Session Transcript:
Leon Ware
Red Bull Music Academy, Seattle 2005

The video stream for this lecture can be watched here.

Leon Ware is a living legend. In his session he truly lives up to his reputation as the ’sensual minister’, aka the ambassador of nastiness. The critically acclaimed Motown songwriter and arranger recorded a couple of the greatest albums ever. Marvin Gaye's classic I Want You was supposed to be Ware's solo-album but Berry Gordy convinced him to collaborate with the superstar. He wrote the first No. 1 hit for Michael Jackson as a soul artist. Born in Detroit in 1940 as the seventh son of a Ford worker and a beautician, Leon Ware created his first song when he was nine years old. Together with Motown producer Lamont Dozier he played in the band The Romeos. When the '60s began he joined the producer staff of Motown where he worked with The Isley Brothers, Ike And Tina Turner, Diana Ross - you name it. The list of collaborations include Donnie Hathaway, Quincy Jones, and Minnie Riperton - for whom he wrote the quintessential tune Inside My Love. So feel the vibe in this session of Leon Ware and his love for music; and get to know the freaky side of creativity and Leon´s passionate relationship to his equipment.

RBMA: »Good afternoon.«

Leon Ware: »Good afternoon! How is everybody today? (shouts: "Great!" / applause / Leon clapping back) I’m clapping for you all because being here is a step in the right direction, I truly believe. I’m actually very pleased to be here because the meaning of being here is touching as you all came here for the same reason: to touch each other in a way that you can’t, I would say, normally. You see the e-mail that we have these days, which is not a bad thing, but at least in this form you get a chance to get into each other one on one and share some ideas. I actually have a couple of songs that I have written for the moment, I won’t get into it right now, but let’s say that kind of exemplifies the moment in itself. And me being religiously nasty you can expect it to be something that you will smile about, I’m sure.«

RBMA: »Well, those words came from a man who doesn’t need all too much introduction. He has been behind a couple of – I think it’s fair to say that and a good reason to take off the hat as well (takes off the hat) - one of the best albums - albums are those long records that you can listen to for a long time and not just a three minute hit - that ever have been recorded, I guess. And yeah, I think it’s a very good thing to give him an official welcome, Mr. Leon Ware.«

(applause)

Leon Ware: »Thank you very much. You could add to that by saying one of the most terrific albums as far as babys are concerned (laughter).«

RBMA: »As we discussed yesterday in the radio, it must feel kind of weird that wherever you go you meet people that had you in their bedroom already.«

Leon Ware: »Oh, that’s weird. Listen: That is a total pleasure, I’m an extremely freaky individual. I look at the world as my lover. And we have been making love for a long time. And we still find new and interesting ways to do the same thing. Ha, ha (laughter).«

RBMA: »Well, on that note, probably we start off with the easier topics. What actually is this thing love?«

Leon Ware: »Love, without a question, is what we all have instinctively, but unfortunately it gets drastically fucked up when we get just – excuse me, I didn’t use the right word, did I? But it does get a little bit disturbed when you get past, say, three-years old. Unfortunately. Because you learn some senses that divert you from really understanding who you are, what your purpose is here. I think what we all share a 100% is the same reason why I consider myself a sensual minister. Not to be funny. But to remind everyone that I come in contact to cherish where we come from. I have fun with it because the moment I say I am a sensual minister, I get this chuckle. However, I’m just addressing simply where we come from. I’m very proud to be one of the voices that – I’m coming up with some innuendo... So that if this in my time will allure, excite, invite anyone and everyone that listens to it to a place where they make love, I’m an excessively happy man.«

RBMA: »But isn’t there a little bit more to love than just making love?«

Leon Ware: »Love is making love and being in love. That’s two combinations.«

RBMA: »How do you know when you are in love?«

Leon Ware: »Oh, you shouldn’t have to ask. You shouldn’t have to ask. This is spirit. That most honest thing about where I’m at in my pursuit, that I have not made decisions that were business decisions ever. I have always been very idealistic. And in fact, really cruely opposed by different friends and family about some of the decisions I have made. But as ’65, ’66 going on, and I had my first hit 1964 before a lot of you were alive - every one of my moods, everything I have ever done has been from here (points at his heart). So I don’t even question about - maybe I’m questioned - but I don’t question my premise because it’s very simple as I say. When I started, I recorded my first record 1955, I made my professional first record 1960 and it hasn’t stopped. I feel like what I look at now is the group of people or this mind-set that you are in, young people. You have such a wonderful time in front of you because not only with the facilities that we have whereas from ProTools to the different sequencers and stuff. You have that to work with, you get the internet, there is a lot of things that are plusses. The only thing that’s different might be a deficit as that in my time there was a lot of comraderie, which is what I’m hoping will happen here with all of you. At the best when you will leave here you will feel a seed. As I saw Torsten [, the interviewer] when I came in, I got a couple of ideas that as I say simplifies some of the meaning here. And it is as I say, me being sensual, being nasty and religiously nasty one of the titles is: I Wanna Grow A Seed In You. And I can see it put on a t-shirt and the smiles that you will get as you pass someone. However, it’s the same meaning as, interestingly enough, when I wrote this song, Inside My Love for Minnie Riperton she asked me: "Do you have anything that we could say that kind of takes it a little further?" And I had an idea. Interestingly enough, when the song was released and headed up the charts, I heard a DJs description of the song and I stopped the car, pulled it aside and I actually called him something that I won’t use in this room. But it was really disappointing, but actually after I cursed him I smiled because it was a 100% feeling that, when we finished the song, the sentiment of the song is: "Won’t you come inside me, will you come inside me, will you take a ride inside my love?" However, listening to it most people took it as what it was. "Won’t you come inside me," meaning the ejaculation or the orgasm that we do when we get to have that moment. However what I meant, it came from me being a little boy in church hearing the preacher say: "Won’t you come, won’t you come inside the lord.“ ( whispers) And I took that with me all my life and matter of fact that particular phrase as in: "Can I Save The People," was so compelling that, when I thought that it was coming up at the end of the ceremony, I left the room. I didn’t want to hear it because it made you want to come. However, the meaning being an entendre, which I do constantly. I love that: having two meanings on one or several meanings and letting the individual listening adapt to that meaning that means something to them. I think one of the strongest things you can do as a writer is to give your listener, or the people that are working with you, the option to take their particular view of what you are saying in your message.«

