Name: Roberta Flack Sings "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" | David Letterman
Uploaded: 2025-02-24T16:40:15.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Roberta Flack Sings "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" | David Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-24. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Roberta Flack Sings "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" | David Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2025-02-24. Transcript available.

Welcome back to the show. My next guest is an international singing star with
11 gold albums.
This is truly amazing. Her latest solo album is called I'm the One. She will be
appearing with
Thiebaud Bryson at the Westbury Music Fair right here out on Long Island, as a
matter of fact,
beginning December 3rd. Please welcome, ladies and gentlemen, Roberta Flack.
If you're looking for a lover, you don't have to look no further. I'm the one.
If you want to have a good time playing in the midnight sunshine, I'm the one.
If you're looking for a hot night, I can put you in the spotlight.
I'm the one. If it's pleasure that you're after, my life's one and after. I'm
the one. When it comes to me making love, I am the best. I'm all yours, put me
to the test. Love is my specialty. And I know what to do to make you give your
love to me.
For a great life celebration and a standing ovation. I'm the one. I'm the one.
I'm the one. When it comes to me making love. I'm all yours. And it's my
specialty.
And I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you
give it up. Give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. Give it up. I
know what to do to make you give your love to me. Oh.
If you're looking for a lover. You don't have to look no further. I'm the one.
If you want to have a good time playing home at night sunshine.
I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it
up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you
give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make
you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to
make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to
do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know
what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I
know what to do to make you give it up.
And I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you
give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make
you give it up.
to make you live it up. I know what to do to make you live it up. I know what
to do to make you live it up. I'm the one.
Now, you know, you've worked with everybody over there before, haven't you?
Everybody except Paul. How come you haven't worked with Paul? That's a good
question. What kinds of things have you done with the rest of them, though, as
far as... No, no, I don't mean that. You know what I mean. I mean, please. Oh,
you could just sort of use your imagination with Will and Hiram and Steve. Is
it a lot of album work or concerts and stuff? Well, there are some sundry
things, mostly sundry. Mostly sundry. But you know Paul for quite a while,
right? I know Paul very well. Very, very well.
Well, you know, we see each other around town, man, at all the... Yeah. Well,
you guys sound terrific together. It was great. I'd love to do a live album
right here on this show with this man.
Not a bad idea. I can't even think of it. You're doing another song for a Clint
Eastwood film, is that correct? Yeah. Is this the title song for the movie? No,
the movie, it's his newest, dirtiest, Dirty Harry movie. And it's called Sudden
Impact is the name of the movie. Right. And the song that I'm doing is a song
called...
This Side of Forever that was written by Lalo Schifrin, another great musician.
Yeah.
Now, you've had really good success working with Clint Eastwood movies. He is
such a hunk. Can I tell you that?
Yeah.
He is so gorgeous. He's a nice man. I did a song in 1969 on my first album
called First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. And that just sort of laid there about
two or three years.
Now, that's hard for me to believe because it's now just a... Classic, yeah.
Yeah. But it didn't do anything...
It didn't do anything at all for two years? We're talking absolutely zero here.
Nothing. Nothing.
And so, Clint comes along and says... Clint comes along. As a matter of fact, I
was living in Alexandria, Virginia, and I got a call from him.
Yes. Thank you. Is that for call or Alexandria?
Alexandria.
Call from him. Call from him deserves a little applause, too.
But, no. And he did call and say that he wanted to use the song in a movie
called Play Misty for me.
Yeah.
Which was a great movie, sort of a kind of weird movie. But there's one
beautiful, soft moment in the film, and he decided to use the whole song.
And the amazing thing, David, was that this song was recorded at a time in
America when slow songs on the radio were like, "Forget it."
And I did it even slower. I mean, I didn't know any better, you know. I thought
the slower, the better.
And so I drug it out even more, and it was never released. When he got ready to
use it, I said to him, "Listen, this is after three years in the business."
I said, "You know, I know a little bit now, and would you like me to go in and
do it faster? I can do it."
And, you know, he said, "No, I want to use it just like it is."
Yeah, that's hard to imagine what that would sound like, all punched up like
that and faster.
No, just a little brighter. It actually didn't disturb it.
But it doesn't need to be a bright song, does it?
It really doesn't. But, you know, you're talking about several things here. You're
talking about getting a chance to be heard on the radio.
Yeah.
For live performance, I think you can take as much time as you want. Usually
your fans like to hear it a longer version anyway.
Yeah.
But for recording purposes, you have to sort of kind of work within a little
framework there.
Now, you're going to be on a soap opera? What is the name of the soap opera?
Isn't that fun?
Another World.
Yeah.
Now, what do you do on this soap opera?
