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Glenn Beck

Encore: Honest Questions with Toby Keith

Aired August 15, 2008 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)

GLENN BECK, HOST (voice-over): His first single was Billboard`s most played country song of the 1990s. Now he`s taken Hollywood by storm with his new movie, "Beer for My Horses."

TOBY KEITH, MUSICIAN: You`re not a rapper. Pull your pants up.

BECK: Lifelong conservative Democrat, Toby Keith, no stranger to controversy.

KEITH (singing): Courtesy of the red, white and blue.

BECK: He`s played for the troops. He`s played with Ted Nugent. Now Toby Keith comes to play with me. Get your pitchforks ready, America. It`s time for a full hour with the one and only Toby Keith.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Hello, America. Joining me now, the one, the only, Mr. Toby Keith.

KEITH: Hey.

BECK: How are you, sir?

KEITH: Good.

BECK: Good. Love to have you on. You know, the first time I heard you -- I`m not -- I`m not a long-time country fan. My wife is, my children. They are like zombies. I have to tell you. I can`t tell you what it took for them not to be here today. They were like, "OK, I won`t come." No, no, no, no. But just zombies for you.

I became a Toby Keith fan right after 9/11. Heard that song. Friend of mine said "Red, White and Blue." Stood in the parking lot of an Outback Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. And he was in the military. And he said, "Have you heard this song?"

And I said, "No, I haven`t."

He said, "You have to listen to it." And cranked it up, heard those words, just connected to unlike anything I`ve ever connected with musically.

KEITH: Really?

BECK: And I just love your music. You -- there`s something -- I don`t know -- genuine about your music. Very genuine.

KEITH: Well, that was written about five or six days after 9/11. It was -- it was the 11th hour that we put it on the album. I had played it and was just going to play it for the military with my acoustic guitar. And the band didn`t even know it. And played at the Pentagon for about 2,000 Marines. And the commandant of the Marine Corps was General James Jones, and -- and I just met him at the Pentagon. And I played my show, which didn`t have any patriotic songs in it at all.

And then I said, "I`ve got something else here." And told the band to stand down. Took my acoustic and said, "I just wrote this the other day. For you guys going into Afghanistan." And...

BECK: What was the boot up your ass part like acoustically? Did you sing it a little softer?

KEITH: I blew it up. You know, it`s one of those lyrics where, as simple-minded or redneck as it may sound, it was boot in your rear, boot in your heiny, boot in your bottom, you know, whatever. It goes to those OK songs, go marching in, kind of stuff. And you`re playing for 2,000 Marines that our country is shipping off to Afghanistan to find people responsible for 9/11.

BECK: You know, I have to tell you, Toby. There`s not a lot of songs -- I don`t listen to music with profanity in it, and such and such when the kids are in the car. Oh, girls sing along.

We`ll get into that a little bit more. Because there`s more to that story, that you didn`t want to record it. But I want to start with the movie that you`ve done now. And you`re doing kind of a "Smoky and the Bandit" kind of thing.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: I mean, I don`t -- is that accurate?

KEITH: Yes. I worked with Burt Reynolds on a project called "Broken Bridges." And he pulled me aside, and he said, "Look, I`m working on this project with you because I`m a fan."

And I said, "You`re the bandit. You`re the guy."

And he goes, "Yes."

I said, "Well, you know, what`s your secret to success?"

And he goes, "To be charming or dangerous, or be both." And he starts in teaching me and talking to me on how to be successful if you`re going to start an acting career.

And so when I wrote the script for "Beer for My Horses," the character I play is a tip of the hat to Burt Reynolds and the southern movies that he made that were funny. We make so much fun of ourselves first, and then everybody else can be made fun of. And I miss those kind of movies. Everything is so politically correct. And everybody is so sensitive and everything now. I miss those old southern movies. It`s a southern comedy.

BECK: Yes. I just wish -- I just wish people would relax a little bit and stop expecting the worst from everything that everybody always says, you know.

KEITH: This whole agenda. This law...

BECK: Shut up.

KEITH: Everybody just get right. Let`s get in the middle and work on it.

BECK: You know, and I want to get into this with you later also. A lot of people, because of the "boot up your ass" song, if I may call it that, the -- a lot of people think that you are a -- "Oh, you`re just a conservative Republican right wing." You`re not.

KEITH: Ask Ted Nugent what he thinks.

BECK: Yes. What does -- what does Ted think?

KEITH: When you`ve got -- I`ve got an album out. We put an album out early this year, the 35 biggest hits. And it was a place for me to stop and reflect over my career.