RBMA: »Were you ever afraid of saying something?«

Leon Ware: »I’m instinctively an instigator. In fact, I give you a scenario: I was walking behind my sister and about three of her friends at seven-years old. My sister turned around and noticed that every time they were bending over I was taking an extra look. She was: "You are a nasty little boy!“ And I thought to myself, ’Is that what I am? I like that!’ (chuckles) So I have been nasty ever since. Religiously (audience chuckles). And I’m really glad that I came to a point a couple of years ago that validated my nastyness (laughs). Believe it or not, as I say it to you, I realised that the ennuendos of Marvin, me, Berry [Gordy], all the singers that you have heard in your lifetime eluded to the bedroom. It eluded to an orgasm. It eluded to anything sensual. We are only adressing where we come from. This is a beautiful place, it’s something that unfortunately in our time being here we have learned some unfortunate habits for us. What we are, how we feel things, how we look at things, you know, feeling uncomfortable about something that is as natural as you take the next breath. Some of us, like myself, are rebels. I refuse to feel bad about something that I feel good about. Something that I don’t have to work at, something that I wake up in the morning and it’s like a good sip of coffee, or a good breath of air, something that you know you don’t want but you need! It’s a part of you. And I would say for sure I look forward to every next breath I have because each day I realise that I haven’t said enough. It’s like I said earlier: it’s like making love knowing that there are so many possibilities.«

RBMA: »But does it ever get hard to gyrate always around nastiness?«

Leon Ware: »Well, when you say: "Does it ever get hard?", I can stop right there. (laughs / everybody joins in). However, the sincere truth is, as I’m blessed with a natural sense. I’m a romanticist. Listen to my music. I mean, I came up with me and Marvin, when we were doing I Want You, the album, we laughed a lot. In fact, when he did this song (sings a line of Soon I’ll Be Loving You Again): "I want give you some head, baby." Lots of people in here who have listened to that record don’t even have realized what was being said. But if you listen to it closely, the whole chorus is (sings): "I want give you some head, baby, that’s what I do 'cause I’m..." Me and the engineer were standing in the studio when he did it. Of course, there was a sign on the studio board. When you came in the first thing you were seeing was ’head’. Not that we were alluding to anything (laughs). But it was like very free, we didn’t think twice about it. And I can say to all of you, the times in my life, and even Marvin’s, when we went to this Motown - I will come back to that when you ask me some questions about riding my career - but in Motown, one of the things why Motown is as successful as it is and was, well, it was, is that they had a quality control meeting every Friday. Quality control meant that as a writer at Motown you wrote a song everyday, completed.«

RBMA: »What does that look like? I mean, is it like in the '20s in a Hollywood studio and the studio boss would walk around the premises?«

Leon Ware: »No, you did that at home. He did it at home and then they had what they call the workroom. The workroom was like six different rooms that had paper thin walls. You heard Holland-Dozier-Holland, Stevie, Norman Whitfield, Ivy Jo Hunter, everybody was there. As I say, the wonderful thing about it was you learned how to concentrate on what you were doing.«

RBMA: »Is that the original building opposite of the hospital?«

Leon Ware: »Yes, right next to it was the mortuary. We used to make jokes about it as well (laughs).«

RBMA: »Which jokes?«

Leon Ware: »Alright. But...«

RBMA: »What’s the the classic Motown mortuary joke?«

Leon Ware: »“We send the stiffs over there.“ Meaning the songs, you know? The songs that didn’t really make it, you know, we had a place for it. Right away, quick. However, the quality control meant you came in with your finished songs and you had a team of people that...«

RBMA: »(slips off his jacket) See, I’m getting comfy.«

Leon Ware: »I should as well (slips off his jacket). They screened your songs and they told you whether your song was one that lived or was one that was ready for next door. And it was vicious because you were pitted against - which was Motown’s, I think, its strength was that they pitted everybody that was there against each other. So at the end of the week you had 10 to 15 writers, that were excessively talented coming up with their best work. And as I said to people, you didn’t think twice about that meeting, you either came in ready or you didn’t come in at all. And in that process of doing talent shows throughout Detroit. Detroit was very big with two things: crime and music. Fortunately, I had left the crime alone in time. But that was a part of my life as well, unfortunately. Being a young kid in Detroit you didn’t have any options. However, the strength of the talent in Detroit at the time and the concentration of just music itself was so rich. You had Aretha, Smokey, Holland-Dozier-Holland. I mean, all those people all they were doing day and night was music. And again, the premise wasn’t about being stars. We all just basically loved what we were doing. As a kid I went to church every day until I was 12-years old because my mother was a bit of a minister herself, not Jehova witness but a baptist and I sung in the choir. I was a church kid, so to speak. But the interesting thing is that Detroit bursts some ’hall of famers’, you know? People that you listen to and that will be remembered for as long as music is music. I love what I’m doing more than anything else in the world. And it’s something I have paid my dues. I mean, literally paid my dues. And the times that I have turned down opportunities that could have made me an excessively wealthy man, financially wealthy, wealthier than I may have been maybe - some people could debate that - but my wealth isn’t about mankind wealth, it’s spiritual. So again, like Marvin, like myself, we are very idealistic. Marvin was really rich and he had a talent for telling you his life in a record, you know? I’m not that exposé myself, I kind of like playing with emotions. And if not playing with them exciting them. As a kid I liked to say things I would and people were like: "Hah, you didn’t say that!" That was always making me feel so good... (smirks) This bad little boy! But again, I’m happy to have arrived that seeing that all this time I spent from – I had my first gold record for The Isley Brothers in 1964 – and from then till now it has been a wonderful journey. I look forward to say anything that hopefully something that you can use, hopefully that you can take home with you and grow on. I don’t definitely want to waste your time. My son, if he was here, he would leave the room. He does not really like to hear me talk because I have a lot to say. I don’t really talk a lot but normally but this is a very rare moment for me because I get a chance to say what I feel, as opposed to sing it. Every time every other song I get a chance to give an idea of who I am. But for the most part I’m satisfied with these performances because with each song, every song is accountable to who I am. I think in that terms as I said to a young man who is a rapper: ”Rap in itself is something that I really, really respect a whole lot.“ Because of the fact that, when you stop and think of what these guys say in the course of one minute and you have to remember that, I’m a singer of songs. Songs is next to rapping like a walk in the park.«

RBMA: »It’s a different discipline. I mean, they are putting out a lot of words but the question is: what are they really saying in that time?«

Leon Ware: »Well, that’s the interesting thing, some of them are really saying something.«

RBMA: »I’m not knocking that but...«

Leon Ware: »I don’t want to play out the artistic excellence of anybody before I really assisted - I guess a lot of people who hear rap hear the roughness and the animal thing. And to me at first it was so demeaning first to the ladies, second to just your intellect, third it was not happy music to me or happy art. However, over the years they have adapted and you got some people like Common and different people that have some views, stressing some ideas and I think that’s going to be the development of that art. In every art you will have, I call them your hackers: people that write you ten songs a day, you know, but none of them are really [good]. But some of these hackers, this is the interesting thing about what we do, make a point about your charts. Any charts you read do not put any emphasis on it because it is only a reflection of the modeled money of the people that put your record out and were able to put into that record to see itself. Unfortunately. I’m speaking of now, I’m not speaking of the time when I came into the business. Unfortunately, there is a parameter there that does work but for the most part, this time set deals with not so much your excellence, but how excellent your connects are and how good you are as a business person.«

