Who’s In The Arms Of The Angel Now? 45:30

news flat hi it's jan arden this is the jan arden presidential podcast coming to you from calgary alberta and toronto ontario we are doing well folks right now for us it's friday i'm just going to be honest with you right now it's friday you're going to be listening to this on a saturday

So welcome to Saturday. I wish I was actually in Saturday to be able to say with conviction that Biden perhaps won. But right now it's still on the edge and we've all been glued to our television since Tuesday. And anyway, I think all the news agencies are loving this stuff. Guys, what do you think? It's like this is the longest election coverage they've been able to do. Everyone's jobs are secure.

I think it's the actual networks, I think, love it. And I imagine that now at this point, the anchors themselves are like the Energizer bunny just slowly melting. Yeah, they're exhausted. It looked like Don Lemon at points was like falling asleep. I don't know how anyone's keeping track of

the numbers, like the number crunching they have to do while still speaking knowledgeably to the issues and the ever-changing comments. And then Trump's wild speech that he had on Thursday that most of the networks just simply cut away from, which was a first. And I think a lot of people were kind of waiting for that moment. So I don't know how they're doing it. And it's funny that, you know, what has happened as a result of people watching so much news, they've developed huge crushes on the anchors. Did you guys see that Chris Cuomo was trending? Yeah.

He's been trending all week because people are watching the news so much that they're like getting heart eyes for everyone who they spend so much time watching. And Chris Cuomo is apparently the heartthrob of at least the U.S. right now. People just find him very handsome. And it kind of started with his brother back in the spring with the start of the pandemic because everyone was watching his brother, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, so often on his press conferences. And they liked his stance and they liked his reassurance.

And so they started calling themselves Cuomo sexuals. And now Chris Cuomo has, has become the newest round of Cuomo sexual and, uh, or I guess like his Cuomo sexual desire. And it's so funny to see.

Oh my God. Like we needed to add one more sexual preference to the gauntlet out there. It's been, it's been an interesting time, but you know, there's no surprises here. No surprises at all. Everybody knew exactly what was going to happen. And in fact, Trump was throwing those seeds of doubt out before him months and months ago. Cause I'm sure his people were saying, listen, this is going to be really close race perhaps. Yeah.

And you could probably even lose. So they prepared for every outcome. And he was, he was already talking about the fraudulent mailing boats that he thought it was bogus. And he put doubt in, he cast a lot of doubt in the minds of certainly his fan base. If that's what you call, if that's what you even call, I mean, that seems weird to call citizens of fan base because it conjures up to me the

The idea that people are fanatical about somebody, not because of their policies or their beliefs, but just because of who they are. So we saw this coming, right? What I didn't see coming were the blue flips from certain states, mind you, by incredibly close margins when it comes to the electoral votes, far from a close margin of a popular vote. Biden now surpasses President Obama, former President Obama, as the most garnering the most votes

for a presidential candidate, which was a record previously held by Obama from the 2008 election. So the popular vote and the electoral vote, two very different things. It'd be great if the popular vote mattered, but anyways. But I was surprised by seeing the flip of Wisconsin and Michigan and Wisconsin

at current broadcast time, the very close race and now lead that Biden has in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Georgia is a state that has been as red as they go since 1992.

So that's a big, those to me were surprises. Georgia's is a few thousand votes right now ahead for Vice President Biden. And so it's been kind of scary to watch, but I guess that really doesn't even matter the way they're configuring elections.

the leads in other states, it looks like Biden is going to win. Can they not wake up? What's going on? Well, everyone's there's so many funny memes coming out of Nevada of sloths doing the counting and

And I just think they've been overwhelmed. And the people that are running the election down there, the people at the counties are just saying, look, this is really different for us. We've never had mail-in ballots. We've never had, you know, to accept them until five o'clock today. They have to accept the ballots. So there's still stuff coming in in all the states Friday at five o'clock.

is the cutoff time for, I think it's some of the military. If your ballot was postmarked at a certain time. I mean, there's so many things that are lending itself to this arduous, but it's really exciting. This is the longest Super Bowl I've ever seen in my life. I've been glued to CNN. Glued. It's all I watch. I have it running in the background. I'm just not watching it. I'm just not glued to it. I can't do it. I have stuff to do in my life and...

