In the dramedy Rock the Kasbah (recently in theaters), Bill Murray stars as a talent manager who risks his life to help a Pashtun singer realize her dream of becoming the first woman to sing on Afghanistan’s American Idol equivalent. The screenwriter, Murray’s longtime friend Mitch Glazer, reveals their musical past:
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I’ve been writing for and with Bill since 1987, when we did Scrooged. I wrote Kasbah for him. I was thinking, “God, to see Bill Murray sing ‘Smoke on the Water’ to Pashtun tribesmen! Someone has to do that scene, and it might as well be me.” Bill and I have had some rock moments. Eric Clapton is a friend of Bill’s, and a few years ago the producer of Eric’s Crossroads Guitar Festival called me and said, “Do you think Bill would host and you guys would write introductions?” We said yes two years in a row. The second time we did it, I asked Bill, “Is there one rock song you can play guitar to?” He said, “Yes, [’60s garage-rock classic] ‘Gloria.'” The lineup was Jeff Beck, Clapton and some of the greatest guitarists, but the first one out will be this knucklehead playing “Gloria.” I said, “Eric should come out behind you playing it too.” We find Eric and he says, “I don’t know how to play it.'” Bill goes, “A chimp can play ‘Gloria’! Give me a guitar.” And he teaches him the chords. It took a second because Eric’s trying to learn it from Bill saying, “No, no, put your fingers here.” It was priceless.
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The first year, I had the idea of having Bill dress up — throughout the entire festival – as Clapton from different periods of his career. If you’re a Clapton fan, it seemed like Eric’s hair would change hourly. You’d look at an album cover and go, “No one could grow hair and a beard that fast.” He was also kind of a clotheshorse — remember the white suit on 461 Ocean Boulevard — and so I had Bill trying to match Eric’s looks over the years. For the most extreme one, I had Billy in a perm and Cream-era psychedelic clothes. So, Eric is onstage doing sound check, which is a fairly sacred moment for him — no one goes onstage during soundcheck — and Billy wanders out dressed as Clapton circa 1966 with the perm. People freeze. Really, the band stopped playing and stuff, and Eric turned and walked over. He doesn’t recognize Bill initially, and he has this really intense look on his face. Bill looks at him and goes “Like looking in a mirror, isn’t it?” Fortunately, Eric laughed, but there was a second where I went, “This could really end badly.” I could see a [Pete] Townshend guitar swing.
An edited version of this story originally appeared in the Nov. 7 issue of Billboard.