RBMA: »Then again, Motown was not only about great talent but also about fabricating products as well, great products, great quality products but nevertheless...«

Leon Ware: »Yes. Motown itself as they say it was like a factory, you had Berry Gordy who is a genius. He is a person that had an eye for a talent and he also knew that the smartest thing you can know about any talented person: Leave him alone. Leave him alone, but he had his way of guiding you. His way of guiding was putting someone next to you who maybe was just as bad as you are (laughs). Good guidance, right?«

RBMA: »But probably to talk about the actually working process, the scenario that you pictured there, it almost sounds like battle rap. It’s a battle rap scenario, which is all about being master and seducers. And when you got the scenario with the five rooms and you got Stevie writing next to each other and come up in this highly competitive atmosphere with the most highly seducing kind of things, what does a day feel like? What does everyone have for breakfast and...?«

Leon Ware: »It’s so much energy there, there’s so much you can come away with. But for the most part this sensuality factor was more religious than sensual then. As I say, I didn’t really realize how much of a freak I was until I was in my early '30s, you know? Unfortunately, or I have to say fortunately, I understand now clearly what ’freak’ means: it’s ’free’ with a ’k’ on it (laughter). So in that light, I hope that everybody in here is proud to be as freaky as anybody would say that you are. We have some different views about that. Interestingly enough, I have listened to different records, I have even been questioned whether I was the guy that I wanted to do something freaky to you. A different thing is what does the word ’freaky’ suggests in each person? Actually, if you look at the dictionary, the word ’freak’ means somebody that’s a little bit impaired, you know, like the Elephant Man or something like that. It doesn’t mean what we have made ’freak’ out of. Which is a great way because this isn’t a connection to sex but some people would think it’s a little bad, like they think sex is bad. But it’s not.«

RBMA: »Really? «

Leon Ware: »Believe me. It’s religious.«

RBMA: »OK.«

Leon Ware: »It’s like the line which said, this song that me and Marvin would call Come Live With Me Angel: "A good experienced freak is what you need."«

RBMA: »You talked a lot about how you thrive on an interview, how you get fed off affirmation. What do you do once the applause dies down?«

Leon Ware: »It’s always here anyway (points at his heart), I always feel it here. I was asked the question: "How do I feel when I was, let’s say coming up in the business and I walk into an A&R man’s office and he would take on really - yes, this happened - just totally destroy your song?" You know, it’s like: "Man, this particular part sucks and you should have put the bridge a little earlier." In a way they treat your work that isn’t necessarily complementary, in fact this is disrespectful and you have to be strong enough. Like I said to the young lady: ”For me, I always loved what I do so much that about the time I play for anybody. If they didn’t like it I loved it so much, it didn’t really make a difference.“ So I always insist when I’m speaking or I have something to say that’s being listened to especially in the creative process, the strength of your work will be determined by the love that you have for what you are doing. Not for the accolade that you get from others or the appreciation. It will start from you and by you loving your work to the extent that you are supposed to, it won’t be bad work. It will be will be work that you are proud of, you won’t have to worry about. Then unfortunately or fortunately we do have critics that criticize everything, you know? There is going to be somebody who is going to find something wrong or something that they didn’t like about something you did. Now again, that’s cool. Some of it is motivating. Some of it is enlightning. Some of it can help you grow. I listened to everything, even that which I can’t use or you find that out after it goes in. However, it’s a process of you. I also said it this afternoon, I was speaking to somebody about the writing process. ’Organic’ is a word I like using - not so much because using an ’organ’ of some kind - but the idea of being very internal when you decide that you like something. As we go through the process of writing we have a million different ideas. And I didn’t make the phrase - I don’t mind using it because it’s true - the process is as I was told as a young writer: ”You must realize when your polishing a turd and you’re not.“ (audience laughs)«

RBMA: »Who told you that?«

Leon Ware: »A very, very old young man, a friend of mine. He is not in the business. He has just had a very nasty attitude about certain things. But that particular phrase I remember because all it meant was just, as the ideas come you have to be objective and note the ideas that deserve your time. You have to be objective. But for me objective means being organic. When it comes through here (points at his belly). For me, is when I know that I should spend some time on it. Lots of times I hear things because I’m listening all the time and as being able to, I can play a little bit, I’m always hearing things. As I say I can do from three to five tracks a day, you know? As far as ideas are concerned there will be one that will be rich. Really, really rich. And again you just asked me the question: ”How do you know when you are in love?“ As I said before, that is not a question that you ask, you’ll know that. It’s the same thing when you write a song that you really like. The only thing I want add to that, it’s not a contradiction, but it’s a bit of a story I tell you about not being the judge of your work. One of my copyrights is also a song called I Wanna Be Where You Are, that was Michael Jackson’s first gold record as a solo artist. But this was the 7th or the 8th song in a demo session that I was about to leave the studio because I didn’t think this song was a strong song. The guy that was the head of the - he was the representer of Bob Babbitt at the time - he had been there, had heard the song, and he said: ”Leon, that last song, that one that: Oh, oh, oh...“ I said: ”Yeah, it’s OK, I don´t really like it.“ He says: ”Oh, no no no, please put that down.“ He actually convinced me to put the song down. The story goes that two days later I get a call: ”They love it, it’s a smash, man, it’s going to be a smash!“ I’m thinking this is going to be one of the four or five songs that I thought was some of my best work, right? (shakes his head). Again I say, it was the lesson then: Don’t be your critic. Finish your work, let somebody else be your critic. It’s that at that time had I been my critic, that song would have not been heard. It´s an interesting process, once you love something I wouldn’t second guess myself. It wasn’t a song that I loved until I heard Michael’s voice on it. Because there were still several other songs I thought were so much better. You know, figure it out. I insist on being organic, that when I’m working with people, when we start something it’s finished. I don’t know if I have ever started a song and didn’t finish.«

RBMA: »Which goes for everyone in this room, I guess.«

Leon Ware: »Well, some people just write songs that they don’t finish. I kind of like the quick thinkers, it’s kind of like people that make almost good sex, you know (audience laughs)?«

RBMA: »That’s a bit harsh. So, speaking of which, is there something like a work routine for you? When do you get up in the morning, do you have to get, I don’t know, a certain paper or a certain type of juice or something to get going?«

