What would Keith Richards do_ - Jessica Pallington West [41]
“The stage is an amazing thing. You’re up there with the lights on you. From that position, as long as you can control and hold it, you can contain events. But the minute you buckle, it’s over."
“I don’t get scared. I get mad."
“I haven’t really been scared since I was at school, stood against a wall with the school bully in front me saying, ‘I’m gonna trash you,’ and I’m saying, ‘Go ahead, what can I do about it?’ That’s when I used to get scared. But when [the police] were on me … I got scared for the rest of the country."
“To me, the truth is the more you give, the stronger you are. The more of a man you are. Who are you scared of? What’s so scary that you’ve got to lock yourself up?"
“I’m terrified of dentists."
FEELING IT
“I don’t think onstage. I feel. Once you get up there, you’re who you are. A little bit of peace and quiet. Nobody is calculating. We’re just feeling."
FREE SPEECH
“Freedom of speech is something that everyone is supposed to believe in but seldom does. Look what happened to John [Lennon] when he made that remark about religion! Up to that time we had been the subjects for the controversial quotes. Our manager decided to ban all interviews for a while and let someone else put their foot in it—someone did!"
FREEDOM
“I would have loved to have been a pirate. I am fascinated with the idea of standing on one’s own two feet. The idea of freedom, of being responsible to oneself only, of accepting no authority. That’s probably one reason why I became a musician. Because ever since I left school, nobody has ever heard a ‘Yes sir’ from me. Apart from a few exceptions: in court and in jail."
“Like Dylan says, ‘To live outside the law, you must be honest.’ ”
“Nobody’s ever totally free, and free from what? I think a lot of people don’t even know what’s holding them captive. Sometimes it’s themselves."
“You try saying ‘Guilty’ twenty-five times. I could get very spiritual here, but I’ll never forget walking out for lunch that day."
—on a defining experience in court
FRIENDSHIP
“I’ll say, ‘Charlie, should I go to Mick’s room and hang him?’ And he’ll say no. His opinion counts."
“ ‘I’ll kill you now, but your wife wouldn’t like cleaning up all the blood.’ ”
—Ronnie Wood quoting Keith
during one of their quarrels
“The only way to find whether a guy’s worth anything is to take a risk. Sometimes friends let you down, sometimes they don’t. But you take the risk, otherwise you get nothing at all."
“It’s a true friendship when you can bash somebody over the head and not be told, ‘You’re not my friend anymore.’ That’s a true friendship."
“I don’t agree with that saying, ‘You can count your real friends on one hand.’ If that’s so, then you ain’t farming the right acres, because friends are everywhere."
“If you can count more friends than you’ve got fingers, then you’re really lucky. Luckily, I can start on my toes. I don’t know if Mick can fill a hand."
“You go up, you go down, sometimes you disagree … But what do brothers do? Brothers always fight off and on … In some ways, it keeps changing and evolving, in other ways, it’s the same as when we’re in the playground when we were four or five years old."
“Mick and I know what it’s like to go hard knocks with each other. It’s a tough and bitter battle, a war of attrition. But you can do that with good friends."
THE FUTURE
“You’ve got to be looking forward to something."
“I feel very hopeful about the future. I find it all very enjoyable with a few peak surprises thrown in."
GOD
“The devil doesn’t bother me, it’s God that pisses me off. Him and his rain. You wait until I meet the motherfucker. Doesn’t he know who we are? We’re the Rolling Stones!"
“You never know what the sound’s gonna be like in those stadiums. You’re relying on God, who joins the band every night in one form or another."
“I’ve got to do something about this guy God joining the band again."