Mike Elizondo (Part 1)

GRAMMY-winning producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Elizondo joins Norah to talk about his remarkable career working with artists including Dr. Dre, Eminem, Fiona Apple, Mary J. Blige, and many more.

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• 1:07Speaker 00

  This episode is also available as video on YouTube. You can visit the Norah Jones channel and be sure to subscribe while you're there. Hey, I'm Norah Jones, and today I'm playing along with Mike Elizondo, part one.

• 1:20Speaker 03

  I'm just playing along with you.

• 1:26Speaker 03

  I'm just playing along with you.

• 1:32Speaker 00

  Hi, welcome to the show. I'm Nora. This is Sarah Oda.

• 1:35Speaker 04

  Welcome to our show. We have another amazing two-parter, had to be a two-parter.

• 1:41Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. We did, we covered a lot of ground.

• 1:44Speaker 04

  And we wanted to just, you know, share, split the love over a couple of weeks. Mike Elizondo is a Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, bass player, and a musician who's had his hand in like, an incredible amount of music over the years. He's worked with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Carrie Underwood, Mary J. Blige, Fiona Apple, John Batiste, Madison Cunningham, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and so many more.

• 2:09Speaker 00

  He's pretty awesome.

• 2:10Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 2:11Speaker 00

  Yeah. We first met on a Beach Boys tribute show. He was MDing a few years back, and we kept in touch, and this was just a joy.

• 2:19Speaker 04

  He's a real chameleon.

• 2:21Speaker 00

  Yeah, we actually got together the day before this episode to write a song together. And so you'll hear more about that, as well as, we cover a few songs from his catalog. Very fun choices, I might say.

• 2:35Speaker 04

  Unexpected.

• 2:36Speaker 00

  Yes. But stick around for next week as well, because we'll do part two next week, and you can check that out also. Enjoy. Mike Elizondo.

• 3:15Speaker 03

  Let's get it crunk up, wanna have fun up on it in this dancery. We got y'all open, now you're floating, so you got to dance for me. Don't need no haters, holloration in this dancery. Let's get it puckling while you're waiting, so just dance for me. Come on, everybody, get on up, 'cause you know we got to get it crunk. No J is in the spot tonight, and I'ma make you feel alright.

• 3:57Speaker 03

  Come on, baby, just party with me. Let it loose and let your body free. Leave your situations at the door, so when you step inside, jump on the floor. Let's get it crunk up, wanna have fun up on it in this dancery. We got you open, now you're floating, so you got to dance for me. Don't need no haters, holloration in this dancery. Let's get it puckling while you're waiting, oh.

• 5:04Speaker 03

  It's only gonna be just a matter of time, before you get loose and start to lose your mind. Pop a drink, go ahead and rock your ice, 'cause we're celebrating no more drama in our lives. Everybody's jumping, go ahead and twist your back, your body bumping. I told you, leave your situations at the door, so grab someone and get your ass on the dance floor.

• 5:46Speaker 03

  Don't need no haters, holloration in this dancery. Let's get it puckling while you're waiting. We don't need no haters. Just try to love one another. We just want you to have a good time, no more drama in your life. Work real hard to make a dime. If you got beef, you're probably not mine.

• 6:26Speaker 03

  Leave on that B S outside, we're gonna celebrate all night. Let's have fun tonight, no fights. Turn the dre, rock up real high, make you dance all night. And I've got some real heat for you this time. Doesn't matter if you're white or black. Let's get crunk up, man, he's black.

• 6:55Speaker 03

  Let's get it crunk up, wanna have fun up on it in this dancery. We got you open, now you're floating, so you got to dance for me. Don't need no haters, holloration in this dancery. Let's get it puckling while you're waiting, so just dance for me.

• 7:52Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 7:53Speaker 00

  Oh, my God.

• 7:55Speaker 05

  You sound so good.

• 7:56Speaker 00

  That was fun.

• 7:57Speaker 05

  Sounds so good.

• 7:58Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 7:58Speaker 05

  It's cool to hear it reinterpreted through your sensibilities.

• 8:02Speaker 00

  Very reinterpreted. Oh, my God, that was so fun.

• 8:05Speaker 05

  Yeah, awesome. That's the, I think that might be the first time I've ever performed that song.

