Keith Richards Quotes (48 Quotes)

We always knew that the Stones could have just been a studio band, ... But it just wont ever happen. We need the injection of the show - and the audience.

You get too close to it. You have to wait for the reaction,

There was a time when Mick and I could have argued forever over the most mundane things. The color of the album cover could turn into a life-and-death debate. I used to think he was getting too big for his boots, and he probably thought I was a cantankerous sod.

Some children go home with no one to help with school work. If a child is academically struggling they're not going to do (their homework).

It certainly shocked me when someone pointed out last year that it had been so long (between albums), ... I gave Mick a call, and he said, 'It's time to get moving again.'

John Lennon did that, too, ... He seemed to be in competition with me over drugs, and I never really understood that.

The Stones in a club is still the ultimate rush.

I only get ill when I give up drugs.

They're shooting while I'm touring. I'd love to do it if there was no hassle, but it would be a side trip. I know what my gig is. The idea of working for Disney gives me the shivers in the first place.

If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music.

Hey, we just enjoy it. I think we think we're getting the hang of this thing, you know?

I thought it was about time he owned up and stepped out of that closed shell. I knew he went through bad periods, even if he didn't want to write about it. I used to wrestle with that too. As a writer, you don't want to bore people with your own story. But you eventually realize that you're not the only one who is lonely or having problems.

Mick has to get up in the morning with a plan. Who he's going to call, what he's going to eat, where he's going to go. Me, I wake up, praise the Lord, then make sure all the phones are turned off. If we were a mum-and-pop operation, then he'd be Mum.

Everyone talks about rock these days; the problem is they forget about the roll.

Rock and Roll: Music for the neck downwards.

When I grew up, I listened to older stuff too, ... My own kids went through their teenage raving stuff. Then, in the last two or three years, my daughter started playing Ella Fitzgerald and Muddy Waters. There's something about music. When you like it, you want to find out where it came from.

It's good to be anywhere.

When we got the news about Charlie, we sat there, looking at each other and thinking, 'OK, what now' ... We realized we may not totally agree on everything, but there are too many plusses to our relationship.

I haven't met him yet, I can't wait. I'm a Stones fan.

The only things Mick and I disagree about is the band, the music and what we do.

I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.

It's called the mysterious rhythm of life, ... I can't quite account for it. It's probably an addiction, quite honestly. I need that shot of stage every two or three years.

I have no idea what the audience makes of me.

Everything goes in slow motion at those times. And the desk is coming for my temple. I shove that out the way and I say, 'I know I'm going to take it somewhere.' And I never did find the book.

Other than its sense of rhythm, it's music by the tone-deaf for the tone-deaf.

In a strange way, albums can take on their own personality,

To me, as long as we've known each other, I've always thought Mick's most brilliant thing was that he could work in an area two foot square and give a very exciting performance.

Hey, Bernie, if ya hadn't come into me bedroom and did what ya did to me, mate, I wouldn't have decided to turn me life around the way I did as a result of it, and it's why I'm still alive today.

To make a rock'n'roll record, technology is the least important thing.

I remember a sense of doom when our first record got in the top 20. It was conventional wisdom at the time that it would all be over in two years.

There's no substitute for live work to keep a band together.

If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.

It's an addiction... and addiction is something I should know something about.

I heartily applaud what they were trying to do, except that it was tied in with government policy and I always try and separate politics and music. I mean, Bob's a nice bloke and all that, but ultimately he's the one who comes off best, isn't he

You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones.

Let me be clear about this. I don't have a drug problem. I have a police problem.

It's great to be here. It's great to be anywhere.

There is no clear plan until the music is telling you what to do. It yelled at us, 'Do not overproduce me. Do not put the icing and the marzipan and the candles on.'

Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can't do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen.

While Richards says he might not have written the song himself, Jagger felt strongly about it. I find politics a pretty pallid subject for songs in general, ... I've only done it a few times, like in 'Street Fighting Man' or 'Sweet Black Angel.'

I look for ambiguity when I'm writing because life is ambiguous.

It is a jazz band in its own little way, ... Charlie is a jazz drummer, and bassist Darryl Jones worked with Miles Davis for five years. That gives us more freedom to move.

When I listen to what I did under the influence - 10 years of work - I don't think it either enhanced or impaired me. It didn't have that much to do with it.

Mick playing great guitar helped, ... I sleep downstairs and the studio is upstairs. One night I thought I was hearing this old Muddy Waters track I didn't know, but it turned out to be Mick working on a slide part for Back of my Hand . He's always been a good, smooth acoustic player, but the electric seemed like an untamed beast for him until this year. When I heard him this time I thought, 'My God The boy's finally got it'.

I never thought I was wasted, but I probably was.

There's this perception that Mick and I are always fighting. Most of it is very smooth sailing. Every time we stumble across the odd spat, everyone hears about it.

I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.

The Stones have landed on their feet again. With the last album, 'Steel Wheels,' we hadn't worked together in a long time and the material wasn't the best stuff. But I feel the Stones have hit their track again.