I, you know, like I always say to people, the big stuff will find me. So I know exactly what's going to happen when it happens because my phone's going to blow up.

I always try to think of it, especially with the pandemic this year, but now this as you know, it is just something to see that we are living through history. Absolutely living through history, living through this, this bizarre monumentally bizarre election that's lasting for so long. And yeah, the mail-in votes just making this such a protracted process, but yeah,

They knew that, like you said, they knew this was going to happen. And when you have Republican controlled state legislature in the states that are still recounting, they made it so that these people counting polls couldn't start their work early. So that's a little sneaky part that people don't get because I certainly understand everyone who was online initially saying, what did it?

How come early votes are taking so much longer to count? Shouldn't that seems counterintuitive. But for many of these places that are still counting, you know, as of today, they couldn't even start, even though they had them all sitting there are probably on a desk across from them or whatever it looks like. They couldn't start counting until Election Day. And that's why I, for one, I'm glad that it is taking longer.

some time. You know, there's a lot of thoughtfulness going into this and any of the people that have actually been on the news in the various states, you know, being representatives of their committees, of the whole process, I think has been so impressive. They've been calm and

You know, they've been saying, listen, we are following every single regulation that has been set out by our counties that, you know, they, they, I think they've been meticulous. And I think even more so, I mean, I think elections are always meticulous in the United States. I really do believe that. And I think more so now because they knew that president Trump was going to be contentious from beginning to end. He already set that up months ago and they did, they didn't want to leave it so that,

There was there was any holes kind of in in the narrative that they've created. Well, not created, but in how they're counting these ballots, how they set up their election. I think they've done a really, really good job of keeping this all above board.

I feel for the people counting at the, the, some of the voting stations. They're tired. They're making no money to do this really. It's like minimum, minimum wage. And they're a very important part of a democratic process. And now you're seeing in certain of these States where they're still counting, like especially in, you know, Michigan, Arizona, where local government officials there have started saying, go to these stations and start protesting. And it looks like something out of a zombie movie. You have all these people converging on these protests,

these voting stations where they're still counting votes. It's very much part of the democratic process and they're chanting outside, stop counting. But Caitlin, in some places they're saying stop counting and other places they keep counting. Can they figure out what, what,

what they'd like everyone to do. Do you want us to stop counting or to keep counting? So when places where he has a hope of getting ahead, they're like, oh no, keep counting those. But where Biden's gaining ground, stop counting those. How transparent and how idiotic do you think that they look to the rest of the world?

Well, and the rest of the world is watching and looking. And when you think about the finger wagging that the U.S. has done to other countries about how they handle their election and their version of democracy and all that stuff, it is not wearing well in terms of how this election is being watched in other parts of the world. You know, I have friends who live all over the world and they said, you know, hey, can we just like get a moratorium now on the U.S.'s involvement in, quote unquote, democracy in Latin America?

or in Asia, if you're going to have people standing outside of a voting station where people are counting votes, chanting stop counting, like we don't want to hear from you anymore. So

Well, I think no matter what happens going forward, it's been incredibly disappointing to me to see how split the country really is and how close these races are, that you have that many people that are on the brink of racism, that they don't care about any kind of social change at all, that they're really just concerned with their 401ks and how much taxes they pay and that

LGBTQ community, the BIPOC community, you know, that any kind of change that helps the betterment of humanity, it's just not a priority as long as their money's okay. And that as long as they do okay. So it's,

That to me is heartbreaking and that's been hard to watch. I would have liked to have seen a landslide for Biden that people were actually so sick of the lying and the meanness and the language that President Trump has used over the last four years and this Pandora's box of hatred that he's opened up. So that's been disappointing to see a country so split. I know they have a long way to go, but perhaps...

there's a bit of light on the way and, you know, a new, a new vibe. I also think the money thing, like when you get down to the money stuff, cause I have, I actually like, I have friends who, who I think are long, they're longtime Republican supporters in the U S I have lots of them there. I think some of them probably still voted for Trump this time around. And they did it because of financial reasons.

