Keith Richards Desert Island Discs - Talks about his life and career- Radio Broadcast 25/10/2015

my castaway this week is Keith Richards if one single living person could be said to personify rock and roll then it is surely him cool rebellious enduring and in an apparently perpetual state of having a good time he's been making music and causing various degrees of havoc for over half a century and Counting his song rising singing and guitar playing have helped to make the Rolling Stones a stratospheric Lee successful group and his early and single-minded dedication to the triumvirate pursuits of sex and drugs and rock and roll made him a counterculture icon no surprise then that as a boy he would go to sleep at night with his arm around his first guitar slightly more startling are the facts that he used to be the patrol leader in the 7th Dartford Scouts and a choirboy so where did it all go right well he says I thought rock and roll was an unassailable outlet for some pure and natural expression of rebellion it used to be the one channel you could take without ever having to kiss ass so we welcome you to Desert Island Discs q thank you very much I didn't I expressed it so well very articulate and rebellion of course is that it's a natural part of being young but it's 71 almost 72 does the rebellion come quite so naturally now is the flame still burning no I watch other people read the whole now really I wonder about you know if your many millions of fans were to just spend a week in your life they would see you do things like I don't know watch a war documentary or do a charcoal drawing or chat to your wife of 30 odd years those are all very different things from the Keith Richards you know up in the headlines that we understand you think people see you maybe too often as a sort of one-dimensional person that's the image and it's like a ball and chain you know but I recognize it I'm in that sort of child but at the same time I do love old Keith you know and I do that the way people cotton unto him and so does they go for it there's one part of me and a lot of that's in the past you know I'm growing up or rather evolving when did the growing up begin then I suppose we grandchildren is when and he suddenly realized that you're in for a longer haul tell me about your first choice what are we gonna hear and why is it on your list what few chosen weary hours Chuck very first up a great inspiration to me and I thought also that I would like to hear something that's not obviously Chuck Berry and to be surprised and he's always surprised me with this track and such a subtle blues almost Nat King Cole in style and the brilliant piano of Johnny Johnson and I did have the joy I've put in Johnny Johnson and Chuck Berry back together again when we made the movie hail hail rock and roll in the wee wee hours that's what I think [Music] so that was Chuck Berry and we we are so Keith Richards your mother Doris you said trained your ears with Django Reinhardt's and what could be finer training than that I think and your house was filled with music what else was she playing doris bless her heart but she was a genius machine the early fifties with BBC dials you know because what is your like program I'm sorry and you know the third program yeah Doris would know where there was gonna be half an hour of good music played by certain DJs and there'd be Ella Fitzgerald Sarah Vaughan Billie Holiday Louie Armstrong so I grew up basically listening to this because she had an airing aim on the dial there is a really beautiful photograph in your autobiography of your parents I think it was taken in the 1930s and they're both in bathing costumes and they're on a beach and your father is sort of that leapfrogging over your mother I mean they are a particularly beautiful vigorous looking young couple and there you were with them you were an only child yeah what kind of things did you get up to together I mean a lot of leapfrogging because you were out camping I mean they took you everywhere yes yeah we were camping I was the third one on the tandem their little seat belt for me on the back and mom and dad would be paddling away to Dorset or whatever and I used to sit in the back and go sound stroke you know tell me about your next piece of music then Keith Richards what are we gonna hear next your second disc what's this this one I would like to play your Hank Williams you went again Hank Williams was another thing I grew up with and he's basically the father of modern country music that there was no pretense about it when when Hanks saying you know and he was basically like listening to a Bruce singer I mean he was real and I couldn't imagine living without a bit of Hank [Music] [Applause] [Music] and someday say [Music] that was Hank Williams and you went again and tell me abyss Keith about your grandfather Gus Dupree king of the country fiddle and it sounds to me from everything that I've read something of an unconventional source yes he was the father of seven daughters well as far as I'm concerned I seem to have been the only boy he didn't have so in fact to me it was more like a dad or a friend than a grandfather and he would take you walking you used to go on these fantastic yes tell me about that you know he'd take me into music shops but we'd always go in around the back we never been in the front door and there was always a little deal about you know some guitar strings or some violin strings but then I would be in the back of these music stores for night hours watching people make guitars violins repairing things from the smell of the glue and and just to watch you know it was like seems to be magical stuff going on and so I was from a very early age I was brought into the making of instruments not just the playing of them and as a musician himself did he give you then instrument to hold or to play were you ever allowed to kind of engage with the instrument or was it very much sort of just waiting he changed me with the guitar it was up on a shelf which I couldn't reach at the time the finally said to me look if you can reach it then you can have it so I am devising all kinds