• 8:09Speaker 00

  Really?

• 8:10Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 8:10Speaker 00

  Definitely. It might be the first time it's been done on some upright bass.

• 8:14Speaker 05

  Absolutely. Well, it's funny, the, the song was actually, the conception of the song was Dre on a, on an MPC drum machine, and me playing upright bass.

• 8:25Speaker 00

  Really?

• 8:25Speaker 05

  In the studio, yeah.

• 8:26Speaker 00

  That's how it started.

• 8:27Speaker 05

  That's how it started. I had my upright there, and, you know, I studied a little bit classically, so I had my bow there, and I just started playing this little line. And Dre asked, is that something? Is that Beethoven or something?

• 8:40Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 8:40Speaker 05

  And I'm like, no, I think I'm just making it up, and

• 8:42Speaker 00

  With the

• 8:44Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly.

• 8:46Speaker 00

  Nice.

• 8:46Speaker 05

  And so, that's where it started, and then we took it, a great keyboard player, songwriter named Kamara Kambo was there, and he added his layers, and I added some more layers, and then that track was born.

• 9:00Speaker 00

  That's so crazy.

• 9:01Speaker 05

  It's kind of fun to bring it back to the upright, yeah.

• 9:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, and then, and then, how did Mary add her vocals? Does she do that separately, or does she come in the studio and do it?

• 9:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, for that particular song, I think the track was sent to her.

• 9:13Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 9:14Speaker 05

  And she and a couple of other writers, you know, did that on their own.

• 9:19Speaker 00

  They just came up with it?

• 9:20Speaker 05

  Okay. Her vocals were delivered, and all those incredible layers and harmonies were there, and then, and then Dre mixed it.

• 9:28Speaker 00

  And it was a done deal?

• 9:29Speaker 05

  And it, and it went on. It was, it was the first time I had a number one hit as a co-writer.

• 9:35Speaker 00

  That's so crazy.

• 9:36Speaker 05

  It was really

• 9:37Speaker 00

  You were young, too.

• 9:38Speaker 05

  Yeah. What was that, 2002? So, yeah, I was probably like, 29, you know, somewhere in there.

• 9:45Speaker 00

  That's cool.

• 9:46Speaker 05

  Youngish.

• 9:46Speaker 00

  Youngish.

• 9:47Speaker 05

  You know, old enough to know a little, little bit of something, but yeah, it was, it was life-changing, you know, to have something like that played on the radio and, and see your name in the little billboard credit.

• 9:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's so cool.

• 9:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was fun to play it with you, though.

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Yeah, thanks for playing it with me. It was pretty fun. It's pretty fun to play.

• 10:04Speaker 05

  Awesome.

• 10:05Speaker 00

  I also, I just love a two-chord song that goes plenty of places. It's like, there's no lack of anything.

• 10:11Speaker 05

  You're right.

• 10:12Speaker 00

  And you just, you're in the vibe, and it never stops, you know?

• 10:14Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 10:15Speaker 00

  So that's, that's pretty cool.

• 10:16Speaker 05

  I think, I think that was one of the things I learned a lot from Dre, where leaning into certain things that can just be sort of this hypnotic trance-like

• 10:23Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 10:23Speaker 05

  groove, and, and not being afraid to like, just stay there.

• 10:27Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 10:28Speaker 05

  And let it just live in that, in that, but yeah, he's, you know, Dr. Dre is a master at like, tempo, knowing when something's too fast or too slow, and, yeah, so that's a case study, for sure.

• 10:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, but also, I guess if you're doing like, stuff to dance to.

• 10:43Speaker 05

  Right.

• 10:43Speaker 00

  You want to just stay on whatever it is. You want a bunch of confusing changes.

• 10:48Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 10:49Speaker 00

  Different sections.

• 10:50Speaker 05

  And that's what's fun about it, too. Obviously, Mary does an amazing job at like, introducing new melodies.

• 10:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, it doesn't, it, it still has like, a chorus and verses, and then a, a bridge.

• 10:59Speaker 05

  And, and very subtle arrangement changes. There's not a lot of things that are gonna like, blast you over the head, but there are, there's a little variety and layers that come in and out, you know, but, you know, not, nothing too elaborate.

