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[THEME MUSIC] TOM WEBER: Hello, I'm Tom Weber. Thanks for listening to MPR News here on the radio or online or on our podcast. This week, we're replaying some of our favorite interviews from 2017. And this hour, this has to be number one, legendary musician Cornbread Harris.

James Samuel Harris, Sr. or Cornbread came out with a new album earlier this year called Live at the Hook and Ladder. It featured songs that spans his seven-decade career. And when he came by MPR, he had just marked his 90th birthday and survived a big health scare. This interview was part of our summer music series, which is a collection of conversations that I co-hosted with Andrea Swensson from The Current.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Hi, Cornbread.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Hi there.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Thanks so much for coming in.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, thank you so much for having me.

TOM WEBER: Let's hear a song.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Let's hear a song.

ANDREA SWENSSON: [CHUCKLES]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: OK, I wrote this for my son. And many people have aspirations for their children and what they believe their children are going to become. And my son didn't become none of these things.

[LAUGHTER]

[CORNBREAD HARRIS, "COOL RIDER"]

(SINGING) Started on the drag strip motorcycle hill

Set a brand new record when he drove that Bonneville

Ride on

Ride on

Ride on, cool rider

You know you're real, real gone

Went up in a jet plane a hundred miles out

When the kid got back, you should have heard the people shout

Ride on

Ride on

Ride on, cool rider

You know you're real, real gone

Went up in a rocket ship with lots of smoke and dust

Written on the rocket ship, "to the moon or bust"

Ride on

Ride on

Ride on, cool rider

You know you're real, real gone

Ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on

Ride on, cool rider

You know you're real, real gone

Ah, woo

Went up in a rocket ship a hundred miles out

When he got back, you should have heard the people shout

Ride on

Ride on

Ride on, cool rider

You know you're real, real gone

Ride on, ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on

Ride on, cool rider

You know you're real, real

(SPEAKING) Yes, you are.

(SINGING) Ride on, ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on, ride on

Ride on, ride on

[HUMMING]

TOM WEBER: Cornbread Harris in Studio M. Is that song called "Ride On" or "Ride On, Cool Rider?"

CORNBREAD HARRIS: "Cool Rider," "Ride On, Cool Rider."

ANDREA SWENSSON: Fantastic.

TOM WEBER: You're 90, you don't play like you're a day over 89.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Thank you.

[LAUGHTER]

Oh, I'm a couple days over that, yes. Uh-huh. So yeah, you're a little bit behind. But that's OK. I don't think you'll ever catch up either.

[LAUGHTER]

TOM WEBER: How are you doing? You were in the hospital recently.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, my goodness. A week ago yesterday, I was called away from my house in the ambulance.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Oh, no.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah, and they said, hurry up with this guy. And then the light went on. [MIMICS AMBULANCE SIREN]

ANDREA SWENSSON: Oh, no.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, yeah. And that guy was fumbling over me. And he's sticking tubes up my nose and stuff. And Mr. Harris, Mr. Harris. I said, what do you want?

[LAUGHTER]

I'm not going nowhere. But anyway, they took me to the emergency and they rushed me into the room. And right away, the specialist came in. And the specialist-- that's a special group of people. They only know one thing in their whole life.

They got this machine that they run. And OK, so this is the so-and-so scope. And this is the so-and-so scope. And this is-- and so they ran me through about three of those machines. And each one knew better than the other person because their machine tells them more than this other guy's machine does.

So when they got through doing that, they put-- wheeled me off into the room. Silence, nothing, didn't hear nothing from anybody. They went in, what's going on here? They have deserted me. And so they came in with the needle right away.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Oh, boy.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Kaboom! In the stomach. Oh, what are you guys doing? Well, this is a certain thing that's going to make you feel better. Well, it's a shame that something that's going to make you feel better hurt you so much on the way in. But anyway--

TOM WEBER: This is the funniest story about a pulmonary embolism I've ever heard.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: That's the name of this thing. I'm in a good place where these people know something.