I know. And they are in a small category, though, where they will be taxed more heavily moving forward. They can, in my opinion, they can kind of afford it, but they, of course, whatever. But the majority of people who say, well, I'm not voting for Biden because I don't want my taxes to go up. I was like, I don't.

think you understand that your taxes aren't going to go up because you'd have to be making a lot more money than I know you do in order for that to happen. And also Biden is a very centered candidate. Like he is not looking to, there are lots and lots of wealthy Democrats who are going to stay wealthy and they want to stay wealthy. So they wouldn't have signed off on a massive tax increase either. I don't think people have to worry about that. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. We'll be right back.

We would have been remiss today to not touch upon the U.S. election. And it's been quite the epic endeavor the last three days. There's some hilarious memes that are taking over the Internet.

um people are making the funniest comments of how long the counting is taking like in Nevada in particular but uh it's yeah we can't not talk about that today folks so just bear with us but we do have a wonderful guest coming up that I'm going to tell you who they are right now so you stay with us Sarah McLaughlin oh so thrilled that you joined the show and and in honor of Sarah being on our show

We, Caitlin brought this up and I think it's great. We want to talk about like our first concert experiences, enough of the election. We've given them enough time. Good luck in the United States of America. You know, let us know when we can go back to Palm Springs safely and, and eat things from your excellent grocery stores. Anyway, so first concert, and it has something to do with Sarah, I would imagine Caitlin, right?

Yeah, I think I'm trying to remember if it is, it's down to either Lilith Fair as my first concert, or it is Janet Jackson's Velvet Rope Tour. And so these are very different things. So they're very different, but they're both phenomenal, like iconic women. And so I am trying to remember it now I went to, I think either one would have been like, probably I was in grade eight.

And so I went to go see the Lilith Fair and it is one of my truly my earliest concert memories. I went with a whole group of girlfriends. We were at the amphitheater, beautiful summer night. We sat on the lawn. We listened to Sarah McLachlan. I mean, we were just all so enamored with her and her music and her energy and something great that gets touched on when you guys have your conversation in the show today is that like

like the feeling of being at Lilith Fair not just like the music but like the stuff that was for sale and the the marketplace and just the energy of it was really unique and groundbreaking and I like I've always wanted to hear more about what Sarah has to say how that kind of came to be I loved it it was such a great experience so you think it would are you pretty sure it was Lilith Fair because Janet Jackson how old were you been 12 14 somewhere in there 12

yeah something like that midi will tell me oh gosh I think I was working from home were you 15 like your mom obviously let you go do this yeah I think I was like probably 14 like 13 14 I think probably so it would have been one of the first shows I could have gone to either one of them by myself and it would have been a full like someone's parents drop you off right at the entrance you meet us right back here we'll pick you right back up that could

- You could be expressing my exact experience. Parents dropping off. I was with my friend Patty, went to KISS in 1976. - Cool. - That's great. - I was 14 years old and we, the crowd was searching. It was in a building called The Corral, which was the original place

Before we had an NHL hockey team, they had, I forget what the Calgary like triple A men's team was, but they played in a building called the Corral. It probably held, I'm going to say 8,000 people, 7,500 people. And I just remember it feeling like huge, like the O2 in London. And it was,

We got dropped off and just, we got carried in through the crowd, like in a, in a wave of human bodies. And I was so little, like when I was 14, I was probably four foot 10 and 85 pounds. And anyway, I,

We just watched Kiss and Pat Benatar opened the show. Neat. Oh my gosh, that's so cool. But it was Gene Simmons' tongue and spitting blood on the crowd and people are going crazy. And there was so much weed. We could just smell weed everywhere. And people were smoking cigarettes back in those days. They were just, everyone was smoking cigarettes everywhere. And Patty and I were just like, I mean, I'd never been to anything in my life, but-

Yeah. That's my first concert. What's yours, Adam? I'm going to say Rafi, but, you know, but, but my first like, you know, rock band concert, I remember my parents took me, we saw the Beach Boys at the Beach Boys at the grandstand at the Canadian national exhibition. And that was like, I

Like, I love the Beach Boys. As a kid, I loved the Beach Boys. I still like the Beach Boys. They're great. So that was like, I'm pretty sure the Beach Boys was my first big show. And I remember some early concerts. I saw Boy George, like Culture Club Boy George at Maple Leaf Gardens. I remember seeing Cyndi Lauper. That was really cool. Oh, great ones. Yes.

