Monday, December 30, 2013

Bill Wyman,Between Rock and a Soft Place...

Between Rock and a Soft Place

Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman tells about the 'fun things' in his London study—like Rupert Bears

GIVES HIM SHELTER: Bill Wyman in his London home built in the 1700s near the Thames. He uses the study to write. Daniella Zalcman for The Wall Street Journal
Bassist Bill Wyman, 77, was an original member of the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993 and currently leads Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He is author of the limited edition "Scrapbook" (Concert Live), a career-long collection of personal photos and reminiscences. He spoke with reporter Marc Myers.
The Chelsea section of London is important to me. I joined the Rolling Stones in December 1962 at the Weatherby Arms pub on King's Road, and I've lived in a series of flats in the area since 1980. Twenty years ago my wife and I bought the three-story, 16-room Chelsea house where we live now. When I'm home, I'm usually in my study.
Our house was built in the 1700s. In the 1800s, Dr. John Samuel Phene lived here—he persuaded London to plant trees in the streets all over the city to improve the air quality. My study was his study, so that feels good. From my house, I can go on walks along the River Thames and stroll over to the Chelsea Physic Garden where there are plants and trees from around the world. I'm a member there, so they let me photograph butterflies and pick mulberries off the trees and eat them.
WILD HORSES: Bill Wyman, far right, with Rolling Stones bandmates Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a 1960s photo. Dezo Hoffmann/Rex USA/Everett Collection
Just walking into my study puts me in a frame of mind to bounce right into everything I have to do. It's where I think, read and work on a range of projects. For example, I'm now writing a history of my country home—a Tudor manor with a moat. It's in East Anglia—a two-hour drive from London—and dates back to the 1480s.
In Chelsea, my study is on the ground floor and relatively small—about 13 feet square with 11-foot-high ceilings. It's lighted by a series of ceiling spotlights. Two walls are taken up by floor-to-ceiling wooden bookshelves with closed cabinets at the base. I work on a computer at a large modern desk that looks out through the study's two tall windows.
My favorite color is burgundy, which was the color of my grammar-school football team. All of the furniture in the study is burgundy—including my upright leather chair and a chaise longue sofa from the 1860s. The wallpaper is a pink burgundy and we had the walls around the bookcases painted the same color. Even the curtains are burgundy and beige. It's a warm, cozy color.
Some of Mr. Wyman's Rupert Annuals. Daniella Zalcman for The Wall Street Journal

I keep lots of fun things in here. On my mantelpiece and windowsills are numerous photos of my mom and dad, my wife and three daughters, and my son. On the walls I have a photo of Marc Chagall and his wife that he signed for me and a drawing of Winston Churchill by actor Joe Sirola. I also have a painting of my favorite TV detective—Peter Falk as "Columbo." I keep an acoustic Martin guitar in the corner to mess with when writing songs. I have a little digital studio downstairs, where I'm working on a new album of original material.
I also have two early Rupert Bear dolls. At my country house I have nearly an entire set of Rupert Annuals. They're children's books that have been published here every year since 1936—the year I was born. They feature illustrations of Rupert the Bear and his animal friends going off on fabulous adventures. When I was young, my family never had enough money for Christmas presents except a single Rupert Annual for all five of us to share.
I'm curious about virtually everything, so my Chelsea shelves are lined with books covering a variety of subjects—from histories of London to books on Atlantis and ancient cultures. My music shelf has books on early blues, country music, gospel and a history of jazz from the 1930s. I like to know how things work and how they became that way.
I never close the door. Gizmo, my favorite dog—a papillon—likes to come in and climb onto my lap no matter what I'm doing or where I'm sitting. Despite the open door, parties never extend to this room. I couldn't bear a spilled glass of red wine or a ring on the wood furniture or shelves.
But in the quiet confines of my Chelsea study, there's always the risk of overthinking things or feeling a bit boring—at least my daughters sometimes think I am. Recently I won the Gold Badge Award that's given out by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. When I came home with it, I told my youngest daughter—15-year-old Matilda—about the event. She listened intently. But Jessy—my middle daughter who's 17—didn't seem so interested.
Later, after dwelling on her reaction in my study, I told Jessy that I had only wanted to share the experience with her. She said, "Daddy, you don't have to win things for me to be proud of you." Wow, just when you think your kids have let you down, they haven't at all, have they?

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Lyrics Uncovered: The Rolling Stones’ ‘Some Girls’ Album...


Lyrics Uncovered: The Rolling Stones’ ‘Some Girls’ Album

Rolling Stones Some Girls
Rolling Stones Records
The Rolling Stones had one heck of a decade in the ’70s. They started with one of their all-time greats — 1971′s ‘Sticky Fingers’ — and then ended it with another classic, 1978′s ‘Some Girls.’ The latter record helped save the band after a few years of rock-star excess nearly sank them. It’s one of the group’s very best records, a renewed blast of classic rock ‘n’ roll infused with country swagger and soulful sway. We break it all down, song by song, with Lyrics Uncovered: The Rolling Stones’ ‘Some Girls’ Album.

