[captioning madpossible by kcetublic television] caponed by the natial captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- tavis: gd eveni from los geles. i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversati with smokey robson as we continue to celebrate th50th nniversary o motown, he is celebrating his own goen aniversary. one year after signing with moto, they became a success with his hi single "op around " " he has h thoughts on the pasng of micha jackson. we are gd you're joining us. skey robins right now. >>there is so manyhings that

lmart islooking forward to doing, like helpingeople live better. we are lobui bui stronger mmunities and relationships. with your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide iuranceroudly supporttavis smiley. working to improve financial literacy and the economi emporment that comes with it. >> andy contritions to your pbs station from viewers ke you. thank you. it >>i am alwaysleased, honored, a humble to have smokey robinson on this ogram. all of these years we haveeen featuring conversationsith the great motwn legends ase

celebrate the 50th anniversary of motown. fore there was marvin or stie or the jason five, there was a guy named smoy ronson. he helped put motown o the map with their no. 1 signal -- sing. his new cd is called "timelies when you're having fun." here is some of the new single. ♪ you will be a min rever do not know why i did n come

♪ tavis: when i first heard this song on the rad, three things went through my mind almost immediately. but what an honor it must be to ha smok, th all of th songs he has wrien, to cover yo song. orah jones is somewre grinning ear to ear. smokey binson, one of the greatest songwters of all time, cering your song. i have heard your ver ofhis. smokey has sll got it. the third thing is, of all o he songto cover, why did u choos that one? >> i am asong lover. some songs give me that impact when i first hear them. that was one of those songs.

i heard it and loved the melody. it had a calypso version of its peod -- of it. it was suc an abstract ve song. i just loved the song. i am a song lover. tavis: when yu hear a song ke that of any song and you dcide that you went to cover it, tell me more about smey's process. what is your process when you decide you're going to cover the song and put your n flavor on it? >> at is what i do t first time. i hear it over and ove again. i decide how i would want to sing the song if i was singing t. i do that verse and then i g togetherith my cductor.

there were two guys, there were both keyboard plays. we would just get an arrangement together and go ino the studio and not get ou " becae you are su a gnius, i hear whayou do with the song. take me back to when you we working it. what did you ink you hato do with it to make it work to put your own thing on it? >> i thought i had to do ishe way i felt it and not try to copthe record. tavis: does that mean changing the keys? >> i d to change keys. my key is lower. i change the teo. heard it's lower. hers is up-tempo. for me i heard its lower like a ballad. i ied to make it sweet. that is what we trieto do with it.

tavis: wt does it mean for you -- and di you plant it this y tout out anoer reco in the 50th year the motown celebrati? >> it just happed that way. was just trying to put iout. i was doing it the old-fashion way. the cd th i -- came up before this o was adf all standards i had plann on recordinghat 1 ve and never got around to oing it. i ha got all of the peoplen the stud at the same time, which is unheard of in tod's record market. you record on a computer. people who py and sing on the me record do not see each other. they are in differentountries. at different times.

i said that i am going to go back to the old way and record it with everyby beinthere at the samtime. you wer not in the studi you were not going to be on the cord. you missed thaone. tavis: moto is goi to be on time. >> we had a ll. itis like doing a ncert in a studio. everybody is feeding oof each other an feeling from each other. we had a great time. tavis: how does it feel for you to still be relevant, to still have the pipes, to stl be able to do this at0 years after motown started? >> i am blessed. i am asolutely blast. -- blesse

when it your job is doing something that you lo and you cannot think anything yu would rather do withour life, that is a blessin i am bssed. to be around for0 years, whi is way beyond my wildest dream, but it goes by overnight. especily when you areenjoying yoursel that is exactly how ieel about my life. tampa -- me fes whenou're having fun. i cannobelieve it -- i cann believe that we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of moto. it seems ke two or three yes ago that berry ca to me to start a record company. he said that he could be me a something. doot even by that.