So many good like early concerts, I think really form so much of your like taste in music and you know, also your love of live music. I mean, I miss nothing more right now. Like if top to like probably top of my list up there, obviously with travel, but would be going to shows. I miss seeing so many great artists that like I just grew up obsessing over.

Well, you're preaching to somebody who sadly misses all of that stuff. You know, on a personal level, it's been profoundly sad, but I also don't want to be a dork. You know, everyone's missed out on things. And it's certainly, I would never just say, oh, woe is me. It's, you know, there's people that are just in such crap. I mean, kids, having their kids go to school and stuff like that. You wait till you have kids, kids.

Caitlin, you're going to have a person coming into the world, a coronial. I'm so excited to see what his taste in music will be. Because I grew up with, I feel like, I loved Bruce Springsteen. My parents said one of the first words I ever said was born, because I would run around the house saying born in the USA. And I just wanted to hear born in the USA all the time. I love Bruce Springsteen so much that I went to go see him at Giant Stadium in New Jersey. Ooh.

when he was touring there. And it was just the coolest experience somehow just from going on Ticketmaster, got fourth row floor and took it as like an omen that I had to go see Bruce. So yeah, like him, Annie Lennox, like, man, I loved Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics from the time I was tiny, like teeny tiny. So I think, you know, that'll be something really cool about becoming a parent is like seeing your kids taste and things. Cause I don't know that it was formed by my mom and dad. I feel like I kind of came out with my own thoughts.

My girls don't like my taste in music at all. I've tried to impart, you know, my favorite band of all time is the Grateful Dead. They won't have any of it. I can see that though. Like the Grateful Dead probably wasn't something you liked when you were younger. Like what young kid is like, you know what I need is an eight minute jam.

Hey, that's it. 30 minute jam. Exactly. But I think the first cool band, like cool, I'm doing air quotes. The first cool band that I got into when I was like 14 or 15 was Pink Floyd. Oh, yeah. That just changed everything for me. But I try to play them. Floyd and Zeppelin. They sort of like the Beatles, but like it's all Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift. And that's great, too. But they won't have any of my, you know, I put on trucking and that's it. They don't want.

I got lucky. My dad worked for a music distributor. So we got a bunch of free CDs when I was growing up. And also a lot of artists would come through their music distribution place and they would do autographs, blah, blah, blah. He got me like a signed autograph of like Mariah Carey poster. Cause I just like love Mariah Carey. And I Jan have been looking for this for as long as I can recall.

call I had living under June and I just freaking loved it and you signed the front of the CD for me and I've been looking for it ever since we started doing the podcast together like years ago and I've been digging through my mom's house anytime I go back there I'm gonna sign you another one I'm gonna get you another one I want the OG because it was so cool to me and I thought the the foot like the photography on the front was so like moody and like 90s at the time and I just loved it the

Thank you, Caitlin. Well, we are going to be back with the one, the only Sarah McLachlan. And we're all so excited. We always, you know, we're all like giddy with excitement. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast. I'm here with Adam and Caitlin. Come back and hear our conversation with Sarah McLachlan.

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As promised, as advertised for the last 48 hard hours, Sarah McLachlan is with us. She's in her home in Vancouver. Her kids are physically going to a school, so that's got to be a bit nerve-wracking. Welcome, Sarah. Insert applause here, Adam. Thanks for doing this. I know we all get inundated with these virtual things. Well, I adore you, Jan, so it's easy. I'm happy to be here.