Leon Ware: »No, I’m totally untrained, unconditioned, everything is very (long pause) organic. (whispers:) I’m serious because I have been asked the question before in another way: Do I have a process? No, in fact I stayed away from any kind of process because I want it to be instinctive, I want it to be inspired by the moment. I want to approach it in exactly the way it happened, you know? And if you have a particular way of doing things or you have a set way of starting something, I feel like you might miss another process. In the way that I approach it I let that feeling being what it is. I don’t want it to be something or expect it to be something. I kind of like to open my door and let whatever the feeling is come in and dress it up to as much of a possibility as my creativity will allow me to and the rest is the rest. It is not all of your work or in fact if I was to say out of the amount of songs I have written since, I would say 1960 – I go back but ah, I have written a lot of songs and again - many of them that didn’t get heard (whispers) I thought were awesome. I still think they are awesome but the lesson is, like I was told before also in my young career: ”Don’t go in with just one song.“ And the idea is to exaggerate the point: ’Be as prolific as you possibly can be.’ Because the ideas are waiting in the wings, so to speak. And the more you work and the more you do, you give all your ideas a chance to come out. And I think for me my process is as like right now I get up every morning, I do a two, three hour bike ride seven days a week. I don’t go in my music room unless I’m ready to write.«

RBMA: »But writing meaning you are sitting down on the keyboard or do you...?«

Leon Ware: »Sitting here, I can’t... (plays the keyboard)«

RBMA: »Wait, here (switches keyboard on).«

Leon Ware: »She is sleeping right now. (speaks to the equipment:) Honey, honey. It’s a lady. My computer is a lady (audience laughs).«

RBMA: »So you were really lucky when you were introduced the track pad?«

Leon Ware: »I was to say something really funny. Have you seen the big Apple screens? The ones that are like this (shows the size with his hands). Long before they made it, they had one that I have at home which is a 30 inch one, the one that’s like this (shows size) and that has two legs like this (draws legs in the air). Well, the interesting thing about the computer is - just as I say the computer is a lady - when my tech was putting all the equipment together, when he got down to actually turning the computer on, he said to me: ”Leon, you might actually want to do this yourself.“ I said: ”Why is this?“ Because where the button is is where you like it. You have to do your fingers just like that (fondles around and laughs out loud).«


RBMA: »How did you learn to overcome, as Kanye calls it, your insecurities?«

Leon Ware: »My insecurities have been very few, I was busy as a teenager (laughs), mostly dizzy. I come from the streets of Detroit.«

RBMA: »Which is a different city than Detroit?«

Leon Ware: »It’s not only a different city, it’s a different ’ity’. It was from childhood to when I left Detroit at 19, I had learned everything you could do to make some money in the streets. I knew how to do it very well, unfortunately. And you didn’t have too much time to be insecure. I say again, growing up in that city was like being prepared for any place on this planet, any war zone, but you could not find yourself in any place where you feel intimidated. As a kid growing up I have seen people get their heads chopped off in cold blood. By the time I was ten-years old, I had seen every atrocity you can think of. One on one, right in front of me, you know? And fortunately now we have Washington D.C., which now has the title of being the murder capital of the United States. Where Detroit for good 30, maybe 40 years was from the era of the gangsters and Chicago and stuff, Detroit was always in that mix and a big part of the mix. But again, my insecurities are others: (pauses) people. As I have said before, I’m blessed with a talent that I never really had to guess about. My guessing has always been people were ought to be good or bad. Again, it’s the blessing to know that you do something that everybody likes. And that has been that way since I was three-years old. So again, that’s also the reason why my ego isn’t in a place where I have seen people that are rivals, where they are stars and they have this attitude, this ’I want you to kiss my ass’-attitude. And to me that’s first a sign of insecurity, and second a huge sign of not really knowing who you are. For the most part, I think the insecurity factor is something that’s human, I think we all have a bit of it. For mine, I’m like a seven-year old. And I was classified myself as seven and a half-years old, you can ask my wife. I watch cartoons religiously on Saturday morning and you can get extremely insulted if you bother it. I have a child inside of me that will not grow up. I remember being at that age having somebody say: ”You have got to act like a grown up!“ And me thinking to myself: ”If I got to act like what I have seen with grown-ups, I’m staying a kid.“ I instinctively want love, I’m just this seven and a half-year old kid and still wondering why the rest of the world doesn’t want to have fun. (audience chuckles) I’m serious. I give you another story...«

RBMA: »Which brings us to your note maybe.«

Leon Ware: »No, I’m going to tell you a story about my childhood. I was blind for two years as a child. I shot this eye out with a slingshot (points at his right eye). And I had to learn braille. I graduated from the same school that Stevie Wonder went to. I was not supposed to have a vision according to technical medical knowledge. But my mothers prayers brought my vision back, I say, she says. But in the process of being blind and going to school with blind kids, I learned one thing that I would love to share with every human being. Especially all of us that call ourselves caucasians, black, the different nationalities, I would like to show one thing: blind people don’t see colour (pauses). Blind people see you! That’s the reason why I am really good at assessing people. Because I close my eyes constantly, I don’t even look at the piano while I’m playing. It’s not full proof because as we got some people that are very brilliant about lying (laughs). There are some artistic people that know how to prefabricate to say exactly what you want to say. But for me, I can’t say I’m a simple kid. I’m a little seven and a half-year old kid, saying: ”Hello, let’s have a good time,“ you know? I’ve grown to be a grown man and I doubt that assesses sometimes too much, I definitely see everything because I don’t watch. And when I’m looking at people, I’m not looking at them. One time on stage, I got on stage and immediately asked the people: ”Please turn the lights out.“ They turned the lights out, completely dark for a second and then I asked them to turn them back on. I said: ”Now you know who I am.“ Because what it is, I – as I said to the young lady that was taking pictures of me today - I said: ”65, going on 66-years old. I look in the mirror daily.“ I’m still somewhat conceited, if you want to say. I like me but I also see the age.“ I don’t kid myself, but I said to her: ”It’s not my outside that I’m interested in anyway. It’s inside that I’m caring about, you know?“ This is what I think all of you want your world around you to know, you know? We may be a different colour, but I can guarantee you: (whispers) we are the same (pauses). Close your eyes, you don’t have to see me. But if you close your eyes, you will see me. I can’t close them now because I want to see some questions now.«

RBMA: »Probably before that, are you one who looks or who closes his eyes? Or do you always close the eyes in intimate moments?«