I`m looking on there. And other than -- other than this song, I`ve got a tribute called "American Soldier." But the other 33 are weed with Willie, drinking, wine, women, song. Typical country honky-tonk songs and partying. That`s what my show`s about.

But that one "boot in your ass" line carries so much weight with these little bitty...

BECK: I know.

KEITH: ... right and left agenda extremists, that it carries so much weight that it just outweighs everything in my career that`s spanned 15 -- 14 years with over 30 million records sold.

BECK: You know Marcus Luttrell, don`t you? SEAL Team 10, the lone survivor.

KEITH: Yes. Yes, I have the book.

BECK: I don`t know if you know this, but as he was dragging himself 20 miles, "American Soldier" is what was on his mind the whole time. And I -- unfortunately, I was talking to him beforehand, and we were doing -- I think it was for Memorial Day or something, and I played that song on the radio and came out and talking about soldiers. And he was on the phone, and I went to him, and he was just a mess. And it didn`t put it together.

But that song meant everything to him. That song kept him alive.

KEITH: You know, it`s amazing that there`s so many people that have to find time and reason to hate on stuff like that when you have people that volunteered, that weren`t drafted. They volunteered to go do something that they feel in their heart is right, that their country`s asked them to do.

Where I get drugged [SIC] forward into the Iraq war and probably every other conflict there is because of the "boot in your ass" song, that`s fine with me. If people want to be that ignorant...

BECK: I don`t know if you know it`s called "The Red, White, and Blue."

KEITH: Well, but you started it. So we`ll call it whatever you call it. But that`s the only lyric that means anything to some people.

The song was written about going into Afghanistan. And I`m not ever going to apologize for being patriotic. Just because I`m a Democrat doesn`t mean I have to be agenda-driven and support everything that everybody does. I see things right and wrong. I don`t see them right and left, you know. It`s...

BECK: Most patriots don`t. Politicians do. Most Americans...

KEITH: Most Americans, they see it right and wrong. That`s it.

BECK: Most people -- I think most people sit at home and watch the television and they scream at it. And they`re like, what the heck? It`s not this hard. We can fix this. Shut up, both of you. You know, you feel like Archie Bunker sometimes: "Shut up, you."

KEITH: Well, you know what`s amazing, is more -- if my math is right -- you correct me if I`m wrong -- but I think more people voted in the last, or the one before, "American Idol" than voted in the last presidential election.

BECK: Yes.

KEITH: So think about how many people voted in the last presidential election.

BECK: Can I tell you something? I think it would be great -- don`t you think it would be great to have Simon, just to have both of the candidates up there.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: You`re absolutely dreadful. I think -- I think more people would vote.

KEITH: At least we`d have 131 million votes instead of 105. But, you know, so 2/3 of our country doesn`t even have an agenda. They don`t even vote. So they just sit around and see things the way you and me see them.

By the way, you`re a breath of fresh air on television. I really enjoy your show.

BECK: Thank you.

KEITH: I`m not just saying that because I`m sitting here, but we`ve been trying to hook this up for a long time.

BECK: OK. I want to take a break here real early. Because I want to come back. Sorry, the show is riddled with ADD today. We`ll get back to the movie. I want to show you a clip of this, coming up in just a second. Toby Keith for the full hour.

KEITH: It`s going to be ADD if I`m here.

GRAPHIC: Which of the following country stars are featured in "Beer for My Horses"? A, Willie Nelson; B, Ted Nugent; C, David Allan Coe; D, Mac Davis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRAPHIC: Which of the following country stars are featured in "Beer for My Horses"? A, Willie Nelson; B, Ted Nugent; C, David Allan Coe; D, Mac Davis. All of the above!

BECK: OK. I want to play a clip from this movie. Then I`m want to come back to this list. Somebody remind me. Riddled with ADD. Let`s play a clip from the movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH: Hey, stranger. What are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was about to ask you the same thing, driving on the wrong side of the road like that. Isn`t that illegal?

KEITH: Not if it`s official police business, it`s not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that`s what this is?

KEITH: Well, if anybody asks it is. So are you lost?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. just came into town to pick up a few things.

KEITH: How is your mom doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s all right. She`s resting.

KEITH: So, I was going to run over to Althaus (ph) and catch a movie tomorrow might.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By yourself?

KEITH: Well, if you`re not going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

KEITH: Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I`m going.

KEITH: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: You know what?

KEITH: ... in common, you know.

BECK: I saw the -- I saw the charm that Burt Reynolds was talking about. And really, honestly, nobody is watching you in that clip.