[LAUGHTER]

OK. So the pulmonary--

TOM WEBER: Embolism.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: --embolism could be slowed down or stopped or whatever by this shot.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Sure.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: And then they called the name of it, which was ridiculous, and gave my wife a great big old box of things, just needles to stick in me.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Wow.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: In fact, I delayed my action today. I'm sure glad Mr. Chris Mossina came by early--

TOM WEBER: Yeah?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: --because my wife said, well, he can't go now. I'm giving him a shot.

[LAUGHTER]

So he said, well, I'm going to go get some coffee and come back. So he went and got some coffee. I got my shot. He came back and sat and waited patiently for me.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Aww.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: And then after we got here, he said, don't worry about it, Cornbread. We're on time.

TOM WEBER: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Phew.

ANDREA SWENSSON: [LAUGHS]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: I've been worried the whole time. Look, I'm holding up the guy and everything. How am I going to get to this wonderful station that people have invited me to?

ANDREA SWENSSON: Well, Cornbread, the thing that blows my mind is that you were just hospitalized, but you were already back in action playing at the Loring Pasta Bar a few days later?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh. OK, so I was in the hospital Sunday, Monday, Tuesday-- I believe Tuesday night, I was going to sign myself out.

[LAUGHTER]

TOM WEBER: Make a break for it?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah. And I think I had convinced him by Tuesday night.

TOM WEBER: You're allowed to take some time off when you have a blood clot in your lung. I think that's--

CORNBREAD HARRIS: What?

TOM WEBER: That's the point we're trying to make here. But it's fine if you don't because we're glad you're here.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: OK. I survived that. And like I said, I played Friday. And it was so nice because people who had heard public radio and public television came out. And that's the reason they came out. We heard you on our device here that we watch or listen to. And so I had a nice little group of people there.

TOM WEBER: That's great.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: So the management said, wow, this guy even draws on the days when we're not supposed to hardly have nobody. So it is one of the things I like to tell people. And I don't want to go into my deacon thing here, but I guess I gotta do it.

God is so good to me that he would bring me from last Sunday through Saturday, through this Sunday, and over here. It's just-- OK.

[LAUGHTER]

That might be the end of the sermon. But it probably won't, but anyway.

ANDREA SWENSSON: [LAUGHS] Cornbread, I was thinking about how long you've been making music here in Minnesota. You participated in the first rock and roll song to ever come out of this state back in 1955. Is it true that you co-wrote "Hi Ho Silver" with Augie Garcia?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: You-- where did you get that from?

[LAUGHTER]

The research team here is amazing. Oh, OK. Yeah, that's very true.

ANDREA SWENSSON: What do you remember about that?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: I think about that often. I'm going along with Augie on the set. And I'm going to

[PLAYING PIANO TUNES]

I told you I could play this one song, Right?

TOM WEBER: Yeah.

[PIANO MELODY]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: You thought that was the wrong note. I know what I was doing.

TOM WEBER: [LAUGHS]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: So this is what-- I was doing this with the band.

(SINGING) Going to Chicago

Sorry that I can't take you

Going to Chicago

Sorry that I can't take you

'Cause there ain't nothing in Chicago that a monkey woman like you can do

(SPEAKING) So several choruses in, Augie takes over the thing because he's the leader of the group. And I'm in the background doing my thing. And he comes in talking about--

(SINGING) Six more months, we're going on the road, baby

(SPEAKING) To my song, he's just murdering my song.

TOM WEBER: [LAUGHS]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: (SINGING) Six more months, we're going on the road, baby

Don't ask me where I'm going, baby

'cause I don't know, bay

Don't know, baby

(SPEAKING) And then I hired this saxophone player, Willie Brown.

[WORDLESS SINGING]

Whatever. And then we're going to be singing. What are we going to be singing, Augie? Well, we're going to be like "The Lone Ranger." And then they went into William Tell overture. Oh, kemosabe? No. Get em up, scout? No.

Well, what are you going to be singing, Augie? Oh, what? Oh, you're going to sing what?