Leon Ware: »Aah, I told you I was a freak, right (laughs)? It will be addressed that there are moments when you are feeling so good, you don’t even have to ask your eyes to close, they just instinctively close (laughs). There are times when you really want to close your eyes and that’s another thing that happens. It’s like when you are being stroked and your eyes are going in the back of your head (laughs / holds his hands up). Excuse me! You are all grown, so it’s OK! Those times I just say, you don’t have to ask your eyes to do anything. You have to ask yourselves to do anything. I said to Many [, of the Red Bull Music Academy crew] yesterday, I’m good with philosophical phrases, whether they mean anything. I’m sure they mean something but whether they mean anything to the person I’m saying them to, but I say them anyway because it’s from the heart. I said: ”There are things that we are, there are things that we need. I think the things that we are, outweigh the things that we need. Because what we are is what we need.“ Already, in other words, it’s all what I’m saying. In other words: this earth that we live on, this earth that you have in you, is waiting for you to grow into the person that you want to be. (...) When you pray, I believe that there will be a day every earthling will wake up and we will pray to ourselves because we are god. The god is not out there or buddha or wherever. God is in here (points at his breast). You do not have to go to a church to get on your knees or whatever to pray to god. God is here (points at his breast), you are part of god. I truly believe that every religion, whether is buddhism, catholisicm or whatever it is, all leads to the same door. It’s just different names. All leads to the same door. We are a part of each other, the more we realise it, the stronger we will become as a species. And as far as races are concerned, man has played with that issue for a couple of thousand years, and I do hope we get to the point where even if it’s just the point: "Hey, we have been fucking ourselves up enough! Time out!" Look at it like it is, if it’s not religious, if it’s not race, if it’s not... Oh, let me also stress this one thing: power. We haven’t seen it yet, we haven’t realised the power that we are yet. There hasn’t been a king on this planet that wanted to make every other man a king. When we have a true king, that king will make every other man a king. When we have a true leader, that true leader will make everybody else a leader. The object is, the outlook is, my outlook is, until we are banned in our insecurity to look at each other and not be afraid and look at each other straight and say: ”I love you because you are part of me.“ When we get to that, that’s what I’m putting in my songs and in my nasty way, but it’s all about doing this (folds his fingers), getting us together, you know? Each of you in this room will have your own individual way of making your point. But we are messengers and I truly believe we are more accountable about our messages, the richer we will be to the community we are serving. And that’s what we are: messengers serving our messages to the people of this planet, you know? Maybe there are some of them out there, too, you know? I am definitely into aliens, I think Starbucks is definitely owned by aliens (laughs).«

RBMA: »Well, speaking about another church that you worship, what’s your role in the church of Deep Throat?«

Leon Ware: »Ooohohoho... (audience laughs)«

RBMA: »You know, talking politics and stuff.«

Leon Ware: »I can tell you this story because it’s OK, everybody has died. Me and a gentleman that I was writing with - actually he was my mentor as a lyric writer, his name was Bob Period - when I met him he lived on the top of the hills in Beverly Hills: Bentley, Rolls Royces, everything and then I walked in and I saw that jukebox and it’s as big as this and has a hundred hits. All of them were his. He wrote the lyrics to Alice In Wonderland, the man was in my estimation what you call a genius, he was a lyrical genius. He said to me that people were asking him: ”Bob, how do you continue to come up with all these ideas?“ The same thing I said before about making love, he always said: ”I never try.“ He said to me about the process in itself: "Leon, check any of my lyrics out and if you have to ask me what I meant, I didn’t write the story." In other words, when you write a line, there are some writers who are really good at being clever and they have lines that are very colourful, poetic and some of them are brilliant, because they do say exactly what they mean. However, the most potent writers on this planet are writers, when they write a line, you don’t have to ask them what they meant. You get the meaning instantly. I think that’s what I was trying to adress about that point. But I want to say something else to that because I didn’t start writing lyrics until he said to me one afternoon... I was singing something before he came in the room, and he actually had listened to it a bit: ”You have a unique approach of how you say things, which is also a talent, you know?“ Because I think the best analogy for writing a lyric is is when you listen to a song and you instantly say: ”Damn, I follow the same thing.“ Bingo! Besides that’s the trick of what we do as lyricists is writing something that instantly most people can relate to. The rest is like ’I like to have fun’. And as I say, I’m a 100% instigator. I like playing with the do’s and the don’ts. Always in a good way, never malicious, never vicious. I do hope that I have said something that is useful, I do hope.«

RBMA: »You totally did especially on that one, but I’m somehow a little lost here because I think you started of explaining what your involvment with the Deep Throat soundtrack .«

Leon Ware: »Oh, I was trying to get out of it. However, the story goes that me and Bob were working on a movie before he passed away, and a year after he passed away a friend of mine called me up: ”Leon, I’m down here in the Pussycat Theatre, I’ve just seen a movie called Deep Throat. Man, you should come down here.“ I said: ”OK, I will.“ And didn’t have to be convinced, I wanted to see Deep Throat anyway. I had heard about it. ”Come down here man because it’s the second song in the movie, I could swear it’s your voice.“ So I go down, I listen; as soon as the second song comes up, I know it’s me because it’s an effect that I did. I took a straw, put it in a glass and then (blows) and it gives here the bubbles, right. But the next line is (sings): ”Bubbles, great big magic, bubbles.“ (laughs) Of course, the ladies are saying at the time, this is classic, before they come: ”Do you mind if I smoke while you eat?“ (laughs) Anyway, I go back after the show, after the movies are off, I call the lady who is the wife of [Bob Period], I said: ”You ought to get down to the theatre because there is a couple of Bob’s songs.“ It was one of mine and three of him. Because what they did when they took three to five songs, we had about seven in the movie, they took three to five songs and just took them. It turns out four or five days later after we had tried to investigate who the people were and so forth. I’m sitting in her house in Fallen Wings and her being caucasian, you know when you guys get upset, you get red. And the phone rings and she says: ”Yes,“ and her face gets a little red, and she says ”yes“ again and her face gets redder, and she says ”yes“ one more time and the phone is shaking as she puts it down. I say: ”Jackie, what’s wrong?“ And she said: ”Well, that was the guy on the phone that said (in a dangerous voice): ’Are you Mrs. Elliot?’ She says: ”Yes.“ ”We understand that you want to find out who owns your rights to Deep Throat. She said: ”Yes.“ ”Mrs. Elliot, are you listening?“ She said: ”Yes.“ ”Forget it.“ (laughs) Now, your laughter will be at this: 20 minutes to 40 minutes later the lawyer, that we had investigating it, calls and says: ”Jackie, you know about that picture Deep Throat.“ She says: ”Yes, but sure I want to...“ ”No, no, Jackie, let me tell you something: Forget it!“ (laughs) As it turns out, if you go online, because the story is there now, they are actually bold enough to tell the story, because it is online, my wife and me read it the other night, it’s the first time to see that where they told the story that the Gambino family was [involved]. You have heard of those guys? They took it and they just, what’s typical of the mafia, they: (hands out) ”It’s yours this week, it’s yours this week, it’s yours next week.“ And for the last 30 years it has been a lot of people’s ownership. But of course, the other issue was this: I have never stood up to say it´s my voice because my knowledge of the mafia was very clear (laughs). If you know the mafia, you don’t call to say: ”Hey, I want what´s coming to me, man.“ (laughs) Instead, on the other side they are like: (in a gangster voice)) ”Ey, Charlie, this guy Leon Ware wants what’s coming to him. Let’s take care of him. Oh, by the way Charlie, check out his cousins and all of his good friends because we don’t want to leave any grieving relatives, right?“ (laughs) Now, 30 years later, I’m 65, even the lady that was the publisher died two or three days ago, so my wife and my sisters, don’t go crazy (in a female voice): ”I’m not going to go crazy.“ I had had some plans, I told Robin that I was going to disclose this information that maybe we should do a real intimate picture session so I could take off something, you know, maybe get fully erected and (looks down): Uh, check this out! (laughs) No, no, no, listen, because it’s the funny part because – the only thing I must say about the Deep Throat movie in itself because in leaving Jackie had this one thing to say, she insisted – I’m not bragging or anything, but she said to me we are walking along: ”Leon, they actually cheated, you know because she hasn’t had what we call deep throat, has she?“ (laughs / takes his arms up) Some questions, please.«