First of all, I just want to say that you are in such effing good shape. Like everyone commented and everyone that I talked to Sam Feldman, of course, who you work with on a regular basis. Everyone talks about just how strong you are and like how fit you are. And you did recently turn like 50. And yeah, well, we will. Well, we're going 52. We're going to go 50.

But anyways, you really are. What do you do, Sarah? Like you, I know I see you waterboarding, not waterboarding. That would be. No, not waterboarding. That's a bit different than this thing. Paddleboarding. Paddleboarding surfing. Yeah. I mean, I was in Tofino for about five months during COVID and I surfed about three hours every day and,

Um, so good for upper body, but no cardio there really. So, um, but I had a, um, I still work out twice a day, twice a week with my trainer. Um, I just feel like, you know, I, as we're getting older, it's really important to just keep strong, keep our muscles strong, keep flexible, keep, keep moving. And I love hiking. So I spend a lot of time in the woods. It's actually where I write most of my stuff. Your Instagram is amazing. The outdoor stuff.

We live in the most beautiful place in the world. I know. And your place in Tofino, you bought that years ago. I think you were way ahead of the curve as far as the hidden secret of Tofino that's getting a little more out of the bag now.

Well, especially because nobody in BC could go anywhere this summer. All the people that usually leave ended up staying home. And so, I mean, I have a lot of dear friends who live there full time and have businesses there and they were very afraid of what was going to happen. And I kept saying, you know what? Here, Kelowna, Whistler, Squamish, like everybody's going to flock here because it's all about the outdoors. And people that would have put that on the back burner decided this is where we're going to go. It was...

It was so busy. And by some miracle, there were no cases of COVID up until like a month ago.

And perhaps if anybody even felt a sniffle, they probably got in their car and drove the H out of there for fear of getting tarred and feathered. Yeah, no kidding. But it is, it's a beautiful place. And just the fact that anyone in Canada says they are surfing three hours a day seems ludicrous to me. But yes, people listening to this outside of our country, there is surfing on the West Coast and Sarah McLachlan does it. Anyway, you look amazing.

You guest starred on our Jan show this season. It was an absolute highlight for every single crew member. Every single person talked about how unbelievably approachable, how friendly, how affable. That's a pretty nice trail to leave behind you, Sarah. That's lovely. And a lot of people, I think, who are famous people can be a-holes. And you are really, truly an altruistic, kind person.

Thank you. Well, I just, every, everybody was so excited. Like people were genuinely so nervous that you were going to be there. You know, you'd walk out of a room and then everyone would kind of fall apart. Anyway, the reason that I started off talking about your incredible strength, this is the funny part folks. Yes. If you've seen the show, this is a spoiler coming up. Sarah McLaughlin and I fight over her lucky scrunchie. You're going to have to watch the show to find out.

If I was to actually fight you, McLaughlin, at any time, I would have my butt kicked. I would, I would, yeah. And the fact that it kind of made it look like I sort of won is the magic of television.

But you were such a good sport. Did you have fun doing the show? I had so much fun. And I mean, it's so funny for me to do that, to act in parentheses. But you're good. Oh, well, I don't know about that. But it was it was you made it so much fun. And I mean, I had such a hard time keeping a straight face because it is I love making people laugh almost as much as I love making them cry.

you know, like it's so joyful for me on stage when I actually say something that's that people laugh at, like, wow, I'm funny. I've seen you in concert many times and you're very funny. You tell great stories. And I think that's why your concerts are, are really are so special is that pendulum that swings from having a gut laugh and then being, well, and then being pulled into this world of whimsy of loss of, of,

you know, thinking about things that you had and don't have anymore. And that's, your shows are spectacular. Thank you. Thank you. Well, I mean, I'm, we're all multifaceted, you know, we're not two dimensional individual, you know, I, and I don't know how to edit myself, which is both a blessing and a curse. So I just, you know, I am who I am.

Farts and all, for lack of better words. What do you attribute being in this industry for 30 plus years? You and I have both heard dozens of names as we have rolled along around the globe of people that were doing so well, people that were at the top of their game, that you and I have literally not heard of in a decade. And I'm sure you find yourself going, whatever happened to, whatever happened to, whatever. And here you are, bigger than better than ever, growing

really on the top of your game, what do you attribute that to? And don't tell me that part of it doesn't have to do with being a decent, bloody person and being kind to the people around you. Yeah, well, I think, I don't know how to answer any of that subjectively or objectively. I think I've been incredibly lucky that I get to do this for so long. I think because what I do is...