(SINGING) You're singing hi ho

Hi ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi Ho, Silver away

(SPEAKING) Big hit.

(SINGING) Singing hi ho

Hi ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi Ho, Silver, hi ho.

Hi Ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi ho, Silver, hi ho

Hi Ho, Silver away

(SPEAKING) Yeah. So "Hi Ho Silver--"

ANDREA SWENSSON: Yeah.

[LAUGHTER]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: He ruined my song "Going to Chicago." And next thing, we got this rock and roll beat going back there because the drummer was fabulous. Oh, man. Yeah, I suppose you got his name on your sheet, too.

TOM WEBER: I don't know. I think, Cornbread, we're done. You're the new host of the show.

[LAUGHTER]

Because I'm done, I don't need to be here. You--

ANDREA SWENSSON: It's a one-man show, yeah.

TOM WEBER: And you host--

ANDREA SWENSSON: This every day.

TOM WEBER: Yeah, every day. I'm heading out.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Will you give me the research papers and I just--

TOM WEBER: Yeah, you just do your thing. I think that'd be way better.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah.

ANDREA SWENSSON: What an incredible opportunity to be in the studio here and Cornbread Harris played the first rock and roll song to ever come out of this state in-- and what is it, 62 years later? Still going strong, what an incredible gift you're giving us right now. Thank you.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, goodness.

TOM WEBER: When did you start? How old were you when you--

CORNBREAD HARRIS: OK. My grandparents thought that I should have some culture. So by this time, I'm 17 or 18, 16 years old, going to Saint Bernard's School out on Rice Street in Saint Paul and mechanic arts, Downtown, Saint Paul.

They even sent me off to Cretin, the military school. I went to Washington High right in the neighborhood. But they thought I should take music, and I didn't think so. So I skipped my music lessons, bought candy and ice cream for my friends with the money. It worked pretty good for almost a month.

[LAUGHTER]

And then the teacher called the house and said, where's Jimmy? That's my-- James is my name. And the teacher told my grandmother that Jimmy is not at his lesson. What?

[LAUGHTER]

No, and he hasn't been here for a few weeks. What? OK. I came home, I still had some change that I had to hide because I couldn't spend up that money. all of it. My friends were full of ice cream and stuff.

[LAUGHTER]

Everybody had a bag of potato chips. So I got the money he had. And whilst she's talking to me, she says, well, how did it go? I said oh, I told a lie right there. boom. As quick as you could get my mouth open, I said, oh, it's going pretty good, except the teacher's very strict. And she's got this song that I got to play a little bit better.

[PIANO MELODY]

Long, long ago.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Well, that sounds pretty different from the music you've been playing today.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Well, I've advanced just a smidgen.

TOM WEBER: Just a little bit?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah. So I had that song down pretty good, but I fumbled and stumbled in front of my grandma about it. And she wants the song better than that.

TOM WEBER: But she gave you what for, didn't she?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, she just gave me the little runaround thing, you see.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, my granddad was a railroad man. And he wasn't a Pullman porter or any of that. He was a-- one that says all aboard!

TOM WEBER: Oh, yeah, yeah, a conductor.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Conductor.

TOM WEBER: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: And the reason he was a conductor that he got by with it, he was mulatto, so he didn't look Negro. So he got by being a white person [LAUGHS] and got the good job. But he would go out on the road a few weeks, a few days, and come home and go out on whatever train he was supposed to conduct.

And my grandmother said, I'm going to tell your granddad. He was a disciplinarian. So she didn't tell him for a couple of weeks. So a couple of weeks, my granddad said, your grandma told me what you been up to. And you're going to get a whipping.

Now, that-- can you imagine you got this looking over your head? And you're trying to make your life every day, you're going to get a whipping. You get up in the morning, you're going to get a whipping. You go to bed at night, you're going to get a whipping.