of it and putting books under the John loading cushion some things just to try and reach up there to get it so finally I made it and he said okay sit down and he showed me the rudiments of malagueña and they said if you can get your fingers around there then potentially and possibly you can be a guitar player yeah so I worked at malagueña and then he let me have the guitar you know it was to me it was the prize of century and where were the seeds of rebellion soon I think I can pinpoint that for you Johnson Technical School where in the choir and we've been in the choir two three years and Sopranos believe it or not and we were also promise and we done incredible things for this choir and we went up to London sang in front of the Queen believe it or not and then our voices broke so with tears in his eyes Oh Jake Clare who was house choir master God let you go in that gym which is like we understood that's part of naturally the school said oh you have to go down a year because you haven't done your chemistry because you've been taking all the time isolated wire the villa choir right there was no fairness here there's no suddenly you're 13 and you're down with the 12 year olds which are the images like you know so that's when it started to ferment tell me about your next piece of music Keith Richards we're on your third disc of the morning what we gonna hear Aaron Neville one of the best voices in the world and this is probably one of the best doo-wop songs of all as it happens on this version Aaron asked me and I am I'm in their plane in the back [Music] that was Aaron Neville and my true story so Keith Richards you and Mick Jagger had gone to the same primary school as it happens but it wasn't I understand until right about 1961 as teenagers that you properly began to cement a friendship it was when you might a train platform and you saw that the records he was holding is that right I was going to soot-covered school right and Mick at that time has gone to the London School of Economics but I just get off at Sidcup you know I mean I'm sitting the carriage and suddenly walks in this Mick who hadn't seen in years you know Wow and what's that under your arm and he pulls out the best of Muddy Waters and rocking at the hops by Chuck Berry and these are American pressings you know and you can't get these records in England at a time and basically that was the hook up for the stones and for Mick and I was just that we had this same interest in music you got any more records like that and he said choice is I I send away to Chicago for them well this may is organized it was your writing partnership always an easy partnership not always but in the early days very easy in a way I mean this is like being on the factory line you know because you I remember very well and satisfaction it just come out and it's number one all over the world yeah Mick and I got a great fantastic man you know I know that the knock at the door and there is basic the record company saying where's the follow-up is it true and I don't know it's one of these things you readin you saying it cannot actually be true that satisfaction came to you the riff came to you in your sleep and you didn't even know you had no ID thanks God to the the recently invented cassette player which was by your bed and I happened to be between friends at the time and then I sleet him with the guitar on the bed you know and somewhere obviously in the night I got up and laid down the basic framework for satisfaction the only way I knew something had happened because I looked at the tape and I know that I'd put in a brand new tape so therefore the real has to be empty that side and fallen but it had gone the other way it was it was recorded so I thought maybe I hit the button in the wrong position sure if I sleep or something so I rolled it back and listened back and there is this very weak faint idea of satisfaction you know the riff the first verse and then 45 minutes of me smarting but it was by a miracle he has captured on that little machine just tell me what we're gonna hear next thing we're on your fourth disc of the morning what's this sugar on the floor Etta James first of a great friend of mine and but at the same time I'm you know I must I've gotta have a diva a soul diva in in this list somewhere you're a stranger to me then you give me your life [Music] there's no easy way to learn how so that was Etta James and she got on the floor going into that Keith Richards she said you felt that on this island she wanted to have a diva to keep you company and you did once say that working with Mick Jagger was like working with Maria Callas he said that he can be a bit of a diva I'm wondering how he described you to work with I know you better ask him probably about the same way actually no Mick and I have a great relationship except when we don't and which is the when everybody hears about it with Nick I've always felt like it's a brother thing what brothers don't fight occasionally and although we're always fighting for the right reasons we just think that our version is well right than the others why do you think you know if I was to ask you to try to distill it down what why it is that you have stuck together that you are still performing that you still have the appetite for it for the five of you to get on stage why do you think that is cuz you know you don't need to do that I think you know possibly is because and especially honor from the last we still think they're getting better now we could be falling ourselves but from the response from the audience and from the way I'm feeling the way the boys are playing is that this promise of more and I mean he's gonna jump off a moving bus you know that's happy next piece of music Keith tell me about this we're on your your fifth choice of the day what are we gonna hear I probably the classic rhythm and blues record of overtime is produced by Bert Bern's who also produced Van Morrison brown-eyed girl and great producer and here we Freddie Scott one of the great soul singers but I hope you're gonna enjoy this one because it's solid are they [Music] [Applause] [Music] so