And I hate to use the word authentic, but it's like, it is, it is. And I think people crave that they need that and they want that connection. And I think that's one of the most beautiful gifts music has to give us is that, that sense of, of connectivity, especially when you're playing and you're connecting with an audience and you get to be something, part of something that's bigger than yourself. It's like the closest thing I know to church. And I mean, as I said, I just, I feel incredibly grateful that after all these years of

I'm still able to do it. I mean, obviously it's the, the, the number of audience members that come has, you know, slowly dwindled a little bit, but I have a pretty great core fan base that, you know, is graying alongside of me. I feel like you are singing better than you ever have.

Like, and maybe it's just the mechanics of it, but I think you sing and you've always been a brilliant vocalist, but honest to God, Sarah, you sing better now to me, like your, your, the tone of your voice as we get older, we kind of, our voice darkens a bit and we get a little richer, but man alive, it's sensual and beautiful.

Thank you. Yeah, I mean, I, I feel like it's getting stronger. And I think it's, you know, it's a muscle that gets worked. And I take really good care of it. I take really good care of myself. I eat really well. I don't smoke. I hardly ever drink. That you know. So I join myself and join myself. Yeah, I just I feel like it's

It's something worth taking care of. Did you guys used to party hard on the bus? Oh God. Yeah. Okay. So it wasn't, it wasn't just us, right? Blur. Scotch consumed. Oh my God. You know, I always wonder how we staggered out there. I guess hangovers just get worse as you get older. You were young. I know. I'm from the Maritimes. I could drink most people under the table.

And now I have a glass and a half of wine and I'm wrecked. So it is pathetic. I've always fascinated by, you know, you know, I'm sure your friends did the same thing. Oh, can we go on the bus? And you're like, okay, there's nothing on there. Oh,

Oh, but I get the, it's so glamorous. Yes. I've had my friends come on, especially with their little kids. And I'm like, I'll let them, you know, climb in the bunks and okay. What bunk would you pick if you were going to sleep here? It's like, this is, you know, serious glamping for them. The idea that, you know, this is how you could travel. You could like wake up in the next city. I mean, it's all very romantic and, and, and exciting when, when you don't have to do it for two years straight. Yeah.

Because as you well know, it beats the hell out of digging ditches. Yeah, for sure. But it does take its toll on you when you're out for a really long time. It really does. Because it's a little microcosm and friends are getting married and having babies and parents are dying and people are getting married and divorced and you're just still going along on your little trajectory and...

It's isolating in a lot of ways. I mean, you have your core, your band and crews, it kind of becomes your family, which is wonderful. But, you know, it's kind of, it does get more and more challenging the older I get to be out for any great period of time. Well, we're going to get you a helicopter. We're talking to Sarah McLaughlin. You're listening to the Jan Arden podcast, and we are going to be right back with Sarah. I'm there with me.

We're back. You're listening to the Janard Podcast. I'm here with...

Probably one of the best singer-songwriters this country has produced in, I don't know, 178 years. Has Canada been a country for 178 years? Sarah McLachlan is with us today. She's a badass. Don't fight with her. Don't ever get in a brawl with her. Don't ever steal her lucky scrunchie. On the break, she said, yeah, after this, I'm just going to go swim in the lake. I want everyone to be reminded that this is the second week of November.

And or we're going into it. We're just finishing up the first week. And Sarah McLachlan is going to jump into a frozen lake because it's invigorating. This is this is so Canadian, Sarah McLachlan. I just started doing this. It's really fun. I had no idea that I was going to enjoy it so much. But what do you wear?

What are you in a bathing suit? Like shorts? Mostly it's just whatever I happen to have underneath. And I bring a towel with me and then just wear a pair, you know, take the ginch off and underneath the towel and put your shorts back on and go back down. Okay. You got to get up to the lake, which is a hike up. So it's your quite, your body's warmed up by the time you get up there. This is why, this is why Sarah looks like Sarah and I look like me.

