CHER: Back To The Dance Floor!

By Dean Ferguson & Johnny “Lauderdale” Danza...CHER mentioned a few other personal favorites andhighlights and then we asked if there were anyrecordings that she regretted. She thought for amoment and then said, pointedly, “No.” We pressed theissue, albeit gently, just a little bit further byasking if any of her older hits made her shudder whenshe heard them on the radio, but she remainedcheerfully, unshakably steadfast. “I try not toshudder when I hear any of them”, and she clearlydoesn’t care about anyone else’s opinions of themeither. “I remember playing ‘Dark Lady’ for DavidGeffen…and Joni Mitchell was there, and a whole bunchof cool people. And David said, ‘Sweetheart, that songis horrible! Do they have to put it out?’, and I said‘Yeah, Dave…they do!’.” Asked about her favorite songfrom that period, Cher says “I think (it would be)‘The Way Of Love’.It was a really big hit for me, and people reallyloved it. They still love it. I put it back in my showthe last time I toured because people were asking forit.”While still talking about the 1970s, Cher confirmed anoften-repeated industry story concerning VickiLawrence’s blockbuster #1 hit “The Night The LightsWent Out In Georgia”. It had been originally writtenfor her, but Sonny Bono turned it down. “I don’t knowhow Son let me (turn that track down)…I would havedone it if he had wanted me to…if he’d have liked it.Obviously, he didn’t like it.” We then asked how muchcontrol Sonny had over her early 1970s recordings andwe were surprised to learn that he was barely involvedat all. By the time The Sonny & Cher Show took off, hehad turned over the recording controls almost entirelyto producer Snuff Garrett. Cher explained that thetight schedule she was on at the time made Garrett’sefficient style practical, and essential. “I could doa whole album with Snuffy in three days. I’d sing eachsong through two or three times and, if you got it, itwas on to the next one. You have to (understand) whatit was like. We were on the road, I was recording, andwe were doing the Sonny & Cher Show, all at the sametime! I was fried! I did the best that I could(fitting) each obligation into what little time wasalotted.”Many in the industry, ourselves included, had assumedthrough the years that Cher didn’t particularly carefor her biggest hit of the late 1970s, “Take Me Home”.Not true, she told us. She’s as proud of that album asshe is of any of the others, but says that making itproved difficult. “I was kind of cranky at the timebecause (producer) Bob Esty was just such a d—k. Imean, he’s a cool guy now, and he was a nice guybefore that, but at the time he was just a miserables—t. And I really didn’t want to work with him”. Cherattributes Esty’s personal turmoil during that periodto a substance abuse problem that has since beenresolved. “He’s stopped though, and he’s a real coolguy now.”Then, as now, Cher says that she’s always loved dancemusic, just as she has always loved rock & roll. Infact, it’s the labeling, or categorizing of specificmusical genres that she doesn’t particularly care for.“For me, it’s the song, the song itself that makes mewant to do it…not the category or label that you(might want to) put on it. I don’t care about any ofthat. What I care about is the feeling, you know? Theway a song makes you feel. One of my favorite songs is‘Whiter Shade of pale’ by Procol Harem, and I have noidea what that song is about, do you?” We shake ourheads, and she continues. “The point is that itdoesn’t matter. It’s a feeling thing—I feel that songwhen I hear it. When I hear that organ thing play itjust does something (to me) here”, pointing to herheart. She goes on to say that this is how she listensto all songs, and it’s also how she picks them forherself.“I love every song on (the new album) Believe. When Ilisten to this album, I think it’s really consistent,and I’m consistent (on it). I’m more consistent onthis album than I’ve ever been before. I think thatthe songs are all really good, and that my performanceis really good on them.” This matters more to Cherthan one might imagine because, above all else, she’sdetermined to please her fans.She had once been quoted as saying, “It’s not easybeing a Cher fan”, and we asked her what she meant bythat. “Because, in the music business, I’ve never beencool. I’ve always been a hit in spite of it.” She saysthat she’s always had to battle preconceived notionsof who, or what, she was supposed to be, and thelimits that those perceptions placed on her weresometimes difficult to overcome. “When ‘I FoundSomeone’ came out, radio just refused to play us. I(then) did as much TV as I possibly could to letpeople know that the record was out there. I finallyhad to put the video that we made for it into acommercial for Bally Fitness, and that’s how we got itinto people’s minds. Finally, it just got so muchattention, and people started asking for it that radiohad to play it. Before that, radio was just notinterested. Sometimes, it’s amazing to me that I havea recording career at all! It’s just amazing.”Amazing? You bet, but then that’s just one of manydefinitive descriptions that seem apropos when you’retalking about Cher. Resilient is another, andbreath-taking another still. We doubt that any commercial endorsements will be necessary this time.The buzz on Believe is…well, unbelievable! And so isCher. WE BELIEVE!