

Chris: It was strange because it happened in Vienna, I suppose. You know, after… after all the stories that the press have sensationalised about you in the past (George: Yeah), some (?) non-existent (George: Yes, of course, yes), this one was actually down-played almost, unintentionally, but we had no idea it was as serious as it was (George: Yeah)!

George: Well, it was down-played because I didn’t want to worry all my err, well, my, the, I didn’t know what was going on, but my, my publicist and my managers and er, my people in general decided to play it down because err, I think we wanted, we didn’t want press clammering around at the hospital, and it was a bit… they were anyway, but if they’d known how bad things were, if th… you know, it would have been, you know, death-watch kinda thing, you know, so I didn’t, we didn’t want that to happen, erm, err, so no, it wasn’t until I came out and, and, and told people that they had any clue, but it was three weeks touch-and-go.

Chris: How close were you?

George: Err, on several occasions very close. Very close indeed. So, I mean and, and I think, and I think maybe the reason I, I find it still a little bit upsetting to talk about it is because it was so random. Erm, when something is random as that happens, you know, you catch a bug, this, like (?) streptococcus or something like that, but erm, when something like that happens, it’s… in such a random fashion, I don’t… I think it takes a while to feel that l… life is safe again, really, you know.

Chris: You probably never will.

George: I’ve lived with a lot of anxiety since, you know, and thank God for my work, because it’s… I… you know, I was told to really lay off work this year, but I could… just couldn’t do it, I don’t know what to do with myself, and I was partinc… particularly anxious, erm, so I needed to throw myself into music, and thank God that I did it, thank God that I did it, you know, I mean I love, I mean, you know, it’s of course I, I, I don’t put up very much with that I don’t love, but I love what I (?), I love that something so disturbing can be turned into something that has people dancing all over the summer, I hope. Do you know what I mean?

Chris: Shall we play it?

George: Yes, why don’t we play it, yes.

‘White Light’ playing.

Chris: That’s the brand-new single from George Michael, ‘White Light’. So those lyrics totally autobiographical?

George: Oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. You know, er, there’s a line in it that says ‘Th… Change that channel, That could’ve been me’, I said’, right, which is actually referring to being in a hotel room with Fadi about six weeks after I’d come out of hospital and watching the footage of Whitney Houston being wheeled into that… you know, into the ambulance well obviously with her head covered, and, and I was just, and I w… and Fadi was watching and I said, ‘Change it!’, I said, ‘Change the channel, change the channel!’, and he goes ‘Why, why?’ and I said, ‘Why d’you think?’. Do you know what I mean? It er, would have been pretty freaky, I think, if, if Whitney and I had died within six weeks of er, each other, you know, considering I, I, we both became very very big about the same time, we worked together, and it’s like I just dodged the bullet, I dodged the bullet, something like that.

Chris: Well, you feel like that (?).

George: It does feel like that, yeah, it does. And I was referring to that in the song, but I wanted to make sure that I was referring to that in the sense that I, I’m… absolutely appreciate how lucky I am to be alive, you know.

Chris: So the recovery period, you know, it’s involuntary erm, periods and days and weeks of reflection, isn’t it, so what did you think about?

George: Erm… What did I think about… Well, I’ve… I would love to say that th-th-the being glad to be alive, you know, that feeling, I’d love to say that lasts for months and months, but it doesn’t, it doesn’t. You soon taking… take for granted th… that you’re alive again, erm (coughs), so like I said, err, period of very very strong anxiety and medication and stuff and then luckily work which kinda dragged me out of my er, malaise as it were, and, and when I wrote ‘White Light’ I realised I had the energy to finish an album this summer, you know. Err, which I wasn’t planning on doing, I was planning on putting out a Symphonica album this year, because I’m playing the shows obviously this year to make up for the shows I lost, I lost last year, erm, and I felt so bad for all those people who err, were looking forward to seeing me and then you know, th… er, which is taken away, so (?) doing that and I was, I was planning on, I’ve already mixed most of that album, and I was planning on releasing that. And, then I wrote ‘White Light’ completely unexpectedly at the beginning of April. Muse, thank… thank… bless their hearts, all right, because they gave us this couple of weeks they w... they, they wanted in the studio that I always use, and er, I was just desperate to, to write, they, they said yes, they said yes, that they would go somewhere else and, and you know, bless their hearts, thank God for that, because in that couple of weeks I wrote ‘White Light’, that very easily came to me, very very quickly. And erm, I thought, well, I realised how many songs that I still had hanging around actually from… I think, I think I told you when I saw you last year that when I came out of prison (прим.скриптера: характер этого интервью таков, что, конечно же, за сердце весьма трогает, мягко скажем. Но вот на этой фразе меня пробило на такой ржач!

«Когда я вышел из тюрьмы…» Так и представила, как ненаглядный «Владимирский централ» сочиняет!

