This part of the website contains some of the most-cited magazine and newspaper articles about Deborah and Blondie, as well as press releases and packages. The articles scanned and typed out here are for informational purposes. This site mainly focuses on interviews and literal quotes by Debbie herself.

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image (left) by Joe Gaffney

PRESS | Die Zeit (October 9, 2003)


I HAVE A DREAM

Deborah Harry was born in Florida in 1945 and adopted by Richard and Catherine Harry three months later. She grew up in Hawthorne, New Jersey. At the age of 14 she bleached her hair for the first time. Four years later she moved to New York where she worked as a waitress and "Playboy"-Bunny, among other things. In 1974 she and her boyfriend Chris Stein founded the band Blondie that made her famous until their split in 1982. After a couple of solo albums and movies Debbie Harry accomplished a comeback with the reunion of Blondie and the hit single "Maria." Her latest album "The Curse Of Blondie" was just released and a tour will follow in November. Here she dreams of a dream house.

Places play an important role in my dreams. Exotic places full of peculiar colors and shapes, often houses, spacious, evening light streamed sets of rooms or strangely angled rooms in which I wander around in my dreams night by night. I remember those dreams vividly and when I awake I really have that feeling as if I've been there.
The boundary between my dreams, especially the daydreams, and reality has always been very diaphanous for me. Especially as a child. I remember when I was a little girl I was convinced the brick fireplace inside my parents' house was confiding important mathematical information to me. I was listening carefully to that voice but unfortunately I was still way too young. Everything I heard was way beyond comprehension. I felt terrible afterwards. It was like I had missed something really important.

For a long time I thought I was Marilyn Monroe's daughter. My parents had adopted me, I knew that. I admired Marilyn Monroe, she was everything I wanted to be back then - sexy, amusing, successful, a star. And blonde. A wonderful woman, especially in the eyes of a teenager. In my imagination I built a relationship to her, made her my unknown, biological mother.

Also, in my worst nightmare a room plays the most important role. A narrow, dark room, maybe a grave or a dungeon. I'm caught, can't find a way out, I scream, knock against the wall with my fists until I awake sweatfully with a fast pulse.
The idea of being caught in a narrow room even scares me to death being awake. Watching a movie on TV in which someone is buried alive I have to switch channels because I cannot bear those pictures. This has scared me since my early childhood days.

I have no idea why dreams of peculiar places keep coming back all the time. Maybe I am still in search. In search of new experiences, new challenges. In search of this one, this one special place.
In my daydreams it's a place by the sea. A little house near the beach, maybe wooden und pretty isolated. In a pictorial lagoon, oysterbeds by the coast in which I dive for pearls.
I often considered quitting music and acting entirely and spending my days surfing, swimming and snorkeling.
I love the ocean, I love swimming in it. Feeling its untamed, wild power. Myself feeling little and insignificant. The ocean is unpredictable, a big challenge. Sometimes it carries and cradles you, sometimes you have to fight for your life. It's wonderful and exciting.

I'd love to learn diving with an air tank on my back. I tried it once but couldn't cope with the pressurization. My ears hurt terribly, I was scared for my ear-drum and went up again quickly. But I really should try again. I imagine it to be great being underwater. Diving, I think, is like flying, moving agravicly into all directions.

I once had a similar experience. A few years back I went paragliding. It was simply terrific. You feel the heat carrying you, you search for the updrafts and slowly glide down into the valley.

People like me who had heavy experiences with drugs develop a weakness for these kinds of activities, maybe because of the adrenaline which is rushing through one's veins in these moments, maybe because the body loses all its weight and dominance. Or maybe just because it's very exciting, who knows.
Maybe I should build a ski jump next to my dream house. Just in case I won't manage to go diving again.

By all means, there'd be animals. Dogs and cats, a whole pride of dogs romping through the house. Maybe a goat. My sister used to have a goat. Those are funny animals and they eat nearly everything. My sister's goat once ate one of my shoes. A goat like that would simplify the waste disposal.
Maybe I'd have a few pigs, too. I heard they're very intelligent. It'd be fun teaching them some tricks.

In my house there'd likely be children, too. Even though I hate spending too much time with regrets I do regret sometimes not having children. Those are very sad moments for me. But in the past I decided differently. Sometimes I have to remind myself that the experiences I have made often were wonderful. That consoles me.

Maybe the whole concept of being a mother in this society is wrong. Sometimes I think girls at the age of 13 or 14 should give birth. A time in which you're hot, full of power and sexual energy. At that age you can cope with the effort of being a mother, you're so healthy like at no other age ever again. So, raise a family, have as many children as you like.
Then you'll have all decades to satisfy your intellectual and cultural needs.
It makes sense that women become sexually mature at that age. Unfortunately our society doesn't work like that.
As a teenager I felt invincible and thought I'd live eternally. Unfortunately that feeling passes someday.

Eventually I decided against children because I was unhappy for a long time in my twenties and thirties. Rage ridden. Rage born of frustration, the feeling of being suppressed, fight for self-determination. That rage was one of the reasons for my drug addiction.

I didn't feel ready to become a mother. My rage and frustration also would've harmed the child.
Back then the world inside of me and the world outside didn't match. It slowly changed. These days I sometimes dream of living in a house by the sea with two or three children, teaching them how to swim. Maybe that dream will come true. There are other ways than giving birth if you like to take care of children.
I guess the most important thing is to create a suitable living space.
At the moment my life is still too unsettled. I'm away quite often, also in my head. And I'm a single. Otherweise I would think about this a little more concretely.

Raising children is something I'd only want to do with a loved person, in the right environment. But it's very difficult finding a place by the sea, wild and isolated, being close to nature. I'd likely have to buy one whole island. But that'd be too expensive. It will probably just remain a dream.

 

 

This article was translated by me, the webmaster, from German into English. I apologize for possible word mistakes. If you prefer to read the original German article, please go here.

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