Keith Richards

Musician

1943-12-18

Books by Keith Richards

Life
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Qualitative inquiry in TESOL
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Language and Professional Identity
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Quotes by Keith Richards

Classic of '43. Don't knock it. A Vintage year.
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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.
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There's something beautifully friendly and elevating about a bunch of guys playing music together. This wonderful little world that is unassailable. It's really teamwork, one guy supporting the others, and it's all for one purpose, and there's no flies in the ointment, for a while. And nobody conducting, it's all up to you. It's really jazz__that's the big secret. Rock and roll ain't nothing but jazz with a hard backbeat.
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Music is a language that doesn't speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it's in the bones, it's in the bones.
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When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.
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...I take the view that God, in his infinite wisdom, didn't bother to spring for two joints - heaven and hell. They're the same place, but heaven is when you get everything you want and you meet Mommy and Daddy and your best friends and you all have a hug and a kiss and play your harps. Hell is the same place - no fire and brimstone - but they just all pass by and don't see you. There's nothing, no recognition. You're waving, It's me, your father, but you're invisible. You're on a cloud, you've got your harp, but you can't play with nobody because they don't see you. That's hell.
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If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.
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...I take the view that God, in his infinite wisdom, didn't bother to spring for two joints - heaven and hell. They're the same place, but heaven is when you get everything you want and you meet Mommy and Daddy and your best friends and you all have a hug and a kiss and play your harps. Hell is the same place - no fire and brimstone - but they just all pass by and don't see you. There's nothing, no recognition. You're waving, It's me, your father, but you're invisible. You're on a cloud, you've got your harp, but you can't play with nobody because they don't see you. That's hell.
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If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.
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When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser.
Read quote
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.
Read quote
Classic of '43. Don't knock it. A Vintage year.
Read quote
There's something beautifully friendly and elevating about a bunch of guys playing music together. This wonderful little world that is unassailable. It's really teamwork, one guy supporting the others, and it's all for one purpose, and there's no flies in the ointment, for a while. And nobody conducting, it's all up to you. It's really jazz__that's the big secret. Rock and roll ain't nothing but jazz with a hard backbeat.
Read quote
Music is a language that doesn't speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it's in the bones, it's in the bones.
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Another thing to do with the blues is how they were recorded. They were done on the quick, and some of that stuff was made on wire, not even tape, let alone digital.
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To me, my biggest fear is getting a big head, and that is when I get the hammer. Because it's very easy in this game to believe you're something special.
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You have the sun, you have the moon, you have the air that you breathe - and you have the Rolling Stones!
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Yes, I've been trepanned. That's quite an interesting experience, especially for my brain surgeon, who saw my thoughts flying around in my brain.
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About myself I have no great illusions. I know what I am. I know what I'm good at. I know what I ain't. I'm always hoping to surprise myself. But I do have a love of music and I do love to communicate it, and that's the best I can do, really. And I can raise a good family, too.
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I've always been suspicious of TV, I've always found music and video to be an unhappy marriage.
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