Keith Richards on Mick Jagger, his mom and Bob Dylan’s Nobel Prize
By Hardeep Phull November 11, 2016
The Beatles had Brian Epstein, but the Rolling Stones’ secret extra member was Keith Richards’ mother, Doris.
That’s how the guitarist recalls the dynamic of the band’s earliest days. Before their first single had even been released, Richards lived with second guitarist Brian Jones and singer Mick Jagger in a West London apartment in 1962 and 1963.
“It was a hovel,” the 72-year-old rocker tells The Post, growling into the telephone from his home in Connecticut.
“My mum saved us — she washed our clothes for us and sent them back. Brian had a hanger-on who would do anything. We were very rude to him, but he’d do all the gofering for us. So we’d bundle up the washing in brown paper, give him the money for the stamps, and he’d take it to the post office and pick it up five days later. That was my mum’s contribution to the band. She was like the sixth Stone back then!”
A reconstruction of that apartment is one of the main attractions at “Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones,” which opens Saturday at Industria Superstudio in the West Village. The re-creation is as grim as Richards would have you believe; it features half-eaten food, discarded cigarettes, and there’s even mold growing on the walls.
The show collects hundreds of items from the band’s history, including instruments, posters, clothes worn by the guys, and much more. The exhibit (which opened in London last year) marks the first time the group has opened up its private archives for fans to see.
For Richards, it brings back memories, particularly of the band’s Spartan infancy, which is a world away from the huge brand the Rolling Stones would become over the ensuing five decades. You can’t blame Richards for getting a little misty-eyed.
“Me, Mick and Brian would sit in front of a phonograph in that flat, and listen to Chicago blues and country blues for hours, trying to figure out what these guys were playing and how we’d ever get anywhere close to it. We were dedicated, idealistic — and stupid!”
Other noteworthy pieces on display include Jagger’s lyric book (which features the words to hits including “Miss You” and “Worried About You”), the toy drum kit used by Charlie Watts in the recording of “Street Fighting Man” and several of Richards’ guitars. One features colorful, psychedelic patterns, painted on it by Richards himself after taking LSD in 1967.
But, as Richards recalls, he wasn’t quite as gung-ho as his bandmates and contemporaries when it came to seeking out the spiritual awakenings that the late ’60s offered up.
“Brian and Mick were quite carried away with the Beatles and the Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi] and the blah, blah,” he says dismissively. “I stayed on the periphery, and Charlie didn’t give a s - - t about it. It was all love, love, love, wearing garish Indian cotton and growing beards and s - - t.”
Although Jagger briefly became a student of the Maharishi in 1967, he didn’t join the Beatles on their famous visit to India in 1968, where they practiced an intensive course of Transcendental Meditation.
“I thought the Maharishi was a piece of s - - t. I despised the man. I felt sorry for John [Lennon] and Paul [McCartney], who is still a good mate. It was the flavor of the month. He did ruin The Beatles. I wasn’t interested. I was busy writing ‘Gimme Shelter’!”
Although the nostalgia factor is sky-high at the exhibit, the Rolling Stones have been gearing up for a new chapter in their career. Last month, they played a well-received set at the Desert Trip festival in Indio, Calif. — affectionately known as “Oldchella” for its boomer-centric lineup. Performing just before them was a hotly tipped up-and-comer by the name of Bob Dylan.
“I thought it was very far-reaching for the Nobel people to give Bob the prize for literature,” says Richards. “I think it’s the first time us songwriters have been begrudgingly let into the literary world. But that’s good, especially because all those bastards like Shakespeare ever did was to steal songs and ballads from minstrels [medieval folk singers in England]!”
The group is also preparing to release its first studio album since 2005. “Blue & Lonesome,” out Dec. 2, is a collection of blues songs written and originally recorded by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon and others.
Fifty-four years after the studious listening sessions Richards, Jagger and Jones would have in their London flat, the Rolling Stones are now paying direct homage to the artists who inspired them. And the scrappy, rough feel of the recordings suggests they had a blast doing it.
“In three days, the Stones cut 12 tracks,” says Richards. “That’s a record in itself. Eric Clapton was in the next studio, so we collared him to play on it, too. Eric was part of the Stones before he could even play. When we were playing the clubs, he was one of our top fans.”
In recent years, Richards has spoken about Jagger in unflattering terms. In one 2011 interview with the Observer of London, Richards compared Jagger to Maria Callas and referred to him as a “diva” whom the rest of the band [Watts and guitarist Ron Wood] have to be careful not to annoy.
But working in close quarters on “Blue & Lonesome” appears to have brought some more endearing and admirable Jagger traits to the surface.
“On this album, you can hear how much he’s a part of the band and what a musician he is,” says Richards. “Because he’s such a showman, a lot of his actual talent gets hidden. But on this record, he can feel very proud of himself. I’ve always loved the man. It’s just that I have to kick his ass now and again!”
“Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones” opens Saturday and runs through March 12. Admission is $37 for adults. Industria Superstudio, 775 Washington St.; StonesExhibitionism.com.
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