Participant: »Yes, I actually got some questions. They always talk about like how Marvin Gaye had these many demons and I was like had he had a nervous breakdown or anything or how was he acting around? Well, you know what I mean.«

Leon Ware: »Marvin was, as I said, very similar, very idealistic. Idealistic people are extremely sensitive, they treat things in a deeper form than a lot of people do and the way me and Marvin differed, is Marvin clinged to disappointments. He could not...«

Participant: »Could not take criticism?«

Leon Ware: »It was not criticism, it was the pains that he had in his life from the marriages, or the marriage, his first marriage that didn’t work. He had a couple of other grievances in his life. He was Marvin Gaye, his father was gay, he had to live with the fact that his father was gay. Also, being totally heterosexual and having the last name ’Gaye’, it was a couple of issues that he dealt with, but he was as I am in the light of being another man. I was asked by a lady at a party one night, she was trying to make, I guess, the guys feel uncomfortable, because she asked a couple of guys the same question: ”Do you know that you have a lady in you?“ And I answered the lady quickly, I said: ”Yes, 50% in me is female, but the lady in me is so in love with the guy, she can’t wait to get to him!“ (laughter) So I’m excessively impressed with the fact that part of me is female and I said this to a dear friend of mine: ”Any man that’s uncomfortable around a gay individual, you better check yourself out.“ Because I have got a lot of friends that I love dearly that are gay. I feel the gay people are getting the same slack and the same bullshit that black people get, that women get, you know? A very disrespected outlook about who and what they are. We are not supposed to be equating about who and what we are – I don’t say when I say what I’m supposed to be. I think what it is is that there is a lot of misspent time in our lifes on this planet where we have the audacities to someone else’s bedroom and tell them what we feel about it. My feeling is this, I said about 15 years ago to a very dear friend of mine who is as gay as lord on the earth - this guy wishes he was a woman on christmas – OK? I said to him: ”The only thing I feel is if I were gay, there would be no question about me saying to the world: You can kiss my ass. I am who I am, I love who I am, and I’m not asking you to be who I am.“ And I would say to anybody who has that particular classification: ”Love yourself enough whereas like I said about your work.“ You don’t ask nobody, you don’t even ask anybody: "Is my work OK?" You ask yourself that first. By the time you release that work for somebody else, even your close friend, you hear it, you’ve listened to that enough. You know that now it’s time, now I can play this for somebody. And believe me, nobody other than my wife – and she hears about only by proxy through the wall and nobody hears anything of mine until – it’s like: I can’t hit on a woman because I hate being rejected. You know, and I have been that way since I was a teenage boy so I don’t how to get mine without hitting on ’em (laughs). Hey, we all got a style! You know, mine is real free and it’s like the same thing about making love. Once somebody knows that you are in the room with him and you are on the same page - as like my sister said - being a young man and have four older sisters, by the time I was 20-years old, I had been schooled very well about the other side. I wasn’t the young boy, that – a lot of young men think that when they are going out they cop. No, when they are going out, they are being copped. Because most of the time you think you are copping? Eh eh, you ain’t copping because she was waiting for you (laughs). You know, that’s the game that women play because their approach is - we go out the masculine style to allure - they go out, they have already allured. But they got something we want and they do that feminine thing that we love so much. That’s the reason why we are here (laughter). The god-blessing, and all I can say is that, again I hope I’m saying something that is useful. I’m here because the meaning of you all being here was the meaning that drew me here. It’s like I have been invited to different things that I have not made myself available to, because the feeling that the premise and the meaning wasn’t what I wanted to be involved in. This is something after my wife, of course, has seen the whole tape and she was very excited about it, I was very exited about it after looking at half of the tape, because I’ve heard one young man who was from San Francisco making a phrase, (turns to the moderator) and you might know who this was, it was in the video that you sent. He was from San Francisco and he made the phrase, he was a DJ, he said: ”I do this.“ Same thing I’ve said: ”I do this because I love it.“ The whole energy about what this is, is people from all over the world, different parts of the whole planet are coming to communicate, to share their feelings, to do what a nasty guy like myself does that could happen. That’s what orgies are something I participated in, but it’s almost like a creative...«

RBMA: »Orgies are scheduled at 11. Would eleven be convenient for you (audience laughs)?«

Leon Ware: »Excuse me, have you got the oil (laughs)?«

RBMA: »Always, it is sitting right next to me.«

Leon Ware: »I am a 150%, I feel the ideas that we all have waiting in the wings, you know?«

Participant: »My next question is like as far as like it is with MCs and hip hop as for as clearing samples from you, have any of them tried to play you out? What was their name? Was there anybody big that didn’t want to pay you, disrespect you by not even clearing it or whatever?«

Leon Ware: »I didn't had that problem because in response to that question – I kind of had that question from somebody else – most of the rappers from 2 Pac to Ice Cube, I mean, I have been sampled by almost all of them. The current thing with Mary J. Blige and Puffy and couple of other things, there are some more things coming out next month or in January but not... See because what happened I think when rap started really getting big and it was like the Wild West and guys were just taking people’s stuff, you know? What happened was they started losing everything. See, because they were taken to court, it was clear out plagiarism and whatever posessions they had or what they did, they lost completely and that became so infecting across the board everytime anybody get caught stealing or taking a piece of somebody’s song. In fact, they have since now come up with the plagiarism law, that’s a bit different. See because when I was coming up you had to have eight consecutive bars both melody and chords in order to have a plagiarism case. In today’s rule, they have a thing where, I think, it’s four bars and if you have the sentiment, as they say, if you have the sound or the sentiment of that piece, that’s plagiarism. I’ve only had two outright thefts in my career and one was by one of the biggest stars of black history, I’m not going to say his name but because I don’t want to put people up but actually two.«

RBMA: »Who was that?«

Leon Ware: »I won’t say names. Can I have a tissue of someone? (stands up, pulls a tissue out his pocket) I’m OK, I’m OK.«