• 11:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:14Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 11:14Speaker 00

  That's cool. I remember when this album came out, and I was like, oh, my God, what an idea, no more drama.

• 11:22Speaker 05

  Right.

• 11:22Speaker 00

  That's a good idea.

• 11:24Speaker 05

  I know.

• 11:24Speaker 00

  I'm still working on it.

• 11:26Speaker 05

  Aren't we all?

• 11:27Speaker 00

  Aren't we all? I like that she manifested that for herself. It's pretty awesome.

• 11:31Speaker 05

  And it's believable coming from Mary. Like, she's got that voice that's sort of like, yeah, you gotta do what she says, you know?

• 11:39Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly.

• 11:40Speaker 05

  At least take heed.

• 11:42Speaker 00

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• 13:43Speaker 00

  So how did you hook up with Dr. Dre?

• 13:48Speaker 05

  So I went to a school called Hamilton High School

• 13:52Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 13:52Speaker 05

  in Culver City. And a good friend of mine, Richard Ferretti, became Dre's assistant engineer. And one day, I think, this is also pretty soon after Dre had started Aftermath Records, his record label, post Death Row. And he was just, you know, put it out there, he's like, hey, if you guys know any new musicians, I'm open to kind of hear some people. And my name was thrown in the hat. And I kind of went through what I'd call like the training period. Dre had other producers there. And so they would call me in and play bass lines on their tracks. And then I think some of these tracks got back to Dre. And the guy's like, okay, who's playing on these? And eventually I graduated to doing a session with Dre.

• 14:35Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 14:35Speaker 05

  And yeah, it was great. I mean, I think we, you know, we connected on a lot of record collection stuff, like records that he grew up with were, some were very similar to mine. And then, yeah, well, I mean, he's just, you know, Dre's incredible. His range musically is so diverse. And so he'll, he'll talk to you about Pet Sounds, and he'll talk to you about Soundgarden, and he'll talk to you about, you know, The Beatles and Pink Floyd, and obviously a lot of, you know, great soul and R&B. And, and so I think that's kind of where we found our common ground. And, you know, and he just kept calling me back. And I kept trying to impress Dre. That was my mantra, like impress Dre.

• 15:20Speaker 05

  Because it was just a lot of fun, a lot of fun being in sessions with him. And then to see some of those songs reach the heights they did. And, and with some of the artists that got pulled into the room, it was life-changing.

• 15:32Speaker 00

  So cool.

• 15:33Speaker 05

  Absolutely. Yeah.

• 15:34Speaker 00

  And, and so you had already been a working musician doing, you went to college for music?

• 15:42Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, I did.

• 15:43Speaker 00

  And you studied all the classical and did you study jazz in college? Did they have that?

• 15:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, no, there was definitely jazz in college. But I'd say most of my college studies was predominantly classical.

• 15:55Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 15:56Speaker 05

  But there were a lot of jazz groups and musicians that I could go in and play with, you know?

• 16:00Speaker 00

  But your gig life was more jazz, right?

• 16:02Speaker 05

  Definitely, yeah. And, you know, and I was in bands. I played in, you know, some real heavy bands. And I played in some like R&B funk bands and just trying to just, you know, build my chops and have some fun.

• 16:13Speaker 00

  You're just doing it all?

• 16:14Speaker 05

  I was just trying to do it all, try to be versatile. I think that was also something I tried to do early on was just honor the fact that I loved a lot of different types of music. And, and so as a musician, I wanted to try and see if I could pull off being authentic if I was playing jazz or if I was playing rock or, or, you know, R&B. And, and so a lot of those opportunities came while I was in college and those performing opportunities. And, you know, the band thing didn't ever work out, you know? Came close a couple of times, but I kind of happened to parlay that into getting some studio work.

• 16:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 16:54Speaker 05

  And then, and that's where things really started to take shape. It like, okay, maybe I could do this as a career, as a musician, bass player. And, and man, had some amazing opportunities playing for guys like Glenn Ballard, you know, who did Alanis Morissette and No Doubt and a lot of other things. And Matt Wallace was another, Matt Wilder, who did No Doubt back, you know, he was coming off of No Doubt. And then, and then incredibly, I met the legendary Jim Keltoner on a session. And

• 17:28Speaker 00

  Totally different world.

