The ringing of a telephone cut sharply through my sleep. I fumbled for the receiver. Hello? A soft, highpitched voice echoed down the line to me. Hello, it repeated. Is that Adam Ant? The voice had an American accent and sounded vaguely familiar, but my fuzzy brain reacted angrily. Terry, I said, thinking it was one of the Ants drummers playing a prank. Stop p****** about. Its 4am and Im trying to sleep. No, its not Terry, said the voice. Its Michael. Is that Adam Ant? Very funny, Terry, now f*** off. I slammed the phone down, rolled over and tried to get back to sleep. The phone went again. Hello, I barked into the receiver. Hi, no, really, it is me, Michael Jackson, said the funny voice, and I just want to ask you... Terry, if you dont stop this Im going to come over there and f****** thump you. Bang. Again the phone went down. Again I rolled over. Again the phone rang. I grabbed the receiver and shouted: Terry! Thats IT! Er, hi, is that Adam Ant? This time the voice was deep, sonorous, American and calm. It didnt sound anything like Terry. Oh, oh, I stammered. Yes, this is Adam. Who are you? Im Quincy Jones, calling from LA. Sorry, we probably woke you, but Im here with Michael Jackson and hed like to speak with you. Is that OK? A pause, and then that same soft voice. Hi, Adam, its Michael. Sorry if we woke you. Oh, no, sorry to have been so rude, I apologised. He said he had just seen the video for our song Kings Of The Wild Frontier. Its great, he said. How did you get the tom-tom sound? Oh, thanks. Well, we use two drum kits and then add loads of other percussion on top... Thats great, Adam, Michael interrupted. I really like your jacket. Huh? My jacket? I tried to think. Bermans and Nathans in Londons Covent Garden. They supply costumes for movies. Wow. Thats great, he replied. How do you spell that? Bowmans and who? No, B-E-R-M-A-N-apostrophe-S and N-A-T-H-A-N-apostrophe-S. Great, thanks. Lets meet up next time youre in America, huh? Bye. The line went dead.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 13:19:53 +0000