Norah Jones Played John Lennon’s Piano For George Harrison | Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend

it is funny when you get this is just a tangent but when you get to hold an iconic instrument yeah if you've had that experience I'm sure you have where it's it's uh you know a famous guitar that you get to hold on no if I actually have but my friends we did a song with Willie and um before he got to the studio his his tech asked a friend of mine to tune it or to hold it and play it while they while they did the sound and if my friend was pretty excited to play trigger I would imagine yeah that would be pretty freaky I think uh I've seen just over the years well through Danny Harrison I was in England and went by his house which was his dad's house obviously and he he uh let me he showed me and he's acting like it oh you know do you want to hold the 1963 Gretch Duo Jet that my dad played in the cavern oh wow and I was thinking I shouldn't touch it it's like I will defile it and then you realize it's a guitar yeah and it needs to be played it wants to be played it wants to be well actually the guitar did see me and say no not here [Laughter] that's so funny actually you're reminding me I have played a very famous piano and I got to go to Friar Park and met George Harrison and Danny was there and Olivia when I first reconnected with my dad actually I was kidding I was 18 years old we finally reconnected and we got very close over the years after that so it was a a great thing and I remember I landed in London to go visit them for the first time in a long time and they're like we're going to George's house for dinner so just take a nap clean up I was like okay whatever I didn't know we were going to George Harrison's house oh my God who is this George anyway I was kind of oblivious you know I was just jet lagged and young and we get there and he he was so sweet yeah and he was so happy to see me and my dad reconnect as well and um and he idolized your dad he did clearly it was your dad changed his life yeah I mean it was it was kind of a crazy night and I was half half jet-lagged through the whole thing but he um he asked me to play for him because my dad told him that I was this piano player and I was like okay because I just was like you know I knew who he was at that point of course you played for George Harrison so I wow I sat down at this piano which now I know I didn't at the time but I think it was one of John Lennon's pianos yes and I've seen it because it when I was there I think they moved it to it this was in a different it's not in the house when I saw it it's there's this other place where they shot all the interviews for the Anthology and it's got this hand painting on it it's got painting like a rainbow and these sort of psychedelic stuff yeah I didn't know this at the time and I was kind of just oblivious to the whole meaning of the moment but I sat down and I played an old Hoagy Carmichael song called The Nearness of You and he was so sweet and it was just a very funny moment that I just now remembered and he like I'm sure he loved it yeah I mean he was kind about it I don't know if he hated it he pretended he loved it you are Norah Jones I was 18. and I know but if I had come in at 18 and played a song on the piano for for George Harrison it would have gone very differently well I sang it too so that that was kind of a funny yeah yeah exactly luckily I didn't know the instrument was so historic yeah it's good not to know those I think so it's better to just be oblivious yeah um I'm kind of intrigued that when you first started out before you had all your success you were a lounge singer and for just a little bit you were a lounge singer and I'm thinking um you know let's say things hadn't blown up for you do you do you think you could have like made your peace with being a lounge singer for a long time or is that a tough gig I mean it's something you know really know right you can't go back I I wouldn't yeah I kind of was a lounge singer but it was really more like a restaurant than a lounge so you're playing for people while they're eating yeah and and usually they wouldn't clap and nobody heard but the gig was actually to just play piano but since I sang I asked if I could bring a little little amp and and sing like every five songs or something and it was actually the best practice I ever had this is in college in Dallas and um I I basically learned how to sing and play at the same time because it's kind of a coordination thing sure yeah so it was it was great practice and every once in a while the whole restaurant like one person would just start clapping and then slowly the whole restaurant would start clapping but then usually they weren't they weren't clapping at all I um oh man I will tell you that first of all the the thing I hate the most in comedy is when you have to perform for people who are eating yeah that's horrible and it doesn't matter what stage you get to there's there are benefits yeah where you they say okay go on up and you have your jokes and you have your riffs that you want to do and you get up on stage and you hear the distinct sound of of of silverware hitting it you know clanking together and then and then and people chewing and I remember being at the uh there's a big ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria and I had to do benefits there a million times when I was in New York and being up there and the crowd doesn't even know just a voice of God goes ladies and gentlemen O'Brien and and people are just getting there like plates are being put down and served and people are saying no no I said red not white yeah and I walked upstage and there wasn't even any sense that I was on stage yeah and I go well anyway and I start to get into my thing and a man was sitting right in the front row oh just signed and his back was to me and he was cutting into his meat and he put it in his mouth and he's chewing and then he whipped his head around to look at who's this annoying person at the podium behind me and I just saw a chewing unhappy face looking up at me that's not great and I thought this this is I don't want to perform for people eating you can have like a no eating clause I'll do it but not when they're eating when they're eating directly before dinner or after the plates have been cleared but I will tell you this Nora I am a person who if I'm anywhere if I'm in a bar or restaurant and someone's playing when they finish the song I applaud yeah I don't care and sometimes it's awkward because I get self-conscious because if you're the if I start applauding and no one else does I think I'm making the situation worse yeah especially if no one else does yeah it's kind of weird and also you're drawing attention to yourself well I love that part oh okay I didn't know if you like that I go out I actually want to go out in a t-shirt if it says I am burning O'Brien and then parentheses it explains who that is you start clapping in the middle of the song yeah yeah [Laughter] on me I just want to get a cockaroo while we're here [Applause] thank you I just want to get a cockroach that's what she said yeah exactly I've been getting that all my life

Channel: Team Coco

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Keywords: team coco podcasts, team coco podcast, podcast, conan obrien needs a friend, conan needs a friend, conan o’brien needs a friend, needs a friend, conan o’brien podcast, conan o’brien needs a friend podcast, celebrity interview, comedy podcast, conan podcast, matt gourley, sona movsesian, norah jones, the beatles, george harrison, john lennon

Id: Pqr-XCkF_P4

Length: 7min 48sec (468 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 07 2023