So he went out on the road a few times. So one of the second or third time he came in off the road, he said, come on down the basement. So I went down to the basement. He went in the bathroom upstairs and got the razor strap, which he honed the razors to make them good and sharp so that you didn't cut yourself.

Now, I never did figure that out. To sharpen the razor, the less chance you got of cutting yourself.

TOM WEBER: [CHUCKLES]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: But anyway. So they brought the razor strap down and wore me out. He said, better you get a whipping here than end up in the jailhouse. That was their thought then.

TOM WEBER: Why did-- what did you-- there was a point after you faked the first lessons or so. But there had to be a point where you started to like it, right? You're doing it decades later. What was it about the piano that just said, OK, I'm going to stay with the piano?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: The piano was my third choice. I was born bowlegged and pigeon-toed. And I was in Cook County Hospital for I don't know how many years. When I ended up in St. Paul after being in many foster homes with my grandparents at 1144 Hand Avenue-- it's called Virginia now.

And I was going to Gillette Hospital in St. Paul, getting my leg broke, having them in a cast, and then see how I came out after the cast was taken off. I got pictures. If I sent them to your station and you broadcast them, you could get a big fundraiser going. I really looked bad, boy.

Then after that, after they said, oh, that looks pretty straight. And I was only still only slightly pigeon-toed by that time. And they said, OK, that's enough of that, went to physical therapy. And they got me so I could walk.

Now, this was the great thing. People walk every day like it ain't no big deal. But I realized what a blessing it is to be able to walk. So I did it, OK. So I wanted to be an athlete then. I can walk. OK, pretty soon, I could jog a little bit. And then pretty soon, I could run a little bit.

So I got on the track team, B squad. I got on the baseball team, B squad. I got on the football team, B squad. I never made it to the A team. But I was so happy that I was able to be on any kind of team at all, where these other people were taking it for granted.

Oh, this quarterback could [IMITATES RUNNING]. And this linebacker could step off and hit somebody and go back over here. But I am feeling so blessed. And I keep saying this-- oh, I'm back to my ministry.

TOM WEBER: That's OK. Deacon Cornbread.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: No. So anyway, I did that. Pole vault, high jump, hop, skip, and jump and all that fun stuff, which was cool. So I made it to high school, except for the last four weeks or five weeks or whatever.

And I went into the service. And then I didn't think I was going to go because of my-- not being able to make any kind of team [CHUCKLES] except B squad. And then they bucked me up some more. So pack on my back, Infantry, US Army, oh, yeah.

TOM WEBER: Mm-hmm.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, yeah. I got pretty tough then. OK, so I went miles and miles with a backpack. So that's another blessing.

They throw the name of everybody in the camp, enlistees and stuff, in a big old barrel and pull the names out. And whatever names they pull out, you're gone, baby. Out of all year and a half of pulling names out of that barrel, my name never came out.

TOM WEBER: To go to war-- World War II?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: World War II. My name never came out of that barrel. And of course, now by this time, they have trained me to be a killer. And I'm an expert marksman. I need to put some bullets in somebody.

And I didn't get to do it. And they had psyched me out so bad, I felt bad about that. And so soldiers, when they come back with this syndrome, they have educated you to be a killer. And you're doing it for all the right reasons-- defending your country, making it better for your family.

You're doing all this, that's why you're killing this other guy over here. So I felt pretty bad. So when they asked me to re-up-- and I had gone to military school and stuff, so they said, if you re-up, I'll make you a corporal. I said, no, thanks. No, thank you.

And so before I got into this re-up thing, I was a truck driver and an MP since I was good with firearms. And I used to go to pick up troops at the station. Man, another hallelujah, thank you, God, that my name didn't come out of that pail.

People have come back from there with their plates in their head, arms and legs gone and minds just completely washed away. Man, I'm thinking, I could have been one of these people here.

Oh, man, you talk about thank you.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, man. And so I played music in the dayroom for the soldiers. And I say--

[PIANO MUSIC]

TOM WEBER: [LAUGHS]

ANDREA SWENSSON: [LAUGHS]

TOM WEBER: I know that one.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Oh, yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: And they said, oh, my goodness. You play the piano. Oh, yeah.

