Interview: Tom Jones
Updated on 24 October 2008
Stephanie West talks to Tom Jones about the inspiration and making of his latest album.
"I tried about two or three songs, and the only one I liked was 'the hitter' which made the album. After that I said' look I don't want to do these covers, I mean I'd like to have some new material here' so Steve Greenberg, he said 'well then go and do it'.
"The songs that were being sent to me were not good, so I thought 'well, I'd better get my head down here and work with the writers, tell them what I want. If a song writer is going to work for you, the first thing they ask is 'well, what kind of thing would you like'."
"These boys, guys, they said 'we want to make a classic album, we like sounds that you did'... so we worked on that premise. These new songs were reminiscent of songs that I've done before."
"It's to my wife, The Road. You know 'the road always leads back to you'. She loves it, but she hasn't said 'is this about me' or 'what are you apologising for' or you know, so I haven't really brought it up. It's just as far as she's concerned it's just a very lovely song."
"My wife has been with me since we were kids, since we were about nine or ten, so that was it. We got married when we were sixteen and we've been together ever since. So she's part of my life, she's always been there."
"People say that I haven't lost my welsh accent and that's one of the reasons why, because I'm talking to my wife every day."
"My voice has gotten lower, I think it's gotten richer, but that's a natural thing. I've sort of gone from a tenor to a baritone."
"[Bono] said 'your voice is so, it's wonderful to work with you because you have this great voice'. It's nice to here that coming from another singer."
"[Bono] said 'there's a lot of you in this song' and I said 'so do I get writer credit' and he said 'no'."
"I like the sounds that I used to get on Decca Records in the 60s, the vocal sounds were really good and the arrangements were really good, and I thought, well if I could recapture that again, but in a new way, in a modern way. I liked what I did then and I know I could still sing it. But it's more of a serious record. It's more of a personal record this one."
"To me making money is a thing that you don't have to worry about it then, it gets it out of the way so you don't have to worry about it then. When you are successful, thank God, it gets that out of the way, you don't have to really worry about it, you get on with what you do. So that's what it has meant for me."
"If a thing sells, it tells you that people like it, or love it, so it gives you confidence then to go on and make another one...It gives you confidence to do more."
"When you have a talent and you know it, you want to let everybody here it. 'What was the difference with Tommy, could you see any difference, in his voice what was the difference?' One of my cousins said 'well the only big difference we noticed that we were asked to sing and we might stand in the corner and be a bit shy. But when Tommy was asked to sing he'd jump on the table'."
