Paula Cole will be the first to affirm that most musicians don't start their careers performing in stadiums before tens of thousands of fans.
But when Sinead O’Conner suddenly departed Peter Gabriel’s 1993 world tour, that’s exactly what happened. Peter had heard Paula Cole’s yet-to-be-released debut album "Harbinger" — he called her up, and asked her to join him for the rest of his multi-continent run.
Paula Cole recently stopped by NHPR’s Studio D to talk with Morning Edition's Rick Ganley about her formative years as an artist, and share new music from her 11th studio album “Lo."
Transcript
Paula Cole, great to have you live in studio at NHPR. Thank you so much for coming in.
It's an honor to be here. Thanks for having me.
How remarkable to be on tour with Peter Gabriel before you even have a first record out.
To be in enormous arenas as your very first tour is abnormal, and wonderful and educational. And, yeah, that was my first touring experience— and it was a very unique tour experience. Five star everything and all downhill from there [laughs].
And then of course, through the mid 90s, [you have] incredible hits like "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and "I Don't Want to Wait" — and Lilith Fair. You're in pop-stardom at that point, but um, feeling disillusioned. Is that the right term for it?
There's so much to say about all that. I think I needed to leave the music business. It was an ill fitting snakeskin I was growing out of. And also, it did happen too fast. And I was an introvert. I didn't honestly like the way my career was moving. [It was] very hits focused and record companies kind of pressuring me to be a certain way.
I'm worshiping at the altar of music. I am here, I love it, and I want the good work.Paula Cole
I would have liked a slower build and a longer build. So I took about seven years off. I had my daughter and then kind of quietly picked up again, releasing albums starting in 2007.
But this was my return to writing all my music. It's highly personal. It's called "Lo." It was just the right time in my life to be introspective. Like, literally going back to therapy and kind of looking at myself again. And songwriting is so amazing that way. It's like a dialog with your subconscious and you find truths about yourself, and the next thing you know, you're singing them to thousands of people. It's a very naked feeling.
Yeah, it's a very personal record. One of the songs you played Live in Studio D today, "The Replacements and Dinosaur Jr."— now to some of us of a certain age, including me, those bands are huge. And if you're from Massachusetts, Dinosaur Jr. was a big Massachusetts band. Tell me about that song. The lyrics are very personal, about someone who's very close to you, obviously, and very, seminal to your development.
The song was from my friend Mark Hutchins. We were together early in the 90s. We drove across the country and we set up in San Francisco, and we lived over a gas station with two roommates on the corner of 17th and South Van Ness, where I wrote a lot of songs. I mean, I wrote "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" there, and he taught me so much about music, about production, even engineering.
And he also exposed me to music that I would never in a million years have listened to. I mean, growing up in Rockport, Massachusetts isolated musically— I just was not hip in a way —and then he exposed me to all that beautiful alternative rock and kind of bohemian left hip hop, early hip hop.
I miss Mark so much. He left behind two kids. He's from Hanover, New Hampshire. And here's a shout out to Rick and Betsy, his parents. I just wish he were here because we were picking up the thread again of our friendship. I needed to write a song for him, and it needed to be fun and kind of irreverent like he was.
So yeah, you know, my life is in these songs. My songs are like Polaroid snapshots.
You're about to start another tour with these brand new songs. How does that feel to be, you know, playing these very personal songs in front of an audience?
I get a little nervous, and I — there was one song I forgot some lyrics, like— they're still new, and that's the beauty of it; that it gives you an immediacy and a little anxiety, and it makes your heart beat.
So it's feeling good and you're feeling hopeful for more writing, more [touring] in the future?
I'm feeling really good about my career. My kids are 22 and about to graduate college. I've got two kids graduating in May, and this mother is stretching out her wings and getting back to work.
And even though I've had periods of dormancy in my career for sure, and I've been up and I've been down and I've been cool and I've been uncool, the people who have been with me—and even like Gen Zers who have now are following me on TikTok—it feels really good. Like people are kind of understanding what "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" is really about now. And the songs hold up well over a couple of decades, and... I'm worshiping at the altar of music. I am here, I love it, and I want the good work.
I want to be thought of. So it's lovely to be thought of. I'm really grateful.
Paula Cole, I can't thank you enough for coming and playing Live in Studio D. This has been a wonderful performance.
Thank you.