) I was writing like a demon, and those songs were still sitting there, and I realised that if I really put my back into it for the whole summer that I could get an album out for the autumn, and give everybody a brand new George Michael record a year earlier, at least a year earlier than I was expecting to, and err, and I’d… and I had been working (?) since, I mean yesterday was the first Sunday I’ve had off in, in weeks and weeks, you know, I’d been working seven days a week because it has to be done by a certain date in order to meet all the, the schedules, you know, I have a new, erm, record label, and er, and it is gotta be great, you know it’s gotta be great, and so far I’m thrilled with it, so far it’s, it’s the most direct, I think it’s the most directly commercial record I’ve made since ‘Faith’, which is not to say I, I, I think this is necessarily my best, I think ‘Older’ I will probably always consider my best, err, even if, you know, I’m more famous for the songs from ‘Faith’. But this is more, you know, the… my, the, the songs I’ve written for, for the last twenty, twenty (?) years, I’ve kinda not been, they’ve n… they’ve not kinda slapped you around in the face with the hooks the way th… they did, they’ve kinda tapped you on the shoulder and said, ‘W… Would you listen to me a few times and then you’ll be hooked’, you know. And er, this time around they kind of s… they are kinda slapping you around in the face, as in ‘I dare you not to play this or like this’.

Chris: So are you nervous about the album coming out?

George: Erm, yeah, I mean I’m always, always terrified the people aren’t gonna think this is as good as I do. Erm… but I think if I, if I wasn’t err, if I didn’t have that approach it’ll be time to give in, time to give up.

Chris: What to play, ‘Praying For Time’ next or ‘A Different Corner’? You choose.

George: ‘Praying For Time’. Any day.

‘Praying For Time’ playing.

Chris: George Michael ‘Praying For Time’, more to come from George Michael in the next fifteen minutes. He’s gonna talk ‘bout the Olympics, will he be there. (Lynn: Ooh!) Performing or competing or just watching?

Lynn: You’re such a tease!

Chris: I know it, I know. Also, his opinion on (?) Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney in Hyde Park on Saturday night, that’s on the way. (?) whether he believes in God or no (?). And a chat about this video, now this video for his new single ‘White Light’, for me it’s heralding the return of the really lavish, you know, huge production, a pop-music video, it is absolutely fantastic and at eight forty-five this morning, if you log on to our website bbc.co.uk/radio2, there is a link on our page there to this video, you can watch the whole video, it is unbelievable, it’s brilliant, it’s got a real, proper movie twist to it as well (Lynn: (?) yeah), and it stars Kate Moss, it stars Kate Moss, George himself and a zebra. So see how those three get together at eight forty-five AM this morning at bbc.co.uk/radio2, our page, there’s a link to the video there, also there’s a link to the video on our Facebook page, and there George talks about Kate (?) and whether or not he paid her. We’re still paying you, Lynn?

Lynn: Now, don’t be ridiculous. Manchester delays on the M61 south from Junction 4, far and west Junction 1 on the M60, the Swinton interchange; M60 also pretty busy anticlockwise, this is right over the top of Manchester, Junction 20, (?) down to Junction 12, the (?) interchange with the M62, the breakdown in Stock-on-Trent (?)

‘Freedom’ playing.

Chris: (прим.скриптера: И тут Криса понесло

Прощенья просим, но многое я никак не разберу, хотя в общем и целом, картина ясна

): Twenty-two years ago, that song, twenty-two years ago! Where’s that all gone, all that time? What a (?)! Great to hear George (?) a great star and a legend (?), be without George Michael, he’s the centre (?) in many people’s lives (?) totally (?). George, keep getting better, you’re a fab, fab bloke, George, you’re very inspirational (?), very (?) at the moment. Er, George giving us some strength to carry on (?). Well (?) I suggest we have some more, shall we? (?) on this Tuesday morning. Yesterday George Michael popped in for a chat, here’s more of him beginning with the inside scoop on his amazing new video which you can watch on our website exactly five minutes from now, bbc.co.uk/radio2. There’s also a link to it from our Facebook page (прим.скриптера: А я вам повторяю, что «Правды» нет – всех коммунистов разогнали! – А вы повторяйте, повторяйте!...

). Can we talk about the return of the George Michael all-singing, all-dancing video because we’ve seen the video for the song (George: Oh yeah), and you can watch it online, everybody in the world can watch it online at the moment, but this, this is no low-rent production, is it?

George: No, no, no. I mean, you know, the funny thing is, b… th-th-the record industry is in such a state because people (?) their music now, that the actual price of the video, the actual cost of the video (?) make (?) the average new signing. (?) the same as they were when Andrew and I signed. The average pop video now is somewhere in between eight and ten grant (прим.скриптера: grant на американском сленге означает «штука», то бишь, тысяча). And we made the ‘Young Guns’ for a grant. And I remember Andrew and I, even in those days we were so ignorant of th-the cost of everything, but I remember Andrew and I walking down Oxford Street when we were still not famous, so we could still b… just walk down Oxford Street and saying, ‘We’ve been ripped off! Where’s a grant?’ But so you know, apparently no, this was not, this was not a cheap video.

