The Big Interview Episode Number: 217 Episode Title: Kenny Rogers Description: He's Now a Member of the Country Music Hall of Fame
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1 The Big Interview Episode Number: 217 Episode Title: Kenny Rogers Description: He's now a member of the Country Music Hall Of Fame. And that's where Kenny Rogers opened up to Dan Rather about his illustrious career ACT ONE KENNY ROGERS (SINGING) You got to know when to hold ‘em… DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER) TONIGHT ON THE BIG INTERVIEW RATHER Define Kenny Rogers' music for me? ROGERS I'm a country singer with a lot of other musical influences. ROGERS (SINGING) And she believes in me… RATHER (VOICE OVER) KENNY ROGERS HAS LED A LIFE OF LETTING THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY- ROGERS (as The Gambler) Make it five thousand RATHER (VOICE OVER) - MORE OFTEN THAN NOT HITTING THE JACKPOT. ROGERS (SINGING) You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille 2 Four hungry children, crops in the field RATHER (VOICE OVER) HIS SONGS ARE CLASSIC... HIS DUETS ARE MAGIC... KENNY ROGERS & DOLLY PARTON (SINGING) Islands in the stream That is what we are No one in between… RATHER (VOICE OVER) BUT TONIGHT YOU’LL MEET THE MAN BEHIND THE FAMOUS VOICE AND DISCOVER THERE’S A LOT MORE TO KENNY ROGERS THAN MEETS THE EYE. RATHER How'd you get into photography? ROGERS I have a new category for any psychiatrists out there; I'm an impulsive obsessive. ROGERS (SINGING) Promise me son, not to do the things I’ve done… RATHER (VOICE OVER) AN ARTIST WITH MANY MUSES - KENNY ROGERS - TONIGHT ON THE BIG INTERVIEW. ACT TWO KENNY ROGERS (SINGING) On a warm summer’s evenin’ On a train bound for nowhere I met with a gambler We were both too tired to sleep So we took turns a-starin’... DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER) 3 FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS KENNY ROGERS HAS BEEN PREACHING THE POWER OF MUSIC FROM HIS ONE-OF-A-KIND PULPIT. ROGERS (SINGING) You got to know when to hold ‘em Know when to fold ‘em... RATHER (VOICE OVER) WHO CAN FORGET HITS LIKE THE GAMBLER?.... ROGERS (SINGING) Know when to run… KENNY ROGERS AND DOLLY PARTON (SINGING) Islands in the stream That is what we are… RATHER (VOICE OVER) NOT TO MENTION THAT SIZZLING DUET WITH DOLLY PARTON... ROGERS AND PARTON (SINGING) Sail away with me To another world And we rely on each other... RATHER (VOICE OVER) ROGERS HAS SOLD MORE THAN 165 MILLION RECORDS WORLDWIDE... ROGERS (SINGING) Through the years, you’ve never let me down… RATHER (VOICE OVER) THIS GENRE-BUSTING STAR STRADDLED THE WORLDS OF COUNTRY AND POP LONG BEFORE IT WAS FASHIONABLE. ROGERS (SINGING) It won’t mean you’re weak… 4 ROGERS (as The Gambler) Question is: which of the two of you are willing to take the bullets? RATHER (VOICE OVER) AND IT’S NOT JUST MUSIC -- HE’S AN ACTOR... ROGERS (as The Gambler) I’ve seen those same men blow their brains out... RATHER (VOICE OVER) AND MORE RECENTLY AN ACCOMPLISHED PHOTOGRAPHER -- BUT KENNY ROGERS WILL TELL YOU HE’S JUST A STORYTELLER. ROGERS (SINGING) And you decorated my life Created a world... RATHER (VOICE OVER) BORN INTO POVERTY, HE GOT HIS FIRST BREAK IN JAZZ WITH THE BOBBY DOYLE TRIO. HE FOLLOWED THAT UP WITH A STINT IN THE FOLK GROUP THE NEW CHRISTY MINSTRELS. AND THEN HE FRONTED A ROCK AND ROLL GROUP CALLED THE FIRST EDITION...WHERE HE SANG HITS LIKE RUBY, DON’T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN KENNY ROGERS AND THE FIRST EDITION (SINGING) Oh, Ruby, don’t take your love to town... RATHER (VOICE OVER) BUT IT WAS COUNTRY MUSIC CROSSOVER HITS LIKE LUCILLE THAT CATAPULTED ROGERS TO A NEW LEVEL OF FAME AND FORTUNE ROGERS (SINGING) You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille 5 RATHER (VOICE OVER) IN NASHVILLE, HE IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF LIVING LEGEND... AND IN 2013 WAS INDUCTED INTO THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME - THAT’S WHERE I MET HIM RECENTLY TO HEAR THE TALE OF A MAN WHO GAMBLED ON THE MUSIC BUSINESS... AND WON. RATHER How are you doing? KENNY ROGERS I'm doing good. RATHER I really appreciate you doing this-- ROGERS Oh--I'm happy to do it. My body's fallin' apart. (LAUGH) I don't have original working body parts. Other than-- RATHER Tell me-- (LAUGH) ROGERS --that, I'm