Kinky Friedman is an outspoken man and very much a straight talker.
Our interview is peppered with lines like, “I’m the only white man in America that uses the word ‘n***er’ in a song,” or “Our shit’s fucked up, that is the best description of the world right now.” He speaks candidly about his controversial opinions like Obama sucking (“the Forrest Gump of all Presidents”) or that Donald Trump isn’t given a fair go (“Trump is untested … all these people on CNN are so smug and so sure Trump will be terrible; Trump may be the next Teddy Roosevelt if you give him a chance”).
The man clearly does not give a fuck, and when our phone conversation is interrupted by someone in his posse warning him against smoking in the hotel, he replies to them: “What am I supposed to do? Don’t smoke here? Well, when they tell me not to smoke here, I’ll say, ‘OK, I didn’t know.’ Plead ignorant, always plead ignorance.”
But Friedman is not what he seems at first glance. And the musician/politician/writer/humourist’s long and public career, which has seen him travel the world, has turned him into a thoughtful and well-rounded artist. The Jewish Texan is staunchly anti-racist (the aforementioned use of the N-word happens in a song that tells the story of beating up a racist at a bar), and counted the late Nelson Mandela – who would listen to ‘Ride ’Em Jewboy’ in prison – among his fans.
Times are indeed a-changin’, however, and I wonder if the 71-year-old worries about how he comes across in the politically correct world of 2016. “The people that come to see me – whether they’re in Germany or Australia or whatever – I don’t need to apologise, explain, or anything like that to them,” he says. “If they get it, fine. Right now it looks like they’re getting it, ’cause I’m playing places I never played before for a lot of money.”
Indeed, Friedman is popular enough that he’s launched multiple campaigns for election in his home state, including for the position of governor. Friedman says his new record The Loneliest Man I Ever Met comprises “the first songs I’ve ever written in 40 years, and that was at the urging of my shrink Willie Nelson”. Having played the politics game as recently as 2014, how does music compare?
“I’d say [music] is a higher art form, and you have to be miserable to do it well. You have to be unhappy. So I fight happiness at every turn to make sure I’m unhappy enough to write good songs.”
It’s a documented fact that Friedman has been friends with previous US Presidents – “Bill Clinton has always liked ‘Waitress, oh waitress / Come sit on my face’,” he says – but he’s less sure he’ll be friends with the next one.
“Well I have been friends with Hillary before,” he says. “I just think that something like Benghazi [the 2012 terrorist attack] just defines you. Say what you want about it – ‘It’s old news’ – but it pretty much defines you. And she was not around for the three o’clock call that came in.”
He’s already midway through an Australian tour that’s seen him speak at the National Press Club, and Friedman has one more message for music fans who are thinking of seeing him at The Basement this week.
“Remind the folks what I always say: ‘Find what you like and let it kill ya.’ And of course Willie’s advice is, ‘If you fail at something long enough, you become a legend.’ And that seems to be working for me.”
Kinky Friedman appears atThe Basement, Thursday October 20, withLuke O’Shea.The Loneliest Man I Ever Met is out now through Thirty Tigers/Cooking Vinyl.