I will be wandering to the fridge to get an apple, which is equally as taxing. But let's think about that apple. That is a healthy choice. Thank you. What is your favorite part of this industry? And I get asked this, and I'm always curious what other artists say. The performing part, the writing part, the traveling part.

the, the, I guess the perks of fame part, what, what keeps you, well, you know, restaurant table or, you know, kind of getting ahead of the queue. There's a lot of perks that come along that you don't ask for, but people give you that you're like, I really could have used your help 35 years ago. Where were you then to give, to send me a box of sneakers or, you know, so what, what keeps you interested in this?

Playing live for sure. Well, just, and beyond that, the simple pleasure of opening my mouth and having sounds come out that make me feel really good. I love to sing. I love to play. I love the feeling of peacefulness and release that comes with it. It's like medicine to me to be able to go to the piano, sit down and just start playing and singing. And it's like this instant, instant release. It's like,

That's the best way to describe it. And it's just, it's, it's kind of to share that feels so joyous and peaceful. It's like, Oh, this is where I get to live my purpose. So I wait, I look forward to those moments when it's not just about the audience. As I said, I get almost as much pleasure doing it by myself, but getting to share that is magic. Yeah.

I think, and this is no secret, I think you were one of the most instrumental singer-songwriters, instrumental women ever.

Probably in the music business of the last 25 years, and I say this because there's not a person on this planet that doesn't recognize Lilith Fair. Everyone recognizes what that was, the celebration of women together. It was almost, you were so far ahead of the curve as far as that movement for women to give them a platform, to give them a place to play in front of massive crowds that, let's face it, the music industry can feel very dominated by men.

You were young when you went down this path with Lilith Fair and the lasting legacy of what you did for dozens and dozens of careers. I know because I saw some of my friends on your stages that went on to do things that were given that opportunity at Lilith Fair. How do you look back at that time in your life? Oh, with a lot of gratitude and really amazing memories. And, you know, I just...

I was really young and didn't even know what I was stepping into. You know, I just thought, you know, there's so many amazing women making music right now and having success. Why are none of them represented in all these summer touring festivals? Well, let's just do it ourselves. So...

Yes, I had the idea, but a big part of the success was the fact that everybody also wanted this. These other female artists wanted this. They wanted the connection. They wanted to create the community. And we all did it together. We all built it together. And that's why it worked, I think. And because music, I think people often underestimate music.

music listeners, music lovers and say, Oh, these people aren't going to come. You're only, you only have this narrow audience. I listened to everything. And I assume that I'm kind of, you know, not that abnormal in the, in my musical tastes. And I talked to so many other people and they're like, Oh yeah, you should, you should see my record collection. Well, I'm aging myself. Although that's now coming back. You know, we all have diverse tastes in music. We do. And I think, you know,

Getting to try and represent a little bit of that at Lilith and to disprove, you know, those old male attitudes in the music business that women couldn't play back to back on the radio, that women couldn't play together on the same stage. People wouldn't listen. Well, when I was told that, I said, well, that's asinine.

Like what rock? They wouldn't listen because it was all female voices and female music. Female voices. Yes. But it was rock and roll. It was jazz. It was ethereal. It was, it was operatic. It was acid, you know, rock. It was like, you saw every genre of music in an afternoon. And it was such a, the village, like,

I went to see the shows probably, I'm going to say three or four times, five times, because I was so inspired by it. And all the things you guys do,

introduced that I think were so innovative and the first of its kind people selling things people sponsoring the show these these commercial villages where people could literally walk around and support small vendors support it wasn't just music artists it was it was artisans and that was new like you you'd go on the grounds at Lilith and it was a massive moving feast and

Yeah. Yeah. It was the idea of, you know, you can,

You can go and get your pretty jewelry, get your face painted. You can get the, you know, the sort of the festival thing, but you can also be educated. There was nonprofits there. There was like, we got to give a lot of money away to local and national charities. And we also got to give the opportunity to have a lot of nonprofits table so that they could, you know, educate people who were there. And it's all part of the, you know, this holistic thing about what women can do.

