Talk:John Cale

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[edit] "Bryter Layter"

It's actually well known that Cale performed on Nick Drake's 1970 release "Bryter Layter."--Kwan-Trill 17:18, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

On this page because I didn't know where in the article to put it...

John Cale also performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in the movie Shrek (2001), though the same song was performed by Rufus Wainwright on the CD soundtrack.

Also, someone might want to check out Cale's IMDb entry [1]. Just FYI.

--User:clawson

The links to Paris 1919 redirect to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. I don't know if the title of the record refers to this conference, but judging by the title track, I'd say not.

Richard W.M. Jones 10:51, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Birthdate

Someone's changed his birthdate from March 9, 1942 to December 4, 1942, and then again to December 4, 1940. IMDB has it as December 9, 1940. Which of the four is correct? (This also wrecks the bit about Lou Reed being a week older.) Dyfsunctional 15:19, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Christopher Parham has put in December 4, 1940. Fine, but since this seems to be a bit cloudy, can we please have a source for this? Dyfsunctional 17:37, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Oops, it's 82.30.8.156 who keeps putting in the date. I've taken it out again until this is resolved. Dyfsunctional 17:40, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Sigh. So far, we've seen the following birthdays put in the article (mostly by anonymous users):

• March 9, 1940
• December 4, 1940 (twice)
• December 5, 1940
• March 9, 1942 (twice)
• December 4, 1942

And, as mentioned above, IMDB has December 9, 1940, which has never been inserted. The pattern of edits and the anonymous IP addresses suggest to me that the same user is deliberately messing with the article, likely as an act of vandalism. (Also, whoever's doing it refuses to address the issue on the talk page or in an edit summary.) Once again, I'm taking the date out, but I propose we go with the IMDB date, since that's the only one that has any shred of verifiability. Dyfsunctional 14:11, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

• I love IMDB, but their bio information is often VERY wrong. When I was doing a term paper on Yoko Ono, I planned to use the site as a source, but more verifiable sources often conflicted with IMDB's info. I think their info is mostly user-submitted and not fact-checked. (I still value them as a source on movies, just not on people.) Check out the best John Cale fan site I've found: Fear Is a Man's Best Friend - Bio. They list March 9, 1942. Allmusic lists the same date, and I find their info to usually be accurate. For non-English musicians and bands, they are often wrong or just missing info, but for English and American people, it's pretty good. Actually, when I look at Cale's general IMDB page, it tells me March 9, 1940. Folkor 06:01, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

I have a hold at my local library on Cale's autobiography, What's Welsh for Zen?. I figure that ought to be the definitive source, and technically (I hope) it's not original research since it can be independently verified. Dyfsunctional 19:06, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

OK, mystery solved. From What's Welsh for Zen?:

I was born on 9 March 1942 in Garnant, between Swansea and Carmarthen, South Wales. Some 3,000 miles away in Brooklyn, New York, Louis Reed had been born one week earlier, on the 2nd.

I always knew he had an edge on me!

I've updated the page with this date. Dyfsunctional 21:47, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

I think / believe (after all the research I can muster) you will find - and it might take until his death to prove it - that he was born 9 March 1940.

Derek R Bullamore 00:40, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

• Not Logged on, but can confirm the above quote from What's Welsh for Zen? is the first sentence of Cale's Autobiography, and he should know. And in the 1998 BBC Wales documentary on Cale distributed by Kultur his father is interviewed, certainly not a deaf mute, but a retired coal miner.

[edit] Deaf mute parents?

Cale people correct me if I err, but I read that both Cale's parents are deaf mutes! If so that should get in there somewhere!

I think you err! BTLizard 09:41, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

This isn't true. Cale's parents were not deaf mutes but Welsh-speakers. Lexo 13:13, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cale influenced Hedwig???

The idea that Cale's voice influenced John Cameron Mitchell's accent as Hedwig is a bit ridiculous. Cale has a Welsh accent, Hedwig is German. I realise that to some Americans Welsh and German might sound similar, but they're not. Mitchell and Trask might have been fans of Cale's music but I seriously doubt that the way Cale speaks influenced the way Hedwig speaks. Lexo 13:12, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Native language(s)

"John Cale was born in Garnant in the heavily industrial Amman Valley, and Welsh is his first language." This implies that Welsh is his ONLY first language, and therefore that he learned English as a foreign language, which seems unlikely. Lfh (talk) 18:39, 1 February 2008 (UTC)