'Miss You'

 
When the Stones released 'Some Girls' in 1978, it was a pretty contentious time in rock history. Disco was storming the charts, and punk (and, slowly but surely, hip-hop) was spilling over from the big cities. Rock fans were so riled by this point that they began staging anti-disco crusades around the country. So imagine their surprise when the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band opened their new album with 'Miss You,' a disco-blues hybrid conceived during a jam session between Mick Jagger and keyboardist Billy Preston. They were rehearsing for a gig when they came up with the song's skeleton. Lyrically, 'Miss You' is a pretty simple lament of lost love from the perspective of a playboy. Jagger said the song's memorable middle section -- about "Puerto Rican girls just dying to meet you" -- was made up to reflect the character's steady parade of women coming in and out of his life. After the album's release, Jagger said that the band didn't set out to make a disco record. But it's hard to overlook the influence of late-'70s N.Y.C. club music. 'Miss You' turned out to be a huge hit in those clubs, as well as on the pop chart, where it reached No. 1.

When the Whip Comes Down'

 
 
For a band known for its extracurricular activities, it's little surprise that 'Some Girls' features some pretty provocative material. 'When the Whip Comes Down' is the album's boldest cut, "a straight gay song," according to Mick Jagger in a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone. "But I have no idea why I wrote it. Maybe I came out of the closet." The song is about a gay man who moves from Los Angeles to New York to become a garbage collector. But the implication here is that his real job is as a prostitute: "I'm learning the ropes, yeah, I'm learning a trade / I got so much money, but I spend it so fast." The song's thick guitar comes from a triple attack: Jagger played along with Keith Richards and Ron Wood. It all gives 'Whip' plenty of downtown attitude, most likely inspired by Jagger's experiences living in the Big Apple at the time.

'Just My Imagination 

 
The Stones have never been shy about their influences, filling many of their early albums with faithful covers of old blues and R&B songs. By 1978, the band still touched on the past, but with a modern-day spin. Their version of the Temptations' 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)' bristles with the same gritty energy found on the rest of the album, with a particularly feisty power play between guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood. Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1978 that the song was a continuation of their 1974 cover of the Temptations' 'Ain't Too Proud to Beg.' "I've always wanted to do that song, originally as a duet with Linda Ronstadt, believe it or not," he said. "But instead, we just did our version of it, like an English rock 'n' roll band tuning up."
 
By the time the Stones went into the studio in 1977 to record 'Some Girls,' the band's two major creative forces were dealing separately with legal issues outside of the band. Keith Richards was arrested in Toronto for heroin possession, while Mick Jagger was on his way to divorce court with first wife Bianca. That tension surged throughout the album, especially in the sloppy blues of the title track, in which Jagger rolls off a list of the evils women do. And it's not a very flattering portrait. In his 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger said there was even more: "I had another version of the song, but when it came to the take, I sang a completely different version -- it was 11 minutes long -- and then edited it down."
 
The punchy, three-chord blast of 'Lies' complements 'Some Girls'' title track. After slamming pretty much every race of women in the world, Jagger gets somewhat specific here, sending a pointed message to a "dirty Jezebel" who had fire on her "wicked tongue." In Cyrus R.K. Patell's book about 'Some Girls' for the 33 1/3 series, Ron Wood says, "Those punk songs were our message to those boys"; likewise, Keith Richards states in his autobiography that the band was attempting to "out-punk the punks." Jagger, Wood and Richards cut through the song with slashing, dive-bombing guitar lines that buzz through the three-minute song without pause.

Far Away Eyes'

 
Side two of 'Some Girls' starts in a strange place with the woozy, country-fried 'Far Away Eyes,' which features Mick Jagger imitating a Southern drawl. It's all played as a 3/4 waltz with Ron Wood on pedal-steel guitar. In the end, it comes off a bit comical and a throwaway. (No surprise that Jagger admitted in a 1995 interview, "I love country music, but I find it hard to take seriously.") Not everyone in the band was on board with Jagger's performance. A year after the album was released, Keith Richards said that "Mick feels the need to get into these caricatures. He's slightly vaudeville in his approach. You expect Mick to walk out in his cowboy duds on an 18-wheeler set."

Respectable'

 
According to the liner notes Mick Jagger wrote for the Stones' 1993 best-of compilation 'Jump Back,' 'Respectable' started life as a slower song. But then it just got louder and faster. "I was banging out three chords incredibly loud on the electric guitar," he recalled. "This is a punk-meets-Chuck-Berry number." The song's lyrics are some of the most playful on the whole album, taking aim at the punks who were brushing away bands like the Stones -- as well as at Jagger's ex, Bianca. "You're a rag-trade girl, you're the queen of porn," he sings. "You're the easiest lay on the White House lawn." (That last line was an apparent reference to Bianca's encounter with President Gerald Ford's son.) Plus, there was also a nod to Keith Richards' drug-related arrest in Toronto, which could have led to some lengthy jail time for the guitarist: "We're talking heroin with the president / Well, it's a problem, sir, but it can't be bent."

Before They Make Me Run'

 
Like Mick Jagger, who spent a great deal of time on 'Some Girls' discussing his marital troubles, Keith Richards got personal in the one song on which he took lead vocals. Before they entered the studio to record the album, the band was in Toronto, where Richards was arrested for heroin possession. To help stave off the possibility of imprisonment, the guitarist entered a voluntary treatment program. 'Before They Make Me Run' is his reaction. Richards looks back on the highs ("I wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well") and lows (the title refers to his attempt to find a place to call home after he had burned so many legal bridges in so many different countries). Looking back on the song in his autobiography 'Life,' Richards calls the song "a cry from the heart."

