FEATURE
YES,
SIR
He may be 80, but Sir Tom Jones has still ‘got it’, as can be attested by his remarkable new album Surrounded by Time. LEX MARTIN / THE INTERVIEW PEOPLE
AT THE BEGINNING of the interview, legendary singer Sir Tom Jones may seem overly calm, but this is not due to a lack of energy. On the contrary, during our conversation the 80-year-old unfolds an intense look into his personal life and presents himself as a highly reflective thinker. You seem quite brimming with energy. Definitely. I can’t wait to get back on the road to sing some live shows … that’s the biggest drive for me. I am escaping Covid, that’s the first thing, but secondly, I would love to go and sing to the people. Without the people, what’s the point. Your new album is titled Surrounded by Time. What is your attitude to time? When you’re a child especially, you don’t think about time. Old age is a long way away as far as you are concerned. The early part of my life went slower. I wanted to be an adult, I wanted to go drinking in the pub with my uncles and my father, I wanted to become a man. That seemed like a long time when I was in Wales. Then when I got my first hit record, all of a sudden time started to speed up and I was having such a great time. I figured out now that I am 80, how much time do I have left? How many more albums can I make? Because I love to make new albums, and to go out and sing to the people. But thank God, my voice is still there. Without that, it would not work. Is there anything you still want to explore in life? Not really. Nothing important because what I wanted to do was make music. I wanted to sing to people, and I have been doing that. Travelling has come into it because I have always been interested in geography, history. I like to travel to different countries to see and hear what the people are like. I think the best way to do that is to go and sing. You are getting a feeling, I do anyway, of the people you are singing to. God could not have given me a better gift than he did in order to sing and travel and see different people all over the world. >>
26 covemagazine.com.au
– Issue 85