• 17:29Speaker 05

  Totally different world, but a world I felt connected to.

• 17:32Speaker 00

  Yeah. Still grooving.

• 17:33Speaker 05

  Yeah. And so I, you know, Jim, I made an impression, I guess, on Jim. And next thing I know, I'm getting called into sessions with T-Bone Burnett and Ry Cooter. And it was incredible. So, you know, and, and right around the same time is when I got the phone call to work with Dre.

• 17:53Speaker 00

  Okay, so that came a little first and then?

• 17:55Speaker 05

  A little bit of session work came first, yeah. And then, and then I meet Dre. And there were times, I mean, I tried to keep both of those worlds together where maybe I would do a 10 to 3 session with Ry Cooter.

• 18:08Speaker 00

  Wow.

• 18:09Speaker 05

  And then I bolt to the studio to work with Dre from 3 to whenever.

• 18:13Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 18:13Speaker 05

  And I loved it. For me, it was like my dream coming true of like having these greats, think that I was worthy enough to be in the room with them.

• 18:22Speaker 00

  That's so cool.

• 18:23Speaker 05

  And contribute any way that I could. And, you know, it's kind of where I kind of got my first credits and, and experience.

• 18:31Speaker 00

  Did you ever get Dre and Jim Keltoner together?

• 18:33Speaker 05

  Man.

• 18:34Speaker 00

  That would have been crazy.

• 18:35Speaker 05

  That is such a great idea. Although I will say I did play a hand in introducing Burt Bacharach to Dr. Dre.

• 18:41Speaker 00

  Really?

• 18:42Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 18:42Speaker 00

  That's amazing.

• 18:43Speaker 05

  And there was, even there's some things, if you search hard enough, there's some released things that Dre did beats for and that I helped integrate into some Burt Bacharach arrangements.

• 18:53Speaker 00

  That's wild.

• 18:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, well, I would say that they were Dre beats first, and then Burt wrote to them and did arrange, yeah.

• 19:00Speaker 00

  That's crazy.

• 19:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, but I love that idea. I love the idea of just bringing polar opposite, what would seemingly be polar opposite.

• 19:06Speaker 00

  Opposite, but just grooving, right?

• 19:07Speaker 05

  Exactly. Yeah, Dre, Dre, I'm sure loves a lot of the records that Jim played on.

• 19:11Speaker 00

  I'm sure.

• 19:12Speaker 05

  Just maybe didn't know it was him, you know? But that's a great idea.

• 19:16Speaker 00

  That's cool.

• 19:16Speaker 05

  See if I can still make that happen.

• 19:17Speaker 00

  And so, so it became more full-time with Dre though, right? You said you were, did you ever tour with anyone?

• 19:25Speaker 05

  I had gotten asked, right around the time I met Dre, I'd gotten asked to do a tour with the amazing Ricky Lee Jones. It was an album called Ghosty Head. And she had seen a great friend of mine, Kendall, Kendall K. play drums. And Kendall recommended me to come and play bass. And she wanted someone who could play upright bass. And so I did that tour. While I was on that tour, I was getting session calls from Dre. And I had to say, man, I'm going to be gone for a month or whatnot. But when I got off the road, he kind of, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse and, and kept me in town and

• 20:08Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 20:08Speaker 05

  kind of an on-call studio musician.

• 20:11Speaker 00

  He said, no more touring for you.

• 20:12Speaker 05

  No more touring, yeah. Let's keep you home, which, man. I mean, come on, that's like winning the lottery right there.

• 20:19Speaker 00

  Pretty cool.

• 20:19Speaker 05

  But it kept me, yeah, it kept me at home. And also on my personal life, I had just gotten married. So, you know, and, and we had had hopes of starting a family. So, yeah, Dre kept me off the road essentially and, and in the studio and

• 20:33Speaker 00

  Pretty great.

• 20:33Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 20:34Speaker 00

  In LA?

• 20:34Speaker 05

  In LA, yeah. Which is where I was born and raised.

• 20:37Speaker 00

  Okay.