Beast of Burden'

 
On 'Beast of Burden,' one of the album's most popular cuts and a hit single, Keith Richards and Ron Wood trade a slinky mix of lead and rhythm parts that never seems to resolve, leaving drummer Charlie Watts and bassist Bill Wyman to hold things steady. Richards wrote most of the music and lyrics, thinking of the weight he was putting on his bandmates, especially Mick Jagger, with his ongoing drug and legal struggles. As he put it in his autobiography, 'Life': "I came back to the studio with Mick ... to say, 'Thanks, man, for shouldering the burden.' That's why I wrote 'Beast of Burden' for him."
 
If the rest of 'Some Girls' was the Stones trying to make sense of the punk movement blowing up around them, 'Shattered,' the album's closing track, was the band embracing it. It doubles as Mick Jagger's blast at his adopted home of New York City: "You got rats on the West Side, bed bugs uptown / What a mess, this town's in tatters," he sings. "Go ahead, bite the Big Apple / Don't mind the maggots." And apparently he wrote the lyrics in the back of a cab. How's that for inspiration?

Mick Jagger is impossible to gift at Christmas...


 Mick Jagger is impossible to gift at Christmas


Sir Mick Jagger is impossible to buy Christmas presents for.
The Rolling Stones frontman's daughter Jade Jagger claims all seven of his children - who he has with four different women - struggle to buy their famous father festive gifts because he already owns everything.
Discussing her close relationship with her half-sisters, Jade said: ''Lizzy lives in London, and Georgia May is building a house here ... We talk about our career paths and our houses, and how difficult it is to find Mick a Christmas present.''
The unconventional family make a point of reuniting for Christmas and they plan to jet off to the private island of Mustique in St Vincent and the Grenadines for New Year's.
Jade explained: ''My dad has always been great at keeping the family together and having those important moments - Christmas parties, his birthday. We'll be spending New Year's Eve together, nearly all of us.''
The 42-year-old jewellery designer - whose daughter Assisi is pregnant with her first child - wed Adrian Fillary last June and believes the marriage was worth the wait.
She said: ''I felt like the time was right, that I was maturing enough, finally, to be ready for the commitment ... Adrian is a real man, and in this day and age those old-fashioned values are few and far between.''

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Ian Mclagan: 'Faces Reunion Will Have To Wait Until 2016'...


Ian Mclagan: 'Faces Reunion Will Have To Wait Until 2016'

Faces rocker Ian Mclagan has dismissed Rod Stewart's plans for a band reunion with Ronnie Wood in 2015, because the keyboardist will be busy working on reforming the SMALL Faces.
Stewart recently revealed he has been in talks with Wood to hit the stage together once the guitarist's commitments with the Rolling Stones come to an end, claiming they were "earmarking 2015".
However, it appears the two British superstars have yet to discuss the get-together with surviving bandmates MCLagan and drummer Kenney Jones, as they are in the process of organising a reunion for the group which spawned Faces.
Asked about Stewart's comments during an interview with Uncut magazine, MCLagan says, "Why would we f**k around with the Faces when we've got bigger fish to fry?
"It's interesting that Rod announces these things without talking to me or Kenney... (Stewart will) have to wait until 2016 because 2015 is the Small Faces' year."
MCLagan, Jones and late bassist Ronnie Lane were originally members of Small Faces, but the group split in 1969 following the exit of frontman Steve Marriott. The trio recruited Stewart and Wood, who had both been playing with The Jeff Beck Group, to join the line-up and rebranded themselves Faces.
Stewart served as their frontman from 1969 until 1975, and rejoined Wood, MCLagan and Jones at the Brit Awards in London in 1993, but he was subsequently replaced by former Simply Red star Mick Hucknall for comeback shows in 2010 and 2011.

(VIDEO)-Memory Motel - The Rolling Stones.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live' makes U.S. TV debut on Showtime...







Sweet Summer Sun - Hyde Park Live' makes U.S. TV debut on Showtime


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Andrew Loog Oldham to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Andrew Loog Oldham to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014

