The Spiritual And Amusing Sides Of Bad Company Bad Boy Paul Rodgers
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In Part 1 and Part 2 of our interview series with classic rocker Paul Rodgers, we covered quite a bit: his impending induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, an amusing anecdote from a Bad Company tour in Spain, his initial thoughts on the great super-group Cream, the first time he heard his own song on the radio, where the name Bad Company came from, his work with the not-for-profit Adopt The Arts, his medical situation with a number of recent strokes, ex-band manager Peter Grant and Led Zeppelin, his upcoming memoirs and his epitaph. Below is the third and final installment in the series.
Jim Clash: You were in the short-lived super group The Firm, with guitarist Jimmy Page, and toured with short-lived super group Blind Faith, with drummer Ginger Baker.
Paul Rodgers: I don't think the tag "super group" is helpful to any band, really, because so much is expected of them. But yes, I toured with Blind Faith in Free when they first came out. I got to see Ginger Baker in action. He was known for throwing from the stage with incredible accuracy one of his sticks, bopping people on the head. The guy would turn around, wondering where it came from, and Ginger would just be playing away as if nothing had happened, you know [laughs]. I was standing on the side of the stage watching him one night, and he fixed his eyes on me. I thought, "Oh my God, I'm dead." He almost threw a stick at me, but he didn't [laughs].
Rock band "Blind Faith" in 1969. (L-R): Steve Winwood, Ric Grech, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton. Photo by Bob Seidemann. (Photo by Michael)
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Clash: Like Ginger, you were a bit of a bad ass in your youth. Who is the real Paul Rodgers underneath it all?
Rodgers: You know, Jim, I'm still finding out, I really am. I'm not sure. But he's been a lot of people. What I'm working on now is my spirituality. I think that God exists. He's the entire universe, all consciousness and benevolent. If you think of God as a fire, we're all sparks of that fire.
But I have been spiritual for a lot of my life. When I first heard The Beatles in London while doing my own thing, George Harrison talked about meditation. I discovered it at that point. Our lives had suddenly become very crazy. Sometimes meditation's gotten away from me, but I always come back to it to ground myself. Eventually, I've come to the point of understanding that's where I belong.
Clash: Do you ever pray?
Rodgers: I do pray when I need inspiration. In fact, one of The Changels choir boys during a quiet moment turned to me and asked, 'Do you believe in God?" [see Part 1 link below for context]. I was a bit flabbergasted, and said, "Yes I do actually, and I think he's everywhere." The boy simply said "Okay," and ran off to be with the rest of the choir [laughs].
Clash: Earlier, you had mentioned a heart-warming anecdote about some blind girls who had attended a Bad Company show in Spain. How about a funny anecdote from touring?
SAITAMA, JAPAN - OCTOBER 26, 2005: (L-R) singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor of the British group Queen at Saitama Super Arena. (Photo by)
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Rodgers: During the Queen Plus Paul Rodgers tour, we were always playing gags. One day my wife went to Jim Beach, Queen's manager, and mentioned that I wanted to speak with him. Each night, the maids would decorate the hotel bathrooms. They had put a chaise lounge in ours, with a sheepskin rug.
So my wife bought this feather boa. She set me up on the lounge chair with the boa around my neck and called Jim into the room. Now I'm just laying there and my wife starts feeding me grapes. Jim says, "Oh no, you want to go back to the days with Freddie!' He thought Freddie had rubbed off on me. Later, as I went out to the stage, Jim kept pleading with me to take off the boa [laughs]. Poor Jim, but what a great guy.
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