U2 Interviews

Letterman Interview © Letterman show 6/10/97 Dave introduces them by saying,"Our next guests of course, one half of U2, this is their new cd simply entitled POP, and currently touring the country, we are delighted that they have stopped by for a visit, ladies and gentlmen, Larry Mullen, and Bono! Boys!!"

Larry walks out first, Bono trailing behind him, both very cool, Bono waving to the band and the fans, they get to Letterman's seats and Larry shakes his hand first then Bono, and they wave to the audience. Meanwhile Paul Schaffer and the Late Night Band are playing PRIDE, in the name of love.

Bono hands Dave A cigar, Dave accepts it, smells it and thanks Bono, saying,"God Bless You. Well I'll get to that A little bit later. Thank you very much." Bono says," Fidel Castro gave me that." Dave goes, "Awoahh." in a slightly wierd tone! Dave starts with "Thank you for being here, how are things going? Alright??" Bono looks at Larry saying,"ther're great! Coudn't be better actually!"

Dave asks then, "Are you enjoying touring with the show?" Bono says,"Yeah, it's a great show, were out there with a forty foot lemon." Dave,"Why is there a forty foot lemon??" Bono,"Well, it could have been an artichoke, but uhhh," Laughter from audience, Bono,"We were looking for a practical fruit!"

Dave,"Well, there you have something then, don't you?" {It seemed to me Dave was slightly intimidated by thierpresence!!!}

Bono,"Well it is a cool thing, {Bono looks at Larry and asks}are you happy with the lemon?" Larry, "Yeah I'm happy with the lemon, there, there is somthing funny bout four paddys walkin out from A forty foot lemon."

Dave,"So,who's idea was the lemon?" Bono,"{sniffs}Ahh, I think the lemon was last seen in a vodka tonic, I dunno, when your in a band you get these big ideas, and fortunatly people build them." Dave {luaghingly},"is it a little spinal tapion??" Bono," I hope so, somebodys gotta have the -bleep- balls to stare that down! {gives the audience thumbs up}, yeah!!" everyone applauds and cheers.

Bono,"Ya know, it's like, ya know,rock-n-roll has kind of gotten very miserable, very dull, especially like white rock n stuff, and we wanna be the brightest, sort of boldest badest band in theland." Aundience cheers as Dave starts,"You know, do yourself a favor, next time your performing, next time your recording, add a couple of these--AAyy OHH." { Joke from earlier in the show.} Bono does a OO-OEWW, while dave is still ayying and Ohhing. Bono brings up someone in the crowd from earlier, who Dave was kind of rude to, in my opinion, these audience members cheered, like his audience members usually do, when he mentiond their hometown.

Bono,"There was somebody in the crowd doin that earlier." he points to the audience. Dave,"Yeah..." Bono,"Something bout a road map I believe." Dave just Ah Ha Ha's his way out of the subject....

Bono,"Isabella Rosilinni," Dave, Ah, she's lovely!" Bono,"You know she told me that she was gunna be my guardian angel." Dave,"OH that's nice! That's very nice." Larry,"Yeah, but she really likes drummers."

Dave to Larry,"So, you actually started the band, this was your band and you wanted to fire Bono, is that right?" Larry,"I did, it was funny, cuz ahhh, in Dublin nineteen-seventy-six there wasn't a whole lot to do, you know, sort of join a band or play football, so we started a band. I did try to fire him, cuz in nineteen-seventy-six, he wanted to take a lemon to America then!" {Laughter}

"But as you can see, he came back crawlen on his hands and knee's and here we are." Dave, "But, but, seriously, how far into this did you think that he wasn't gonna be right for the group? I mean, was that true? Is that serious?"

Larry,"It wasn't 'That' kind of thing, I think there was an incident in America where we had a little bit of a misunderstanding, and he trew a drum kit at me an I sorta felt about saying that it was time for him to leave, but uhh, as I said he came crawlen back on his hands and knees."

Bono, pointing at Larry,"T his man gave me my first and ONLY job!" Dave,"It turned out pretty well, didn't it." Bono,"Yeah." Larry,"Yeah, and don't you forget it pal!!" Bono,"I won't forget it."

The audience loves it,and Bono is looking rather humble now, smilen, Larry looks sharp!!!!

Dave,"You guys, do you have an actual friendship, an actual relationship with Frank Sinatra, or is this just a guy you know, youve met, and you've spent time with him??" Bono,"We're fans Imean, it's like we are all orbiting in Frank's Universe as far as I'm concern'd. He did meet him in Las Vegas, we went to a big fight, and then we met him, saw him play, and then met him afterwards, an he was very cool, an I got to sing with him, in fact it's quite funny because, ahh, we got a fax from Japan, I think it was from Nepawneeohmi {sp}, about a duet with myself and a Mr. Frank Sinalta, and the duet was called, 'I've Got You under my Chicken', an thats when things started gettin very surreal in this band, that was WAY before the lemon."

Dave, "Do you socialize with the man, I mean have you seen him recently?" Bono,"I haven't seen him recently, and I wouldn't call myself a mate of the chairman of the board, but I, we, you knowwent to his house, an ," Dave,"You spent time at his house......."

Bono,"He can drink." Dave,"Can you keep up with Frank Sinatra, I mean he is close to eighty yrs. old isn't he??" Bono,"I'll be honest with you, I can't keep up, an, uhh, an I tried, and in fact he showed us a movie in this beautiful snow white screening room that he has, and it was a movie, an I had had a few of those stiffies that he puts together, and I'll be honest with you, ok duringthe movie at Frank's place, I, I, I fell asleep. An when I woke up, there was just this horrible, horrible dampness between my legs, I'm actually serious, an I thought, this is dreadful, this is serious Irish defeat to Italy, in fact I din't know what to do, will I just wait, should I just close my eyes pretend I'm still asleep, and then skip off, but it was just Jack Daniels and coke."

Dave,"So the story has a happy ending?" {Laughter}

Dave,"But he kind of responds to you guys as musicians and performers, guys out there doin it, doesn't he?" Bono,"He talked to Larry, I guess people in his world don't talk alot about music to him maybe, as much as you'd think, I mean Larry?"

Larry,"he loves drummers too. No he was he's, I mean I only met him briefly in Las Vegas, an all he wanted to talk about were Jean Crooper, an Buddie Richards, who just died, A real music fan. That was kind of suprizing, cuz there were alot of people around him, alot of stars, and he's not known for liking rock-n-roll, so it was kinda nice." Bono,"At the concert, when we went to his concert, he introduced us from the stage, an apparantly he doesn't do that alot," Dave, "was this in Las Vegas?"

Bono,"Yeah,in Las Vegas, an we had to stand up and do the wave thing, the show business thing, and we all stood up, and I think it was a while {Bono has to clear his thraot, cuz his voice went}, ago an we were dressed the way, we were dressed an he just went 'Whoa, you may be number one, but you haven't spent a dime on your clothes!' He's cool."

Dave, "Where are you guys off to now, where are you working now, what's the summer like ahead of you?"

Larry,"Well, we go to Canada wednesday, and travel the rest of the US, then Europe, then come back again, so, got quite a bit ah,"

Bono,"We are just kicken this, you know, that sort of tired ol thing, rock-n-roll has just gotten to safe, it knows what it is a little bit, and were just tryen ta kick it up the arse a bit, send it into the next century." Dave, "There ya go!!!" {audience screams and applauds}

Dave thanks them, they all shake hands, and Bono and Larry are gone with One playin.

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