Andrew Loog Oldham, who is best known for being the Rolling Stones' manager from 1963 to 1967, is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony that will take place on April 10, 2014, at Barclays Center in New York City's Brooklyn borough. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame made the announcement about the 2014 inductees on Dec. 17, 2013.
The other Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees in 2014 are Kiss, Nirvana, Cat Stevens, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Linda Ronstadt, Peter Gabriel, the E Street Band and Brian Epstein, who was the Beatles' manager until his death in 1967.
Oldham and the late Epstein are getting the Ahmet Ertegun Award (for non-performers), while the E Street Band (Bruce Springsteen's band) will be given the Award for Musical Excellence (formerly known as the Sidemen category). The other inductees are part of the Performers category.
Oldham is credited with creating the PR image that the Rolling Stones had in the 1960s of being the "anti-Beatles" and for coining the phrase "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?" The idea was to present the Rolling Stones as the more rebellious, "cooler" alternative to the Beatles, who had an image was more obedient and clean-cut.
In reality, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles were friendly rivals, with members of both groups sometimes working together. And as many tell-all books and articles have revealed, the Beatles behind the scenes were not as "squeaky clean" as their image.
Oldham, who produced many of the Rolling Stones' early recordings, was fired by the band over musical differences and conflicts over the Rolling Stones' career plans. The Rolling Stones then hired Allen Klein as their manager, and they would later battle with Klein for years over legal and financial issues. Klein's ABKCO company owns most of the copyrights of Rolling Stones songs from 1960s and early 1970s. Klein (who died in 2009) replaced Epstein as the Beatles' manager until the Beatles broke up in 1970. The Beatles would also battle with Klein over legal and financial issues.
Oldham has written several books, including memoirs about his time with the Rolling Stones and other experiences he's had in the music business.
He is nominated for a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album for being an executive producer of the Rolling Stones box set "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," the soundtrack to the documentary film of the same title. Oldham is also a producer of the movie.
In 2012, Oldham did numerous promotions for "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," including attending the movie's premiere at the New York Film Festival and doing a Q&A conducted by Dave Grohl on DirecTV's Audience Network "Something to Talk About" series.
"The Charlie Is My Darling" soundtrack, DVD, Blu-ray and deluxe box set were released by ABKCO on Nov. 6, 2012.
In an October 2013 Q&A in New York City following a screening of "Charlie Is My Darling - Ireland 1965," Oldham said that if he were still the manager of the Rolling Stones, he would have advise them to have an on-stage hologram of the late Brian Jones (who died in 1969) as part of the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary tour. Oldham also said that former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor should be part of the tour.
Oldham said, My advice? Try and get Bill Wyman to join you. Get a hologram ... so you can zoom Brian [Jones] in there. Mick Taylor can probably get there himself. Brian, for sure [on the tour]. Right?
"And then go to America, play one album, get comfortable, do the show ... play the cities, do an album for a week. It would be a bit of history, as opposed to, oh you know, 'Here we are. You're in walkers; we're not yet.' I think it could be 'nail it to the floor of America.' Bill and Brian are the essence of it."
Wyman was an on-stage guest at the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary concerts in London in 2012, but Wyman later complained to the media that he wasn't given enough songs to play at the anniversary shows, so it is very unlikely that he will be invited to perform with the Rolling Stones again anytime soon. Taylor, however, has been a guest on all of the Rolling Stones' "50 and Counting" anniversary concerts in 2012 and 2013, and it has been announced that Taylor will continue to be a guest on the Rolling Stones "14 on Fire" tour in 2014. The Rolling Stones wisely steered clear of the idea to have Jones as a hologram.
The Rolling Stones were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, who was in the Faces before he joined the Rolling Stones, was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Faces in 2012.
Artists eligible for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are required to have released their first recording at least 25 years before the induction ceremony. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has made an effort to make the annual induction ceremony more inclusive to the general public, including televising the ceremony, opening up the voting to the public, moving the ceremony from a hotel to an arena, and selling tickets to the ceremony to the public instead of it being an invitation-only event.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Keith Richards: A Pirate Looks at 70...

