The show was taped outdoors, and frequently their conversation was interrupted by planes going overhead. This was transcribed from audio tapes recorded off the TV.
MIKE: Here is Bobby Sherman!
(BOBBY SINGS "EASY COME, EASY GO")
MIKE: How ya doing? Good to see you.
BOBBY: Good, thank you.(to audience, a little breathlessly, after singing:)... thank you very much, you're very kind! Thank you!
MIKE: Hey, you're good, you're very good!
BOBBY: (referring to audience) Oh, they're great!
MIKE: (to audience:) Isn't he good? (Audience applauds)
BOBBY: Well....
MIKE: You know, the thing....Can I tell you something--
BOBBY: They're the ones who make it happen, I must tell ya!
MIKE: Yeah, but can I tell...I want to let them in on something: This is one of the nicest young gentlemen... He's mannerly--- you don't have any star hang-ups; those complexes about who you are.
BOBBY: Well....
MIKE: You just come in--(to audience again)--- and he's quiet, and unassuming.
BOBBY: I just-- I think what it is... I've fortunate enough to be able to know some very nice people in the business, like yourself, and the last time we did the show, Pearl Bailey and Louis Armstrong.
MIKE: (remembering) Oh, yeah! He followed Pearl Bailey and Louis Armstrong, and I said, "What's that like, Bobby?" and he said," Like following a hurricane!" BOBBY: (laughs) They were fantanstic, and I think that I pick up pointers and they make me realize that it isn't one person in the business that makes it. It's all of them, and it's really important. I thank them, not me.
MIKE: Who are some of the singers that Bobby Sherman listens to, in his spare time?
BOBBY: Wow! Well, I really have so many...I've known music since I was eight; I play ten instruments, so, um ....I think I really have a wide variety of music that I listen to. Classical, and sometimes.......
MIKE: Oh, really?
BOBBY: Oh, Really! Yeah... The only thing I don't really enjoy that much is operas, because I don't really understand what they are saying. But, uh...
MIKE: Well, join the club!
BOBBY: (laughs) But there's a plot there somewhere; anyhow, I think that between sometimes classical, sometimes folk, sometimes rock, uh..... I really enjoy music and I think that everybody does.
MIKE: Is that one of your most requested songs? "Easy Come, Easy Go"? I love that song, by the way.
BOBBY: Thank you. MIKE: It's a good song.
BOBBY: Thank you. It used to be[the most requested]... then we had a song called "Julie, Do You Love Me?" (an audience member catches Bobby's attention)--and--(laughs)--Hi!
MIKE: There's Julie right up there!(audience claps)
BOBBY: and......(laughs)(to audience member) Hi!
BOBBY: ...That became the most requested record, and then recently, and fortunately enough again, um..... "Cried Like A Baby" is the number one....
MIKE: (interrupts) How many gold records have you had now, Bob?
BOBBY: Six singles and four gold albums.(audience claps)All in the course of two weeks!(Laughs) Just shows you--
MIKE: In other words, things are starting out slow, but you expect them to pick up!..... Last time you were on the show, we talked a great deal about...because my associate producer got a stack of magazines, this high (demonstrates), all current, and he(pointing to Bobby) was on practically every cover. And if he wasn't on the cover, there was[at least] a huge story. Did you get much reaction? Because we talked about it at great length--
BOBBY: Yes. I must tell you that I am really amazed at how many kids rush home from school, to watch the show. And ...because I got so much mail, uh......saying about the [Mike Douglas] show that I did back East[ ed.note: "Mike Douglas" was normally taped in Philadelphia.] ....that they....
MIKE: (explaining) Most of the cities we're in ... uh,...we're on late in the afternoon. More than half the markets we're playing. New York(4:30 to 6:00)... Los Angeles(3:30 to 5:00), so the kids could very well get home and watch it.
BOBBY: Oh, yeah. They know how to watch television! I mean... they're a powerful force.
MIKE: Do you---I mentioned that you've been all over the world-- You've performed in Buenos Aires and all that-- Do they tear your clothes like the kids do here when they see you? (Bobby laughs)I want to compliment this audience, by the way-- they didn't tear a thing off of you, Bobby!
BOBBY: A lot of them--Well actually,I think, uh.... I was in Japan.....
MIKE: One lady pinched you a little bit.
BOBBY: Well....
MIKE: Nobody tore anything....
BOBBY: (laughs)I pinched her back!
MIKE: That's the spirit!(audience laughs)-- What's the wildest crowd you ever appeared before?
MIKE: What's the wildest crowd you ever appeared before?
BOBBY: um...Wow!......I performed--I did a concert here in San Diego, not too long ago--(to audience member:)Hi! --- and I really enjoyed that. The most...the wildest was in Japan... The're very...um...I think they love being close to you,uh, and in....
