Turner:  No. I had talked to [my manager] Roger about it for some time. I told him … I wanted five years.  I want to see what it's like to be away for five years.  Well, these days, if you're away five years, you might not be able to get back.

Lauer: Any worries about that?

Turner:  No. I didn't worry about it because I kind of felt I left a good message and memory with the people in terms of my work, and I always felt with a good record, I could always come back.

Lauer: But you are a born performer. When I see you onstage, you explode up there. So when you're in that quiet time at home, are the echoes of those cheers always in your head?

Turner: No, it's actually quite separate. When I’m home, it's different.  It’s not work.  It’s just whatever I want to do at home — what normal people do. 

Lauer: So did something click? You said to Roger, who's your manager, you wanted five years, you got the five years, and at the end, were you itching to go back to the stage?

Turner:  No, actually, I could have had a few more. But the record company was asking for a greatest hits [album]. Greatest hits is easy because one has nothing to do — except that we both, Roger and I, felt that new songs should be there because I’ve been away for awhile. We just need to show up with something, and that's why the decision was to do some new songs.

Lauer:  Well, let's talk about that, because when you put out a greatest hits CD, double CD, and you add some new songs, that means you're putting these new songs next to classics.  It's hard for some of these songs to live up when they're living in that sort of a neighborhood.

Turner: You're asking the right questions, this is so good.

Lauer: So how did you choose those songs?

Turner: Well, the choice that I made was from my best music, for the songs that I knew that the public liked. Then, when I recorded my new songs I found that my old material had not faded, it was still current, the music was good [and] the songs were great.  I sat in my house and listened, got the chills, and I thought, how great is that?  It hasn't dated, it hasn't gone anywhere, and it’s great. 

Lauer:  You're confident when people listen to “Proud Mary,” then listen to “What's Love Got to Do With It?” and then “Open Arms” that they won't feel they've lost anything in quality?

Turner:  I tell you, when you hear it, you'll see nothing is lost.  That’s what I’m very proud of, because the quality of the work that I did shows up now. I’m so happy about that.   

Lauer: Who is your audience today, after five decades in the music business? 

Turner:  You wouldn't believe that I still have the bikers with the caps to the side at my door, ringing the doorbell. I still look out at the audience from time to time, if I’m in a restaurant, if I’m walking the street, and when I’m in public. I went to catch a few shows in Europe and the place stood up for me.  It was wonderful.  It felt really, really good.  They’re still there, they're young.  I would have to say, some of them are really quite young.  Maybe that's the parents saying ah, Tina...

Lauer:  Go check out what I’ve listened to for so many years...

Turner:  Right.  They’re still young.  They’re still there and it's just still something that attracts the young and the people of my age.

Lauer:  So when the parents tell the kids, “Wait until you see this chick up onstage because she moves like no one else moves and she never stops.” So at sixty … can I say it?

Turner: Sixty-five.