Freddy Fender Interview! (Down Home Down Under Show #4)

hi everybody welcome to the Emery's memories channel I'm your announcer Gary Beatty this channel was created to feature interviews by Ralph Emery there are over 125 interviews by Ralph for you to enjoy on this channel this channel has also become a collection point for rare and in some cases never-before-seen shows and interviews what you're about to see is one of 14 classic interviews hosted by the Lagarde twins from Sydney Australia it's part of a TV series they created and it's called down-home Down Under now these interviews have remained of their private collection and they've never aired on radio or television until now and here's their one-on-one interview with Freddy fender welcome back to the Gaad twins down-home Down Under now here's my brother Tom to tell you about our very special guests there is nothing you can't overcome he says racism prison drugs alcohol he certainly has overcome plenty yes even Fame and yet he keeps on singing with the same enthusiasm in his own very unique style that's right Tom with hit songs like wasted days and wasted nights before the next teardrop falls secret love via Kandi's songs that have sold millions of records has earned him a mainstream audience with his music he's loved around the world our special guest Freddy fender welcome to the show Freddy how you doin Tom Ted wherever you are and I'm still tom last time we saw you was a Tamworth during the country music festival music festival that's right Freddy you were 16 when you got into the Marines was that a good time or a bad time in your life well it was a it was a good time at the beginning then it became a bad time you know what I started getting too little little problems like you know drink and coming late to the base and little things and in the Marine Corps all you have to do is do one little bat went in from there on they just keep mounting up and consequently it was not a very good time in my life in the Marine Corps and even though I'm very glad to have been in the Marine Corps I'm very proud of it you know it took me a long long time to get me an honorable discharge because I came out with a bad conduct discharge is that right yes and finally took years to finally get our paper and admission from the department the Navy that it had been some errors in my at that time in my my trial and the whole thing and and then you know they give you a trial court martial and they gave me a general discharge about three years ago with honorable conditions in the rank of what did you learn from that say been bad experience did you learn something from it I don't think so I don't think she took me a long time for me to really mature and learn things I'm a very slow learner do you learn by your own mistakes yes but still if you know I have to make a bunch of mistakes - finally - finally learn but don't we all know Freddie yes I think I was I was quite worse than the regular mistake maker you know why do you think you did that I have no idea all right that was just part of you I think that yes I think one of the reasons could be that I was raised without a dad without a father oh is that right yes and and the advice that I got was a motherly advice instead of a fatherly advice who knew all these a father knows all the pitfalls you get all the pitfalls in the tricks of the this and that and how and and I just had to learn him as I went along instead of already knowing about him and then I was just a little thick-headed you know and wanted to have my own way and it doesn't work out like that I know that now you know Freddie what was it like growing up in was at Benito Texas San Benito San Benito Texas did you have - were you raised on a farm oh no no I was raised in a sort of a little almost a farm I mean you could get to a to a field to a harvest all four or five blocks away and you have to work out the fields at all also here's cotton fields cutting few dozen fields I work with my family especially after my father died how many were in the family ah there were there were six of us brothers any other brothers oh yes four brothers and two sisters and we're all worked in in the fields and I remember we'd get three dollars a day working all day but since there were six of us it was $18 a days good work no I wasn't like my younger brothers were harder workers and I was I finally got what I wanted I ended up selling the concession there they have a lot of people working in the fields and I sold the soda pops in the sandwiches and all that and I like that much better I was already a sort of away from the main pack already in show business already but how old how old were you when you when you were doing that ten years old you ten yes you working at the fields and yes I started working on a field for about ten years old well then how old were you when you decided they hey you know there's got to be a better way of making living than picking cotton and you wanted to get into the into show business or money-wise I would say that I was in my teen years there was a teenager I went into a despair joint with this old man who was we were picking onions in New Mexico and I went to town with him and he said listen I'm gonna go have a beer you want to come with me I wasn't old enough to have a beer and I went in there he started drinking and they