(editors note: As stated in Bobby's book, "Still Remembering You": "The only time I ever remember not having a great time during a concert was once in San Diego. I had thrown my back out a day or so before.") Busted,Bobby!!
MIKE: Of course, they're so densely populated over there. They have to be, they have no choice!
BOBBY: It gets pretty... I think one of the things that is unusual is that the sign of affection that they have for you when you are performing is to throw, like, fruit on the stage... Like a tangerine or something. MIKE: That has a different meaning here in America. I've had a lot of tomatoes, myself!
BOBBY: I was a little worried,uh, for about the first three numbers--- and then somebody said it was all right!
MIKE: They really--they throw the fruit? Literally at you?
BOBBY: Some of them in plastic bags and all that kind of thing, so it's very neat.
MIKE: No canned fruit, right?
BOBBY: No.(laughs) But about the 14th to 15th row back and then on, they have to get a little muscle into it to get it up there, so it keeps you busy. But,uh---You know it's done in love.
MIKE: I don't think I'm going over there!
BOBBY: Oh, but I really enjoyed it! And they scream just like they do, you know, here, as far as the kids are concerned, only in Japanese!
MIKE: How does it sound in Japanese, Bobby?
BOBBY: Ah...
MIKE: How does it sound when they pronounce your name?
BOBBY: Well, they generally say Bobby-San.
MIKE: Bobby-San?
BOBBY: Yeah, that's like saying a "Mister Bobby", or ...
MIKE: Oh...
BOBBY: I picked up a little Japanese and I was doing "arigato's" [thank you's] and "ukimi's" and things like that, uh, that they seemed to respond to. But communication is not as difficult as a lot of people think.With words--that's a problem. With feelings....
MIKE: When you bow there, do they bow back or do they applaud?
BOBBY: Oh they applaud!
MIKE: Oh, that's good, because that would disturb me if I bowed, and they bowed!
We'll be right back after station identification.....
MIKE: You know, Bobby, recently-- I can't think offhand of who we asked this question of--- I got the most interesting answer. Somebody that I had on the show recently turned down the song "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". Have you ever turned down a hit song?
BOBBY: Well, not really. Not to my knowledge; only because the music that we finally pick, um.....is pretty much written for us, lately. And I think....
MIKE: In other words, people write songs specifically for a Bobby Sherman?
BOBBY: Yes, and I haven't heard of any [hit] songs that we have turned down, actually, but I'm sure it's been done. And I mean, it probably will happen, and I'll....kill myself!(laughs)
MIKE: What do you look for in a song, Bobby?
BOBBY: Besides a hit, which I'm sure anyone would say,uh--- just something that stays with me. I think that when we listen to music, when I drive home or a day later I start humming a tune or melodic line, that will give me some sort of an indication. And we'll try it, maybe re-arrange it; because when you get a "demo" record, as they call it--
MIKE: Explain what that is... The[music]publisher sends that to you.....
BOBBY: Yeah, it's somebody from a publishing house who writes a song and they put together a little bit of money and have somebody go into a recording studio and put down maybe just the guitar track and the singer and they give you the record that way. There's no production or anything, so you have to have a awful lot of imagination to figure out the way it's going to sound when it's totally finished. And sometimes you're imagination will let you down, and you miss a good one now and then. So--I feel that the people that I've been with, and God bless them all-- they've been awfully good to me. They've done a good job.
MIKE: How did you get this next song, that you're going to sing for us?
BOBBY: It kind of just walked in...(laughs)
MIKE: Really? Oh....
BOBBY: Yeah,it's um--
MIKE: I wish one would walk into MY house. I can only sing a melody of my hit! That's it; very short act.
BOBBY: It was among a lot of songs, and you hear it, and a song like this... its just kind of like.... you say it's got something. It's pretty hard to pass it up. Songs like this are very, very rare.
MIKE: You're quite new in the business, but what has been, thus far, your biggest thrill in show business?
BOBBY: Well, I think, first of all I'm in the business for one reason , and thats to entertain; I've got the bug, so I--- that "money" delusion is kind of gone.
MIKE: You mean we're not paying you for this, Bob?
BOBBY: No...(laughs)
MIKE: You really are a sweet kid!
BOBBY: I think it's knowing the people. You know, having the chance to be, you know... to give, and you know, to do something worthwhile. That's about all.......
MIKE: I read though, however, that you are a very astute business man and your...
BOBBY: Well thank you, I really don't know....(laughs) I don't have anything to show for it!
MIKE: Haven't you? Somebody said......
BOBBY: My manager lives in a $125,000 house-- I live in a little apartment someplace. You tell me what I'm doing.......
MIKE: Yeah, but you own the building!(audience laughs)-- Here's Bobby Sherman singing "Cried Like a Baby"--. From this album here!(holds up album).
Bobby sings
This interview was edited bt Mary Keesling with my thanks! (You're tough but you are good!)