What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [31]
Learn from the master.
If you’re wandering around in hot pants and a crew cut and feel like something’s missing, maybe there’s a reason for it. Pay attention to the signals you’re being sent—as to where you need protection by way of cloth and amulets.
And, most importantly, adorn yourself as only you can. If the number-one Keith tenet is to know yourself and to be true to that particular, unique being, go for whatever the signals are telling you to shellac onto that outer shell.
It’s back to the notion of the purple hair of Commandment 1. If that’s who you are—purple hair—do it. Take whatever you need to answer the calling of knowing yourself. If all we have is our skin and our bones and what’s under that skin and bones, we might as well put on top of it that which is unique to its calling. And make use of Commandment 17 as well: Don’t give in to the dictates of authority on this one.
That is: Tell Ladies Home Journal to go fuck itself.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE WIT AND WISDOM OF
KEITH RI CHARDS
THE DAILY AFFIRMATIONS
APHORISMS FOR
LIVING LIFE THE KEITH
RICHARDS WAY
THE AFTERLIFE and REINCARNATION
“The next world. What are we looking for? Promotion? Demotion? We’re here living this life. What’s the whole speculation about the next one? It’ll either be there or it won’t."
“I don’t know about scuttling around on clouds playing cards."
“There’s something out there … But I can’t tell you, I’ve been sworn to secrecy."
“I dunno what it’s like singing with a dead man. I’ve never done it. Don’t call my coffin."
—on a “new” Beatles single, released after
John Lennon and George Harrison’s deaths
“I’ll just take three slaves with me."
—regarding the afterlife
“I never got a postcard from anybody that left. Maybe they don’t sell stamps up there."
AGING and LONGEVITY
“Some things get better with age. Like me."
“Getting old is a fascinating thing. The older you get, the older you want to get."
“When I was younger, I said, ‘If I live to thirty, I’ll shoot myself. ’ You reach thirty and put the gun away."
“I like the expanding vision of life, of what goes on. I find it a fascinating story; it’s like a great book. I’m two thirds of the way through it, and I mean, I can’t wait for the ending, but I can put it off for a while."
“It’s a fascinating process, just growing up. And it doesn’t matter— anyone who’s fifteen today, in thirty, forty years … it’s gonna take ’em a bit of luck to hit sixty-five. It’s how you deal with that process."
“Unfortunately, our lives are sometimes bombarded with, you know, decay."
“We’ve all gotta age."
“It’s a privilege. Then again, it’s felt like a privilege just to wake up to a new day for a few years now."
“It seems strange that we do the same thing with the same boys all these years later. But it’s like when you get drunk at a bar and wonder later how you got home. You know where you are—you’re home—but how did you get there? That’s the mystery."
“I never considered I was actually pushing it anywhere near the danger limit, although later on I realized that I was probably a lot closer than I ever admitted—but it kept my feet on the ground, nearly underground, in fact."
“I was Number 1 on the Who’s Likely to Die list for ten years … I was really disappointed when I fell off the list."
“Some doctor told me I had six months to live and I went to his funeral."
“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. ”
“The one thing I can’t handle really well is that sudden change of pace in living. I can handle it through slowing down or speeding up; that’s easy. But I just haven’t got any brakes."
“Nobody ever wondered why the bluesmen were onstage until their old age … It’s the same with us. Why does a dog lick his balls? Because he can! We play because we can.