A Conversation with Harry Dean Stanton – HuffPost 6.3.14
Mike Ragogna: How fictional is Partly Fiction?
Harry Dean Stanton: It’s all fiction. It’s all a dream. Life is all a dream.
MR: How did the project begin?
HDS: It started with Sophie [Huber], we used to go out a long time ago. She was the whole thing.
MR: She directed the documentary.
HDS: Yeah.
MR: The documentary has been screened at over fifty festivals in the US and internationally. How do you think it went over?
HDS: I’ve been getting a good response from all over.
MR: You have a lot of well-known songs on here, many of them are almost classics. David Lynch is quoted as saying he loves your version of “Everybody’s Talkin’.”
HDS: Yeah, that’s a heroin song. It was written on heroin. Fred Neil and Lou [Casteou?] was an actor, they were friends, I think they were both on heroin when they got the idea. Harry Nilsson made a hit out of it, but he made a rock ‘n’ roll song, which is not a heroin song.
MR: The essence of it is in how you did it, right?
HDS: Yeah.
MR: You recorded “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain,” which, when it’s sung by you, takes on a different kind of feel.
HDS: Yeah, that’s a good song. All the songs are well-written. That was a quote about the album, the writing of the songs let the songs sell themselves.
MR: They’re like self-reflections?
HDS: They’re all well-written.
MR: What did you relate to in each of the songs? That they were well-written or that they related to your life in some way?
HDS: “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” was related to Rebecca De Mornay, I used to go out with her, she loved the song.
MR: So a lot of these are very personal, with your memories relating to the music.
HDS: They’re songs I’ve heard over the years that resonated with me.
MR: You also recorded “Canción Mixteca” with Ry Cooder.
HDS: Yeah, that was on a soundtrack album, it was the theme song in Paris, Texas.
MR: Did it feel good recording it again for that project? Did it take you back?
HDS: Oh yeah, I love it, it’s a beautiful song.
MR: You do a couple of traditionals as well, for instance, “Danny Boy.”
HDS: That was actually written by an Englishman I think, but it has close Irish ties. It’s kind of the Irish national anthem. For years, I thought it was a mother singing to her son, “Danny Boy,” but it was a father who had lost two sons in two wars and this was his youngest son going into World War One. That’s what the song’s about.
MR: You have an interesting convergence of being an actor and being a musician. Do those two arts compliment each other? Like when you’re singing a song, do you think your acting abilities let you pull out the more emotionally significant lines, etc.?
HDS: Oh yeah, there’s no difference really. If you’re a good singer, you can be an actor. As a matter of fact, anybody can be a film actor. A man off the street can be a film actor if he’s got a good director.
MR: But certainly that’s not how you feel about your own career, right? You feel like you’re a good actor, no?
HDS: Oh yeah.
MR: But there are degrees of being able to interpret a script, I’m sure your musical interpretation gives you little more skill at acting.
HDS: Anybody can relate to any part that’s written, a murderer, a lover, an authority figure, it doesn’t matter, they’re all universal.
MR: The documentary has some of your friends as guests, Sam Shepard, Wim Wenders, Deborah Harry, and Kris Kristofferson. When you hear them talk about their interaction with you and what you mean to them, what do you think at this point? How does it affect you?
HDS: It’s a nice feeling. I like all of those people. What else can I say?
MR: Does it touch you on a deeper level because of the personal friendships and relationships you have with them?
HDS: Oh yeah, we’re all close friends.
MR: You’re accompanied by Jamie James and Don Was, what do you think of how the album turned out as far as musicianship?
HDS: I think it’s all good. I haven’t heard the album yet but I think I saw one cut of the film. They’re all great people, talented musicians, I’m very fortunate.
MR: Were there any roles that were particularly special to you?
HDS: Oh yeah, Paris, Texas is my favorite movie. All of them had something going on, all of them appealed to me.
MR: Sophie is very up front about her friendship with you, how you met in the nineties and have been friends ever since. She’s the one who came up with the idea to make this, but when you were recording the songs for this, did she have the idea of how this was going to turn out ultimately?
HDS: It all just developed and unfolded naturally.
MR: Were there any surprises for you in the documentary?
HDS: I can’t remember anything at the moment.
MR: That’s okay. Are there any songs on Partly Fiction that really, really resonate with you?
HDS: They all do. “Danny Boy,” “Canción Mixteca,” all of them do.
MR: What advice do you have for new artists?
HDS: Don’t try. Let it happen.
MR: And that’s how it happened with you?
HDS: Yeah, just let it happen. Everything unfolds, I had nothing to do with it.
MR: How did you get into music initially?
HDS: I don’t know, I was just born with a good ear. I was singing when I was six years old. When nobody was home, I would get up on a stool and sing. I was in love with an eighteen year-old house sitter. Her name was Thelma. I’d get up and sing. Who wrote that song? Early country western writers, “The Singing Brakeman” they called him. It was the first song I ever remember, “T For Texas.”
MR: Jimmie Rodgers, and he was an inspiration for you as a kid?
HDS: Yes, that was the first song I remember.
MR: Were you encouraged by your family to do more music?
HDS: My mother sang, she taught me some Irish songs. My mother was Irish. I sang with my brothers, we had a barbershop quartet. The three of us, and I forget who the fourth one was. In high school and college I always sang in glee clubs and barbershop quartets.
MR: Do you remember any of the songs?
HDS: Let’s see, there was a famous organization called The Barbershop Singers of America, “Those good old songs for me, I love to hear those minor chords and four-part harmony.”
MR: What advice do you have for actors?
HDS: Play yourself. That’s what I do.
MR: Similar advice to the musicians.
HDS: Yeah.
MR: You’ve taken roles you’ve wanted to play and related to the parts, right?
HDS: I’ve made some good choices.
MR: What are some choices coming up after Partly Fiction is a hit?
HDS: I haven’t a clue.
MR: What do you want to do?
HDS: I can’t answer that, I have to wait and see what I do. The best approach was Jack Nicholson, I did Ride In The Whirlwind with him, you know that film? He called me and said, “I’ve got a part for you, but I don’t want you to do anything. Let the wardrobe do the character.” I’d been thinking along those lines anyway, so that solidified my whole approach to acting. I played myself and let the wardrobe do the character.
MR: And that’s exactly what you said toward the beginning of this interview, you just let things unfold.
HDS: Yeah, it’s a whole eastern approach. Taoism, Buddhism, and the real Jewish Kabbalah, not the organized one. Most Jews don’t get it and most Christians don’t get it either. The real Kabbalah is the same as Buddhism and Taoism.
MR: Are you pretty spiritual?
HDS: Spiritual, yeah, but I don’t believe in any religions. Not even the eastern ones. Once they’re organized, it’s all over.
MR: Do you think spirituality is at the bottom of your art? Do you think it’s what your creative juices come from?
HDS: Again, there’s no real answer to that. Everything unfolds naturally. Ultimately there’s no answer to the whole existence on the planet, really, there’s no answer to it. Nobody’s in charge. It all just happens.
Transcribed By Galen Hawthorne