tavis: i am going to ju in here. we had ber gordy in here two or tee times. he ce in around the same time -- sad te of michael jason's passing. he was saying that he thought that he was a betr songwrer than skey. as timeent on, smokey got it. >> barry is might-- berry my bet friend. when we start moto there were five pple. itas him andfour other people. i am startinghis record compy. we are not just gog to make black music. we are goingto make music for the world were going to makemusic with break beats and great sries. are always gog to make quality music. as far as i am concerned, motown is a once-in-a-litime musical

event. nothing like that happen before then. i doubt serious that anything li th would happen again. prior t him starting motown, i nsidered myse toe a sowriter. i have been wting songs since i was abt five years old. tavis: 5? >> the first song tt i ever wrote that anybody other than my moand me heard, i was 6 yes old. i was in achool play in elementary school. in the play i was uncle remus. the oldlack styteller that tes them h the imals got to be how they are. why the pig had a curly tail. whitey zebra's stripes. my teacher had melody. n i write some words for that? she said, go ahead. rights awards

she let me sing itat the beginning and the end o the play. you wld havehought that i waseorge gershwin. my mom told people that s did not even ow. sheot the phone book and started calling pple. i always try to write sos. jackie wson was my no. 1 singing idol. i always look tsee who wte the musi i knew about berry gdy. go to this audion for jackie wilson's manars. we saw in the fi songs that i h written and said of something that is currently popular. thiyoung guy was sitting in the corner. i ws 16 at the time. he was waitin to audition. they rejected us a we went out and we were totally down.

he cam upbehind us he id, hold on. he sa, where did you get those songs from? i really dejecte i said that i wrote th. he said th i like a cple of your songs. i am thinking, d so what? i am being polite. say thank you, i apprecie that. he said that i aberry gordy. my li drawn down to the floor. - lip dropped down to the flo. you are the berry gorhat writes son for jackie lson? what? heade a mistake. he saidhave you got anyore songs? iulled up mightittle notebook. he sd, let me hear some of

your songs. he takes me to a room i must ha 720 songs to him thatay. he never said i am tid. i have heard engh. he just critiqued every so. he just sat there. he said that youth should have ne this. i could always rhyme stu. i wld have fve songs in one song. he made me see that. he pointed i out to me. h said that thereis a code to writing. your songs have to ve a beginning and middle and an endinto tie them together. if you not end it, you have to give people enough information that they can and it for themselves. it all has to tie in. you have to see how peop are

writing. she tahte how to write- he taughte how to write songs professionall i have give creditwhere credit is e. tavis: how does it feel for berr gody to admit that he ended up being the better sonriter? >> it make me feel good beuse he has been my ment. if he was going to be really nest he would admit that he -- adm that beat him at golf. tav: i was not going go there. >> tiddlywinks, jacks. tavis: i wan you each to hea what rry gordon had to s about you and miael jackson. watch that monitor rig there. >> inders knew about it.

itas on a sky song called "who is lovi you?" i said that that would not be one ofis tour -- first three or four songs. it wasike 50 years of knowing out love. i did not say in front of smokey. he was kcking smokey's ass. there was so much passion in that. >> at do you have toay to berry gordy out that? >> i aee with him tolly. when michae sang that song, "who is loving yu? about somebody that has somebody that ves them thedo not apprecia it, so they do something wrong. bu iran, they are regretting that they did that sometng wrong.

now ey're wndering who this person is withow. that is a deep idea. michaelang that song when he as 11. when i first heard iti had to play iagain. ts boy is 11. how could he possibly feel a so like that? he had it sang it like i had written in about him. he was just incredible. he sang so good. oung peoe who hear me saying -- using a mhael jackson song, huh? it is amazing that 11 years old, he could have that much pasion. chael w an old ul. when first met him he was 9 or . he wasold. he was a youn boy because was arankster and he likes to

do pranks and uff lke that like a young boy. one of my great memori of him is the g that was insumental in bringing him motown. he plays golf d i play golf. all of the motown guys are archrivals at everything. we are very cpetitive. would take mhael with us. do not let one of us miss a shot or hit the ball in theoods. he d never picked up a golf club in his life. your hand was wk. heas a greatoung man. tavis: house or real was it howurreal was it, we saw you

all a the service, you wre in a cln suit. if tat was my siz i would try to ce to yo housand steal it. how surre washat to do a tribute to the young man w was younger than y. >> i ha had three deaths to affect me in the same way. they were suen impact. totally out of nowhere. my wife called me that day at screaming and hollering and crying over t phone. michaelis dead. nope. chael to? michael jackson had a art attack. n michael jkson michael jason. that is not who you are talking about.