Keith Richards: A Pirate Looks at 70

Keith Richards' 50 years as a Rolling Stone cast the die for ragged rock & roll excess. Now, as a grandfather, he's still touring, still restless, still making it look easy.
Keith Richards: A Pirate Looks at 70
Photograph by Bruce Weber
Just before Christmas this year, Keith Richards will turn 70. Swirl that around in your snifter for a moment. The world's most famous rhythm guitarist set the standard for powders injected and ingested, but he is still going to make it to the big 7-0. That's 30 more than Lennon, 43 more than Hendrix and Cobain. It seems impossible.
And now, somehow, Richards has found another gear. In 2010, he published his memoir, 'Life,' and the only thing pretentious and rock-starish about it was the title. He wrote sweetly about being bullied as a kid, the size of Mick's member, days on the run with Anita Pallenberg, and enough escapes from the lawman to fund another decade of Law & Order: Special Guitarist Unit. The book will be read by Stones fans and alchemists until the end of time.
Just as remarkable, when you read this, the Rolling Stones will probably be playing not too far from your town. Even more remarkable, according to reviews of the Stones' 2012 dates, they'll be damn good. Richards has emerged as the band's greatest defender, carping about the defections of Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor but also recruiting them to play with the band once again. (Taylor will join the band on selected numbers this summer.)
Over the years, Richards has segued from dissolute dad to dedicated family man, patriarch of a sprawling clan. He had three children with Italian-born actress Anita Pallenberg, whom he swiped from fellow Stones guitarist Brian Jones. In the Seventies, Richards was notorious for taking his boy, Marlon, on the road with him while he was still in grade school. But those were different times. Richards has two more girls with his wife of 30 years, Patti Hansen. Let us say Theodora and Alexandra were raised under slightly different circumstances, with Richards claiming he was the breakfast cook if not the homework helper. He talks with affection and some melancholy about being an empty nester and missing a house full of noise.
I caught up with Richards at Electric Lady Studios in New York and then again while he was at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles for rehearsals before the tour. He wore the omnipresent bandanna, chain-smoked Marlboros, and drank a mysterious potion from a large plastic cup. He dodged nothing, and I only wish I'd had the courage to ask him who came up with the drum-machine bits on Undercover (Of the Night). The other weird thing? Keith Richards looked freakin' healthy. That bastard is going to outlive us all.
Your whole pirate-junkie image has become part of pop culture, even homogenized for kids. How do you feel about that?They think I'm a cartoon! I mean "Keith Richards" – everybody knows what it means. It comes with longevity. I'm glad it strikes people's imaginations! I'd like to be old Keith and play him to the hilt. I'm probably something different to millions of different people.
Is the Keith onstage different from the Keith at home?No, I'm the same bloke – I know who I am, but I'm also aware of the kaleidoscope of different visions being taken in by different people.
John Updike said, "Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face." You don't feel like a trained monkey sometimes?I know my master, and I know when to jump and hop. I feel totally comfortable with it. The whole "Keef" thing, I consider it basically an honor. You've got to be around for a while to become this sort of icon thing.
Speaking of that, you're going to be 70 this year. How the hell did that happen? Does that freak you out at all?No, man, everybody should try it if they can get there. If I had a secret, I'd bottle it maybe. I just happen to be here. Just string it, and play it low.
But with the drugs and all, people will wonder how the hell you made it.With the smack, I knew: "I've got to stop now, or I'm going to go in for hard time." The cocaine I quit because I fell on my head! Due to that – no more coke. Actually, my body tells me when to stop . . . the hard way. It's a knock on the head – OK. It's no big deal to me, to give things up.
Your book suggests you did heroin because it allowed you to work. I find it hard to believe heroin was part of your Protestant work ethic.It was – either stay up or crash out or wake up. It was always to do something. Also, I've got to confess, I was very interested in what I could take and what I could do. I looked upon the body as a laboratory – I used to throw in this chemical and then that one to see what would happen; I was intrigued by that. What one would work against another; I've got a bit of alchemist in me that way. But all experiments must come to an end.
Has there been damage done?I've never felt that it affected the way I played one way or another; if I stayed up I got a few more songs out of it. It's like Churchill said about alcohol, "Believe me – I've taken a lot more out of alcohol than it's ever taken out of me!" And I kind of feel the same way about the dope and stuff. I got something out of it. Might've pissed off a lot of people!
Now it's just a little weed, a little wine?Yeah, exactly. I hate all this idea of rehab and giving stuff up because it just means you're hung up on it. It just means, "OK, I'm drinking too much – I'll cut down."
Ronnie Wood's been to a lot of rehabs.Ronnie loves drama. He loves to talk to people he doesn't know. "I can't wait to hear your story!" That's not my idea of an audience.
So what's the current state of you and Mick?Smooth.
You're in a détente period?Smooth. Even. Definitely workable. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing it. A lot of these things are blown way out of whack. What is the closest I can get to . . . it's like two very volatile brothers – when they clash, they really clash, but when it's over, it's over because we both know we need each other; we both enjoy working with each other. Ninety percent of the time it's as cool as can be, then, of course, the people only get to hear about the 10. And the 10 are pretty fierce.
Was the book part of that 10 percent?That was my gentle letdown. I'd tell Mick, "You should've read the rest, pal! You should've read the blue pencil." But I didn't want to get into it.
Did he call you? Did he express his displeasure?He was intentionally annoyed. But at the same time, I had sent him the proofs. There's nothing in there that ain't true. There might have been a few things in there that he didn't know about. . . . But I said, "Mick – you got the book, went straight to the index, and shot to M. . . . You went straight there, and you read that chapter, and you formed your whole opinion, and that was that. You didn't read the rest of the other great stuff in there. Because I know you, Mick, and you're a 'me-me-me.' '' And he is! There's no getting away from it. It took him a while to come around, you know – demanding apologies and all of this crap. I'd say, "Ehhhh, I'm sorry I upset you," you know?