gave me a good guitar and I started playing and he starts passing his hat around and we picked up about $20 can you remember the song that you sing there were Mexican songs I think jambalaya was one of them is that really a jumble I was one of them so I went home with $20 there was more than I make the whole week picking onion so from your own I start playing the guitar that's a good way to make a living you say oh yeah better than picking cotton right oh yes uh-huh yeah it was really great you know Freddie your history so far you've really already had two successful careers you had a a career as a pop artist and also as a country superstar what's on the what's in the future for Freddy fender say on a third career ah well mainly music has been my my dependent thing you forgot another one I had a very successful career as a as Hispanic Hispanic woman yes I had a number one song in Mexico in 58 and 57 in Spanish well didn't you cover the Elvis Presley song yeah Colombia cruel and every day Harry Belafonte a jamaica farewell' yeah it's wrong number-one songs back then I have been doing a couple of films I did Milagro Beanfield work where I play the mayor and it was directed by Robert Redford what was that like funny they were walking with him oh it was just great you know was it tough uh yes he is tough but with me he was very very gentle very gentle with me I guess because we're in the same age you know where I'm 52 and he's 52 and he had a lot respect for me and he liked what he admired about me was it how all this was happy I was always happy you know and and are you always happy oh yes I am most I'm content I'm content I'm very very good at accepting life as it is what makes you have you funny I believe that being grateful for what I have now compared to to when I was drinking and drugging when my life was all messed up you can appreciate it now when you wake up them roses yeah it's like to get up at 6:00 or 7:00 is it right yeah I go up to McDonald's and get some muffins and all the stuff well I'm over there my wife's making coffee and I come in and we have breakfast and I got a little eight-year-old girl and she gets ready for school and you know it I'm enjoying a life that I used to detest yeah are you beautiful yes it's wonderful I used to get up and at two or three in the morning all hungover and all and what was all about I guess I wasted a lot of days in a lot of nights you really lived that song I sure did I didn't know I was living in but I was and it makes it a lot rosier now yeah I can I can distinguish the two colors now of blue and Rosie it's a good life and I'm just very grateful and that's why I told Robert Redford that I was just very grateful to be there and he said I understand what you mean do you think that you'll do another movie with the Robert Redford I hope so I told him that I wanted I wanted him to do another movie with me and that he was going to be the hero a western movie and I was going to be the villain the bed with a big sombrero on and and but let me kill a bunch of people first before he got to me okay you said you played the part of a man in the name of the movie was Malenko Dean Milano Milagro Beanfield war wasn't it we miracle yeah that's what it means Neil Agra is a miracle yeah yeah well you a good man or you're a corrupt mayor I was very corrupt well like Marty Robbins used to say he he love show business just like you loved show business that you and you you apparently still do love it and you travel a lot and and you love to entertain I do you know what you said up at the beginning of the show that I still sing with the same enthusiasm enthusiasm that is very I sing with more enthusiasm now than before and why I do it well there's a lot of answers to that but I will don't know which one it is it's just like you guys you know what it is to get out there in front of people and there's something just the adrenaline just put it on fourth gear and step on the gas but you have that you have that beautiful rapport with the audience and I think they get that feedback from you Freddie you know they get something I don't know what it is and and I'm just grateful for it and just a happy thing we've been talking with our very special guest Freddie pendant don't go away because we're going to be right back welcome back to Lagaan twins down-home Down Under we're talking with our very special guest Freddy fender Freddy reading part of your history when did you decide to change a name and take on the name of Freddy fender how did that all come about well I changed it in 1958 I had been recording under my name of Baldemar Huerta with our Hispanic label out of McAllen Texas and I had a manager he never been a manager before and I never been a recording star before so we'll both he said well that balamani you don't have to change your name to an American name so that when the when the gringos put a quarter in the jukebox they can read your name instead of of your Spanish name they won't have a problem with it you know and I said well how about and I looked at the amplifier said fender on it you know I know how about fender you know and I looked the other improv I said Gibson or Gibson you know said no no I like fender you know and and and Freddie came out of the air you know the amplifier was fender and we put Freddie and with a why it's got the