You know that she -- because she`s English. She does a really good job with the southern accent. Every time I`m down south, especially down in the Carolinas -- I was talking to a friend of mine the other day that I think I can go down to the Carolinas and a woman could come in and go, "You know something? You`re the biggest a-hole I`ve ever met," and I would probably respond, "Well, thank you so much." You know? There`s something about that. Would you just like some sweet tea? Something just so great with women from the south.

All right. So on the little thing about the, you know, who`s in the show. The top two, if I`m not mistaken, wasn`t it Willie Nelson. Can you put that back up? It was Willie Nelson and Ted Nugent, right? Were you going for two of the craziest people in America?

KEITH: No, they`re both real good friends of mine. And...

BECK: I don`t know if Willie, but I know Ted. He`s a -- I love the guy. Love the guy. But, come on, man. I mean, he`s...

KEITH: Ted has his own thing going. He`s got a tremendous vocabulary. And he either get -- he either out argues you and out debates you, or you get tired of arguing with him.

So -- but you know what I appreciate about Ted? he`s drug free. He`s alcohol-free, never did use them. He teaches that to kids. He`s not a hater.

BECK: No, no.

KEITH: As much as people want to write him off as a crazy lunatic, gun-toting NRA borderline (ph) who`s got a heavy agenda sometimes that bears down on you, I`m going to tell you, he`s not a hater. The word hate doesn`t roll off of his lips.

BECK: He`s a good man.

KEITH: He`s -- good heart. And does a lot for children.

BECK: Are you an NRA member?

KEITH: No.

BECK: Would you ever be an NRA member?

KEITH: No.

BECK: Why?

KEITH: It`s an agenda, and I`m not -- never been one.

BECK: Really? Because, you know, I just became an NRA member. And the reason why I joined -- the only organization I`ve ever joined. The only reason why I joined it is because can`t find the agenda except for the Second Amendment.

You know, they have told me several times, you know, when they could have been like, "Oh, yes, we`re going to screw this guy," great things about Democrats and great things about Republicans, and bad about both. And I thought, "Wow."

KEITH: Well, I agree with that part. But I`m saying, it`s so political that if a guy like me got on there -- and I don`t want to -- I don`t want to carry that cross. It`s -- the Second Amendment I support. I`m a licensed -- I`m licensed to carry a gun if I want to.

BECK: No?

KEITH: Yes. And I hunt. And I`ve hunted my whole life. My whole family has. So -- but not out of sport as much as out of -- as enjoying to do it. But, you know, we provide the food on the table when we was growing up. So we quail hunt, turkey hunt.

BECK: You had a -- I mean, you`re a regular schmoe. You said, by 30 if I`m not successful, I`m not going to do this. You worked on oil derricks, right? What did you do?

KEITH: Ran casing. Climbed derricks, working the derricks, what`s called a stabber. You go up and the derrick work up there.

BECK: So how much money -- I can`t believe I can actually say this to somebody -- so how much money have you taken from big oil?

KEITH: I -- for three years probably made back in the `80s, probably $10 an hour or something. So I don`t know.

BECK: Really? More than I`ve taken on this program.

KEITH: Oh, yes.

BECK: Does it -- you know what it would be like? Because I flew into Oklahoma City. I did a show in Oklahoma City. I don`t remember when. A couple of months ago.

I flew in, and right there at the airport, the rigs, just going up and down. I just wanted to stomp, and clap, and say, "All right."

I mean, does it bother you that everybody else is going for oil? You know, we`ll let China and everybody else -- hey, yes, go get the oil. But somehow or another, we`re not competent enough. Probably the most responsible nation.

KEITH: Yes. It`s pretty strange.

BECK: It`s really frustrating. Isn`t it?

KEITH: But I do think our addiction to oil has to be -- we can`t be this dependent. It can`t be fixed overnight. And I think there will always be a need for a pickup truck, just like there was for a wagon. And as long as there`s a guy with cattle, or a guy building houses, construction, or something, there`s always going to be a need to tow something or have a bed.

BECK: You know, just -- I was up in -- where was it? At the -- believe me, you don`t know what my life is like on the weekends with my wife and kids. She`s like, "Let`s go to the museum with the kids." And we went to some whaling museum. I wanted to hang myself.

But, you know, whale oil was, you know, such a big deal. That was -- you know, everything was whale oil. When you couldn`t do whale oil, they were going for -- I don`t remember, because I was really -- I was really thinking about how to...

KEITH: I bet PETA loved that.

BECK: What did you say?

KEITH: I bet PETA loved that.

BECK: Yes. But they went into -- it was some other oil until, you know, black gold was found. And so it changed everything overnight. But everybody, society was going a different way.