• 20:37Speaker 05

  So, yeah, hometown and lived there, you know, for, yeah, the bulk of my life.

• 20:43Speaker 00

  That's great. And now you live in Nashville.

• 20:46Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 20:47Speaker 00

  And you moved to Nashville before the COVID, before the COVID?

• 20:50Speaker 05

  Before the COVID, exactly, yeah.

• 20:52Speaker 00

  So it wasn't even after the COVID, okay?

• 20:54Speaker 05

  No, it was 2019.

• 20:56Speaker 00

  Cool.

• 20:56Speaker 05

  I think, yeah, we landed there in the dead of summer. And if you've ever been to Nashville in summertime, it is, it's hot, it's humid. And coming from California, I'm like, oh, what is this? What have we done?

• 21:08Speaker 00

  That must have been a shock.

• 21:09Speaker 05

  It was a shock. I kind of knew what we were getting into though. We had spent time in Nashville for years prior to that. But, but moving there and realizing all of our stuff, everything is now based in Nashville was exciting. And also kind of, I was kind of nervous, you know? Because trying to, you know, establish my, or I guess transplant my career that had always been in LA to Nashville. But I found a great studio that I could kind of take over. And that helped, you know, just kind of having an environment that I, that I could kind of curate and can, you know, and make it to my liking. And, but, you know, the, the city and the community of Nashville is second to none.

• 21:52Speaker 05

  I mean, it, incredible musicians. Yeah, well, first of all, everyone's nice.

• 21:57Speaker 00

  Everybody's nice.

• 21:57Speaker 05

  Everybody's nice.

• 21:58Speaker 00

  Which is rare.

• 21:59Speaker 05

  It is. At first, I remember like, what do they want? Like, are they trying to get something from you?

• 22:03Speaker 00

  No, they're just actually nice. Their momma just taught them how to be nice.

• 22:06Speaker 05

  Exactly, exactly. But amazing songwriters. I think the songwriting community is what drew me there first.

• 22:14Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah.

• 22:14Speaker 05

  Met some amazing writers. And then obviously no shortage of incredible, you know, engineers and producers and, and musicians. And, and so, yeah, it's kind of like a mixture of what I've always done in LA. But, but having the incredible, you know,

• 22:33Speaker 05

  You know, community of writers and people to pull into these sessions has been a blast. So, yeah, 2019.

• 22:39Speaker 00

  And then didn't you work on the during the pandemic, like when everything stopped? Didn't you work on something kind of huge?

• 22:44Speaker 05

  Yeah, I did. It was, it was amazing that this opportunity fell into my lap. So I, I've known Lin-Manuel Miranda for a number of years and he, he called me up one day and he's just like, hey, you want to work with me on this Disney thing? He was very, didn't really build it up. He didn't really give me too much information. And I said, sure, as you just say yes to Lin. And come to find out, it was the next Disney feature film that went on to become Encanto.

• 23:13Speaker 00

  So we don't talk about Bruno.

• 23:15Speaker 05

  Yes, we don't talk about Bruno. We're happy, I'm happy to talk about it.

• 23:18Speaker 00

  No, it's cool.

• 23:19Speaker 05

  But it was, it was amazing in that I had, I had an outlet because so many of us had to just stop everything.

• 23:26Speaker 00

  Exactly.

• 23:27Speaker 05

  You know, not a lot of stuff was going on. Eventually, we kind of tried to figure out the remote thing, but for Encanto, it was, it was literally, you know, day from beginning to end, it was done remotely and.

• 23:38Speaker 00

  Except you said that you got a group of musicians.

• 23:41Speaker 05

  No, yeah.

• 23:42Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, you got to tell that story because it's really good.

• 23:44Speaker 05

  So, yeah, the whole process, you know, essentially Lin does these incredible demos, writes the songs, hands them off to me and I kind of, you know, do my thing. He gives me a lot of liberty to try things, but you know, I honor the song and, and, but everything, you know, percussion, well, I'm not a percussionist. So everything I did percussion wise was kind of like to my best, you know, to try and assimilate, you know, what I thought would work. But at some point I found this incredible musician, Edmar Castaneda, who's based in New Jersey, New York, New Jersey area. But originally from Colombia, who, who I've played him these demos and he was able to take the demos and go, oh, okay.