What do I do on the soap opera?
What network is this on?
ABC...
Is it this one?
Is it NBC?
NBC?
Yeah, NBC. I'm not... I'm not at the...
What are you guys talking about?
They're helping. They're helping.
These folks come to help me every night.
I love that. I know.
I watch you every night, by the way.
Well, that's very nice of you to say. I'm such a...
No, but it's true.
Let's get back to the soap opera. Now, you're on the soap opera.
I'm on the soap opera, and what I'm doing is a secret.
I'm singing, but I can't...
I'm not at liberty to disclose, you know, how I'm worked into the story,
because then I'd give it away.
No, you can tell us.
No, no.
No, because...
See, this show is on so late that the soap opera people won't have any idea.
No, no. No, I can't tell you.
Now, you're going to be...
You're performing in concert, you're performing in a club, you're performing on
TV.
Yeah, in TV, sort of in a club, in concert, all of those.
Now, do you follow that show on a regular basis?
Um, semi-regular. You know, I travel a lot.
So you know how you fit into the plot, then?
I know how I fit in, yeah.
Now, is somebody going to lose a life as a result of your appearance on the
show?
No, I think there might be a baby or two born, though. That's as much as I
prefer.
A baby or two.
Yeah, well, you know, I'm...
People do that, don't they?
They do, they make love to my songs, yeah.
I've been accused of being responsible for a lot of things.
I'm waiting one day for somebody to walk up to me and say,
"Yes, I met my wife with this song and we blah, blah, blah,
and now I'm divorcing her or something. I'm waiting for that," you know.
But we do get a lot of people who come up and say, you know,
that they met their wives or their husbands or something, you know,
listening to our music.
Everything worked out okay.
Yeah, everything worked out okay.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
See, we're on, it's so late, you've got to be able to...
I want to be able to say what blah, blah, blah means.
Well, you know, sure, go ahead and say it to you.
No, I can't do that.
No, we've got to, Roberta, we're going to go do a commercial,
and then you're going to do another song for us?
Oh, yeah, I'd love to.
All right, we'll be back with Roberta Flack.
Playing the piano tonight with Paul Schaefer and the gentleman of our band is
Mr. Barry Miles,
and also now singing with Roberta Flack is Dennis Collins.
Dennis, thank you for being here, sir.
And now once again, here is Roberta Flack singing,
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love."
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"It Seems the Natural Thing To Do"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I'll be right back"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
Thank you.

Roberta Flack Sings "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" | David Letterman

Welcome back to the show. My next guest is an international singing star with
11 gold albums.
This is truly amazing. Her latest solo album is called I'm the One. She will be
appearing with
Thiebaud Bryson at the Westbury Music Fair right here out on Long Island, as a
matter of fact,
beginning December 3rd. Please welcome, ladies and gentlemen, Roberta Flack.
If you're looking for a lover, you don't have to look no further. I'm the one.
If you want to have a good time playing in the midnight sunshine, I'm the one.
If you're looking for a hot night, I can put you in the spotlight.
I'm the one. If it's pleasure that you're after, my life's one and after. I'm
the one. When it comes to me making love, I am the best. I'm all yours, put me
to the test. Love is my specialty. And I know what to do to make you give your
love to me.
For a great life celebration and a standing ovation. I'm the one. I'm the one.
I'm the one. When it comes to me making love. I'm all yours. And it's my
specialty.
And I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you
give it up. Give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. Give it up. I
know what to do to make you give your love to me. Oh.
If you're looking for a lover. You don't have to look no further. I'm the one.
If you want to have a good time playing home at night sunshine.
I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it
up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you
give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make
you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to
make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to
do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know
what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I
know what to do to make you give it up.
And I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make you
give it up. I know what to do to make you give it up. I know what to do to make
you give it up.
to make you live it up. I know what to do to make you live it up. I know what
to do to make you live it up. I'm the one.
Now, you know, you've worked with everybody over there before, haven't you?
Everybody except Paul. How come you haven't worked with Paul? That's a good
question. What kinds of things have you done with the rest of them, though, as
far as... No, no, I don't mean that. You know what I mean. I mean, please. Oh,
you could just sort of use your imagination with Will and Hiram and Steve. Is
it a lot of album work or concerts and stuff? Well, there are some sundry
things, mostly sundry. Mostly sundry. But you know Paul for quite a while,
right? I know Paul very well. Very, very well.
Well, you know, we see each other around town, man, at all the... Yeah. Well,
you guys sound terrific together. It was great. I'd love to do a live album
right here on this show with this man.