good. (LAUGH) RATHER Tell me about it. ROGERS Oh, man. How about you? RATHER Mine went a long time ago. ROGERS 6 Mine-- mine's fallin' apart little by little, (LAUGH) you know? RATHER (VOICE OVER) AS WE SETTLED IN TO TALK, I KNEW WE HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL IN COMMON. WE ARE BOTH PROUD SONS OF HOUSTON, TEXAS - OH SO MANY YEARS AGO. RATHER Well, let's get started-- Kenny. I mean, first of all, tell me about-- tell me who you are. I mean, everybody knows Kenny Rogers, the singer, the legend-- Hall of Fame performer, who are you? ROGERS I think I'm-- I'm a product of my mother. And-- you know, I was born in the projects in Houston. And my mom-- gave-- she had a third grade education, but she had some of the most incredible wisdom. And you live and die by what you learn as a child, you know? 'Cause I remember she told me-- we used to go to church three times a week, down at the First Baptist Church, downtown. And I'd say, "Do we have to go three times a week?" And she said, "Son, you can never be anything more as an adult than what's put into you as a child, so we're goin' to church." So we did. But I mean, she-- the things like that, that she-- not only did she say 'em, but she said 'em with such succinctness, you know, that you really understood. And my dad was an alcoholic, but-- now that I'm older, I think I see why. You know, he came through the World War and he just didn't have a job. There was nothing he could do. I think he-- he got just depressed, that he had to deal with everyday life, and he wasn't dealing very well with it. He was a good man. I always say I got my sense of humor from my father and my sense of values from my mother. RATHER Well, your memoir is filled with sayings-- ROGERS Yeah-- DAN RATHER -that the family gave you as a child? Of your mother's sayings, what is your favorite? ROGERS She told me-- she said, "Son, always be happy where you are. Never be content to be there, but if you're not happy where you are, you'll never be happy." And I thought that was-- you know, c-- when I was in the deep part of my-- the deepest part of my career, she said, "But you're still playin' music. That's all you ever wanted to do. Just relax. Enjoy where you are." 7 And so I think I've always been basically a happy person, and she also said, "You know, you'll be surprised how much people will do for someone they like and how much they won't do for someone they don't like." So, I-- I just thought that was a great piece of advice. RATHER You bet it is. ROGERS And I mean, she just-- she had a third grade education, but she was filled with all these little things and you-- you understood what she meant. She didn't run on for 20 minutes. RATHER And with your father, you said he had a great sense of humor? ROGERS Oh, he-- he-- he was-- he was one of those funny drunks, you know, that-- he-- he drank a lot, 'cause he would go out and try to find a job and couldn't find it. And h-- he'd get a job and he'd come back and hide his money, and it was a game between him and my mom. She would try to find it to buy groceries with it, and-- and she worked two or three jobs. She worked downtown at the Gulf Building, cleaning rooms. And she worked at the hospital. But-- all in all-- the-- the interesting thing is when I look back on my life in the projects, it was a happy childhood. You know, I had four brothers and three sisters, and we were all happy. We didn't know any difference. We didn't think-- we thought everybody was broke. And it was only after I started goin' to school and I don't think until then I realized that-- that we were on the lower rung. But it still didn't matter. You know, I still had a great time and think I had a great attitude. RATHER Well, you've mentioned a couple of times your mother had a third grade education. That was not that uncommon-- ROGERS It wasn't uncommon. I mean, she had a bunch of brothers and sisters, too. And I think they all got about the same amount of education-- it didn't seem to hold her back any, nor-- nor any of the rest of us. All-- I was the first one in my family to graduate from high school. And I went to college. I thought I went two semesters. My mom said two weeks, so somewhere (LAUGH) between two weeks and two semesters. I mean, I-- I can't overemphasize how lucky I was to have had the childhood I've had.