Keith Richards: Under the Influence Page #7

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quite natural to write songs.

We said, "Well, let's..."

You know, "Here, let's cut some stuff."

Ladies and gentlemen, Keith Richards.

[audience cheering]

Giving up lovin'

It's easy to do

People so pitiful

[Waddy Wachtel] When Keith and I

first started to play together,

I knew we were simpatico just by hearing

what he had done all the years

and hearing the hands

touching those strings.

But, yeah, we bonded

pretty extremely, right away.

You shouldn't take it so hard

Yeah

[Richards] In a way, I thought, "Okay,

obviously, I'm supposed to do this,"

because it was organic.

You'd think one great band in a lifetime

is already a miracle.

To put two together,

I mean, it's weird, in a way.

I also understood more of Mick's job...

by being the frontman.

You shouldn't take it so hard

Yeah

You shouldn't take it so hard

Yeah

You shouldn't take it so hard

Yeah

[audience cheering]

[Richards] To be right on top

of everything,

from the first note till the end,

gave me a bit of discipline, actually,

I probably sorely needed.

[laughs]

But working outside of The Stones,

I realized that The Stones,

that's my home.

We set them up and gave 'em to people,

and now we belong to the people.

And I can't let them down.

[crowd cheering]

[reporter 1] The Rolling Stones are back

on their first tour in almost a decade.

[reporter 2] This will be their 13th

major US tour since 1964.

[reporter 3] The Rolling Stones launched

their Bigger Bang world tour last night,

with dates in Canada, the US,

South America, Europe, and Asia.

[Richards] About 2007, The Stones had been

on the road for a long time.

And we'd come to a natural gasper,

you know, like...

[exhales sharply]

And it occurred to me,

maybe this is the time to do a book.

I didn't really take it that seriously

to start with.

But as it went on, I understood that...

I know who I am and people who know me

know basically who I am.

But I realize that 999 of them out there

still think Keith Richards is

smoking a joint, bottle of Jack Daniel's

in his hand, like, walking down the road,

you know, cursing the fact that

the liquor store is closed.

An image, man.

Image like a ball and chain.

It's not like a shadow,

because it's there 24/24.

When the sun goes down,

it don't disappear.

[playing guitar]

[Waits] A lot of this

has to do with persona.

You have to have some type of armor

so that you can continue to also develop

as a human being, you know.

It's like you have a recipe,

and you have a beverage,

and you have a...

a sandwich named after you, pretty much.

It's like, what it comes down to, right?

But you're still able within,

inside that...

you're able to still grow and change.

It's kind of a ventriloquist act

a lot of the time, you know.

But it's much safer than

putting your own ass out there,

like Judy Garland, you know,

and melting every night.

[Richards] You can't buy a persona.

You can either make it up,

or you can be it.

My idea of actual heaven is to be a

rock and roll star that nobody ever sees.

[laughing] Totally anonymous.

You know, you gotta go out

and do this thing sometimes.

And so after the book came out,

the next thing I knew,

Steve came to me and said...

"Let's get away from the chicks."

[imitates playing guitar]

And then he's like, "Say we're working,

you know what I mean?"

There's fates of rock and roll, you know.

And to do that,

you eyeball each other and say...

"One, two... let's go!"

[playing rock and roll music]

This is what rock and roll is about.

You feel like you're levitating.

And when all of the guys around you

are playing, and you're saying,

"They're feeling it too.

I know it, I know it."

And you go for those moments

where you actually, you know, fly.

And you just hang on to it

as long as you can,

because it is one of

the best feelings in the world.

It may be only rock and roll, but...

I'm telling you what...

that's the sh*t.

["Mannish Boy" playing]

Now when I was a young boy

At the age of five

Of all of the people I have ever met,

Muddy Waters, he was a father to me.

[man] Yeah, that's right!

[Waters] What about Keith?

[Richards] He took me under his wing.

It was just amazing

to finally play together.

Was I honored by that?

Man, I had died and gone to heaven.

- I have lots of fun

-Yeah!

I'm a man

Yeah!

I spell "M"

"A," child

"N"

That represents "man"

For the first time ever...

A Stones' show,

"What are you gonna wear?"

"We don't give a sh*t,"

you know what I mean?

For the Checkerboard show, Ronnie and I

were like, "What are we gonna wear, man?"

"White shirts, black vests." You know?

[laughs]

We actually talked about what

we were gonna wear before we go on.

This is the only time, ever,

I can remember doing that.

The line I shoot

Hell, I'll never miss

When I make love to a woman

She can't resist

I think I'll go down

To old Kansas Stew

I'm gonna bring back the second cousin

- That little Johnny Cocheroo

-Yeah, baby!

All you little girls

Sittin' at that line

I can make love to you, baby

In five minutes' time

[mouthing]

Ain't that a man?

Yes, man

I spell "M"

[Jagger] Yeah!

"A," child

"N"

Oh, man.

[Richards] Muddy's house.

[chuckles]

Wow. You would've thought Chicago could do

something more for the man, you know?

It was a lot more vibrant

the last time I was here.

It was a party.

I mean, it was night time.

I think Willie Dixon brought me over.

It was rocking when I got here,

I remember that.

It's leaving I don't remember.

I crashed out here.

But I woke up in Howlin' Wolf's house.

I don't know what happened.

I got carried away.

The party continued, and I went with it.

-[Richards laughing]

-[crowd cheering]

[Waters] Get Mickey a towel, will ya?

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

We'll keep the show moving.

Mr. Muddy Waters! Give it to him!

Give it to Mr. Muddy Waters.

[man] You know, Muddy was younger

then than you are now.

I mean, it seems like you,

when you were young,

kind of wanted to be one of those guys.

And now, in a way,

you kind of are one of those guys.

Yeah, I know.

Life's a funny thing, you know.

And nobody wants to get old,

but they don't wanna die young either.

You know, and you just gotta follow

this thing down the path, you know.

Well, Irene, good night

Irene

Irene, good night

After I left home,

my dad and my mother split up.

And then I lost touch

with my dad for 20 years.

I'll see you in my dreams

Maybe, 'cause I was thinking about,

"God, what he must've thought of me?"

I mean, he was a straight-up guy.

I mean, a hardworking man and all that.

You know, I mean, the idea of his son

being busted for drugs.

I could think of him saying...

"Well, he'd never come to any good."

Sometimes I take that great notion

To jump in that river and drown

After about 20 years,

I wrote him a note and got one back.

And we set up a meeting

at my house in England.

I took Ronnie Wood with me for protection.

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