Life

Life by Keith Richards and James Fox (2010) I knew about this Keith Richards autobiography, but I’d been kind of avoiding it—not so much afraid that it would be dull as, perhaps worried that Keith would lose his mystique. I wonder if he had similar concerns—maybe when younger—but that’s one of the nice things about getting older. Also, it’s really long—like 600 pages! I never finished reading any of those Rolling Stones “tell-alls”—but I do love the movie, Cocksucker Blues (1972). The most insight I’ve had into the man has come from movies—Godard’s Sympathy for the Devil (1968), and the Chuck Berry documentary, Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll (1987). And those just create more mystique. Keith Richards has always been one of my favorite musicians, so why not—I got the audiobook. It’s narrated by Johnny Depp (who sounds exactly like Johnny Depp) and someone named Joe Hurley, who sounds even more slurry and messed up than Keith, and parts by KR himself, which is great. If he’d read it all, himself, you could buy a copy and listen to it in the evening at bedtime, on a continuous loop, just for the comfort of his voice. The many tales he tells are hilarious, of course, also harrowing, upsetting, informative, entertaining—what you’d hope for—fulfilled. And there’s even a surprising (or, not surprising, for him, but surprising for a “rock star”) degree of humility. My favorite parts are where he talks about music—it might be “shop talk” to some—but great to hear that stuff from him. That’s the heart of the book—the most exciting and inspiring stuff, here, for me. I’m sure I’d like to pick up a printed copy and bookmark those sections and read then again. As far as the adventures, there are more of them than seems possible for one man, and many of them are a lot more outrageous than you could even imagine.

6.17.25