the firs thingas complete silence from me. i cod not accept that. my psyche wouldot except that. iave had thr dths like that. marvin gaye. i am driving hme from the golf ourse. i have the radio on. e g comes on theadio and he corpts the song -- interrupts the sonand he says that soul sing marvin gaye has be pronounced deadn arrival at the hospil. remember it like yestday. heid not just ay that. he did not say that. he goes on about it. i am thinking to myself, this is april fool's day. that is what this . iulled into the gas station. before she said hello, sh said hello.

i said hey, bab she said tt it is true. the guy that i grew u with and knew since i was 10 years old, he was onef my closestriends in life. he had been going back and for to the hospital. hehought that sething was happening with his blo count. he called one day and he said that i am going tohe hospital. he was still living in detroit. he said that i agoing to keep u for a couple of days. i said, do you want to go to detroit i said that i am goingo the hospal, i am not going to d. the next day, he was gone. whenou hear somethinglike michael jacksonit is ke somebodyame and hit me in the chestith a 2 by 4.

i havepoken at all of their nerals. for me to be standing othat podium looking down at casket that holds t body o my littl brother, michael jackson, it is weird. it was weirfor me to thinking that he is gone. he is not coming bk. he is ne for good. rtunately, i believe in the heafter. i kw that he is cool. for this lifthate are living here, other than the fact that he is gng to live on and on forever because i belve he was the most ectrifying, dynamic entertainer i he ever seen in my life and have seen everybody. i used tnk thatbout jackie wiln when i was growing up. if youver saw jackie wilson, he was woo.

michaelackson topped evybody. helevated the deliverance of a song. his songs we not oyaudible, but they were visual. when you saw him do em, that put a whole other touch ont. tavis: wh you go through a processike that with marvin ye,on and al michaels, as yoget olde -- and n he michael, as you get older, i hope that you are sllutting up cords. yo arestill handsome. >> i loveou. tavis: wheyou come face to face with mortality i a ron, in

marvin, in michael, what does that say to you about how you want to spend the rest of your time, whenever that is? >> isays to me to enjoy myself and to li withs little negativity in my life as possible. something happened to me many yers ago. i was doing a tour in canada a i was on a bus. something happene that was rlly rank. i will not go into what itas. i was absutely furious. i was so mad until it felt like could have taken e buand thrown it in the lake. that kind of mad. i got bacon the busnd i was fuming. thats like a voicespoke to me.

he said waia minute. do you know who you are hurting? yoself. the thing that you are mad out. the thing th has got you so set, has already happen. there is no rewind. you cannot back and make that unhappen. as lg as you keep that rious inside of you, the more it is going to hurt you if y are goingo suffer. for a short of a times you can stay upset when something upsets you, and do get. youre saving yourself. that how i lookt life. tavis: he is a great philopher and perhaps that is why he the best songwriterthat ever lived. his name is wiiam smokey robinson he has a n cd out we celebrate the 50th anniversary of theabel he helped make great.

hi new proje is caed smokey robinson andtime flies whe you're hingront " " it was so much fun and this conversatiohappened so fast. that is airshow for t night. tch me on weeken on pebble -- public radio international. i will see youack herext time on pbs. goodnight from l.a. as always, keep e faith. >> ♪ my mama told me you'd better shop around ♪ >>or more informationn today's show visit tavis smile at pbs.org. tavis: i am tavis sley. from the next ti for a conversati with howard dean and his plans for heah-care refor that inext time. >> there arso many things th walmart is looking forward to

ing, like lping people live bette we are loorwngkiaord t tl people build strong relatiohips. with your help, t best is yet to come. ns i tanuridens iuran proudly supports tavis smiley. working to improve fincial literacy and the ecomic impact that comes with . >> nationwide is on youside. and by ctributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning ma possible by kcet public television]