TERRY GROSS: Your voice has a kind of hoarseness to it. A little raspy. Was it always that way or is that related to the drugs that you did back then or to the cancer that you had after that?
Transcript
GROSS: Your voice has a kind of hoarseness to it.
CARR: Right.
GROSS: A little raspy. Was it always that way or is that related to the drugs that you did back then or to the cancer that you had after that?
CARR: You know, it's a little tough to pin down, because I smoked on and on all my life, tobacco, so a lot of people who smoke tobacco sound like me. When you smoke cocaine you're taking in vapors that are coming into your lungs at a really high temperature, and so could that have made a problem? I took, I had Hodgkin's lymphoma and I took a lot of radiation to the mouth and throat, so could it have been that? I mean I have, I walk around and you can see in the movie, "Page One," I walk around with my neck bent, that's from the muscles sort of getting shot out by all the radiation. But I will tell you something interesting though. I spent a couple weeks working 9/11, you know, working the pile, just my job was to cover fireman. I never had a hoarse voice before that.
GROSS: Really?
CARR: Yeah. So I think that's when it declared itself. And it sort of comes and goes based on the amount of fatigue I have. I could have surgery to remove the vocal notes but I've had a lot of surgeries. I've had a very medicalized life. I have no spleen. I have one kidney. I have no gallbladder. I have half a pancreas. And the idea of sort of willingly allowing people to cut into me, I'm probably not for that. I'll just deal with the hoarseness of the voice.