[PIANO TUNE]

So I couldn't play none of those songs well. But it's surprising. And I found this out also after I got better and I went to Smith music and bought a chord book and studied chords. Oh, man. Then I got really dangerous.

OK, so I'm playing out to a golf club, where this guy had a fabulous piano player, had been playing, right? And I thought, oh my god, what am I doing out here with this guy after him playing? And somebody came up to me and said, can you play "Bonaparte's Retreat?"

I said, what? He said, "Bonaparte's Retreat," he knows the song. And he loves the song and the whole thing. And I said, uh-oh, I'm in trouble now. So I got a bunch of music that I carry. I had this one book, 1000 Songs, And the song was in there.

And so I turned to the page, right? So I'm trying to play my regular stuff.

[PIANO MELODY]

Brought my usual stuff, right? So I'm watching the page a little bit.

[PIANO TUNE]

(SINGING) Bonaparte's retreat

(SPEAKING) The guy comes up there and starts patting me on the back and hugging me and put $50 in the tip jar.

TOM WEBER: Wow. [LAUGHS]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: What?

[LAUGHTER]

Then that woke me, really woke me up that I don't care how bad you play, if you do try to play the person's request and you stumble through it quite good or not so good, they appreciate it very, very much.

So I don't have to be a Stravinski or somebody as long as I can stumble through these people's songs.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Do you think that helped you to develop your own style, though, having to learn all these different kinds of songs that people wanted to hear?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Well, after I got my cord thing in my brain, then I started buying music books. I said, OK, what's this song?

[PIANO MUSIC]

What's the name of that?

ANDREA SWENSSON: [CHUCKLES]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Nobody knows.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Pop quiz.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Huh?

TOM WEBER: Well, you work for The Current, Andrea.

ANDREA SWENSSON: I don't know, I'm sorry.

TOM WEBER: You work for the music station.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, the music side, huh?

TOM WEBER: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: OK. "When the Saints Go Marching In."

ANDREA SWENSSON: [LAUGHS]

TOM WEBER: Oh, was it?

[LAUGHTER]

Really?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: See? See that when you mess it up like that, nobody knows what you're doing. That's all right. And so that's all there is to it. All a song needs is a melody and a accompaniment. That's all it is. So this gives guitar players a big advantage over the rest of the music world.

If you can comp, what they call it, chords, you can, [INAUDIBLE]. If you know the melody and then you say, what chord would fit here? What chord would fit here? What chord would fit here? And you start slipping those chords in there and then whoa. And then you got here.

[PIANO MELODY]

[HUMMING]

Oh, my goodness.

ANDREA SWENSSON: That's gorgeous.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: I get carried away. I'm sorry.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Can you tell us how you got your name "Cornbread?"

CORNBREAD HARRIS: OK. So I'm going along with my group, Huckleberry Finn, Cornbread and Friends. Four Seasons, I think the nightclub was called, Northeast Minneapolis. And at the time, it was very prejudiced in the area.

But I had a Negro guitar player, a Negro drummer, and myself, trio. And my guitar player was Vernon Coffee, tremendous guitar player. And that always helps, to surround yourself with top quality musicians. If you can't play but two notes, it's all right because you play them two notes, they will make you sound good.

And then what was so killing then, they enjoyed bolstering me up. They enjoyed bolstering me up. And so they put me at the head of the thing and they played all the music.

TOM WEBER: [CHUCKLES]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: But then, of course, my chords started to fit in to what they were doing. And they started fitting themselves into what I was doing. And so I ended up with Cornbread and Friends.

ANDREA SWENSSON: OK, so you got to be the star.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah, I got to be myself in the Star. So every band I would get in after that, I'm Star Cornbread.

[LAUGHTER]

So I wrote the song called "Cornbread." And I asked the people in the audience to please put in your earplugs--

[LAUGHTER]

--because this is rock and roll at its finest. And I don't want you to get busted eardrums or anything. So I want to protect you from me.