Until we know what that is, I mean, we`ve got to pour money into -- through private industry, pour money into research and find new sources of energy, but, gosh, you just don`t shut the spigot off until you know what that is.

KEITH: It`s not an overnight fix. And I still think there`s a use for a pickup forever. For decent trucks and things, for semis running down the road. But it would be really nice if we could really convert half of it to -- I mean, there`s great things on YouTube that are pretty simple to look at that`s made out of stuff. There`s some great things from hydrogen generators and things that you just...

BECK: Have you -- have you seen -- have you seen the new hydrogen car? I drove the new Geo (ph). Loved it. Unbelievable.

KEITH: Really?

BECK: Absolutely unbelievable. It just needs the -- what we need to develop now is the battery that will hold a charge for more than -- I think it`s -- 300 miles. But when that thing comes online it`s fantastic.

But I really think people are going to say, "Water. We`re using too much water. We`re harming the fish." Somebody`s going to -- you know they will. You know they will.

KEITH: Somebody will. But if you could make a hydrogen generator run off of wind power, like we`ve got enough wind in Oklahoma, and especially in the spring, to power Las Vegas forever. But it`s...

BECK: Las Vegas, we don`t really need the power, do you think? I mean, are you a Vegas guy? Do you like to gamble.

KEITH: No, I don`t like to gamble as much as I like to work there. I mean, it`s, again, my party side is going up.

BECK: Right, right. OK. All right. Forgot the Vegas connection.

By the way, love Vegas. Mob? What mob?

The -- when you -- when you first started getting into music, you were -- you said, "At 30 -- you know, at 30, I`m out." Is it true that it was a flight attendant?

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: Really?

KEITH: It was a huge fan of the band`s music that I was playing with. And we were writing original music. And she would come around. She dated my drummer, and she got a job. She went to college. And she went to airline stewardess school and went to Dallas for a while and then ended up in Nashville, when American opened a hub in Nashville.

And so I had been there except for one time to meet with Capital Records. And she had everything that we had written live off of the stage. And those were cruddy tapes that she made right off the stage.

And she ended up taking them to a guy, and he listened to them and says, "Wow, does this guy write this stuff?"

"Yes."

"Does he sing it?"

"Yes."

He goes, "I want to go see him." So they call me. It was Harold Schiff (ph) who discovered Alabama and Cyrus and Shania Twain.

BECK: How old were you at that time?

KEITH: I was 29.

BECK: Wow. Would you really have given it up at 30?

KEITH: That was my prayer to God. I said, "Man, please show me the way. I`m tired of -- I`m tired of working bars, struggling" and my -- there`s no middle ground between -- if you`re a musician, you`re either working for nothing and you`re starving, or you`re making the record deals.

BECK: Yes, I know.

KEITH: So I was tired of doing it. I`d done it for six or seven years and beat it up. And I was tired of doing it. I wanted to stay with my family or advance a career that I could provide for them better.

BECK: OK. Back in a second with Toby Keith.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEITH (singing): When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell, it will feel like the whole wide world is raining down on you, brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Back with country music star Toby Keith. Just a great American and just a real guy.

When that song, when you did it, have any idea that it would be -- do you think that was life changing?

KEITH: Yes, it is. You know, you don`t -- you never want -- and you`d be surprised how many people come up to me and, as bad of rap as Hollywood gets from -- for their agenda and everything, you`d be surprised how many times I`m in L.A. that somebody from Hollywood comes up and says, you know, "Thanks for supporting the troops."

And -- and I go, "Why don`t you?"

And they go, "Well, I do."

And I say, "Why don`t you go public with it and support them and show them?"

And they say, "I`ve got to work."

So I mean, I could just name name after name after name.

BECK: Oh, I know.

KEITH: And you meet them, too.

BECK: I do.

KEITH: You meet them, too.

BECK: And they all -- and you know what? You want to talk about McCarthyism? It exists in Hollywood. They are afraid to say anything, because they know they`ll never get another job.

KEITH: But it so -- it surprises me how many people -- because I go around protecting. You know, I`ve got my gloves up, because I think I`m going to take a hit at any time. So I`m used to it. It ain`t no big deal to me.

But somebody will approach me and I`ll think, what am I going to get here, you know? And then all of a sudden you hear that, and it`s like, wow. So that song was written, you know, the world -- the allied forces went into Afghanistan. Allied forces went into Afghanistan. The world agreed that we went in and found the people responsible for 9/11. And that`s all the song was about, word-for word. It tells every word.

BECK: I know. You were actually against going into Iraq.

