Bryan Ferryhas been making mischief for more than 50 years, on the margins of the rock world.
But hes still not done.
At 78, Ferry reigns as the elder statesman of rock-star romantics, the king of elegant melancholy.
Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, Rik Kenton, Bryan Ferry, Andy Mackay and Paul Thompson of Roxy Music perform at the Royal College Of Art video studio in London, July 5th 1972.Brian Cooke/Redferns/Getty Images
I like both, you see, he says with a devilish laugh.
You have the new stuff and the old stuff, but you need both to be up to date.
I think Andy Warhol would agree.
Ferry is the consummate rock gentleman, impeccably charming and witty even on a Zoom call from London.
(This man looks better on a Zoom screen than any of us do in real life.)
Today he sips tea and shares some of the wisdom hes learned along the way.
Thats quite a while.
I wish it could go on for another 50 years.
Retrospectiveis a surprise because youve always been an artist who looks forward, not back.
You tend to avoid repeating yourself.I always hope so.
I mean, you dont sit around listening to your own records all day.
So when you do, you go, Oh, yeah, thats …interesting.
Why did I do it like that?
But sometimes you celebrate it.
In your solo music, youve always been big on interpreting other peoples songs.
They werent songwriters, so they sang other peoples material, and I wanted to try doing that.
I chose some really nice songs on that first solo album,These Foolish Things.
That was maybe the best cover I ever did great enthusiasm and gusto.
Yet you had such a subversive vision of pop-music history.
And then music took over as the main interest.
But I still tend to visualize.
Im always mixing different kinds of art.
In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery is amazing.
In New York, I like the old Frick those lovely Gainsbouroughs.
The Metropolitan is fantastic.
You could spend all week there and still have more to see.
Basically, thats why I tour to go and see the museums.
I said, Well, Im an artist, Ill try and figure this out.
I was working with the designer Anthony Price and various photographers.
We developed a series of vignettes, in these tableaus of, I guess, quite glamorous women.
AtRolling Stone, we just did our list of the greatest album covers of all time.
Can you guess which Roxy album we chose?Hmmm…For Your Pleasure?
Thats the one.Good taste, then.
Yes, that one was something different and dangerous it had an edge to it.
And that beautiful car!
The Cadillac, the girl, the panther.
The final one,Avalon, was more serene.
We did that photo very early in the morning, at dawn on the west coast of Ireland.
We used to really enjoy doing things on location.Siren, that was in Wales.
And those were the days when you didnt instantly see what you were getting.
What is your process for writing songs?Great anxiety.
It involves a piano, usually.
And I still like doing little demos on it, even on cassette.
Well, you write very nocturnal songs.
You go to some really dark places.I do, actually.
I think most of the songs Ive written have been, as you say, nocturnal ones.
And I dont want to say dark, but theyre not cornflake-ads music.
But theres nothing wrong with that.
Do the Strand, that was quite up and joyful, and one or two others.
But generally I write the kind of moodier pieces, so I write in the nighttime.
Theres something intimate about that time of day.
Youve got such a glamorous voice, but youve written some of the loneliest songs in history.
Ill try and hide because I like to be in the shadows, and I like to observe.
Im always curious about life and to see whats going on.
Youre influenced by all the books youve read, and by the movies youve seen, obviously.
But its mostly just observing life and observing people.
What is the best advice you ever got?To always be yourself.
You have to follow your own course and chart your own destiny.
Who are your heroes?The first big one really was Charlie Parker.
I loved his work and still do.
It just seemed so beautiful, yet so angular and vibrant and just so full of life.
The first record I ever bought was a Charlie Parker EP, his Quintet with Miles Davis.
I learned all those solos in my head.
I could whistle all those solos.
Then I loved the music from Memphis, Otis Redding and so on.
I saw the Stax Road Show when it came to England in 67 it was life-changing, really.
Sam and Dave, all those great players Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn.
I was just like this [stares with jaw hanging open].
Then Otis came on for the finale.
Thats when I thought, Oh, Id like to do this.
And then I think Bob Dylan was amazing such wonderful songs.
Ive only seen him play once, but Id like to see him again, actually.
I always thought Neil Young was good, great voice.
I loved his early albumAfter the Gold Rush that whole period.
The Velvet Underground they were so adventurous.
They really had something.
Are there film heroes that play the same role for you?I would always say Cary Grant.
Especially in that Hitchcock movie, with Mount Rushmore North by Northwest, thats the one.
And Bogart, obviously.
I loved Bogart so much I wrote a song about it [2 H.B.].
I like Katherine Hepburn very much.
Bette Davis I love her, and I love that pictureAll About Eve, with George Sanders.
Hes so fantastic, so evil.
All those other people that Humphrey Bogart worked with Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet.
I love those old movies the wit and the dialogue, so beautifully filmed in black-and-white.
I have a preference for black-and-white movies.
LikeIn a Lonely Place, when Gloria Grahame tells Bogart Well have dinner tonight, but not together.
I knew that line from Casanova.Maybe that was a subliminal one that seeped into my consciousness.
Unlike lamour, toujours, lamour [in the Roxy hit All I Want Is You].
That was in another film,Sabrina.
Theres a famous scene in your Avalon video where you brandish a falcon on your arm.
That was pretty much a one-time thing.
So we had a merlin in that video, which was pretty cool.
I called my youngest son Merlin, actually.
Do you feel we ever reach a point where were too old to dream?No.
Im a great dreamer, and I carry the flag for all dreamers.
The Roxy Music reunion tour last year was a huge success.
I didnt feel embarrassed by them, put it that way.
It was just great to hear them playing they all have a particular sound and individuality.
But maybe the solo career helped to broaden the audience for Roxy.
And perhaps that helped to bring people in to listen to Roxy Music.
So I wanted to do a different version, because theres always different ways to do things.
So that interests me.
Ive occasionally done covers of myself, doing different versions of the songs I did with Roxy.
Sometimes better, sometimes worse it depends how you feel on a given day.
It was a very special night when we recorded it, way back in 73.
Wed done the track as an instrumental, but I wasnt ready with the lyrics.
So I came in a few days later to do the vocal, and it kind of worked.
Chris Thomas, the producer, never heard it before, and the band hadnt heard it.
That was fun and educational for me it was a soulful record.
Going between those Roxy Music albums and the solo albums I felt each career was refreshing the other.
So I was lucky to have two ways of doing things.
I was having fun on the side, but it also enabled me to broaden my horizons.
Im a keyboard player, so I like working with different guitarists.
Its what I do.
Star is my new song, with Amelia Barratt.
Its the first time ever for me to work with somebody whos writing words and Im doing the music.
We have an album coming out in the new year.
So to always keep excited about what youre doing is important.
But if you love what you do, then youdowhat you do.
