Interview with Sarah Stahly and Bill Brand of VH1

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 9, 1997

Q. What's it like during those Inaugural prayer services or anytime that you hear your friends such as Janice or Mickey or even my mom, what's it like to hear them, friends who love you, singing those songs?

The President. It's different and better. I think it's really nice when you get to know people, particularly if you've known them a long time, you just take a lot of joy in their talent and they can touch you in a way when they're singing to you they can't when they're talking to you. It's an amazing thing. It's quite wonderful.

I also feel an immense pride. Whenever I see someone perform now that I know, who's a personal friend of mine, anywhere, especially my childhood friends or people I've known for a long time, but even people I've gotten to be friends with in the last 5 or 10 years, and I know how hard it is and I see how good they are, it really makes me proud.

Q. That's wonderful. You mentioned black artists, black music. Was that - you mentioned Virginia loved Elvis, and there was sort of the Beatles. Going into black music, was that different, Motown?

The President. When I was a child, I just - I was elated by all those Motown artists. I loved them all. And in the late eighties, I once got to play in Michigan, "Dancing in the Streets" with the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, and Junior Walker. And I never will forget. I never will forget playing a saxophone riff with Junior Walker. It was a great thing. And I always loved that. I loved Ray Charles and I loved that. And then I loved all the religious music.

One of the most memorable concerts in my entire life was a concert I attended as a young man when I was living in England. I went to the Royal Albert Hall, and I heard Mahalia Jackson sing. And all these British kids came to hear it. And I thought, you know, most of them had never even been exposed to anything like Mahalia Jackson. And when she finished singing, they stormed the stage. It was unbelievable. It was like she was a young rock star or something. So that's a big part of what music is to me, is my whole relationship with African-Americans and the roots that we share, and it always has been.

Q. It sounds like there was a real change not only in what was going on in your heart but musically when you went to Georgetown. Of course, Tom Campbell says you still came in with your little portable record player. But the discussions were longer at dinner about -

The President. Yes, and the music began to change. And the people became more serious. They got involved in the discussions about civil rights and there were riots in the streets, and then there was the war in Vietnam. We literally had riots in Washington when Martin Luther King was killed. But there was a lot of music around all that.

I remember - you have these little songs I guess you associate with different periods in your life. When I came to Georgetown, on Sunday afternoon there was a place called the Cellar Door right down from where I lived. And you could go down there on Sunday afternoon, and for a dollar you could go in and get a Coke and listen to whoever was playing. And one group that played a lot there was a group called the Mugwumps. The lead singer of the Mugwumps was Cass Elliot, who later became Mama Cass of the Mamas and the Papas. And two other people in the Mugwumps became two of the four people in the Lovin' Spoonful. So when the Mamas and the Papas came on later in my college career, they always - every time I hear the Mamas and Papas, I think about Georgetown, I think about college, I think about "Monday, Monday" and all those old great songs.