Life by Keith Richards

Keith Richards, iconic guitarist for the Rolling Stones, has written a very good book called Life and I recommend that you read it. An indication of the interest in the book is that it has remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 15 weeks.

The book starts off with a description of Richards’ arrest in Arkansas in 1975 for what he believed would turn into drug possession charges. The car he was driving erratically was packed with drugs hidden inside the door panels. Due to some legal maneuvering, the vehicle was never searched. Richards pleaded guilty to reckless driving and paid a fine of $162. Before Richards left the courtroom, the judge and prosecuting attorney asked for a photograph with the famous guitarist which he gladly provided. He’s that kind of guy.

The book reads very easily. It was put together by a writer who sat through long interviews in which Richards talked about his life. You are reading a transcript of him telling his life story in his own descriptive English words. He is fearless about revealing his feelings and some dramatic events in his life including the loss of a child. This is not some egotist rewriting a legacy with a sanitized version of events.

A charming aspect of the narrative is that the author frequently invites other people to write their recollection of a particular event or incident.

Richards was born in 1943 and raised in a suburb of London called Dartford. The early part of the book includes stories about how he overcame being bullied as a child, how he was exposed to music both listening and playing, his reasons for dropping out of art school and his days hanging about with peers who liked the same music. The language he uses is very entertaining. There isn’t a lot of dirty talk substituted for real words either. This man is self-educated and well read. He knows how to tell a good story.

Mick Jagger comes into his life because they briefly attended the same school and because he often had the 45 records that Richards and others wanted to listen to, American delta blues and rock and roll. Elvis Presley, Bo Diddly and Chuck Berry performed the music they craved to hear. The early Stones borrowed the music of their heroes in their early club performances and relied on their own take on other people’s songs until they got into the rhythm of writing their own tunes and lyrics. I still like the early mono albums.

Rolling Stone Magazine considers Richards the 10th best guitarist of all time. Some of the musicians who rank ahead of him on that list are his musical heroes including Berry and Robert Johnson.

It isn’t easy to take credit for creativity while sounding humble but Richard manages to do this as he explains the collaborative nature of the song development he birthed with Jagger. He confesses to waking up one morning and finding the tune to the song “Satisfaction” on the tape recorder he kept by his bedside.

Richards is the genius who wrote most of the music. Jagger took the tunes and wrote the lyrics. They did work together on both words and music at times. They fed off each other’s creative energy for years. These two who needed each other to reach their best ended up disliking each other personally after working, traveling and living closely together for too long.

Keith Richards conquered his 10-year drug addiction to cocaine and heroin in 1979 after going cold turkey 6 to 8 times during that decade. He lost a few close friends to drugs. His face shows the harsh treatment he put his body through. He still smokes. But he is usually photographed with a smile on his face. He has been married for 27 years and has 4 children and a couple of grand kids.

The album which to me epitomizes the high point of the band’s musical genius is Sticky Fingers, partially recorded at Muscle Shoals, Alabama in 1969, just before the group went off to play the free concert in Altamont, California. In case you don’t know or have forgotten, the Hells Angels were hired to maintain the peace at this concert and ended up stabbing a concert-goer while the band performed.

Pianist Jim Dickenson writes in the book that many musicians claim that they were there in Muscle Shoals but that it was Dickenson on piano, Ian Stewart (the sixth Rolling Stone) and the 5 Stones in the recording booth for “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses”.

In my opinion, the best song on the Sticky Fingers album - and it wasn’t recorded at Muscle Shoals - is “Can’t you hear me knocking?” The recording displays Richards’ talent and ease at collaborating with other musicians. Rolling Stone Magazine calls it the 25th greatest guitar song of all time. It’s a blues-jazzy wall of sound provided by the saxophone of Bobby Keys and the lead guitar playing of Mick Taylor. But you can hear Richards steadily through the 7 minutes and 14 seconds of this song.

As for Mick Jagger, he’s there for about 2 minutes and 40 seconds singing the lyrics. After that, you hear nothing less than a great bunch of musicians hitting a creative high, handing the music off to each other.

There is much information in the book about notable people of these times including musicians, artists, politicians and ordinary people. This is a man who wants you to know what his life was like, nothing held back, presented with humor, grace and a great deal of self- awareness. Read this book.

OVERHEARD AT THE POST OFFICE FEBRUARY 16, 2011 - Beach Club

Al: Long time no see, Jesse. What’s up?

Jesse: Well, have you seen the centerfold of the new Chamber of Commerce brochure?

Al: Centerfold! Has the Chamber resorted to naked women to market the Kennebunks?

Jesse: No, no, you idiot. The centerfold is a desirable space for advertising because people naturally turn to it. The current brochure’s centerfold features resorts owned by the same group here in Kennebunkport.

Al: Tell me more.

Jesse: Well, you see, there has been a lot of buying and selling of hotels this past winter. One of the newly purchased places is the Tides Inn at Goose Rocks. It’s now called The Tides Beach Club. It is being advertised with a private beach.

Al: Private Beach! That sounds suspiciously as though the owners believe they own some part of that beach. Wait ‘til the Town and the SOB’s find out. It won’t be private for very long. I can’t wait to hear what the Judge says about that!

Jesse: The Tides Beach Club is advertising beachside services.

Al: What are beachside services? Does this mean a person can get a drink or something to eat down there on the private beach?

Jesse: That isn’t clear.

Al: Where is this private beach exactly?

Jesse: The lot is directly in front of the hotel at Goose Rocks.

Al: Does this mean if I want to go down to the beach, I can’t sit there anymore?

Jesse: You will have to take that up with the owners. Maybe you can get permission. If I were you, I’d change out of the striped shorts and plaid flannel shirt before asking. Or at least tuck in your shirt. Oh, and lose the Red Sox hat or turn it around so the bill points forward.

Al: Well isn’t the Town going to stand up for me and the other residents and stop this beach club from saying they own the beach, just as the Town is arguing with other private beach front owners?

Jesse: We will have to wait and see.

Al: Wait and see! Why would this beach club be treated different than some other beachfront owner? Are they SOB’s?

Jesse: Well, the owners of the Beach Club now own a great deal of land and property in Kennebunkport. They pay a lot of taxes to the Town. The Town doesn’t want to make the owners mad or anything. They might go somewhere else.

Al: Where are the business people going to go and find a beach like the one at Goose Rocks? And where will they find a Town to treat them so special?

Jesse: You have a point there, Al.

Al: If the Town won’t stand up for my rights then there’s only one thing for me to do. I’m going to go down to Goose Rocks right now and fill out a membership form to join that Beach Club.

Jesse: It’s not that kind of Club, Al. You see, the people who go there don’t live here.

Al: You can’t be serious. You mean, to belong to that Club you cannot live in Kennebunkport?

Jesse: You need to spend the night at one of the rented rooms to be a member of that club. You can also use the private beach if you stay at Hidden Pond Cottages.

Al: Hidden Pond? Where is that? Is it stocked?

Jesse: Hidden Pond is owned by the same business people. It’s a group of cottages up near the Clock Farm, off Fishing Pole Lane.

Al: People who like to fish can be secretive about their spots so maybe that’s why they want the pond hidden and the beach private.

But if the only people who can join that Beach Club are tourists I won’t have anything to do with them. I’ll just keep on toting my cooler and portable radio down to the public beach right next to them. It won’t bother me a bit if they want listen to the country music on my radio. On the other hand, if they like to fish, they can’t be all bad.