Interview with Rickie Lee Jones

When I was 20 years old, I had a song that spoke to me like very few since. Rickie Lee Jones had just released her third album, The Magazine.

Like the rest of the world, I knew, and loved ‘Chuck E.’s in Love’ but there was something about this song that became an earworm to me for about two months. It’s track number six, the one after the title track and it’s called ‘The Real End’ and even now if I hear the introduction, my body becomes electrified. 

Almost 40 years later, I got the chance to ask Rickie Lee Jones about this amazing song, and her upcoming trip to Bluesfest in 2024.

Rickie-Lee, I have to tell you, I don’t get flustered very often but I am a little bit flustered today, and I’m hoping I’m not going to stumble over my words… I just want to ask you about ‘The Real End’.

Well, I’ll tell you something about it then. When I wrote the song, aside from whatever was happening personally, I wrote a ‘Diana Ross’ song. Yep, I was writing ‘give him some catfish, fried up in bed, don’t leave me hangin’ on the telephone line…’ I was imagining a kind of Motown song, of course, you know, interpreted through me. So, maybe that’s part of why it’s so catchy, because it was meant to be.

So are you heading to Bluesfest – what do you love about it?

It’s big. It’s very big. I had a really good time there. I think we were on a smaller stage, but it was plenty big – and when we started playing, people hurried over to watch the show. That made us feel great. And that made me want to come back. Yeah, backstage people were great – that also matters. 

I know people are going to want to hear the old songs, will you play them?

The problem with a song like ‘Chuck E.’s in Love’, is it’s an incredible recording and it’s really difficult to bring anything like that to the stage without about ten people. There’s a percussionist and there’s a bunch of horns and there’s four singers – there’s two people playing acoustic guitar, as well as the rest of the band. There’s a lot of people, and I just can’t do that live. Sometimes I shy away from playing it because I think ultimately they’re not gonna be happy that I did. But, I have a bigger ensemble this time and I think we’ll be able to do it. 

Do you feel that you have a responsibility or an obligation to lend your weight to the causes that you are interested in or that you support? 

I was always adamant that my celebrity or my work, never be used for any political or social thing. I didn’t want to alienate anybody from the song. If someone found joy or solace in the song, and then they don’t like my politics, then they’re not going to be able to love this song anymore. So I just thought I don’t want to get in the way. But, I took a brief hiatus from that in 2001 when George Bush, Jr. was elected and that terrible door he opened for that kind of dishonesty and confusion. 

What sort of things are inspiring you?

Inspiring – you know, I’m a complicated person. I like that dog (points across to her bed). Solace is one of the things that inspires me – solace is just a suspension of daily life right now, so I find a lot of solace in the sounds that dog makes. Or I watch a movie. I not only love to watch Marvel cartoon movies, but I need to watch. I just go sailing away on movies much more than music now. It was books for a while, but now it’s movies and I think I’d really like to work in the medium; I’d like to write for television or film. I like that way of telling a story. 

Are you having enough fun? 

Ahhhh – I could always have five more dogs… I have a lot more fun than I had ten years ago. So yeah, I’m happy you asked me that. I would really like to fly up and see the Northern Lights. I’d like to go to see the animals in Africa. Or when I go to Australia I wish I could go down to Antarctica.

You MUST go and see Rickie-Lee Jones at Bluesfest 2024, she’ll be on stage on Sunday and Monday.
www.bluesfest.com.au