that was Freddie Scott and are you lonely for me baby at Keith Richards it's interesting that quite a few of the tracks that you've chosen today the artists themselves have faced you know as many people do through life they've faced their own demons and many of them with drugs and I'm wondering how much of a link you think there might potentially be between that creativity whether it be an R&B and rock and roll or whatever between these artists and the fact that they've struggled with drugs through the years I think I really should say that there is really no correlation between drugs on music and how you perform it but this is a lie some people can handle things and other people can't you know if if the drugs become more important than the music then you've lost the battle I've never felt that it did anything to my creativity I mean it kept me up a lot at nights looking from the stuff it was something that I had to stop you know because I realized they did you know there are experiments that go on too long yeah I see all these beautiful photographs of you surrounded not just by your exquisite torsos but your grandchildren now in this great big brood and you know all of us as parents have that moment when we kind of sit down to have the discussion where we say to our teenagers the thing about drugs is I'm wondering how Keith Richards has that conversation with his offspring where did you start on that one I don't talk to them about it if they bring it up to me I'll talk about it but none of my kids have shown any interest in drugs that's all you know and it's not that I've given them any talking to us about you know don't do as what daddy did and all of that but do you think they were watching and learning I think maybe they weren't you know I mean partners in crime here Anita Pallenberg of me yeah you know I didn't do this alone yeah and it was an eater and I decided this experiment and bless her heart she's still a good friend of mine I knew what I had to do you did of course I have children together and one of your children your son Tara he died of court death and you're on tour in the seventies earth you've said very poignant Lee that there has always been this cold space inside you after his death which I'm sure anybody who's lost a child would identify with and I'm wondering if that heals over time is that something that's eased or is it is it still always there for you it was such a shock at the time especially being I'm getting a phone call in Paris and this happened in Geneva and I thought I'm gonna go mad you know unless I do this show tonight if I don't do something that's that I'm supposed to do and if I just sit there with this idea I don't I don't know what I'd do you know and I know maybe it was just a sense of self-preservation I also wanted to shield Martin from it at that time for the moment it wasn't necessary for him to know immediately because we are on the road is a ruff-ruff thing you know and you know I had a feeling that this is a show I must go on stage now and and I'll worry and grieve and think about all this after after the show so he didn't go on the stage I mean I would probably show me so let's have some music man and we're now Keith on your sixth disc of the morning so tell me about this why have you chosen this track gregory isaacs yeah well many many years I lived in Jamaica and I'd always thought the Gregory is one of the best songwriters that came out of that island and a sweet singer also there was a sense in the 70s in Jamaica which gave me a sort of reminder of the early sixties in England like something was happening you know the Beatles and and then ourselves and then the WHO that there was there was a new wind blowing and also it was extra classic was a song man where I met my old lady so I thought Carrie that's true [Music] that was Gregory Isaacs and extra classic you mentioned there your old lady you have been married to your wife not very successful model she was um when you met her patty Hansen for over 30 years are you married on your 40th birthday and I'm wondering why such an unconventional soul as Keith Richards wanted to put a wedding ring on his finger why did you decide to get married I was in love with the one and we'd been together two or three years and I saw the possibilities of what could happen if we got married because I knew she's a it's a very maternal as well and I thought well if you're gonna have more babies this is the one that I would like you to be the mother you know and it turned out to be true Patricia is beautiful girl not just physically but inside is the warmest hearted woman I know I know there's an upside but it can't be a breeze being married to a rock star how have you made it work as she made it work we just try and make it work it's I mean it's always a with Patti Amazo it she's got the calendar out saying now okay what month that he comes on the road quite a lot with me especially since the children have wrecked independent of good left home the only problem is the talks how has she dealt over the years with the groupies I've imagined she often might have been elbowed out the way as people try to make their way just blast out the room groovy there and you've got Patti Hansen there it's like forget about it you know your nickname I learn is the man who death for Goths because you yourself have been through I mean a lot of I would say pretty serious health scares yourself you know you were very seriously electrocuted once during a soundcheck I mean probably as part of the course you were out for about seven minutes I think and you were concussed very badly when you fell off a ladder in your library and a lot of books fell on top of you you had concussion yeah and then very famous three ribs and punctured the lung - that was when you came off the ladder and then you very famously of course because the tour had to be postponed gee you fell out of a coconut tree and in Fiji and that resulted in two seizures a little frog you are accident and a blood clot on your brain I'm wondering whether when I think of all these things you either must feel indestructible or like your life