That's a distinction. You didn't apologize for writing the book.No, no way! If I withdrew one sentence, I would withdraw the whole book. At the same time, it didn't surprise me it upset him – but you know, who else is going to say it?
So are you and Mick in a place where you can play together, but not write together?We could do that, too. It's not that we would seek each other out for fun or company – it's a different social thing going on, but we could absolutely get together and sit down and go, "Let's go in the back room," and then, "I've got this song, you've got this song . . . ," and I've always found working with Mick is like a joy, it's a real pleasure. It's outside of the realm of work is where we tend to disagree.
When you guys are thinking about gearing up the machine, who's the one who has to be convinced?That's a hard one to call. Mick will want to be convinced, but at the same time, he's the one that really wants to do it, so then he's like, OK, convince me. Charlie's a little hesitant about things until it starts. Charlie likes to check out the rest of the band to see if we can cut it. Then once he's happy with that, then we'll know. So it sort of starts in weird little ways like that, and the only way to find out is like, "Why don't we all get together?" And then we'll know, which is what we did in April of last year, in New Jersey – everybody got together, and I don't know what other people's expectations were, but they were incredible rehearsals. I mean, the band just exploded. And from that moment, I knew that we had a thing going.
You played some dates in London with ex-bassist Bill Wyman, and ex-­guitarist Mick Taylor will make a few appearances on the North American tour. Is that tough? You were bitter when they left.Yeah, I guess I mellowed! Until maybe 20-odd years ago it was, "Nobody left this band except in a coffin!" I'd just say, after 50 years in a band, anybody that is still alive, you're welcome to come back in and do your bit.
In your book you seem a bit vexed by Wyman – he was always a quiet guy but also an ­incorrigible ladies man.They'll both hate me for saying this, but Bill Wyman is very much like Mick Jagger – especially in that respect. But with Bill, if my attitude seemed off to Bill, it's because he left! I was pissed off! I was like, "Where's the coffin?"
You weren't moving around the stage as much as you have in the past at last year's New York–area shows, but your playing has never been better. Is that accurate?I wanted to concentrate on the playing. We obviously hadn't played onstage for a long time, and I did want to stay close to Charlie Watts, keep the band in tight. It wasn't from a physical point of view. I wanted to stay centered, I wanted to play well – with me, I never know! As long as I've got the band centered then I can play well.
After you fell out of the tree and had to have brain surgery, was there some ­apprehension that first time you picked the guitar back up?I'm sure there was for millions of other people. I've fallen out of trees and worse before. It didn't really occur to me. The main thing of that was "Oh, yes, I have to give up some drinks." That's the only thing I remember about falling. You can't do that anymore because it will thin your blood. Anyway, I was looking to kick it.
Do you do anything to get in shape? Maybe a little yoga?[Laughs] The answer is no. My workout is when I work with the guys. If I have a massage, it's from the old lady. I've never been the person to be like, "I need a ­massage," somebody who's like, "Oh, that's nice." I mean, I'm pretty limber! Mick is in fantastic shape; Charlie Watts is ­endlessly relentless. So from the physical point of view – it doesn't come into it. We're actually doing a longer show than we've ever done! I've felt no particular strain.
So you haven't gone vegan or ­macrobiotic?No, we haven't gone that far. I eat basically bangers and mash in the morning, and a small tipple in the evening. I've given up all the hard stuff.
I've got to imagine your approach to child rearing was much different with your younger kids.Well, yes, of course – a different wife, for starters!
Patti seems to be more of a rock than Anita was.Marlon and Angela, you know, the kids from Anita – we were basically on the run. They had to grow up on the lam. Luckily, though . . . at the same time, you've got to say, "Hey, you've got your mom and your dad around" – all kinds of shit can happen, but as long as you know they're there, there's been no damage. Marlon's a great lad, he's given me three grandkids, and Angela's given me one. My present brood – thank God for Mrs. Patti Hansen, who has finally got her way and put me on the straight and narrow. I mean the proof is in the pudding: great kids.
What were you able to give Marlon? You were basically taking a 10-year-old on the road.I gave him excitement! Knowledge of geography, a kind of street-wiseness that nobody else could get. He's basically on the road with me and a bunch of musicians, I mean Stevie Wonder – he used to hang with Stevie. So he grew up in a very unique way.
Even at the height of that kind of craziness, would you try to carve out 15 or 20 minutes of father-son time a day?Oh, man, every day! I used to do that by giving him a task that involved us both: "Today, you're my roadie, grab my guitar" – make it a "we" thing; we've got to do this together. I did it that way. Like I said, a very unique upbringing, but at the same time, I don't know a straighter guy than Marlon!
So he's never come back at you: "Why did you make me? I could've been playing cricket, and you had me at the Riot House trying to shake you awake."It was a unique upbringing, unique circumstances. There's no guidebook on how to bring up a kid when you're a junkie rock & roll star. You have to rely, as they say, on eventually saying, "You're my son, you know, we're family."
Were you ever worried about him?I would've been if he'd given me cause to be, but he didn't. He was going to prep school on Long Island, and he turned around to me and said, "This is no good, Dad. I want to go to England and get some education." He made his own decision and off he went with his mom, and got himself an education. And I'm glad he made that decision, and I think he is, too, because, you know, he was hanging out with a lot of bums.
With your kids growing up with Patti in Connecticut, it's hard to imagine you at soccer games.Oh, I've been to a few end-of-year concerts and school plays. I've done my daddy bit, big time. It's kind of new for me – ­graduations and stuff.
Do you enjoy it?Yes, of course I enjoyed it. It was important to me because it was important to them.
You don't feel shackled by the chains of domesticity?No! I'm the one that cooks breakfast. When I'm at home, I'm Daddy to the max.
When you're not working, what's your life like in Connecticut?Depending on the weather, sit down and read a bit. There's always lots of incoming information to deal with. Patti and I without the kids – we're sort of still learning. The kids have gone from the nest, but they're only around the corner; most of the time they're all up at the house anyway. We have a lot of family, especially Patti, an enormous family. Ours is a tribe, not a family!