be and achieve and when we work together and just for this greater good that we can do so much when we band together and make a real difference in the world in all sorts of facets. We can do the music thing, we can make people feel good, we can make them cry, we can make them

feel joyous. We can bring them closer to their emotional worlds. We can also educate them. We can also, you know, in the sense of like, Oh, I might, I might not have been aware of this particular product and this, this company who's also giving a lot of money to charity. So it's just a sort of a, you know, conscious consumer, constant consumership as well. You wore a lot of hats. Like not only were you performing night after night with this giant three ring fantastic happening, but,

But you were responsible for putting a lot of the different artists together. To me, one of the most exciting parts of what you did, Sarah, was the collaborations. And I think everyone out in the crowd was so dazzled by seeing women work together that would never, ever have crossed each other's paths. Is there recordings? Is there... And I know there was lots of recordings done of Lillith Fair, but is there any hidden...

that you've ever pondered of putting up? There's got to be. Oh, there must be. I think there's tons and tons and tons of tapes. We record everything all the time. Ooh, Poppy, quiet. Sorry, I thought that was my last ovary dropping.

That was my last egg. I guess ovaries don't drop, do they? It's the eggs. The ovaries stay in place. They hopefully stay in place, yeah. I totally lost my train of thought there. No, but just the collaborations. I keep waiting for you to make an announcement on social media. We have a four-album set of Lilith Fair collaborations coming your way. Sarah, I'm telling you right now, I would be the first in line

And that's why I wanted to ask you, because someone said, ask Sarah if there's like recordings, because I know Joni Mitchell, you probably know this because of the people you work with, has just come out with all these gems that she had, I guess, from Laurel Canyon. But it's a four or six CD album set of unreleased material. Oh, yeah. I mean, as I said, we recorded everything. I can't speak to the quality of it without listening to it. But yeah.

Yeah, there's, there's a ton of material there. And it was so incredible. Do I have to phone Sam Feldman? Do I have to phone? Who do I have to, who do I have to sleep with? Well, let me just put that on the great long list. Not of who you have to sleep with, but. No. Oh, okay. Oh, damn. Um,

Listen, but anyway, just I'm just throwing that out there because I think would make magnificent. I mean, you've done so much stuff since then. The music school you've had, you know, thousands of kids go through there with a renewed sense of their love of music. I've done I've been involved a little bit in some of the fundraising you've done over the years. But wow, that was magic. And I'm wondering if if Lilith had anything to do with

You starting that. Absolutely. It was paramount because I put the money I made from Lilith into my foundation. And because I just, I loved the feeling of giving. Like every day I got to

give a dollar for every ticket sale to a local women's shelter, which on some days was $300. That is phenomenal. That feeling of giving, I just wanted, I wanted for the Lilith legacy to continue somehow. So really that's, that's how the school 18 years in now is still thriving and doing so well because. Well, you are, you are such a force to be reckoned with. And I think one of the nicest things to watch you over these years,

Three decades, three and a half. I mean, let's face it, Sarah, 80s, right? Is your sense of self, your authenticity, I think you're such a great representative of Canada. You can laugh at yourself, which is such a gift.

And I have people come up to me and I mean this so earnestly. What is Sarah like? Oh my God, have you met Sarah? Please, if you ever see her, tell her. Megan says, and that to me says so much because it's assumptive that, you know, they think we're pals. And I feel like we are friends, certainly after all these years. But just that people, they don't ask shite about me.

What's Sarah McLachlan? Anyway, I can't thank you enough for being with us today. And thanks for taking time. Please stay safe out there. Absolutely. And we'll cross paths again. You've been listening to the phenomenal Sarah McLachlan, actor, philanthropist, business mogul, singer, songwriter, and crocheter. No, I don't know if she crochets. No, I don't.

Thanks to all our listeners. Come and see us again here at the Jan Arden Podcast. This podcast is distributed by the Women in Media Podcast Network. Find out more at womeninmedia.network.