• 24:25Speaker 05

  Here's the rhythm that would be authentic to this region of Colombia and, and interpreted

• 24:31Speaker 00

  And you're not getting it.

• 24:32Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, no, no, he was, he was, you know, he was nice about it.

• 24:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 24:36Speaker 05

  But he was definitely like, oh yeah. And if you want to make this authentic, here's the beat, you know? And so, you know, and he played harp and tiple and, you know, we had these great percussionists come in and to, you know, that, that took a lot of, you know, red tape and hoops because at that time Disney, nobody wanted to be responsible for a, an outbreak, you know? And we were going to have to get, you know, a number of musicians into a studio. So we signed all the waivers, did all the tests.

• 25:02Speaker 00

  Worth it.

• 25:03Speaker 05

  And it was totally worth it because the moment I started to hear these musicians take what was my MIDI programming, you know, assimilation and turn it into something real, it just, it took it to a whole other level.

• 25:15Speaker 00

  That's so cool.

• 25:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was, I think, a big, a secret ingredient, not so secret ingredient to like why I think that, first of all, the songs are amazing, but everything works so well and, and these musicians brought it to life.

• 25:26Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 25:27Speaker 05

  Yeah, so that was, that was my therapy during, during COVID for sure.

• 25:32Speaker 00

  That's nice.

• 25:32Speaker 05

  So, but yeah.

• 25:33Speaker 00

  Yeah, I had, I did not know you were part of that one.

• 25:36Speaker 05

  So. Yeah, you know, I sneak in there every once in a while. You just got to look, you got to look closely, but some, yeah, sometimes you'll find me in some places you don't expect.

• 25:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's, that's the fun of it, right?

• 25:47Speaker 05

  Absolutely.

• 25:48Speaker 00

  Doing different things. If you're a music fan, I've got a new podcast you have to check out. It's called Before the Moment, a new series hosted by the legendary Nile Rodgers. You know him as the producer, songwriter, guitarist and co-founder of Chic. But in this series, he's hitting the road to sit down with some of today's most fascinating artists. From hitmakers like Miguel to rising stars like Alex Warren, Nile explores the stories behind the careers, the songs and the moments that changed everything. Because every artist can point to that turning point, the moment before the breakthrough, before the success, before everything changed. Through candid conversations and personal stories, you'll hear what happened before

• 26:32Speaker 00

  the moment that made them who they are today. Listen to Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeartRadio app, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

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• 27:52Speaker 05

  And yeah, I, that for me, I mean, I'm grateful I've been doing this for a number of years. I mean, probably if I had to put it, it's somewhere in 25, 27 years now, you know, in sub-capacity. And, and to still get asked to do something that feels like, you know, uncharted territory for me is when I'm like, oh, yeah, okay.

• 28:12Speaker 00

  You're into it.

• 28:12Speaker 05

  I'm into it and, and I like, I, I'm okay with not, with just asking for help too. I've gotten better at that, like going, okay, I don't.

• 28:20Speaker 00

  You don't have to pretend you know everything.

• 28:22Speaker 05

  Exactly. And I think once you get to that point, you start to realize like, oh, there's so much more to gain if you just ask someone like, hey, what, what do you need here? What, I'm not sure how to do this. And then they give you two little nuggets of information and you're like, ah, okay. Now I think I can run with that. And that, that movie was a lot of that, a lot of learning, but a lot of just, you know? And sometimes not knowing can provoke something that, that maybe someone else on the other side is like, oh, we don't normally do that, but this actually sounds really cool. Let's run with it, you know? So it works both ways, you know?

• 28:56Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 28:56Speaker 05

  Ignorance can be bliss.

• 28:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, exactly. That's cool.

• 29:00Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:00Speaker 00

  You want to play another song?

• 29:01Speaker 05

  I would love to.

• 29:03Speaker 00

  Yeah, let's play this John Batiste song.

• 29:05Speaker 05

  Oh, cool.

• 29:05Speaker 00

  You wrote this with, with John or?

• 29:07Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 29:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, okay.

• 29:09Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:09Speaker 00

  Do you normally, is your usual, well, it sounds like we just answered that, but like you're kind of like do what's needed when it's needed.