Do you play every day? I've talked to some musicians, and some of them are like, if I don't play for a day I feel a little withdrawal. Others are like, when I'm done with a tour I don't want to ever see the guitar again.I'm somewhere in between. I don't feel that I have to do it. Mostly, I'm very selfish; I do it when I want to. If an idea for a song comes up, or if the guitar is just staring me in the face, and there's nothing else to do particularly, then we get together. But it has to want me, and I have to want it at the same time.
Do you sometimes wonder why you're still here?I do. Sometimes it makes you wonder, "What they got in store for me?" Ha, ha! Have they got the really big drop?
If you had 90 days . . .In jail?
No, if you had 90 days left, where would you go? Where is the place?I'd go down to the tropics, to the Caribbean, either Jamaica or Parrot Cay. That's where I can loosen up and hang out, and I know people who don't give a shit who I am. Parrot Cay is a more controlled environment, and I basically go there because I've got grandkids, and I've got this little beach that's so shallow only an idiot could drown there. That's the reason I've been hanging there. But for me, Jamaica has been, and probably always will be my favorite hang.
I know you love dogs. Do you take your dogs on vacation?Yeah, right now we've got two French bulldogs. My man Rasputin died just about a month ago – I picked him up in Russia and brought him back to become the czar of Connecticut – he went his natural way.
Did you grow up with a dog?My mother hated animals. I always wanted one. We had a cat once that my mom put to sleep, so I pinned a note on her door: "Murderer." I had a pet mouse once. I've always wanted animals; there's something of a connection with them. I've always felt that it's very innocent and beautiful – there's a beautiful trust exhibited, with no other side to it.
Do you have a man cave at home?Well, I have, but I keep shifting from room to room depending on where the action is! And I've got a library, and I go in. But I found the trouble with that is I was shutting myself up in there and not communicating. I would just get so into books and writing. Right now, I'm reading this terrible book, but I love it because it's 19th-century prose. It's called Great British Battles – ha, ha! It's boring as shit, but just the way it's written and their choice of words is fascinating, so I'm basically studying literature I suppose; I'm just finding a new way to see it, or an old way.
Do you see the band now as something kind of like Count Basie or Duke ­Ellington, where you'll just keep playing because this is what you do?We love it, and even more important than that: They love it. You don't sell out Hyde Park in four minutes – that just happened – without knowing you have an audience. In a way, you feel an obligation. I don't get nervous. I don't feel like it's all on me, you know? I'm just there to sling some hash and everybody have a good time.
The Collected Keith
The riffs, vocals, and collaborations that make Keith Richards a legend.
The Rolling Stones: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" 1965
The riff that tore a hole in the Sixties. "Satisfaction" gave the Stones their first number one in America and remains rock's greatest statement of horndog alienation. Keith woke up in the middle of the night, recorded the bare bones of the song, and went back to sleep, later waking to find it on the tape. Amazingly, he didn't like it much when the Stones recorded it. "I think Keith thought it was a bit basic," Mick Jagger later recalled.
The Rolling Stones: "Salt of the Earth" 1968Keith's first recorded lead vocal can be heard on "Something Happened to Me Yesterday," from 1967's Between the Buttons. But the heartrending final track from Beggars Banquet is where he first showed how powerful his ragged singing could be. He also played its searing slide-guitar part because doomed, drug-addicted lead guitarist Brian Jones didn't make the session.
The Rolling Stones: "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" 1971This seven-minute ­monster from Sticky ­Fingers may be the band's greatest guitar extravaganza. The boot-in-the-gut riff is one of Keith's fiercest. But "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" also shows how gracious he was about ceding the spotlight – the Latin-tinged jam that comes in at the 4:40 mark is a showcase for Jones' replacement, Mick Taylor, whose fluid lines coil around Keith's staccato snarls.
The Rolling Stones: "Happy" 1972The third side of the Stones' 1972 double album Exile on Main St. kicks off with Keith's first hit as a singer. His guitar part is as bright as it is bruising, the lyrics are pure street-fighting bravado, and the vocals sound like he's shouting up the stairs from the devil's wine cellar.
The Rolling Stones: "Beast of Burden" 1978One of his finest songwriting moments and an example of his ability to play slow and subtle while still serving up a classic riff. The elegant guitar work on the Stones' signature ballad is the perfect complement to the worn tenderness in Keith's lyrics, which intimately address the state he was in during the drug-wracked mid-Seventies.
The Rolling Stones: "Start Me Up" 1981In the 1960s and early '70s, Keith was turning out historic riffs with unmatched regularity. But by 1980, he hadn't unleashed a stadium-rattler on par with "Jumpin' Jack Flash" in a while. "Start Me Up" almost didn't make it onto 1981's Tattoo You because Keith thought it was derivative. But thanks to the clarion smuttiness of his guitar intro, it became the band's biggest hit of the 1980s.
The Rolling Stones: "Too Rude" 1986Keith's always been the Stones' R&B conscience, with a wide-ranging notion of the genre. This loose cover of a tune by reggae singer Half Pint from 1986's lackluster Dirty Work might not have made the cut on a top-shelf Stones record. But that's better for us: Keith and Ron Wood, assisted by Jimmy Cliff, sing this ode to a skeezing island girl like they just woke up on the beach after a long, spliffed-out night.
Tom Waits: "Big Black Mariah" 1985
A tireless collaborator, Keith has worked with everyone from George Jones to B.B. King. He clearly has a special affinity for Tom Waits' rattletrap eclecticism and lowbrow poetry (he's appeared on three of his albums). On this rumbling track from Rain Dogs, Keith lends shadowy blues accompaniment that's perfect for a noir moaner.
Keith Richards: "Take It So Hard" 1988The Stones hit a low in the late-Eighties as Mick and Keith battled like angry spouses over the band's direction. But there was no lack of focus on Keith's 1988 solo debut, Talk Is Cheap, recorded with ace musicians such as drummer Steve Jordan and guitarist Waddy Wachtel (a.k.a. the X-Pensive Winos). With its Exile on Main St. swagger and happy-hour backing vocals, "Take It So Hard" nailed a bromantic drive he just wasn't getting from his regular gig.

