Keith Richards Opens Up in Wide-Ranging Conversation
The Rolling Stones guitarist discusses his post-war childhood, parenthood, thoughts on Mick Jagger and more at public library event
By Patrick Doyle
Oct 30, 2010
Jori Klein/NYPL
Keith Richards, who has an extensive library in his Connecticut home, once said, “Growing up, there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.”
Paul Holdengraber, the director of programs at the New York Public Library, read the quote aloud to an audience of 600 Friday night as he introduced Richards, who came to the Stephen A. Schwarzman building for “Live from the NYPL,” a conversation keyed to
Life, the guitarist’s new memoir.
Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony Decurtis led the conversation. It was a rare opportunity to hear Richards talk at length, with topics ranging from his post-war childhood in England (“We didn’t know there was anything else out there”), his respect for Mick Jagger (“No one can sing ‘Midnight Rambler’ but him”) and parenthood (“Suddenly there’s a little creature who depends on you — that a sense of responsibility comes into play”).
Even though Richards declined to even have a guitar placed onstage, the buzz leading up to the show practically rivaled a Stones gig. It sold out in 42 seconds. There was a film crew in attendance, along with the familiar faces in the Stones world; their security detail, promoter Michael Cohl and plenty of famous fans like Lou Reed and Steve Van Zandt.
Richards took the stage at 7:30 p.m. wearing a tan fedora, black leather jacket, and orange suede boots. He grinned at the roaring crowd as he sat down. “The Dartford Public Library was nothing like this,” he laughed.
The guitarist began with his childhood in England. “There was rubble everywhere,” he said. “If there was a building left, fantastic.” He spent most free time reading in the library (which “gave you a sense that there was something out there”) and, eventually, listening to American music — his parent’s jazz (Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald) and early sounds of rock and roll. “You should realize that the rest of the world has been fascinated by American music,” he said, turning his head to the audience. “That cross-saturation of ideas only possible from different cultures. You didn’t have it in Europe. We had the polka,” he laughed. “I can’t say it strongly enough. Hell, even Nazis loved the jazz bands.”
He discussed the well-known tale of meeting Mick Jagger on a train, saying, “I asked him where did you get those records?’ ‘Chicago.’ It started from there. I just wanted to steal his records.”
Richards and Jagger were soon studying the blues with their new bandmates, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Brian Jones. “We were amazed we had found each other and that we could sit around and listen to these guys — Jimmy Reed, Elmore James — and think, ‘Oh, it’s not so much the musicality of it. It’s to unveil ideas and especially unveil feeling.” Richards said he wasn’t only captivated by blues music, but also the kind nature of its heroes once he met them, especially Bo Diddley. “They were gentlemen. These guys were very tough guys — but they would explain themselves to you.”
Another concern drove the Stones. “[Teenagers] are not gonna hear the real guys,” Richards explained, laughing. “So [we figured] let’s do the second best — sort of as an evangelical philosophy. Why white English guys had to teach Americans about the blues, somehow I still haven’t figured that out.”
Richards said he never considered the Beatles rivals. “They were primarily a vocal group. It didn’t really matter whether Paul or John or George was singing the lead. That was interchangeable. In the Stones we had one frontman — and we had the best.” He did mention Bob Dylan as an influence. “He put a new slant on how you could write a song. Do they need to be three minutes long or do you need a little longer? Take it.”
Richards became quiet as the conversation turned to his experiences with drugs. He started to explain that he took them to keep up with the Stones’ demanding schedule, but then stopped and said, “I’ll tell you what ladies and gentleman, I’m gonna take a break.” He stood up, walked offstage, and returned about a minute later. “That’s better,” he said. (“ Keith's bathroom break certainly surprised me,” Decurtis told
Rolling Stone afterward. “If a band takes an extra minute between songs you'd think he's changing. He could be doing whatever he likes. With the rhythm of something like this, it was a little confusing.”)
Richards continued by saying he wouldn’t recommend drugs to anybody. He has been clean for thirty years, citing parenthood as his motivation for quitting the hard stuff. His reputation as zonked-out has “been following me like a ball and chain for 30 years,” he said somberly, adding he doesn't even consider himself an authority on drugs anymore. “All my news is out of date.”
When Decurtis asked Richards to list three pivotal life moments, Richards replied: “The first time we got in a recording studio and they paid us. The second was playing at the New York Academy of Music — to get on an American stage for the first time that was a real high point of the band. The third? Well, I ain’t been there yet. ”
Decurtis asked whether Richards still defines himself primarily as a Stone. “I suppose,” he said. “After all these years, it’d be very difficult for me to separate myself from the Stones in any coherent form … Ask Count Basie what it’s like to keep vital things going after all these years and to still get off on it. Ray Charles, too. These cats could still unify though all those years. And there’s something to it you never want to let go.”
James Fox, who co-wrote
Life with Richards, told Rolling Stone he was “astonished” after watching the conversation from the audience. “His humility to the people who taught him the music and he revered is something that plays through the whole story,” Fox offered. “I’ve always thought his sense of awe is one of the most interesting things about him. That side of him never altered and kept his feet on the ground. That’s what came across tonight.”
Before arriving onstage, Richards spent twenty minutes in the library’s Special Collections room, where the staff had organized several rare items, including a letter from Elizabeth I, an early Shakespeare folio and an early version of the Declaration of Independence. (See photos
here.)
The last item was covered by a sheet of paper with a note that said, “We’re so proud to have this.” Richards “lifted the sheet of paper,” Decurtis recalled, “And it was Keith’s book. He was just laughing so hard. Keith is very proud to have his book in this library. He’s somebody who takes the literary life pretty seriously.”
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