TOM WEBER: Got it.

ANDREA SWENSSON: We're ready.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah. I don't know how the engineer is going to get by with this here, but.

[PIANO MUSIC]

You know I yell, right? OK, I'm going to yell, sound person.

[CORNBREAD HARRIS, "CORNBREAD"] Cornbread every morning

Cornbread every night

Cornbread in the forenoon

Everything will be all right

I said cornbread

I said cornbread

Cornbread, I love the good cornbread

Collard greens and cornbread

Chitlins and cornbread

Oxtails and cornbread

Hog maws and cornbread

(SPEAKING) And so I named a whole bunch of foods, see? Like that, see? And then I go to religions.

(SINGING) Catholic folks see cornbread

Lutheran folks see cornbread

Presbyterians eat cornbread

(SPEAKING) OK, I go to a bunch of religions. Then I go to what kind of jobs people have.

(SINGING) Cab drivers like cornbread

Bartenders like cornbread

(SPEAKING) Then I go, we'll whip a long list of songs. Then I go--

(SINGING) Got a girl named Boony Maroney

Eats cornbread

Every Sunday, cornbread

Cornbread

Cornbread

I love the good cornbread

Scooby, dooby, dooby,

Scoo, yoo, bap

Scooby, dooby, dooby,

Scoo, yoo, bap

Scooby doo, scooby doo, scooby doo

Scooby doo, scooby doo, scooby doo

Scooby, dooby, dooby,

Scoo, yoo, bap

Scooby, dooby, dooby, dooby

Cornbread

(SPEAKING) Yeah, cornbread, baby.

(SINGING) Scooby, dooby, dooby

Scoo, yoo, bap

Scooby, dooby, dooby

Scoo, yoo, bap

Scooby doo, scooby doo, scooby doo

Scooby doo, scooby doo, Scooby doo

Scooby, dooby, dooby

Scoo, yoo, bap

Scooby, dooby, dooby

Scoo, yoo, bap

I said corn--

[DEEP INHALE]

--bread

(SPEAKING) That's how come the "Cornbread."

ANDREA SWENSSON: [CHUCKLES]

TOM WEBER: My goodness.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Wow, that was amazing.

TOM WEBER: So neither of us have ever had a pulmonary embolism.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: You haven't? Maybe you need to get one so you could--

ANDREA SWENSSON: I don't think I can sing like that.

TOM WEBER: We couldn't hold a note like that.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Ah. So then, after I deleted that one on my recording, then I go up a octave and hold the note.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Wow.

TOM WEBER: Wow.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Incredible.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh.

ANDREA SWENSSON: We are in the studio right now with Cornbread Harris. The new record is called Live at the Hook and Ladder. Cornbread also just celebrated his 90th birthday. My name is Andrea Swensson, host of The Local Show on the current here with Tom Weber.

TOM WEBER: Again, I don't think we need to be here right now, Andrea, because Cornbread can take this on himself.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh.

TOM WEBER: One of the many interesting things about you is that you are the father of a man people know here in the music world, of Jimmy Jam.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, yeah. Jimmy Jam, that's right. Earlier, I did--

ANDREA SWENSSON: "Cool Rider?"

CORNBREAD HARRIS: "Cool Rider."

TOM WEBER: That's right.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Was that for him?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: That's for him and about him. Like I say, he didn't turn out to be any of those things. He turned out to be a musician--

TOM WEBER: That's right.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: --and a publisher and a writer and of course, a band leader with his friend Terry Lewis.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Right.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah.

TOM WEBER: They were with the Time. And then they went off and worked with Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey and all of them, so. Was that a conscious decision? Like, hey, Jimmy Jam or-- I guess he wasn't Jimmy Jam at the time, but--

CORNBREAD HARRIS: He called his own self that.

TOM WEBER: Did he?

ANDREA SWENSSON: He did?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: He named his own self that. He wrote it on his baseball bats and stuff.