KEITH: You know what? Where I stood on that is I said I was so busy supporting the guys in Afghanistan, and they were getting transferred, a lot of them, into Iraq. So I was seeing some of the same guys every tour that I made in Afghanistan. Now I`m seeing them in Iraq. But guess what? I`m seeing him in Kosovo and Bosnia. Still -- where Clinton was. I still see them in North Africa. They move around everywhere. They`re just not - - so I support them.

BECK: Right.

KEITH: I wasn`t -- I didn`t understand the Iraq war. I didn`t know why we were going in. All I knew is what information the American public was given. So -- and I wasn`t anybody to take advice from, because if you start taking advice from a song writer, then you`re not educated enough to make the decision.

BECK: Yes.

KEITH: You know, if you`re going to vote off of what I say, you have no business of voting, dude.

BECK: Yes. Let me just spend a second more -- and it sounds like I`m sucking up to these guys, but I`m really not. Have you ever met a collection of more amazing people, or people that give you more hope for the future of America than the military?

KEITH: No, you can`t find them. Because the 2/3 we were talking about a while ago who don`t vote, they`re stuck in the middle of this thing like you and me, we -- they don`t -- they go through issue to issue. They try and figure issue to issue out.

Well, the soldiers have a dedicated cause. They know that they`re not drafted again, they volunteer, and then they go over there knowing they`re on a mission. They see what I see when I go over there first-hand. Which is what most of the country doesn`t get to see. They -- they know that they`re not drafted. They volunteered, and then they go over there and know on their own admission.

And they see what I see when I go over there firsthand, which is what most of this country doesn`t get to see. And they make their decision whether they`ll re-up or not. But once they are there on their mission, they see what they`re up against and what the world`s up against. Then they make their decision to re-up. They have families and stuff, too. And they can make a better living doing something else.

BECK: Toby Keith, back in just a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOBY KEITH, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR: The rest of the country doesn`t -- isn`t affected by what politicians say or what in the news says. The sad part is that if you watch a far-left news broadcast or you get your media from the far-right, you`re affected by the information that makes your decision making.

But past that, if you`re, you know, if you can make a decision on your own and you can go out and get your own knowledge and make it then that`s what most of the country does.

GLENN BECK, CNN ANCHOR: It`s amazing to me. I say this on the show all the time. You watch the program.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: And listen to the radio program, right?

I hope enough, if you`re getting -- if I`m you`re only dose of information; you`re as dumb as you would be for taking word of advice from you. You know, you`ve got to, you`ve got to understand people`s point of view and know where they`re coming from. And then find the few people that you can put together and go, ok I think that`s pretty good. Now let me go do my own homework.

KEITH: Yes, well, you know I`m very seldom ever get any haters coming at me from Afghanistan`s point of view. You know what I mean? They I always tie "courtesy of the red, white, and blue" to Iraq. And that`s not getting past the boot you`re ass in line and reading it to the rest of it, it`s about 9/11 only and the blackout we got and that the world is coming to bring justice like we would anybody else.

BECK: I want to read some of the lyrics, and if I had them --

KEITH: Before you read this. I want to film the business end of this right here son. I brought you this pitchfork because I want do my part.

BECK: Here`s the pitchfork and it`s signed. All my best, Bud, Toby Keith. There it is signed. We`ll use this to help shovel the bull crap --

KEITH: Well, you need more than what you got.

BECK: You know what? I don`t know if we can show this. We have now -- we`ve been told by the building, no more pitchforks because somebody, I asked. I said, you tired of the bull crap?

Pitchforks and torches protecting Americans from politicians in 1791; and so people started sending them in. Yesterday or the day before the mail room was shut down because everything has to be inspected and everything, shut down. Somebody was dumb enough to mail us torches.

KEITH: Oh, my Lord.

BECK: Soaked in kerosene. Yes, not a good idea, interesting but thank you for the pitchfork.

KEITH: See what you started?

BECK: See what happens I`m always causing trouble here, Ok I don`t apparently have the lyrics. I want to go over some of the lyrics of the song that you wrote, and we talked about it on the radio about six months ago.

It was the latest release about six months ago. Not the new one. About you know oh "Hate me if you want to." All of the stuff that you write in there -- I mean I know I have it in the file, simply.

Go through some of the lyrics here of that. And tell me when did we become a country where some of those ideas -- you would be hated for it. You know the idea of, give money to people on the street, I go. But, you know what, get a damn job.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: How does that make you a hateling?

KEITH: I sometimes like to work than necessary but every now and I pray for peace on earth. It`s a contradiction, but at the same time you still got to think that you just can`t set, you got to have a military, and you have to protect yourself and you have to -- you know, this is a brand new world we live in with this terrorism thing.