Participant: »What was the song?«

Leon Ware: »If you listened to their repertoire it’s like both of them were in the top tens or they got gold records, both of each artist and if you listen to their top ten greatest hits, you won’t have to ask me. Fortunately, for me what has followed me in my career is that my uses of chords is my signature. Again, I don’t know what I’m doing but it has caused me a few what we call hits and you can listen to my work with other people and discern the parts that I wrote. I think that’s great, I think we all should reach for identity. The one thing that’s not dwindeling in this particular air where so much sounds alike, you know? You should endeavour to as you are doing your - you know to hook it up as uniquely in your style, so that as things progress they can say: ”That’s so and so’s thing.“ That’s how you [climb up the ladder] (raises his hands over one another). (points at someone in the audience) What’s your name, darling?«

Participant: »Anya.«

Leon Ware: »Anya? She was saying to me last night about the different DJs that don’t have the slant or the proper sensitivity to the art that they are doing. It was only two or three years ago that I realized that DJs were as popular as, let’s say, as creative as they are. My first impression of DJs, because I was on the road with a young man named Carl Craig (audience murmurs), who is also from Detroit but a very, which I found out, very popular, very famous DJ, right? He happened to tell me some fees that he gets in going to various countries. I mean moneys, amounts of moneys. I want you all to know, my first comment to him was this: ”Fuck man, I missed the boat, man.“ (laughter) I call it the smartest manifestation, I thought that sampling was slick, DJs are the slickest. They take your shit, they rearrange it, now they are artists. It’s not like they are ripping anybody off, I just say it’s a brilliant manifestation. They take your shit, make it their own, by the way that they play it, the sequences that they play because I think the power of a DJ it’s just like they say, the first song isn’t the one that you really have to concern yourself with. It’s the same as Bob said about writing: ”It’s not your first line that’s important, it’s the one that’s following.“ So, a DJs thing is to have his things when as he sequences, you do it like this (raises one hand over the other). And by the time you get to the top you are hooked. If you watch most people by the time they are here [on top] you can’t say shit to them. They don’t want to hear anything else, leave them alone. So, it’s an art that I respect and I’m sure that many of you, that are in here and that are DJs, can reassure that it’s a lot bigger than I knew it was. It’s here to stay, it’s fulfilling because it’s the same thing that I do as an artist that sings. You get in front of a 1.000 people or a 100 people, how many it is, but you get in front of these people (whispers) and you make them feel good. That’s what they come for. They come to be released, they come for you to serve them musically, beatwise, what will take them out of their present moment. And that in itself is an art, so you can patch yourself and give yourself a hand. You know, please! For me (claps, audience joins in).«

Participant: »I wanted to ask you if you ever change songs when somebody told you to do so or how was you approach about that?«

Leon Ware: »When I kind of have finished an idea, after I play it for somebody I listen to their opinion. I don’t leave at that opinion, though. I leave with mine. It’s important to be open. If it’s criticism, hopefully it’s constructive criticism. (to participant) Anya.«

Participant: »Thanks, hello, OK. Now, you keep saying: ”I hope it’s useful what I’m saying for you guys, I hope it’s useful.“ I just want to thank you for your words really because I think the knobtwisting and everything is important but I think a lot of us need a little bit of the soul side of it as well. So really thanks a lot for your words; and I’m glad that you touched a bit on the sensual side of music making because I think for a lot of people it’s taboo in a way or people don’t admit it or open up to it. But for me when I take the stage – I’m still working on the studio side - but when I take the stage it’s a 100% what I’m there for. I’m making love to the crowd and I get so much out of it and it’s what drives me, really. But my question for you is, who are you making love to when you make your tracks? Like, you talk about the whole process that you describe, who is your lover when you make your tracks?«

Leon Ware: »Ahhhh, see... «

Participant: »Your instrument, yourself, your words, your goal for the track?«

Leon Ware: »My wife tries to nail me in the sense that - I was writing a song that was called On The Beach. I have lines in the song that - they could be classified as pornographic lines: ”I’m in between her leg, my tongue is doing different things, I’m sucking nipples,“ and stuff. She was asking me (imitates female voice): ”Who did you write the song about (laughs, participants join in)?“«

Participant: »I was just wondering...«

Leon Ware: »No, but my answer in short, like I said: ”I’m making love to the world.“ As odd as it might sound but when I’m phantasizing I have a fix individual, but as you say a fix individual for a flashing woman because it was for that flashing woman, to another individual, to another individual. And I think basically, I’m just driven by sensual urges and sensual innuendos and I never have to work at it. Every word that you say, if you make a phrase, I instinctively can connect it to something sensual. And I do. I don’t even think that it’s a talent, it’s just I do it. And now, of course for the past say 30 years or so, since I’ve been really into and like you say, the world around us is just a bit intimidated or some people feel a little uncomfortable about saying certain things, I’m just the contrary. I am that rebel that wants to raise the bar that says: ”Hey, not only should we not be afraid, we should be proud. Proud of who we are and what we are. That part of our substance or our existence.“ I mean, I can get choked up right now I won't, but I find it almost an audacity that we could have allowed ourselves as a species to look at that part of our function as taboo, wrong, or be afraid of it. Recently I said, simple point, I said to a guy who was an interviewing me about six months ago who wrote an article, I said simply: ”I’m not saying anything ingenious, I’m not bringing anything to the table that’s new. I’m only reminding the people that have a chance to remind very simply: Cherish where you come from.“ And in that light, (whispers ) you can get extremely nasty and be honorable. Very nasty in a very honorable way. Because anything that you say that alludes to sex can only be considered your ode to your origin. Oh, did I say that right? Touché: Ode to your origin, you know? Yeah. And in that light we are all one, a beautiful one. (looks at moderator) And you can bring the oil up! (giggles)«

RBMA: »One of the most difficult things is probably to wrap things up and let go sometimes. I want to reissue there is extensive liner notes and one bit talks a lot about Marvin Gaye’s wife talking about how she felt when she was a little younger in the actual recording process and how she felt like he was just singing for her and how she uses this record to play it to the kids now and all that kind of stuff. I mean, were you present and...?«

Leon Ware: »Yes.«

RBMA: »I mean, and how did it feel when you...?«

Leon Ware: »She was right. There was a... «

RBMA: »Those were initially your things and that already took a life of its own.«

Leon Ware: »It was so beautiful because what happened with that record was – again, this is another part of the story: Marvin had been recording – I don’t know if Janice - they just got married, yeah, they just got married and he was as in love as anybody could be. Genuinely in love. And I think probably that marriage had been one of Marvin’s happiest moments ever. It took us 13 months to complete the album. Why so long? Because six of the months we were playing basketball on studio time. But Marvin really was in love, he loved Janice. It’s like my wife says better: ”Janice was his reward for the pain that he was feeling about the other relationships in his life.“«

