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| tumbled |
First posted on Shidoobee but thought it was a bit interesting... http://boomers.msn.com/articleES.aspx?cp-documentid=377194&wa=wsignin1.0
The Meaning of Life: Wit, Wisdom, and Wonder from 65 Extraordinary People (Hearst Books, $20), a compendium of classic What I've Learned interviews
What I've Learned: Keith Richards
Guitarist, 62, Weston, Connecticut
Interviewed by John H. Richardson
So far, so good.
There's a canvas, it's called silence. Where do you want to make your mark? A little dab here? And don't forget, don't cover the whole canvas -- we don't want a Rubens here!
I don't wave a flag for anything. I'm a musician.
To learn the blues, it takes a while, and you never stop. What did I learn? I learnt how to learn the blues, but I ain't stopped.
As you get older, younger people think you know where it's at. But it's a forlorn hope. Because everybody's growing up at the same time, you know? Somebody who's fifty, by the time he's fifty-five, he's done a whole lot more stuff. That's what I've realized -- these people think I know what I'm doing. Okay, I'll fool them! But at the same time, you know it's a bluff. The important thing is what comes next, and are you ready for it?
Some of it, you really want to unlearn.
Chuck Berry is food -- the man who brought you "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Roll Over Beethoven." Unfortunately, his biggest-selling record was "My Ding-a-Ling." But that's his own preoccupation; I don't want to go there.
Rock 'n' roll's great weapon is humor.
I love to play lead, too, but I like to sneak in, which is why I love to play with Ronnie [Wood]. With a quick nod and a wink, we can switch over in what we call the ancient form of weaving. It's a druidic sort of thing, we like to think, very mystical -- ha!
I'm an unpure purist, something like that.
Electric is another instrument. Yeah, it looks the same and you've got to make the same moves, but you have to learn how to tame the beast. Because it is a monster.
Drugs, I think people make far too much of it.
When I was doing drugs, it would be the finest stuff you can get. If I was doing opium, it would be good Thai opium. When I did smack, it would be pure, pure heroin -- no street stuff. I wasn't undiscerning, except when I got desperate.
I learned how to puke properly. First, find a receptacle if you can -- that's rule number one. You eject it in a stream -- a Techni-color yawn, parking a tiger. At the same time, you're taking a crap. Which is kind of difficult to do. If you can do that, I'll put you in Cirque du Soleil.
There's this perennial thing that people have -- how do you do it? Why do you do it? Like it's -- what do you do? How do you go to an office every day? Compared to that, my job is easy.
Unless you really want to do this all the time, don't jump in the pond. There's piranhas in there, for chrissakes.
Women are a beautiful complication, and I look forward to far more beauties and far more complications.
I've done a lot of dadding.
Whoo, I tell you what -- it grows you up pretty quick when that little bugger starts waking up. Suddenly there's this little cute ball of stuff yelling its head off -- boom! Snap to! Oh, man, I better take care of this.
Daughters are far easier to bring up. My first was Marlon, my son, and he gave me a good fight, man. He would drag my butt sometimes, before I could talk to him and instill the wisdom of not doing that.
I occasionally borrow pot from my kids. They do a little weed occasionally. "Here, Dad" -- or more likely, "Dad, have you got any?"
Poison's not bad. It's a matter of how much.
To me, smack is the big deal. That is such a cheeky, cheeky, cheeky little drug. That one can get you right by the tail before you know it, man. It's a real leveler. I'm a superstar, but when I want the stuff, baby, I'm down on the ground with the rest of them. Your whole lifestyle becomes just waiting for the man and talking to junkies about whether the stuff's good or not -- "It's not as good as the last lot, is it? I'm not going to pay him then." And guys pulling shooters on you, "Give me your stuff!" and all that. You just become a wreck. Which is kind of disgusting in a way, but at the same time, I can't say I regret going there.
Quite honestly, you're probably in a den of madmen. For some weird reason, we've been given extra leash.
You can't believe how great this job is. I'll do it as long as people want to listen to it.
Some guys have a hard way of saying I love you.
Been there, done that.
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| gimmekeef |
Thanks for the post..good Keith read as always...Ya gotta learn to puke!.....only the Keefster!!! |
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| The Wick |
There was a time this stuff had a charm to it. He's still one of the originals, but a lot of this stuff is him trying to live up to his myth and it is becoming a caricature. Mick fucks around with the music too much, but apart from when he is constantly trying to be hip, I find his interviews and the statements he makes far more genuine.
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| tumbled |
If he was 62 at the time of the interview then its 2 years old now. Interesting he shares his pot with the family!! that's nice. This is a voice for NORML for sure.
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