is hanging by a thread I mean which one is it do you feel very well not indestructible Dean yes yeah absolutely if you can goes for all of that Ellie won't walk and they throw at me I'll what more can I throw up myself does your wife try to get you to stop smoking this she tries to get me to cut down sometimes I do I mean the thing is Keith Richards with the veep is just not going to look the same in a photograph there's no no Ronnie would try to get me on I can ask you for your next piece of music then Keith were on your seventh disc tell me about this I suddenly I go classic alright I mean I was agonizing about this because Mozart is right my man you know basically but then I found out reading some of Mozart's letters that the only good word he had to say about any other composer in the world was Vivaldi and then I tried to put this together with being on a desert island and then thinking a desert island no seasons and so when I came down here I plunked the the spring section of Four Seasons from the Val D and I think is a brilliant composer [Music] that was the first movement from spring part of the Valdez four seasons performed there by Nigel Kennedy with the English Chamber Orchestra I don't need to tell you Keith Richards that rock and roll was invented by teenagers to disrupt and disturb do you think it is a seemly place for people who are in their 70s to be you know there's a people comment about that a lot and they say I've never been worried about scenery I'm here and I rock and roll I'm wondering if Johnny Depp ever pays you royalties for nicking your image he didn't pay me for that as a tribute or does it cheesy off those I took it yeah well he was the first one to tell me he wasn't of course you know I've nicked most of your mirrors Johnny feel free it's good to see that there's a little bit of the paraphernalia here today you you're wearing the famous skull ring and you've got a beautiful silver bracelet that people may be afraid sort of tinkling a bit throughout the interview how much do you feel that you need to play up to the public image when you're in public you know if you went on stage without the bandanna and without the eyeliner and with all of that do you think you'd let people down no I'd feel a little bit undressed otherwise I would just do what I do because when it comes down to it I've got my guitar and I'll just swing the hash tell me about your guitars I mean how many guitars do you own bass in the thousands I only use about ten or fifteen of them I was gonna say who do you love the most when I was talking about guitars cuz I almost feel that it's that personal to you whenever I've seen you talk about guitars I see you with your guitars it seems like you're almost with something that's pulsing and living and breathing I mean it is give the puff of life into it and then and then we're we're two people it's like a symbiotic there's a love affair you know is this your not wait yeah we don't take it that far of course your hands are all kind of bit bent your fingers particularly been icy boxers are better yeah do they hurt your head none of them know that's the beauty of it no I don't mind no none of it hurts no it's I live with it um it does change the way you're gonna play slightly because one finger are getting in the way of another but no luckily no pain whatsoever it's a benign form I think of arthritis I guess you know we started when we began to do we were talking about the the sort of huge cultural change the idea of rebellion when the stones started and you know music was part of that entire shake-up of the establishment with the perspective and maybe even a little bit of the wisdom that you have Knight what do you think that time in British cultural history actually changed you feel like there was a permanent and significant shift I don't know if we did anything really except do what generations do which is to repeal and because it was not that new really I mean the music that I play and the Beatles played and that the part of the sixties revolution all taken from great American music and it's time then for your final piece of music Keith Richards tell us what we're gonna hear is your final your eighth discs today top of the line rhythm and blues little water but if I'm at a desert island you know where's the highway to the highway bill nodded bound go [Music] so that was Little Walter and key to the highway sir Keith Richards it's time now for me to do what I always do which is to give my castaways some gifts you get to turn around yes so you get the complete works of Shakespeare to take to this island you get the Bible and you can take another book along - what book would you like to take actually I chose dr. dogs bodies legs and I chose it basically because it's a collection of stories about this guy hmm but he's a sailor 18th century Portsmouth partner yeah but he's got one leg and every time he turns up at the table he gives you a different story about how he lost it and they're all totally plausible we'll give you that and you're allowed a luxury as well something to make life on the island just a little bit more barren I think I've gone here I was gonna go for a dog but they said it can't be alive it can't be alive though I've chosen the machete do you have a favorite machete or just any life several machetes but but I also happen to know how handy they can be on Ivan's all right I could build myself a shelter with that I could make fire with that you know and if I were to force you to just save one of the disks from the waves if they were threatening to be washed away which one single disc would be your disability to do it okay this because in Long Island and I want to keep the mood the same extra classic gregory isaacs okay it's yours Keith Richards thank you very thank you very much for letting us here desert [Applause] you

Channel: Raised On Radio

Views: 130,346

Rating: 4.8831344 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 0NINZZCv1Qs

Length: 30min 44sec (1844 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 09 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/elusiveclownface]

Discs