Not a bad idea. I can't even think of it. You're doing another song for a Clint
Eastwood film, is that correct? Yeah. Is this the title song for the movie? No,
the movie, it's his newest, dirtiest, Dirty Harry movie. And it's called Sudden
Impact is the name of the movie. Right. And the song that I'm doing is a song
called...
This Side of Forever that was written by Lalo Schifrin, another great musician.
Yeah.
Now, you've had really good success working with Clint Eastwood movies. He is
such a hunk. Can I tell you that?
Yeah.
He is so gorgeous. He's a nice man. I did a song in 1969 on my first album
called First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. And that just sort of laid there about
two or three years.
Now, that's hard for me to believe because it's now just a... Classic, yeah.
Yeah. But it didn't do anything...
It didn't do anything at all for two years? We're talking absolutely zero here.
Nothing. Nothing.
And so, Clint comes along and says... Clint comes along. As a matter of fact, I
was living in Alexandria, Virginia, and I got a call from him.
Yes. Thank you. Is that for call or Alexandria?
Alexandria.
Call from him. Call from him deserves a little applause, too.
But, no. And he did call and say that he wanted to use the song in a movie
called Play Misty for me.
Yeah.
Which was a great movie, sort of a kind of weird movie. But there's one
beautiful, soft moment in the film, and he decided to use the whole song.
And the amazing thing, David, was that this song was recorded at a time in
America when slow songs on the radio were like, "Forget it."
And I did it even slower. I mean, I didn't know any better, you know. I thought
the slower, the better.
And so I drug it out even more, and it was never released. When he got ready to
use it, I said to him, "Listen, this is after three years in the business."
I said, "You know, I know a little bit now, and would you like me to go in and
do it faster? I can do it."
And, you know, he said, "No, I want to use it just like it is."
Yeah, that's hard to imagine what that would sound like, all punched up like
that and faster.
No, just a little brighter. It actually didn't disturb it.
But it doesn't need to be a bright song, does it?
It really doesn't. But, you know, you're talking about several things here. You're
talking about getting a chance to be heard on the radio.
Yeah.
For live performance, I think you can take as much time as you want. Usually
your fans like to hear it a longer version anyway.
Yeah.
But for recording purposes, you have to sort of kind of work within a little
framework there.
Now, you're going to be on a soap opera? What is the name of the soap opera?
Isn't that fun?
Another World.
Yeah.
Now, what do you do on this soap opera?
What do I do on the soap opera?
What network is this on?
ABC...
Is it this one?
Is it NBC?
NBC?
Yeah, NBC. I'm not... I'm not at the...
What are you guys talking about?
They're helping. They're helping.
These folks come to help me every night.
I love that. I know.
I watch you every night, by the way.
Well, that's very nice of you to say. I'm such a...
No, but it's true.
Let's get back to the soap opera. Now, you're on the soap opera.
I'm on the soap opera, and what I'm doing is a secret.
I'm singing, but I can't...
I'm not at liberty to disclose, you know, how I'm worked into the story,
because then I'd give it away.
No, you can tell us.
No, no.
No, because...
See, this show is on so late that the soap opera people won't have any idea.
No, no. No, I can't tell you.
Now, you're going to be...
You're performing in concert, you're performing in a club, you're performing on
TV.
Yeah, in TV, sort of in a club, in concert, all of those.
Now, do you follow that show on a regular basis?
Um, semi-regular. You know, I travel a lot.
So you know how you fit into the plot, then?
I know how I fit in, yeah.
Now, is somebody going to lose a life as a result of your appearance on the
show?
No, I think there might be a baby or two born, though. That's as much as I
prefer.
A baby or two.
Yeah, well, you know, I'm...
People do that, don't they?
They do, they make love to my songs, yeah.
I've been accused of being responsible for a lot of things.
I'm waiting one day for somebody to walk up to me and say,
"Yes, I met my wife with this song and we blah, blah, blah,
and now I'm divorcing her or something. I'm waiting for that," you know.
But we do get a lot of people who come up and say, you know,
that they met their wives or their husbands or something, you know,
listening to our music.
Everything worked out okay.
Yeah, everything worked out okay.
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
See, we're on, it's so late, you've got to be able to...
I want to be able to say what blah, blah, blah means.
Well, you know, sure, go ahead and say it to you.
No, I can't do that.
No, we've got to, Roberta, we're going to go do a commercial,
and then you're going to do another song for us?
Oh, yeah, I'd love to.
All right, we'll be back with Roberta Flack.
Playing the piano tonight with Paul Schaefer and the gentleman of our band is
Mr. Barry Miles,
and also now singing with Roberta Flack is Dennis Collins.
Dennis, thank you for being here, sir.
And now once again, here is Roberta Flack singing,
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love."
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"It Seems the Natural Thing To Do"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love For You"
"Tonight I C