+ XM Radio 76 Offstage 2/24/2007 +

»Japanese translation«

Thanks to Rico1130 for translation & transcription.

Hey, everybody! This is Josh Groban.
I am thrilled to be here at XM Radio to be in here for the day to play you some of my favorite songs and a few things that I have done on my own recently.

And I don't really get a lot of chances to do this, so, you know, my thanks to XM for givin' me the chance to come here and do it.

First time in my whole life I can remember music, I was very very small. I must have been two. And my dad brought home, a very kind of retro, Casio, synthesizer, with like five buttons on it, it wasn't very big, and you know, I just, I would, just, slam on the keys, and just played, just, I would hold my hand over, every note possible, and just hold it there and my parents would go, “woooow......” you know. And for me it was just playing around with sounds. And that's my earliest memory.
I wasn't really making much beautiful music, but...my parents were really great for me, growing up, and in terms of, giving me you know, an arts education of my own as far as taking me out to things you know.
Growing up in Los Angeles, I really, was fortunate enough to be in the kind of melting pot of the city as far as cultural activity, and um, so I used to go to concerts, I used to go to theatre, I used to go to things like Cirque de Soleil and Stomp, and River Dance, and all the stuff that would come by, and I would be inspired by all sorts of stuff. That combined with the fact that my parents would really buy me lots of music when I was younger, to listen to.

I am gonna start you off with the song that is one of my favourites by one of my favorite, favorite artists. It's Bjork, with Human Behaviour, on “Off Stage” on XM.


Hi, this is Josh Groban. And you are listening to Off Stage on XM.

My musical heroes and the greatest thing I'd like take from them is, the confidence to be unique. The confidence to be yourself.
The people that I admire, are the people where I say, you know, well, they're just so obviously, just .....them. You know, there's no one else like them.
They're...it's not that I like them because I like this kind of music therefore I'm gonna buy every style of this kind of music. I just like them because they're, they've obviously brought some onto the table that probably was not easy, probably wasn't an easy sell, probably took a long time to get there, but in the end, you know made the music world so much better. These are people, that I'm inspired by. So I like to just go by the motto of just going where music thrills you. You know, just, period. Just going, you know....'cause life is too short, and um....you know.....a lot of times you know, in the business side of things, you know, things get icky ....and you have to....you just have to go back to that place where you just don't stop until you get goose bumps, and even though, even though your head might be giving you warning signs, I think the fans ultimately will respond, because it came from the right place.

That first song, "Human Behaviour", was co-produced by my friend Marius de Vries, who I got the great privilege of working with on this album and we produced ....we did four songs together. And let's just....you know Bjork is incredible. She's always pushing the boundaries and kind of changing the way people feel about pop music.

Another person who's definitely done that, is Paul Simon with "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes". That Graceland album really was, one of the first albums for me that, inspired me to kind of cross-pollinate genres, and you know, I think kind of open up the world really, to that great tapestry of sound that comes out of that part of the world in Africa. And certainly inspired me on my new album to work with, the group you heard on that song, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It was great thrill for me. And their heart and their soul really really comes across on that song.

And the third song you heard in there was the song, the song I wrote with my friend Eric Mouquet, called "Remember When It Rained". And it's a song that I recorded a few years ago and I've put it on the new Hallmark CD that I've just released for Valentine's Day. And it is exclusively at Hallmark Gold Crown stores. And it was a lot of fun to be part of the project. It's a great time of year, I've done a lot of songs that deal with the many themes of love, and it's.....it's a great CD. It allowed me to put together songs that I'd already done and there's a couple of new songs in there as well. And that is one of the ones that I had recorded, called Remember When It Rained.

And we're gonna go right back into one of my favorite rock bands of the moment. It's Muse. "Butterflies and Hurricanes". And you're listening to Off Stage on XM.


You're listening to Off Stage on XM. This is Josh Groban. I'm in for the day playing some of my favourite tunes.

That was a great set of three incredible rock songs. I've always been a fan of rock music. And I've always been a fan of the drums, and so, you know, this song, the song you've just heard, "Once" by Pearl Jam, that album, the Ten album, to me was one of the most influential rock albums of that time. And, you know it's hard to pick a song off that album. But that's one of my favourites. ....

Depeche Mode, "Personal Jesus", I've just always loved this song, I think it really you know expresses the craziness of the fanaticism and ... extremisms, and so....it's just a great, great song.

And Muse, the first song that I played here. I like Muse a lot, because, they use a lot of different influences in their rock music. You can hear a lot of classical influences even, in the way that they use their instruments, they're, you know they're using the same instruments as every other rock band, they've got guitar, drums and base, but they're really using them in the ways that I hadn't heard before. And I think that song really, for me at least demonstrates their willingness to explore, the genres, which I think is really cool.

And I'm gonna go on right now to a band that I've liked for a really really long time. It's Dave Mathews Band and it's off the newest album called American Baby. This is Josh Groban, and you're listening Off Stage on XM.


