Christopher Cross
The Questlove Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 98 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Christopher Cross joins Questlove in Hollywood for a deep musician-to-musician conversation about songwriting, studio craftsmanship, and surviving meteoric success. Cross reveals the true origin of Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) and the outlaw mythology behind Ride Like The Wind, while recalling experiences like seeing Jimi Hendrix live, opening for Led Zeppelin, and singing background vocals with Carl Wilson. He breaks down the making of his classic debut album, his obsession with Steely Dan–level precision, and why his later records still matter deeply to him and his core fans. Along the way, Cross shares rare stories about Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell, Michael McDonald, and Jimmy Page — plus an unforgettable Ginger Baker milk-and-ulcers story.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.9 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.2 | The Questleff show is a production of I-Heart Radio. |
| 0:29.4 | I-Heart Radio. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Questlove show. |
| 0:34.7 | I am Questlove, and, man, the hits keep happening. |
| 0:40.1 | Our legendary guest today has made history starting back in 1981, |
| 0:42.5 | sweeping the Grammys. |
| 0:44.2 | First time sweeping the big four. |
| 0:51.0 | That means album, song, record, and, oh, best new artist, of course. |
| 0:53.1 | He has worked with everyone. |
| 0:55.8 | We will get into it. Of course we know this man needs no introduction. Name it from Michael McDonald to Brian Wilson to Bert Baccarac to Peter Allen. |
| 1:02.9 | I cannot wait to ask you what that room was like. And my research I also discovered that you |
| 1:09.3 | might have a Ginger Baker story to tell. |
| 1:12.5 | I do. |
| 1:13.8 | I hope you survived it. |
| 1:16.0 | Our guest today and myself appeared in the very enjoyable yacht rock doc, a dock so good that my own producers are a little bit angry at me like what the hell but i enjoyed doing that so much uh we |
| 1:32.1 | have met a few times and one of those times was a bucketless moment for me recreating the legendary |
| 1:37.8 | ctv bit of rick moranis doing michael mcdonald as a background singer on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. |
| 1:46.1 | We were supposed to do this in New York City, but somehow the stars saw that we get to do this in L.A. |
| 1:51.7 | So, of course, took that opportunity to welcome the great Christopher Cross to the Questlove show. |
| 1:59.1 | Thank you for doing this for me. |
| 2:00.2 | Chris' pleasure. |
... |
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