10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died...


10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died

Keith Richards
Kevin Winter, Getty Images
The old joke goes that after the nuclear apocalypse, all that will remain are cockroaches and Keith Richards. In our list of 10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died, the Rolling Stone survives drug addiction, fires, poison, stage accidents, the Hells Angels, libraries and palm trees to somehow reach a ripe old age. For every one of Keef’s actual brushes with death, there are a dozen myths, but this list of the times that the Stone nearly stopped rolling includes only those incidents that have at least a kernel of truth to them.

1944

London Bombings

 
 
Bet you didn't expect to see Adolf Hitler on the list of 10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died. Richards almost didn't make it out of infancy, thanks to the 1944 Nazi bomb raids over London. During the height of the raids, Richards and his mom evacuated to a region that was out of the line of fire. When things died down, they returned to find that some of their neighbors had been killed and that baby Keith's cot had been blown up by V-1 bomb. Richards would later offer this bit of revisionist history: "Hitler dumped one of his V-1's on my bed! He was after my ass, you know that!"
 

1965

Nearly Electrocuted Onstage

 
 
Only a couple of years into the Stones’ five-decade career, the band almost lost one of their prime creative forces. While playing a gig in Sacramento, the group launched into ‘The Last Time,’ and Richards approached the microphone to sing his backing part. It was facing the wrong way, so he attempted to knock it with the neck of his guitar – which resulted in a near-fatal shock. In a blue flash, Richards was knocked unconscious, his guitar strings burned from the accident. Richards later called the incident his “most spectacular” moment and credited his salvation to a new pair of boots with thick rubber soles.
 
1969

Altamont Anarchy

 
 
After watching 'Gimme Shelter,' the gripping Rolling Stones documentary, you'd be amazed that anyone made it out of Altamont alive. Upon arriving at this hastily organized free concert, Mick Jagger was punched in the head. Violence erupted throughout the Stones' set, forcing them to stop and restart songs. A fan in the audience died after pulling a gun on a member of the Hells Angels, who were being used as some semblance of a security force. Altercations continued to plague the event, which is often contrasted with Woodstock's "peace and love" vibe. After the show, the Stones got away in a helicopter, only to learn later about the murder that had occurred. Three other accidental deaths happened. Richards' immediate reaction to the event was, "on the whole, a good concert."
 

1971

Bed Fire at Nellcote

 
 
Richards and his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg almost met an untimely end during the making of 1972's 'Exile on Main St.' During sessions for the double LP, mostly recorded at Richards's rented villa Nellcote in the south of France, Richards and Pallenberg were deep in the throes of heroin addiction. Richards had a penchant for passing out, sometimes with the needle still in his arm or – on this occasion – a lit cigarette in his hand. The bed went up in flames, and Richards and Pallenberg woke up just in time to escape before being burned to a crisp. It wouldn't be the last time that Richards played with fire.
 
1973

Redlands Estate Fire

 
 
Given his habit of nodding off while smoking, our list of 10 Times Keith Richards Almost Died could include just fiery tales. Topping them is this incident, when a doped-up Richards allegedly set his Redlands estate ablaze. Many people claim that one of Richards' still-burning cigarettes was to blame again, but in his autobiography 'Life,' Richards writes that the fire was caused by a mouse that ate through the wiring. Regardless, the fire spread to the home's thatched roof as Richards, Pallenberg and their kids ran to safety, but then he returned to drag the most expensive possessions out of the house. There are famous photos that document the aftermath, including one of Richards sitting on the lawn on top of a stroller ... smoking, of course.
 
'70s

Strychnine in Switzerland

 
 
Richards has always maintained that, despite his reputation, he was a relatively responsible drug addict and that the only times he got in serious trouble was when he got high with people he didn't trust. Richards later told NME about his worst drug experience: "Someone put strychnine in my dope, it was in Switzerland," he said. "I was totally comatose but I was totally awake. I could listen to everyone, and they were like, 'He's dead, he's dead!' waving their fingers and pushing me about, and I was thinking, 'I'm not dead!'"
 
1973

Blood Change

 
 
One of rock's great myths is that by 1973, Richards' blood had become so toxic that a specialist performed an experimental procedure in which the rocker traded all of his dirty blood for some clean pints. While the blood swap is probably untrue (Richards has admitted he spun the rumor mill himself), there is some evidence to support that he had his blood filtered in Switzerland in 1973. According to some sources, the guitarist underwent hemodialysis that allowed toxic substances to be removed from his body so they wouldn't do further damage to his kidneys. Allegedly, Richards had to be put to sleep for a couple days for the procedure. Hopefully, the doctors reminded him to put his cigarette out first.
 
1998

Library Tumble

 
 
To think that after all the drugs and careless living, Richards was almost undone by a bunch of heavy books. He has recounted the tale many times: He was in his home library, standing on a chair to reach a book about Leonardo da Vinci's study of anatomy when he slipped. Many tomes came pouring down on top of him. The accident resulted in three broken ribs for Richards and a tour postponement for his band. "It was one of those moments where you have to make a decision: take it in the ribs or take a shot in the temple on the desk," he remembered. "All part of life's rich pageant."
 
2006

Fiji Fall

 
 
In 2006 Richards took a tumble from a palm tree while he was on vacation with his and Ronnie Wood's families on the island of Fiji. Although initial reports indicated that he had taken a nasty knock after falling from a 40-foot tree, Richards later revealed that he fell from no more than seven feet. In 'Life,' he wrote that he had been swimming and his wet hands caused him to slip from a branch, land on the ground and hit his head on the trunk. Although Richards didn't think anything serious had occurred, a "blinding headache" two days later forced him to seek medical attention. As it turned out, Richards had fractured his skull and the accident required brain surgery – along with another Rolling Stones tour delayed.
 
2008

Snorting Dad

 
 
Of course, strychnine isn't the strangest thing Richards has put in his system. As the guitarist revealed in an interview, then confirmed in his autobiography 'Life,' he once snorted a bit of Dear Ol' Dad. "The truth of the matter is that after having Dad’s ashes in a black box for six years, because I really couldn’t bring myself to scatter him to the winds, I finally planted a sturdy English oak to spread him around," Richard wrote. "And as I took the lid off of the box, a fine spray of his ashes blew out on to the table. I couldn’t just brush him off so I wiped my finger over it and snorted the residue. Ashes to ashes, father to son." Perhaps this isn't an incident that almost killed Richards, but it's certainly a brush with death.