Hey, you're listening to Off Stage on XM. This is Josh Groban, your kinda-sorta DJ for this moment.

And that was the song you just heard from my new album Awake. You heard a song before it, by the incredible Imogen Heap, and before that you heard a song by Dave Mathews. I had just such an amazing time, writing with both Dave and with Imogen on this new album. I worked with Dave on a song called "Lullaby" that I actually recorded with Ladysmith Black Mambazo that I mentioned earlier.

And Imogen Heap to me is one of the most exciting musical minds to come around in a very very long time. I first saw her in concert in Los Angeles, it was just her surrounded by slue of keyboards and buttons and all sorts of different gadgets, and she was able to really recreate every sound off her album live. I was so impressed. I kind of went up to her and said, you know "I'm Josh." and "I don't really do what you do. I've got kind of a classical voice, but how would you like to kind of experiment with something? And if you had the time, I'd love to try writing something with you." She took that risk and so we went to London and worked on a song together. And that song is "Now or never" that you heard as the final song in that set. And maybe one day we'll do like a vocal duet, but we just, we wrote that song and she produced and played piano on it. And it's one of my favourites that I've done. I think she really shows her personality on it. And I was very proud to work with her.

And, I'm gonna go now to an artist that I've just always been inspired by. It's Annie Lennox and the song that, I am not sure a lot of people've heard it was, it won the Oscar, for best song couple of years ago, from the Lord of the Rings. And I think it is one of the most beautiful vocal performances that she's done. It's Annie Lennox and "Into the West", and you're listening to Off Stage on XM. I'm Josh Groban.


Hey, I'm Josh Groban and you're listening to Off Stage on XM.

Those were a few songs, one of them was different than the other two, which one of these is not like the other.
The first one was by, like I said, one of my favourite artists, Annie Lennox, and the song "Into the West" from the Lord of the Rings. Just, you know, she's just one of the greatest pop singers, female pop singers, you know, known to men. And for me, she was an inspiration to me because she was, one of the, you know, one of the first people that I listen to that I felt wasn't afraid to use a big voice in pop music. And certainly with this song, she's also not afraid to use a big orchestra, in pop music. I think it's a great combination of classical and pop.

And Peter Gabriel, "Salisbury Hill". You know, it's....what can I say about Peter Gabriel? He is...you know...he's an incredible ground breaker, he pushes the boundaries, he makes you think. And this is one of the grooviest songs in the seven time signature that I've ever heard. And it's ....you know, one of my favourites of his. He's also been a great inspiration for me.

And lastly, I played you a song from a musical that inspired me when I was younger. I am also kind of a musical theatre geek, and theatre was really what I wanted to do when I was younger. And the whole kind of courier path that followed was very unexpected for me. But when I first started singing, for me what I wanted to do was I wanted to be in one of those big voice musical theatre shows. I thought that was kind of what my goal was gonna be so.....I would listen to you know, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Stephen Sondheim, and ....

Stephen Sondheim I think is one of the greatest geniuses of composition, period. And, Sweeny Todd, is one of his greatest masterpieces and this is kind of the song that best represents the mood of that entire show. And this particular version was from the newest version of Sweeny Todd that just closed on Broadway, but it was very cut-down, usually it's with full orchestra and this was....this was the version where the actors had to play their own instruments, it was very cut-down and I was actually pretty skeptical about that concept, when I heard about it. But what wound up doing was it wound up really exposing more Sondheim's brilliance, as far as his cord structure in the way he, the way he composed it, when it wasn't hiding behind the orchestra. There was so much more to be seen. So, and heard.

So, those are some songs that are very inspiration to me. And....in the end I hope, I hope to do it all, but I hope to take risks, in an intelligent way. And always, always think about making music from my heart, but at the same time, always, paying very close attention to the people that listen to my music. And you know, in the end I hope to look back and just say that I really wasn't afraid to go there. I wasn't influenced too much by business, or by my fans, or by people around me, or even by my own fear. So, you know, I, God, if I, five years ago, if I were to think I was gonna be sitting here talking about these songs, I just, I would've never expected it. So I hope the next five years is as positively unexpected.

I'm leaving now with the song that I recorded especially for this new Hallmark Valentine CD that I released this month. It's a great time of year. I always think myself as a hopeless romantic. So, you know, it's nice to come out with something that shows that side of me. Even if I'm not great at speaking about it. I can sing about it. So this is a song that, is just beautiful. The first time I heard it, it just, it really to me evoked, you know, when you, you know, love kind of leaves you in many different ways. And sometimes it comes back to you. And it you're lucky enough that comes back to you, you know that feeling. And this is the song about that feeling. And like I said, this is from the new Hallmark CD, and ....Thank you for listening! To all my songs. I had a great time. I got to take over the XM studio here for a minute.
And you're listening Off Stage. It's been a great pleasure. I'm Josh Groban.