• 29:17Speaker 05

  Totally.

• 29:18Speaker 00

  You do write with people a lot when you're producing something.

• 29:21Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 29:22Speaker 00

  But you don't only, like you sometimes just produce songs that they've already written, right?

• 29:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, I'd say there's a good amount where I'm producing a collection of work that's already been written. There's times where maybe there's an artist that wants to get to know me and is like, well, hey, why don't we get together and write, you know? And it's kind of like, no, no strings. It's just to see if the chemistry is there.

• 29:43Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 29:43Speaker 05

  If you get a song, that's a bonus, you know? But, and, and then sometimes those, those songs will turn into like, okay, let's, let's book another week or two and, and build up an album and then go in and turn those demos into the record. And then there's a handful of times where, like for instance, this John Batiste song, I co-wrote it with John, but I didn't produce it.

• 30:04Speaker 00

  Oh, really?

• 30:05Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 30:05Speaker 00

  Oh, interesting. I didn't realize that.

• 30:07Speaker 05

  Nope, yeah. And, and, you know, it was just one of these, John, you know, he's one of those guys that like you just have to be up for, you know, the last minute-ness, you know? And so he can, he called me up, I think it was the night before or whatnot. And he's just like, hey, I got a day off in Nashville and, and, and he was, he was like, can I come over to the studio and let's, let's write, let's jam? And fortunately, one of his other collaborators, who's also a good friend of mine, Steve McEwen, was in Nashville, was in town. And so the three of us got together and jammed, wrote that song, the song Big Money that became the title track for John's last record.

• 30:50Speaker 00

  That's so cool.

• 30:51Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 30:51Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 30:52Speaker 05

  So, but yeah, I'd love to play it. That'd be fun.

• 30:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, this is a great one.

• 30:54Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 31:14Speaker 03

  You can buy a house, but you can't buy a home. You can be surrounded and still be alone. Oh, Lord.

• 31:28Speaker 03

  Could be living the life but not living the dream.

• 31:35Speaker 03

  Mama said, girl, don't you be no dummy. Everybody's chasing that big, big money, big money.

• 31:44Speaker 03

  You might have a horse, it don't mean you can ride. You might have a plane, that don't make you fly. Oh, Lord.

• 31:57Speaker 03

  You can be living the life but not living the dream.

• 32:04Speaker 03

  Mama said, girl, don't be no dummy. Everybody's chasing that big, big money, big money.

• 32:14Speaker 03

  Now, might as well live for something you can feel. Might as well live for something. Something real, nah. Might as well live for something you can feel. Might as well live for something real. You can't take it with you 'cause there wasn't nothing with you before.

• 32:44Speaker 03

  Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, same old, same old, same old thing.

• 32:53Speaker 03

  Big money.

• 32:58Speaker 03

  You can buy a song, it don't mean you can sing. And you can win it all and still lose everything.

• 33:09Speaker 03

  Ooh, mama said, girl, don't you be no dummy. Everybody's chasing that big, big money. Don't be a knucklehead or bobblehead dummy. Everybody's chasing that big, big money, big money. Live for something you can feel. Might as well live for something real, nah. Might as well live for something you can feel. Might as well live for something real.

• 33:42Speaker 05

  Come on. I don't need that in.

• 33:45Speaker 00

  I had to do it. I had to do the last note.

• 33:48Speaker 05

  Amazing. I mean, there's just such, um, John has such a cool way of like making something real fun and lighthearted.

• 33:54Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 33:54Speaker 05

  But when you look at those lyrics, there's some cool little nuggets in there.

• 33:58Speaker 00

  I love the lyrics. They're, they're so, um, it's like, yes.

• 34:02Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 34:03Speaker 00

  That.

• 34:03Speaker 05

  Exactly. Just simplify it. Break it down.

• 34:05Speaker 00

  Yeah, break it down to what is necessary.

• 34:08Speaker 05

  It's awesome. Yeah. And he did a really cool video for it.

• 34:11Speaker 00

  Oh, he did?

• 34:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, it's kind of this sort of, uh, you know, what, you know, like, what is, uh, what's it called? Like an oil, like a snake, uh, salesman. What is it? What's it called?

