Mister D: I just found this on-line. It was from an interview in Playboy Magazine from 1976. I believe Bette was rather anxious about where her recording career was headed at that time…
PLAYBOY: You’ve mentioned a lot of women. How do you like working with them?
JOHN: They’re far more vulnerable to attack than men. They’re more sensitive.
PLAYBOY: How so?
JOHN: Well, if I took notice of all the bad things that were said about me, I’d be in a loony bin by now. If somebody has written something shitty about me in the past, I don’t rush up to them and say, “You cunt!” I just shrug it off. It’s not so easy for a woman. Female entertainers are the most indecisive creatures in the world. They’re all paranoid. You gotta understand where the ladies’ heads are at. You have to push them all the way. Kiki Dee’s one of them. She’s got one of the greatest voices of all time, but when I produced her, I had to be really hard on her. She was in tears. After four hours in the studio of her trying to sing I’ve Got the Music in Me, I streaked. Bette Midler is exactly the same. She’s always asking, “What should I record? Who should I record? Why don’t you produce me?” And she’s always down in the dumps. Seems most ladies are like that. I haven’t met one female singer who’s really on the ball. I do have a feeling Joni Mitchell might be different. Still, I prefer working in the studio with them, because it’s such a challenge.