ANDREA SWENSSON: (CHUCKLING) Oh.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: And so that's what he ended up calling himself.

TOM WEBER: Did you try to pass on the music, though, or did it just happen?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, well-- well, I taught him.

[PIANO MUSIC]

I taught him that.

[LAUGHTER]

ANDREA SWENSSON: And he took it and ran.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: He took it and ran, him and his buddy Terry. Terry was a bass player.

TOM WEBER: Mm-hmm.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah, and between the two of them-- and Jimmy was a drummer before that. He picked up sticks and keep a good rhythm. And the last song we played together was "Dock of the Bay."

ANDREA SWENSSON: Aww, that's nice.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: That was on Legion over on Broadway, north of Minneapolis.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Wow.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah, so I'll always remember that one. And from there on, he went to Mind & Matter, Flyte Tyme, and then Time.

TOM WEBER: [CHUCKLES]

CORNBREAD HARRIS: And then because he went out with Prince and led the band, Prince's group, in the revolution and all that bunch. And they got along quite well. They went on the road twice.

And then, of course, Prince became like, woo. [CHUCKLES] Way out of proportion, blew up there. And he ended up firing Jimmy and them guys, like, hey, you guys are holding me back. [LAUGHS]

ANDREA SWENSSON: I think that speaks to Jimmy's talent, though, that Prince was threatened.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: But no, they couldn't hold him back. But they had to segue onto a different road because this road belonged to Prince. If you want to do anything, you got to go down this other road over here And which he did.

And he mentored many people in the music business. And the one that got quite advertised was the Janet Jackson thing. And once Janet came out with him and highly touting him and him highly touting her, mutual admiration society.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Right.

TOM WEBER: That's right.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: They had it going on. And she was driving his Jeep around town and stuff.

[LAUGHTER]

But anyway, I can't think of-- all of my hardships ended up to be blessings. I could complain about this or complain about, oh, they had to haul me off into the ambulance. Well, that was a week ago, two days later for that foolishness. This week, I am here in rare form.

TOM WEBER: Yes.

ANDREA SWENSSON: I agree.

TOM WEBER: I agree with you completely. That's the best thing you've said all day.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: I'm writing a sign-- I'm writing a song "There Ain't No Stopping Me Now."

ANDREA SWENSSON: [LAUGHS] That's appropriate.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah, and I think I've got the tracings of it on a couple of CDs back. But I want to embellish it and really push it. And I start out with, OK, you guys don't steal my copyright.

TOM WEBER: All right. Are you going to do the song here real time?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Well, I can say a few words.

TOM WEBER: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: I've been mixing the batter. No choice in the matter. I'm the cream of the crop. And like the cream, I'm going to rise to the top. And then I went on to say my hardships, through those hardships that strengthened me, made me stronger, made me able to get along in places that other people said, you can't go there, you can't do this. That was a challenge right there. So don't tell me what Cornbread can't do now because-- [CHUCKLES] oh.

ANDREA SWENSSON: I wouldn't dare.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah.

TOM WEBER: I love--

CORNBREAD HARRIS: The cream of the crop, going to rise to the top.

TOM WEBER: Well, I've never had someone storyboard a song in front of me during interviews, so I appreciate it.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Storyboard! Oh.

TOM WEBER: That's what you're doing. You're-- you're brainstorming it. I love it. Usually people come in here, the song is ready to go. But no, you're still-- I love that.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: I'm working on more tunes all the time.

ANDREA SWENSSON: I love that.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Even if I got one that's already in the can, I can work on it and bring it back out more, so.

TOM WEBER: You did one before we started recording that. I'd love you to play again. It's called "Put the World Back Together."

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh.

TOM WEBER: Will you do that for us?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yeah. I started out naturally.

[PIANO MUSIC] Haven't we had enough debate?

Did I hear someone say, let's wait?

Why don't we get together before it's too late to put the world back together?

Put the world back together

Put the world back together again

Ride in the country, sounds insane

Smell your polluted water, feel your acid rain [LAUGHS]

Cut down your forest

Why don't you plant them back again?

