In the spring of 1997, shortly after the release of his then self-titled debut full-length album, Dan Bern, the folksinger now sometimes known as Bernstein was interviewed by NPR's Linda Wertheimer for the national news show, All Things Considered. He got a 12.5 minute segment, the longest NPR/ATC devotes to a single feature. I taped the interview from 93.9 FM, WNYC in the New York/New Jersey area; the following is my transcription of Bern and Werthheimer's conversation regarding the song "Marilyn" (track 4 of the aforementioned album, a gleefully surreal speculation on a hypothetical pairing off between Henry Miller and Marilyn Monroe, who in real life actually married Arthur Miller). Although Pseudo_Intellectual noded the song's lyrics in their entirety above, I have included the excerpts of the song played during the NPR segment for completeness (and also to show the skill with which they avoided the word fuck). All transcription errors are mine. -fab
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Marilyn Monroe didn't marry Henry Miller
Marilyn Monroe didn't marry Henry Miller
Marilyn Monroe didn't marry Henry Miller
But if she did, he'd've taken her to Paris
And if she did, she'd've smoked a lot of opium
And if she did, she'd've dyed her hair blue
And if she did, she might be alive
Oh-ohh Henry Miller
Oh-ohh Marilyn Monroe
LW: Where did that come from?
DB: Well, it was probably, uh, y'know, initially a kind of a lucky misunderstanding maybe. I think there were a couple times I'd mentioned Henry Miller to somebody and they said, "Oh, you mean the guy who married Marilyn Monroe", and then it sort of get twisted around, and then the concept comes up, "Well, what if she had married Henry and not Arthur?"
This is not a knock against Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman is my favorite play
But Marilyn Monroe
Should have married Henry Miller
And if she did
She might be alive
Cause if she did
He'd have taken her to Paris
Tied her to the bed
And eaten dinner off of her
And okay maybe
she'd've died the same, anyway
But if she did
she'd've had more fun
Oh-ohh Henry Miller
Oh-ohh Marilyn Monroe
Oh-ohh Henry Miller
Oh-ohh Marilyn Monroe
Sometimes I feel bad about Arthur Miller, y'know, and that's probably why... I made that reference, because, you know, you don't want to completely bag Arthur. Um, y'know, at the same time, I actually, I say "Death of a Salesman is my favorite play" --- sometimes I feel actually bad about that, because I feel I like
The Iceman Cometh more than Death of a
Salesman, but then you get into lines like, you know,
"The Iceman Cometh is my favorite play, but I also like Death of a Salesman..." (LW laughs in background) Then you start getting into some kind of long lines...
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