Chris: It’s like a movie, it’s even got a twist in it, hasn’t it (?)

George: Yeah, it’s g… I think it’s er… I mean, the, the, the director is an amazing guy called Ryan Hope and (?) and, and really wonderful director and a wonderful person as well, I think he’s, he’s, he’s intent from the m… from the moment we started, it was (?) I wanna make it like a mini-movie, you know. The idea really is that (?) between the darkness and what happened to other people, erm, it’s what happened to those other singers, and then the joy in the chorus is err, I’m on my kinda fan… on a fantasy beach surrounded by lo… loads of gorgeous men and women, of course, but then (?) Kate comes to my rescue.

Chris: I should talk about your leading lady, you have two leading ladies in the video (George: Mm-hm), you have a beautiful zebra (George: Yes) and a beautiful woman called Kate Moss (прим.скриптера: «Женщина, будь человеком, подержи верблюдицу!»

Простите

).

George: Well, I never… I d… I didn’t look at the zebra closely enough to see if it was a female, I’ve got to be honest, but it was a beautiful zebra. And Kate Moss is just lov…she looks absolutely stunning, she does a gorgeous job, and f… she flips a coin for me at the end, and luckily, it’s heads.

Chris: So when you want Kate Moss to be in your video, do you call her?

George: Err, yeah, yeah, I called her, yeah. I… I (?) she only lives two doors out, I could’ve just gone up the road (прим.скриптера: вот это то, что называется «спалил»

), but no, we know, we know each other quite well and, and err, she’s, she’s great, she’s a great girl.

Chris: So does she do that as a favour, is that a freebie or di… does she charge you (George: You know, I haven’t asked), does she invoice you for that?

George: You know, I haven’t asked.

Chris: What do you think?

George: I don’t know, that’s not a very p… polite question to ask.

Chris: I, I’m just intrigued, what (?) charges (George: Yeah, I’m quite intrigued) you can pay for your video.

George: I’m quite intrigued by… I don’t know, I haven’t asked her.

Chris: Er, will you be going to the Olympics, George?

George: I shall be going to the Olympics, I’m doing the 400-yard dash (Chris: (?) metres), yeah (?) of metres, yeah, that’s a lot, you see, when I could still do 400-metres as a… a dash, that was two yards, you see.

Chris: But this talk of an opening ceremony and of a closing ceremony, may you have a microphone in your hand at some point (George: Yes) during the Olympics?

George: I-I think, I think I’m, it’s yet to be decided for sure, but I… that’s the plan, yes, it’s that I’m gonna be playing a couple of songs to kind of kick off the err… concert, the, the kind of concert at the end.

Chris: Shall we play a couple of (?) true or falses about you? Cause we’ve always liked to do this (?) every year.

George: (?) true or false, yeah.

Chris: Yeah. True or false. Erm, when you played at Wembley Stadium, you overran and had to pay a hundred and thirty thousand pound fine?

George: True.

Chris: What is your opinion of what happened to Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney on Saturday night in Hyde Park (?)?

George: Oh, that’s so funny, thank God, my sister told me about this yesterday on the phone, otherwise I wouldn’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve gotta check it on Youtube, actually. It’s so English, isn’t it? You got Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen on stage in Hyde Park and they switch, they switch the electricity off, cause it’s ten thirty. It’s not even like it was midnight, I think, it’s ten thirty, and I, I just, I think I mean I hope they saw the comedy in it but I doubt it, really, and I’m sure the crowd didn’t see the comedy in it.

Chris: They turned the music off, the microphones off (George: Yeah), they had a firework (?).

George: No way!

Chris: They did!

George: They just let off fireworks (Chris: Yeah!)? That’s gonna wake the neighbours up, surely.

Chris: (?) a question. During our chat today you said ‘Thank God’ a lot and you said you feel blessed (George: Mm-hm). Do you believe in God?

George: Erm, I would like to believe in a higher power, I don’t believe in anything er, any form of organised religion, I think it’s abused terribly, I think it, it comforts many and it ruins the lives of many others, you know. And the fact that I (?) I did the pn… the pneumonia kind of struck me when I was just literally down the road (?) the best I see (?), so I mean my God, that er, that’s why I say things that I’m blessed, and I’ve made lots of references to God and stuff er, in my, in my lyrics, but I’m only really talking about God that I hope is there, you know, not the one everybody else talks about. Who knows, who knows? I’d love to believe (?) that somehow there’s an afterlife because I’ve lost people, you know.

Chris: OK, well, (?) for the afterlife, let’s get on with this life (George: Mm-hm). Shall we play your new single again?

George: Again?

Chris: What the heck?

George: What the heck, play again!

Chris: Come on! George, thanks so much.

George: All right, thank you very much, Chris.

Chris: Three cheers for George! Hip-hip! Hip-hip! Hip-hip!

Умница наш ненаглядный! И Крису просто

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