And there`s a lot of things cause for it I believe in freedom of speech, but I worry about what kids learn from TV. It`s those kind of contradictions.

BECK: I read something from you on gay marriage. This is a quote from you "That`s just a contract. That`s between them and God. They`re going to be together whether they have a contract or not. But at the same time I reserve my right to say whether I feel ok about my kid being taught by a gay guy in his school; or being thought by a gay guy in the school.

If I don`t want that to happen, I should be able to say that. But people are like, well, you`re wishy-washy on that. I`m saying no. I don`t understand homosexuality, but I`m not going to play God on it. If you want to get married, get married. It`s not my place to judge, but it`s my duty to be a father to my children.

KEITH: And there`s a tremendous amount of energy being wasted on keeping these gay people from getting married. Who cares? If they get married, that`s their livelihood. They`re got to answer to their creator. I shouldn`t be able to meddle in that. This is America. They should be able to do that.

So I`m cool with that. But at the same time, I don`t understand that lifestyle. But it`s not up to me to play God in the deal. So there`s a lot of issues like that just because you don`t understand them, you shouldn`t meddle in and keep them for marrying anyone.

BECK: You`re much more of a -- you`re really, and I think most Americans are until they can get a handout from the government, most Americans I think are libertarian in nature. They`re just like, whatever, man. Just let me, you know?

And I think the farther, up until a point, as you go farther west and to the south, there is a kind of an American that you just don`t see very often in the northeast, and that is the American that says, you know what, I can tame the land. I can make my own way. Get out of my way, man. Give me my own land. And I`m just got to go and make my own way. And If I fail, I`m going to pull myself back up.

But that`s being lost somehow or another, at least in some of the major cities, to where people can`t even relate to that anymore. And I can`t relate to -- maybe it`s because I grew up in a bakery that my father was running in the summers on a farm with my grandfather. That they were both just, you do it. You just make your own way.

KEITH: And there`s so much anonymous information out there. It`s the Internet and the media is so big. There`s so much anonymous information that you can throw -- just the other day somebody blogged on the University of Oklahoma`s two starting quarterbacks, the cocaine, that they were doing selling cocaine or something and got busted.

It had hit the major news outlets and was a big time story before somebody realized that it was a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan, their old heck arch enemy who had got on and just blogged under an anonymous name and start this story.

And before they cleared it up, these kids` reputations, who are two great kids. And they`re dads are so mad. That one of them I think even going -- well off and I think he`s suing to trying to get a lawsuit.

But it`s so easy to get a story hyped up. And when you find out it`s false, nobody ever goes back and retracts it and goes that distance to fix things. And so you get so many rumors and so much mud and so much wash that before you can`t ever get on one side or the other of something without getting lost on the way. There`s so much anonymous information coming from everywhere.

BECK: Do you know who John Huntsman is?

KEITH: I don`t.

BECK: John Huntsman is the most amazing man I`ve ever met. He is an absolute inspiration to me. He`s the guy who made the first egg carton. He`s the guy who made the McDonald`s styrofoam cups, plastic forks and everything. That`s him.

He grew up in a house with cardboard walls, now worth billions of dollars. He`s 70 or something. He`s gone at I-Broke (ph). He`s giving all of his money away. He`s just built to do gigantic hospital for cancer that would blow your mind.

He said to me as he was selling one of his companies, and these Wall Street people are trying to renege on the deal, he said to me, he said -- and he was like a man out of time, he said, "Glenn, when does a man`s handshake and word not mean anything? How do you do business when you can`t look a man in the eye and say, done deal, and it`s a done deal?"

Do you at all wonder how we navigate these waters when the truth, it seems, doesn`t really matter. I mean, especially when it comes to politics. The truth doesn`t seem to matter to these people.

KEITH: No, it doesn`t. And the two extremes make the most noise of all. You know, the 80 percent I see, the 80 percent in the middle, it is those two that make the most noise on each end. And they`re almost just alike.

BECK: I think it`s a circle. They`re right here together.

KEITH: And I say every time I say, if you go over here to the far left, they think I`m a right-winged gun-toting redneck. And if you come over here to the extreme right, they`re like he`s a weed-smoking, alcohol- drinking hippie, you know. So you know you`re stuck in the middle because you have both sides bringing it to you.

BECK: I think if both sides hate you, you`re in the perfect place.

