Margaret F*cking Cho
Margaret Cho is not the first comedian to make the leap from doing stand-up to singing out. Sandra Bernhard and Lea DeLaria have both released albums of a musical nature. But “Cho Dependent” (Clownery) is in a category all its own. First of all, Cho can sing. She’s no Jennifer Hudson, but she can hold her own and does throughout the album. Collaborating with some of the hottest musicians out there, including queer twin sisters Tegan and Sara (Intervention), Brendan Benson (Baby I’m With The Band), Fiona Apple (Hey Big Dog), Andrew Bird (I’m Sorry), out singer/songwriter Garrison Starr (Gimme Your Seed) and Ani DiFranco (Captain Cameltoe), among others, Cho delivers a solid set of songs. The important thing to keep in mind is that Cho maintains her sense of humor, in more ways than one, from start to finish. I spoke with Margaret shortly before she danced her way on to our TVs.

GREGG SHAPIRO : How much, if any, did your experience on the True Colors tour play a part in your wanting to record an album of songs?

MARGARET CHO : It was a huge thing. I had a great time on that tour. And I did some music on that tour. Cyndi Lauper really encouraged me to work on my singing voice. Definitely being on that particular tour really helped shape my musical direction.

GS: You’ve written a few books and screenplays, as well as your comedy material. How does writing song lyrics compare to the other kinds of writing that you’ve done?

Photo by Austin Young

MC: It’s kind of similar. There is much more restriction on what you can do songwriting- wise. You have to contain yourself within a rhythm.

GS: Right, there’s a structure.

MC: It’s a lot more structured than in the other writing I’ve done. But in a lot of ways it’s similar. Because there is an economy of words. The need to poeticize these experiences is what I think is the same.

GS: Can you please say something about the process of finding collaborators for the “Cho Dependent” project?

MC: Some people I knew beforehand and it was easy to ask them, like Ani Difranco, Jon Brion and also Grant Lee Phillips. Other people I am a huge fan of and pursued, like Andrew Bird and Rachel Yamagata. It was a different process with everyone to get them involved but everybody really wanted to do it, which was a great thing. Everybody was really patient in helping me.

GS: That’s good. In the collaboration process, which usually came first, the lyrics or the music?

MC: The lyrics would generally come first. The only time when that was not the case was working with Ben Lee, where he would write music first and then I would write lyrics for the music. But in general I would write all the lyrics ahead of time and we would figure out where we went from there.

GS: There are a couple of recurring themes on the disc, beginning with drugs, which figure in the songs Intervention, Calling In Stoned and Hey Big Dog.

MC: I think the culture of addiction, dependency, drugs and alcohol is very fascinating. I’ve had my own issues with drugs and alcohol and probably in a lot of ways I’m still there. I return to that and to me it’s a place to write from. There are also other elements of dependency on the album, that’s why it’s called “Cho Dependent” because there are other songs about dependency on people and dependency on ideas of who people are. There are different kinds of addiction and I think all of that is really fascinating. It’s been a thing that I have struggled with and continue to, so I think it’s something I will always want to write about.

GS: I really liked the country numbers – “Hey Big Dog” and the murder ballad “I’m Sorry.” Was it fun to put a little twang and two-step in your style?

MC: Absolutely. I am a big country fan. Especially alt-country like Patty Griffin, who is phenomenal and who wrote “Hey Big Dog” with me. A lot of the music I listen to is that. I love Gillian Welch and she is somebody that I would love to write with. There is a lot of country in my voice as well so it makes sense to do it. I love that kind of music.

GS: I also really liked the Dylan-esque “Lice.” Do you know if Bob Dylan has heard this homage?

MC: No, but I hope so. I hope he likes it (laughs). It’s actually an homage to…it’s a parody or homage to “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright.”

GS: Your sizable GLBT fan-base will be thrilled by the inclusion of the dance track “Gimme Your Seed.” Are there plans for remixes and are you ready to become a disco diva?

MC: I would love to be a disco diva and I love that song. I haven’t had any plans for remixes yet, but there should be some coming. That would be a great idea.

GS: The hidden track is very funny. With whom was that song co-written?

MC: “Lesbian Escalation” is a song that I wrote with Rachel Yamagata, who is a wonderful singer/songwriter from Chicago. She’s just phenomenal and we wrote the song never actually having met each other. We sort of conducted this whole thing online. We didn’t finally meet until we actually came together to record it. So, all of that was built through trading MP3s back and forth and me learning how to play it on guitar. She’s just amazing. I love the song; I think it has just a huge sound. She produced it and it just came out amazing.

GS: Have you already started writing songs and thinking about possible

collaborators for the next album?

MC: Yes! And I have songs that are ready to go. I’ve written and recorded one with Lucas Silveira of the Cliks. I want to do more with everybody that I collaborated with and that is definitely in the works.

GS: We are speaking shortly before you make your debut on Dancing With The Stars. Are you looking forward to that?

MC: Yes, I really am. I am rehearsing and I have been really hard at work for the last several weeks and I can’t wait to start.

GS: Who do you see as your biggest competition?

MC: I don’t know yet. I don’t know how people dance, and also everyone is pretty secretive about their ability. I don’t have a sense of who can do what. We’ll see.

GS: Which of your songs would you like to dance to on Dancing With The Stars?

MC: I’d like to do Your Dick because actually that is a perfect Viennese waltz.