same letters as fender which looked pretty good in an album or a promotional thing you know and it sounds good and it sounds catchy Freddie has a nice wing instead of Alomar Huerta Garza Medina Delgado Toro Bravo's me baldemar Huerta well them out of water but you know today that would be accepted because you know Arnold Schwarzenegger uh-huh they said to him the first thing that you have to live or Glacius we're gonna have to change your name Humperdinck yeah Engelbert Humperdinck right I think Freddie you particularly your record of before the next teardrop holes they could any name they could have put podunk three under there and it would have been a hit because of tremendous festival Records in Australia yes part of your soul that was in that on that tape you know I didn't want to record to your drop I didn't I didn't I didn't like country music I thought ah I like rhythm and blues and rock and roll my producer said you record this song and then you can record any rock and roll song you want really so the other rock and roll stuff I was recording is still the shelf listen to him I sure AM Freddy what has been the worst and the best of the 80s for Freddy fender I think that though the worst have been that I lost my mother in August of 89 and I lost one adopted son was in a wreck in 89 in Branson and the best is that I got sober in 85 from drugs and alcohol and I guess even the deaths of those two people that I've loved have been in a way the best because he has made me mature more and grow more and realize what really how close a relationship the bad things are related to the good things that what we call life you miss them I missed him tremendously but when I think about him I think of only about the good things were you close to you in a way I think they're better off than I am sometimes you know will you close to your mother very much so she will visit to me and Branson went to when she had a heart attack I took her to the hospital and we were with her until the last time and and she died like with her boots on it was 70 years old 7 she had a good life she did she did she was she was all right and it's part of life you wait he's been some time were you able to spend yes did you give her the roses while she was living yes I sure did I took her to Las Vegas oh he used to come out with her arm bandaged from bandage from just going like this and I see all the time Freddie what advice would you give to some of the young country singers coming into the business today where they could maybe not fall into some of the pitfalls you know I believe that the best advice is whether it sounds corny or not listen to what your parents tell you and the people that care about you that have been around longer than you have this to them because they've been through it and you haven't and maybe then you may have a chance to make it we're talking with our very special guest Freddy fender Freddy it has been a real pleasure having your own down-home Down Under it's my pleasure and we we hope it won't be too long before you be I hope so because I miss Australia I like Australia he says it it's like I told him Australian guy I said you guys are too far from me I said no Freddy you are too far from us what a great classic one-on-one interview with Ted and Tom the lagarde twins I want to tell you about their book the lagarde twins showbiz hustlers let me take you back to the beginning these twin boys walk 15 miles across the bush lands of Australia to attempt with a dirt floor and folding chairs as the projector started up the movie appeared in black and white on the screen and there for the first time they saw Hopalong Cassidy they ran almost all the way home and told her mom we're gonna become cowboy singers let me read the introduction to showbiz hustlers being raised in the bush lands of Australia in the 1930s and 40s was a rough and hard life we didn't think about it back then because that's how life was you have to live the hard life to understand it we also made a picture in our minds of the kind of life we wanted to lead and it became a beacon that has guided us on our long journey in show business we hope and pray that our book falls into the hands of our fellow strugglers and dreamers to give them unfailing encouragement to pursue their hopes and dreams above all else we will to give God all the praise and glory for our long lives and for His mercy and grace in dealing with us throughout the years so grab the reins and write over 1 million miles with us from the bush lands of Australia across seven continents through 23 countries and 45 of the 50 states in America let's ride Ted and Tom Lagarde they appeared in Vegas movies and TV shows and for you Trekkies out there get this this book is packed with pictures and stories and is a must read we'll put a link below the video so you can get your copy of the Lagarde twins show business hustlers the Lagarde twins showbiz hustlers makes a great gift this book is about twin brothers from Australia who had a dream and it came true this is Gary Beatty and as Ted and Tom Lagarde would say g'day mate

Channel: emerysmemories

Views: 23,224

Rating: 4.8866854 out of 5

Keywords: Freddy Fender, Tammy Wynette, Charlie Pride, Waylon, Waylon Jennings

Id: FnYu7kqsMyo

Length: 18min 7sec (1087 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 12 2018