KEITH: You`re somewhere in there, right? And when I first started getting attacked for my song it was like from the extreme left. Well, then here comes this right running and supporting me and I`m going to somebody supporting me. Then they find out, oh, he`s a Democrat. Oh he does that, oh he --

BECK: I have more respect for when you when I found out you were a Democrat.

KEITH: And then they went running and I almost got so mad that I changed my affiliation which would have been my dad`s and grandfather`s grief. But I thought, you know what? I`m a stronger Democrat if I don`t change it.

BECK: Good for you. 30 seconds I don`t want to ask. Don`t give me a name. Please don`t give me a name.

Do you know who you`re going to vote for?

KEITH: No.

BECK: I think most people are like that. I think most of us are like, oh, gee and when they try to convince you, oh lesser of two evils.

KEITH: But we can talk about it. You got 30 seconds.

BECK: Ok, all right, we`ll come back in 30 seconds. And I want to find out what is it like, I mean to be a daughter of Toby Keith, dope-smoking, gun-carrying dad. Coming up with in a second.

KEITH: Very little dope smoking in my life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: Legendary musician Toby Keith is joining us for a full hour tonight. Your daughters are in their 20s?

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: Who does the song about "I`ll just be sitting here cleaning my gun?" You know that song?

KEITH: I have no idea.

BECK: It`s a country song I`ve heard recently. "I`ll just be here sitting waiting for you cleaning my gun." How difficult was it to come over and date your daughters at your house?

KEITH: You know, my daughters were -- always had strong heads on their shoulders. It`s a little cold coming around somebody -- I guess because, you know, you`re a big dude and you`re famous and everything. There`s a lot of intimidation factor there.

But they both got two great young gentlemen that are as opposite of me as they come, but my daughters are strong-willed, and these kids are strong- willed. And they`re going to raise great families.

BECK: That speaks highly of your wife.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: As if you`re anything like me riddled with ADD; your kids, your wife just doing it all.

KEITH: Yes, she will.

BECK: Your father, you told me before we started we were talking about alcoholism.

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: And I`m a recovering alcoholic and really tubed my life. You`ve been married for 25 years. Congratulations on that. But your father was an alcoholic?

KEITH: Yes, and he was my hero. He was sober all the way up until I was about 18 years old. And then he had a relapse for about a year. And he was a head of -- it was Mid-Continent Regional -- managed one of the biggest oil service companies in the world.

And he about lost everything he had in one year`s time. And he bounced back, and he died when I was 39 years old. So from 18 to 39 he was sober. He died, and at his funeral so many recovering alcoholics showed up because of work he had done in AA. He was like the, he was like the king daddy of the chapter there in Cleveland County that I went to. And he saved a lot of lives.

BECK: It`s amazing to me how, somebody just wrote to me today. And I just wrote a note to them and they`ve just started recovering. They`re really struggling. And with absolute clarity it only gets better from here. Doesn`t get easier --

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: But it gets better when you turn that corner. Did you ever struggle with any of that?

KEITH: No, I`ve never had the -- I mean, my uncles, my mother, my grandmother ran a sober (ph) club until she got too old to run it. So I believe there`s a gene involved. And I believe that the addiction is an illness.

BECK: Yes, I don`t think that -- alcoholics, I mean like I`m going to listen to you. You`re a bunch of drunks.

KEITH: Where do you stand? Do you think it`s an addiction?

BECK: I don`t care. I don`t care you know people will say "Oh but it`s a disease. It`s a gene." I don`t really care. But I still have a choice.

KEITH: I still see the difference in what I consider a wino and an alcoholic. My dad was an alcoholic. He drank 24/7, around the clock; couldn`t stay away from it. I think winos habitually drink every day because they can get a hold of it and they can make the choice.

When my dad finally ran out one day and we were going to take him in for his treatment. And we were going to have an intervention to stop him. His stomach, when I hid all of his stuff, all of his alcohol, his stomach started convulsing and rolling up and I can see the knots turning in it. And he swallowed his tongue and went into convulsion. That`s the body needing alcohol that bad, so he needed it to survive at that point and I had to put him on the lever into walking down.

BECK: Oh, yes.

KEITH: So to me, I`ve seen both sides.

BECK: Well, that`s the addiction to the -- I mean, you`re pouring poison in your body all the time. And your body starts to say, ok, this is normal. I mean -- I really woke up when I started having blackouts and realized blackouts is your body shutting down everything that it can, just to keep you alive. It`s just like, ok, we`re going -- we`ve got a problem here. Shut it all down. Keep the guy breathing and moving.

KEITH: I`ve been out partied until, but I`ve never blacked out. You say that you blacked out so --

BECK: You`ve never blacked out? See.