RBMA: »To which extent do you think is being a troubled soul essential to producing great art?«

Leon Ware: »Oh, lots of troubled souls do great art. Interestingly enough, I’m a bit of a troubled soul but mine is basically loving something and knowing that you won’t have the time to really do what’s necessary. I think of for the most part like Marvin and people like Marvin that have so strong passions, passions that exceed being consumed. Consumed is a word. It is a point of passion where consumed is only a word because it is another level where you are that. Nothing else means anything. I could probably make a list of brilliant talents throughout time with troubled souls that gave the world some phenomenal art, from picture art to paintings to dancing – interestingly enough they say: The more troubled an artist is, the more depth you get out of their strokes and their music and whatever. Could be true because it’s the dark side that does seek light, needless to say.«

Participant: »So, speaking on that do you think racism is like the ultimate test of god put on his earth for us to really challenge because the way it was designed and it’s sort of like a game or sort of like to end up getting us all on one and loving one another. Do you think that’s like the ultimate goal«

Leon Ware: »I think the best answer for that is: you have seen a rainbow, right? You have all seen a rainbow?«

Participant: »Yeah, yeah.«

Leon Ware: »You have all seen a rainbow? Lots of colours, right? And what’s the first thing you say when you see a rainbow? (pauses) ”Ah, beautiful. Ah, beautiful.“ You say: ”That’s really beautiful.“ Right? I don’t know but one of my biggest guess is that if there are makers of us – I have questioned that – but in the light of if there are makers of us, they intended this to be the same way I just expressed. This blackness and your whiteness and Asian and Spanish, and all these different things, they are supposed to make us say: ( whispers) ”Wow, beautiful.“ Instead, what do we do? What have we done? We look at each other and we say: ”Black men go across the earth and they intimidate. White men go across the earth and they get along.“ But it’s like with the Irish thing, the Irish are fucking each other up for how many years over a point that you ask yourself... I have a very good friend of mine who is Irish and we had this conversation but it’s interesting that you say to yourself: How can another man knock on your door and say: ”Hey, you know, I’m ruling you. Fuck what you believe, I’m just ruling you. Let’s say whatever you believe, throw it away. I’m ruling you“? That’s Irish. That’s the Irish fight and there will be fighting for a long time, it’s the same thing with Israel and Palestine. Oldest war on the planet but I did hear a guy that went to Palestine and to Jerusalem talking to regular people and if you close your eyes and you listen to each of both sides talking, all you can hear was: (in a threatening manner) ”I’m going nowhere, this is my shit!“ And the other side: ”Hey, I’m going nowhere. This is...“ And I had a conversation with a young man from Palestine who had years ago been sent to London because his parents were wealthy enough to send him there, he was driving a cab and I was in the back of the cab, we have been getting into a conversation. He pulled it out like, we got about half an hour, 45 minute talk, just sitting in the cab, he was like: ”Do you know what this war and my country is about?“ I said: ”For years I heard a lot of different things but the most part I heard it was about a wall.“ He was: ”Oh, yes!“ It’s about a wall, believe it or not, it’s started about a praying wall that Jerusalem said was theirs. Palestine says it’s theirs. My point was at this point of the conversation, I say: ”Hey, why couldn’t they have said: ’OK,yours for three and a half hours, mine for three and a half.’“ He said: ”It would have been too easy, man.“ It would have been too easy and plus, at this point, they have been killing each other for so long, it’s no longer about the wall. It’s about how many people have died on these sides and the different grievances and plus, I won’t get really deep into politics but I say this: If Americans wonder why 19 men would make themselves a bomb to make a point, if they are wondering they haven’t been keeping up with the do’s and don’ts of America. Because America, unfortunately, has made some moves and are responsible for a demise around this planet in their quest for quietly doing what? They did first, the British did second - conquering the fucking world. And I say to you again: power. Power? True power is not about conquering anything at all. In fact, any man that’s truly powerful, he makes every man as powerful as him because he knows his power. Unfortunately, on this planet we have had leaders that have been guessing and totally unsure about their part because everything that they exhibit was oppression. And even at this point, every nationality on this planet, black, white, all of us, every nationality separately enslaved their own first. And I say it’s a known, if you psych it out: Why? Because we are afraid. Men are afraid of each other, of themselves, of their own community and then they spread it around, so over the years you have had these different conquerers from Genghis Khan to Rome and the different things and it’s like a big circle that continues to do the same thing (draws a circle). Kill and conquer, kill and conquer. And in the war in Iraq a lot of people couldn’t guess what it’s about. We’ll find out in maybe ten years the actual truth because what’s really good about this particular time that we are dealing with: We’ve got magnifying glasses up your ass! Excuse me, but that’s where it is and very little that you do now on this planet that cannot be or will not be decyphered. So the truth of this war or this current situation, unfortunately, it is not about what they said it was about and I think a lot of Americans are pissed about it. The biggest problem is now we passed 2.000 young lifes over there and there are going to be even more than that before this is all over. Because there is a war that’s going on, that’s not going to be won the way they are fighting it. You cannot win that war. The best thing when 9/11 was, is we can go up and kick their ass, we can go up and do this and that. But unless they adress the hearts of the 19 men that made themselves a bomb, unless they adress that, the war that they are fighting right now will go on just like the same war that is going on between Palestine and Israel. The different wars that are going around the planet, they are never going to stop it because you are not fighting the war. The real war (points at his heart), as I’m saying: "OK, now we come back with some changes. America has to make some changes because the politics that they had been making for the past 20, 30 years helped only fucking people up." And Americans don’t know it but when you look at 9/11, it’s kind of an indication, but still there is a lot of Americans that don’t realise how much America is a part of different demises around this globe. And the demises, unfortunately, aren’t to anybody else’s advantage but America and what’s really cold about American structure or the politics is, they are smart enough to do it this way. They are not actually doing it: ’Oh, that is not ours!’ Been doing that for 30 years or more. However, truth being told, these wars that were going on, these wars will continue on until they start lessening their so called pursuit of grip of power because that’s what it is, guys. It is not pursuing to give nobody’s shit! (laughs) Excuse me, it’s a pursuit of power and they call it a lot of other things and I think me and a lot of other people are sick of it and (whispers) that’s the magic. It’s that me and you, it’s us that makes those guys powerful (laughs). ’Cause at the end of the day it’s us that make those guys powerful. When the people across the continent, across the world realise that this together will be a start in us realising some of the magic that we have here. But I wish you all love, I love you dearly and I’m sure, I hope it comes back. But mine is, it’s like I said to Anya, like I would say to anybody of these questions, I’m 24, 26 hours a day nasty, and 27 hours a day very much in love. I just hope they give me about another 20 years because I really feel like I can do something to something that I have not done before (laughs, audience joins in, clapping, Leon stands up). Thank you very much. (standing ovations) Thank you very much. My pleasure.«