• 34:22Speaker 00

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 34:22Speaker 05

  Like what you're selling, like?

• 34:23Speaker 00

  Snake oil.

• 34:23Speaker 05

  Snake oil. And yeah, exactly. And, uh, but it with a, with a fun twist.

• 34:28Speaker 00

  That's good.

• 34:29Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 34:29Speaker 00

  He just looks like somebody who's always having fun playing music.

• 34:33Speaker 05

  Man.

• 34:33Speaker 00

  Which is funny because he knows so much.

• 34:37Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 34:39Speaker 00

  It's actually great that he can just have fun with it. I guess when you know that much, you don't have to think.

• 34:43Speaker 05

  Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm constantly learning things about John and things that, you know, about him that inspire me to be better and

• 34:53Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 34:54Speaker 05

  find ways to engage, you know? I think he, he really, I, I see him as a vessel, you know, for just music and goodness and, and things that, that feel bright and positive.

• 35:05Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 35:06Speaker 05

  And he just puts that on full display. And the fact that he has the energy to do that is amazing. He's got a lot of energy. Exactly. I do, I have seen John Batiste, uh, crash out in a studio though. So he does, he does, uh, need to recharge every once in a while.

• 35:22Speaker 00

  Crash out, meaning?

• 35:23Speaker 05

  Meaning he just, you know, took a little nap.

• 35:24Speaker 00

  Okay. But see, that's different now with the kids today.

• 35:26Speaker 05

  That's right.

• 35:28Speaker 00

  Uh, throw a fit.

• 35:29Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right.

• 35:30Speaker 00

  You mean it in the old school way.

• 35:32Speaker 05

  I mean it in our.

• 35:32Speaker 00

  He crashed. He fell asleep. He didn't crash out. Okay.

• 35:37Speaker 00

  Just to clarify, I don't want any rumors getting started.

• 35:39Speaker 05

  I'm not allowed to use.

• 35:40Speaker 00

  Batiste's throwing tantrums and like, you know.

• 35:42Speaker 05

  It, no, no, no. He was.

• 35:43Speaker 00

  Ruining, setting pianos on fire because he's mad.

• 35:45Speaker 05

  It'd be cool to see him do that, but actually.

• 35:47Speaker 00

  I don't think he would do that. That's awesome.

• 35:49Speaker 05

  Amazing.

• 35:50Speaker 00

  Cool. That was fun. Thanks for listening to our show. The first song we did was called Family Affair, which is the Mary J. Blige song, of course. Mike co-wrote this song for the album No More Drama, which was released in 2001. Second song was Big Money, the John Batiste song, which Mike also co-wrote for the album Big Money 2025. Special thanks to Mike Elizondo for joining us today. We'll be back next week with part two of this episode. Norah Jones is playing along as a production of iHeart Podcasts. I'm your host, Norah Jones. Recorded by Matt Marinelli. Additional recording and mix by Jamie Landry. Audio post-production and mastering by Jamie Landry.

• 36:31Speaker 00

  Artwork by Eliza Frye. Photography by Shervin Lenez. Produced by Norah Jones and Sarah Oda. Executive producers Erin Juan Kaufman and Jordan Runtog. Marketing lead, Alison Cantor-Graeber.

• 36:49Speaker 06

  Hi, this is Mauro Lopez from all Mauro Lopez Daily Podcast. Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability. And it starts with a great deal on an all-wheel drive Camry, Corolla Cross, or a Corolla sedan with the latest features in tech. Or test drive a spacious Grand Highlander or adventure-ready RAV4. And with so many hybrid models available, you can enjoy longer trips without all the stops. While Toyota's legendary resale value means you could get more at traded. So get a great deal today and great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for deals and details. Toyota, let's go places.

• 37:26Speaker 00

  If you love music and great artist interviews, check out Before the Moment, hosted by Nile Rodgers. This new series follows Nile as he travels across the country, talking with some of today's most fascinating artists about the moments that shaped their lives and careers. From hitmakers like Miguel to rising stars like Alex Warren, Nile explores the stories behind the careers, the songs, and the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the point where everything changed. And this podcast tells the stories that came before it. Listen to Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on iHeart Radio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 38:00Speaker 03

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• 38:34Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.