KEITH: Never ever.

BECK: That`s the biggest lie on TV. I hear people like I don`t know what I did last night. I blacked out. Bull crap.

KEITH: I know where I`m at every second.

BECK: When you blackout, it will scare the living crap out of you. It`s not a little funny. Oh, we did what? It`s a terrifying experience. Because, you really are like, wait, wait, I did what? I mean it`s a totally different world.

KEITH: And you took pictures?

BECK: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Good thing I wasn`t famous at the time, like I`m famous now.

I want to go back to, if you want to, you said in the last break about politicians and who you would vote for.

KEITH: I think that if, I think that this time there is a -- Democrats have brought a clear choice to the table that definitely has a chance to win. I didn`t think that the last two Democratic choices in the time of post-9/11, I didn`t think that America would support it. I was right.

Now, that being said, the last election I thought that the Hollywood and the entertainment business and the media went so hard at the president that I didn`t think he had a chance to win.

But I didn`t think that Middle America would vote for Kerry either. So that was my opinion. I think there`s a leadership quality that has to come natural; that John Kennedy had, that Reagan had, that Clinton had. That sometimes you have to have that. Sometimes you may have two choices, neither of them have it, and it`s the lesser of two evils sometimes, but --

BECK: Would you ever think about voting for a third? Just saying, forget these parties.

KEITH: Absolutely. Wouldn`t it be beautiful if we could have just an American?

BECK: Yes.

There`s this woman that is now the treasurer of the state of Missouri; she`s running for governor. I love her.

She`s a Republican. She has stopped the Republican-run House and Senate there of issuing a check that was basically a, you know, a bribe. Shhhh -- don`t talk about the sexual scandal. And she -- their own party said, "Please Mrs. Treasurer write this check." She said, "Absolutely not, that`s the people`s money. Expose it. If the people say it`s ok for me to write this check, then I`ll write the check."

It`s nice to see people stand up and say, "You know what I`m with you and everything most of the time but right is right and wrong is wrong and, sorry, you`re my own party but you`re wrong on this."

KEITH: In smaller political world like in state politics, I push hard.

BECK: Back with "Rapid Fire" here in just a second.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECK: We are doing "Rapid Fire." This is where I make our guests that I`ve tried to treat nice for the whole hour very uncomfortable right before they leave. Are you ready?

How much you pulling down a year?

KEITH: Oh, man. Forbes said $48 million last year entertainment. I was the top, Forbes had it on there.

BECK: What`s it like to make $48 million?

KEITH: I don`t know. I work so much, I don`t ever count it. I don`t know.

BECK: Do you ever think you work too much?

KEITH: Probably do. I`m a workaholic. My dad instilled it in me. But he worked his tail off his whole life. And I haven`t forgotten what it`s like to be poor. I remember those days.

BECK: If you weren`t Toby Keith, the country music star, what would you be?

KEITH: I`d be coaching little league football like I do when I`m not working.

BECK: Really? What is that like?

KEITH: That`s a blast. Coach my son. I coach another group of kids before he was old enough. And I completely enjoy it.

BECK: Ever run for office?

KEITH: Never.

BECK: Why?

KEITH: Maybe state -- maybe in state, not national, but maybe like governor or --

BECK: Don`t you think that`s really kind of the solution really? Just do your state right, you know what I mean.

KEITH: That`s where it starts.

BECK: Then tell everybody in Washington to shut the hell up. I don`t -- these are questions weren`t necessarily written by me. Do you highlight your hair?

KEITH: Yes.

BECK: You do? Ok. Next question, how long does it take to get your beard that perfect?

KEITH: I`ve got groomsman on number four.

BECK: What did you say?

KEITH: Groomsman on number four.

BECK: Number four. Best thing on the menu in your restaurant?

KEITH: Fried bony sandwich. Uh-oh, did you feel uncomfortable?

BECK: I was a little uncomfortable there. Hanging out with Willie Nelson, what`s it like?

KEITH: Outrageous. He`s such an American icon; so many things beautiful about him. His heart; a little light shines in his heart all the time. And he is a -- he just wants the world to love each other. And he`s an unbelievable -- I mean, when I sit and watch him perform 200 shows a year, I still think 50 years ago, the dude wrote "Crazy." I`m going -- one of the most recorded songs ever and most played.

BECK: Last question because we`re out of town. Gas ever too expensive or climate out of control so much that you`ll ever sell your pickup truck?

KEITH: You`re going to have to have a truck the rest of your life, man.

BECK: There we go.

Toby Keith, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Best of luck.

Thank you, sir.

From New York, good night, America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

END