Staying Fit
Turns out, you can learn a lot about a man by asking him about his sleep, as we discovered while chatting with the immensely talented and effortlessly engaging Jeff Bridges, who’s not only the star of next month’s much-talked-about Bad Times at the El Royale but also the richly soothing voice and quirky imagination behind the internet sensation known as Sleeping Tapes. The album, as he calls it, is a podcast-like ode to all things nocturnal (bedtime stories and new age-y music included) and, most important to Bridges, raises money for Share Our Strength's “No Kid Hungry” campaign.
I had the pleasure of listening to your Sleeping Tapes at work all afternoon yesterday.
AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal
Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine.
[Jeff Bridges laughs.]
I don’t know if I had to do that, but I thought it could count as interview prep.
Definitely! You had to do it!
Jeff Bridges at a Sleep Club event on Sept. 13 in New York City.
Everett Collection Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
Now I know that an ad for the album first debuted at the Super Bowl and that it's now being sold on a just-launched site called Sleep Club [joinsleepclub.com]. How did you happen to start working on it?
Well, it was a fascinating experience for me. Two years ago somebody approached me about Squarespace, this web-design company. They wanted me to do a Super Bowl commercial but not the typical, “Hi, I’m Jeff Bridges. Use Squarespace— they’re a good design company.” They wanted something more creative, and their idea was for me to come up with an absurd product that they would make a website out of, with the idea that there is no idea that is too absurd not to make a website out of.
Of course not.
So they had this long list of things, and “sleeping tapes” popped out for some reason. And I said, “What is sleeping tapes?” And they said, “Well, we don’t know. It can be whatever you want it to be, soothing sounds, whatever.” And I said, "Yeah, yeah, go on.” And they said, “We’re gonna make that product, and we’ll make a website for that product, and all of the proceeds from that product will go to ‘No Kid Hungry’ — which they knew I was the national spokesperson for. That was the hook for me. I said, “Oh, I’m in."
And was it like, turn on your iPhone and start recording?
They had a bunch of writers who helped supply some ideas, and they worked with me on it. And I got my dear friend [the musician] Keefus Ciancia involved. I’d worked with him on an album I’d done with T. Bone Burnett years before, and then I thought my good friend Lou Beach could write some bedtime stories we could put in there and he could design the cover. … So it was very much like, come on, let’s make a record! It can be anything we want! With that spirit, we just let our imaginations go, and it turned into what it turned into. … And then it rose to number 2 on the new age charts, which was totally surprising. And I love it. I listen to it myself every once and a while, and it brings back all kinds of memories.
And over time it's made some money for your charity?
So far it's made over a quarter of a million dollars for “No Kid Hungry.” Isn’t that wild?
Did anyone who listened to Sleeping Tapes ever tell you it actually helped them fall asleep?
A few people. A lot of people said it scared the s--- out of them. It was frightening to some people. … And I said, “Well, sleeping is about dreams. Some are good; some are bad."
Would you describe your Sleeping Tapes as more like performance art or health aid?