I said, put the world back together

Put the world back together

Put the world back together again

Politicians are talking fear and hate

Or someone say, let's have a war and blow them all away

(SPEAKING) That's stupid.

(SINGING) Can't you hear me when I say, put the world back together?

Put the world back together

Put the world back together again

Oh, mm

Put the world back together

Put the world back together

Put the world back together again

(SPEAKING) One last time.

(SINGING) Put the world back together

Put the world back together

Put the world back together again

TOM WEBER: Unreal, man.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Beautiful.

TOM WEBER: Mm.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Thank you so much.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, yeah. So that would go along with my ministerial thing, to tell the people, look, you guys got to look out for this world. You can't just keep polluting it and destroying it. You got to look out for your neighbors. You can't just be running over folks trying to get ahead of everybody.

TOM WEBER: Yeah.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Well--

TOM WEBER: Cornbread--

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Yes, sir.

TOM WEBER: --we've come to an end.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Come to a what?

TOM WEBER: Well, come to this end for this conversation.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Although this could go for hours, I think.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh.

ANDREA SWENSSON: We would love to just have you come back every day.

TOM WEBER: Are you going to play one more song for us?

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, yeah. I'd like to play a talking song. Ooh, talking. I'm running my mouth.

[PIANO MUSIC]

[HUMMING]

Oh, this is my blues type song, where you get heartbroken and mistreated and all that stuff. And this was the chord progression I played earlier. [GRUNTS]

[HUMMING]

Mm-hmm, my song.

(SINGING) bam, bam, bam

Bam, bap

[GRUNTS]

Bam, bam

Mm-hmm.

(SINGING) Bam, bam

(SPEAKING) The point of attack is behind the back.

(SINGING) Treat him any way that you choose

(SPEAKING) Take a little time off. Don't hurry back. You haven't got a damn thing to lose. [CHUCKLES]

Eat at his table, your children and you, because he's very, very able. And he wants to do for you. Go ahead and hurt him. Mm-hmm, you got it made. But you can always ask him, How are you doing, baby?

Never, never tell him the way that you feel. Please don't tell him that your love is not real. Promise to love him until the end. And when you cut out what I tell you, ask him, can't we still be friends?

Change your mind. Apologize. Tell him you did not read all night. Put him through some changes. Make him pay his dues.

(SINGING) You find out he really loves you

Teach him the Deeper Blues

(SPEAKING) Mm. Mm-hmm?

TOM WEBER: Cornbread, I'm not exactly sure what just happened over this last hour. But I feel like my life's different. And I want to thank you so much for being here.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh.

ANDREA SWENSSON: Thank you so much, Cornbread.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Well, thank you so much for having me. And I enjoyed myself tremendously. So what are we going to do for the next hour now?

[LAUGHTER]

TOM WEBER: Fair question.

ANDREA SWENSSON: We'll keep it going off air.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Oh, OK.

ANDREA SWENSSON: And happy birthday as well to Cornbread, who just turned 90.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: Thank you so very much. Thank you, thank you, ladies and gentlemen of the viewing, of the listening of whoever audience. I enjoyed you and I hope you enjoyed me. Amen.

TOM WEBER: That's the legendary piano player, rock and roll pioneer, Cornbread Harris joined us this summer as part of a series of interviews I co-hosted with Andrea Swensson from The Current. When he came by the studio, Cornbread had just turned 90 and had put out a new album called Live at the Hook and Ladder.

If you want to see him perform this Saturday morning at the Ice House in Minneapolis, he will be there at 11:00 in the morning. That's this-- no, I'm sorry. That's not this Saturday. That's Saturday, January 6. Sorry about that.

Saturday, January 6, 11:00 in the morning at Ice House.

CORNBREAD HARRIS: (SINGING) Terrible

Terrible, terrible

Terrible blues

[CHEERING]

Oh, man. What kind of blues have you got? Oh, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible blues.