Rolling Stones gutarist Keith Richards has given a fairly candid GQ magazine interview, which is published in the GQ's November 2011 issue. Among the things he discussed in the interview are what how he feels about celebrating the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary in 2012. He also directly addressed the much-publicized insult that he made about Mick Jagger's penis, which Richards called a "tiny todger" in Richards' 2010 best-selling memoir, "Life."
Jagger has repeatedly said in recent interviews that although the Rolling Stones have talked about what they might do to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary in 2012, no decision has been made yet. Richards commented to GQ about the milestone anniversary:
"Next year is sort of up for grabs. It's almost an overwhelming power — it'll be fifty years. So there's that sort of pressure. If I can pull them together, I'm there."
And about the notorious "tiny todger" insult and other derogatory comments that Richards made about Jagger in "Life," Richards had this to say:
"Life's life. I really don't want to go into it anymore, because what is in the book is in the book, and the fact is that Mick and I still talk and are still working together. So maybe that was another balance that needed to be sorted out. Mick and me, two guys divided by love ...
One issue seems to have bubbled on in the press since publication—with, most recently, Pete Townshend speaking out to say that he has observed the scorned anatomy in question and that Richards had his facts wrong about Jagger's genitalia. So I ask: Is it ultimately gentlemanly to deride a friend's penis size?
"Between friends I think anything's allowed," replies Richards. "I mean, I've never seen it. I only heard." I begin to speak again, and then Richards gives me the look. He is jolly, jokey, witty, amiable company until you decline a clear hint to gently withdraw from a subject. Then he gazes right at you, and his voice changes, in a way that clearly seems to convey: I'm being nice and charming to you here, but don't push your luck, sonny boy, because I've spat out people a hundred times smarter than you. "But I ain't going there anymore," he says firmly. I nod, and he adds, "It was a joke. Between friends a joke's a joke, and if you can't take a joke..."
In the GQ interview, Richards compared a Rolling Stones hiatus to being in "purgatory." The Rolling Stones' most recent tour ended in 2007. In the subsequent years, Richards spent time completing his memoir. In 2011, Richards worked on the Rolling Stones' reissue of their 1978 album "Some Girls," and he returned to the recording studio to work on solo material with longtime collaborator Steve Jordan. GQ reports that the Richards and Jordan have recorded six songs so far "which may or may not turn into an album."
Richards said of recording his latest solo music:
"I'm sort of basically recovering from the book, and this is my therapy at the moment. In the process of doing it, my chops are coming back. Songwriting's a weird game. I never intended to become one — I fell into this by mistake, and I can't get out of it. It fascinates me. I like to point out the rawer points of life. I work the seamier side of life."
Keith Richards at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London on September 6, 2011
Keith Richards at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in London on September 6, 2011
