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The Thing About Being A Songwriter, Once You Realize You Are One, Is That To Provide Ammo, You Start To Become An Observer. ... You're Constantly On The Alert. That Faculty Gets Trained In You Over The Years: Observing People, How They React To One Another, Which In A Way Makes You Weirdly Distant. ... It's A Little Of Peeping Tom, Being A Song-writer.

-Keith Richards

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The Thing About Being

Keith Richards

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The Thing About Being A Songwriter, Once You Realize You Are One, Is That To Provide Ammo, You Start To Become An Observer. ... You're Constantly On The Alert. That Faculty Gets Trained In You Over The Years: Observing People, How They React To One Another, Which In A Way Makes You Weirdly Distant. ... It's A Little Of Peeping Tom, Being A Song-writer.

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To Me, It's Important To Prove That This Isn't Just Teenage Kids' S**t And You Should Feel Embarrassed When You're Over Forty And Still Doing It.

What Interested Me About Chuck Berry Was The Way He Could Step Out Of The Rhythm Part With Such Ease, Throwing In A Nice, Simple Riff, And Then Drop Straight Into The Feel Of It Again. We Used To Play A Lot More Rhythm Stuff. We'd Do Away With The Differences Between Lead And Rhythm Guitar. You Can't Go Into A Shop And Ask For A "lead Guitar". You're A Guitar Player, And You Play A Guitar.

The Electric Guitar Was Vital In Helping What I've Achieved Where Would I Be Without It? Playing Awfully Quietly, For A Start.

Poison's Not Bad. It's A Matter Of How Much.

I'm An Unpure Purist, Something Like That.

We All Have Our Own Personal Laboratories. Life Is An Experiment, And It's Just A Matter Of Getting The Alchemical Or Chemical Combination Right.

The Only Things Mick And I Disagree About Is The Band, The Music And What We Do.

You Don't Start To Play Your Guitar Thinking You're Going To Be Running An Organisation That Will Maybe Generate Millions.

Hey, We Just Enjoy It. I Think We Think We're Getting The Hang Of This Thing, You Know?

The Electric Guitar Meant That You Could Have A Band With A Drummer And A Couple Of Guitars. And That Put A Lot Of Horn Players Out Of Work.

The Only New Technology That Interests Me Is When It Sort Of Throws Me Back Soundwise. And I Can Think, "wow, That Means I Can Go Onstage And Sound Like Scotty Moore Now And Again!"

It's A Privilege Just To Wake Up To A New Day.

If You're Going To Kick Authority In The Teeth, You Might As Well Use Both Feet.

I'm Free Of Hypochondria-- Although I've Got Everything Else.

We Do What We Want To Do. We Write Songs. We Try Not To Repeat Ourselves Too Much. We Have Our Own Sound And Our Own Way Of Doing Things. Up Until Now It Has Always Been Enjoyable. None Of The Members Have Ever Got To The Point Where They Don't Want To Be Involved In It ... It's Not Entirely Possible For Me To Stand Back And Look At The Rolling Stones Because Being A Part Of It You Can't. I Wish That I Could Just Sit In The Audience For One Night And See The Show. Everyone In The Band Has Said That At Some Point. But Then You Wouldn't Be Seeing The Whole Band. And That's The Problem With That.

I've Got Nothing Against Daylight. I Don't Live Totally Nocturnally. Only When I Feel Like It. Which Is Most Of The Time.

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.

My Life Is Full Of Broken Halos.

It's Really Good To Be Here And As I Always Say, It's Really Good To Be Anywhere!

I Mean Some Doctor Told Me I Had Six Months To Live And I Went To Their Funeral.

I Only Get Ill When I Give Up Drugs... I Don't Have A Drug Problem, I Have A Police Problem.

I Am Not Doing It Just For The Money Or For You.i Am Doing It For Me.

The Stones In A Club Is Still The Ultimate Rush.

You Can't Accuse Me Of Anything I Haven't Already Confessed To.

I'm All For A Quiet Life. I Just Didn't Get One.

A Painter's Got A Canvas. The Writer's Got Reams Of Empty Paper. A Musician Has Silence.

I Never Sleep Alone. If There Is No One To Sleep Next To, I'll Sleep Next To A Stuffed Animal. It Makes Me Feel Secure And Safe. It's A Little Embarrassing To Admit It; I'm An Old Man Now. It's Important To Me Though.

I Occasionally Borrow Pot From My Kids. They Do A Little Weed Occasionally. 'here, Dad' — Or More Likely, 'dad, Have You Got Any?'

If You're Gonna Get Wasted, Get Wasted Elegantly.

When You're 20, You Can't Imagine Being 30. When You're 30, You Can't Imagine Being 40. When You're 40, You Can't Imagine Being 100.

Before Elvis, Everything Was In Black And White. Then Came Elvis. Zoom, Glorious Technicolor.

Black And White

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The Idea Of Retiring Is Like Killing Yourself. It's Almost Like Hari Kari. I Intend To Live To A 100 And Go Down In History.

Killing Yourself

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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.

Rap - So Many Words, So Little Said.

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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.

I Like It Here In Austin. Anybody Got A Room?

To Me, Life Is A Wild Animal. You Hope To Deal With It When It Leaps At You.

It Might Appear That Nothing Is Happening, But That's Actually When It Really Happens.

I Achieved Everything I Wanted To Achieve By Being In The Rolling Stones And Making Records.

Music Is A Necessity. After Food, Air, Water And Warmth, Music Is The Next Necessity Of Life.

It's Good To Be Anywhere.

And Then I Think We Realized, Like Any Young Guys, That Blues Are Not Learned In A Monastery. You've Got To Go Out There And Get Your Heart Broke And Then Come Back And Then You Can Sing The Blues.

It Made Me Sick - My Name's Keith Richards. It Hardly Makes It Against Howlin' Wolf Or Muddy Waters, Does It? On My First Guitar I Had Boy Blue Written - Just Pathetic. But That Was As Good As I Got At The Time.

Anything You Throw Yourself Into, You Better Get Yourself Out Of.

One Of The Great Things About Songwrighting; It's Not An Intellectual Experience

What Is It That Makes You Want To Write Songs? In A Way You Want To Stretch Yourself Into Other People’s Hearts. You Want To Plant Yourself There, Or At Least Get A Resonance, Where Other People Become A Bigger Instrument Than The One You’re Playing. It Becomes Almost An Obsession To Touch Other People. To Write A Song That Is Remembered And Taken To Heart Is A Connection, A Touching Of Bases. A Thread That Runs Through All Of Us. A Stab To The Heart. Sometimes I Think Songwriting Is About Tightening The Heartstrings As Much As Possible Without Bringing On A Heart Attack.

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If You Stay Up, You Get The Songs That Everyone Else Misses Because They're Asleep.

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I Wouldn't Warm To [chuck Berry] Even If I Was Cremated Next To Him.

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You Don't Find A Style. A Style Finds You

To Make A Rock'n'roll Record, Technology Is The Least Important Thing.

No Broken Hearts, No Broken Necks.

It's Great To Be Here. It's Great To Be Anywhere.

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.

But I've Always Felt Very Comfortable On Stage, Even If I Screw Up. It Always Felt Like A Dog, This Is My Turf, Piss Around It. While I'm Here, Nothing Else Can Happen. All I Can Do Is Screw Up. Otherwise, Have A Good Time.

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True Friends. Hardest Thing To Find, But You Never Look For Them - They Found You ; You Just Grow Into Each Other

Everybody's Got A Different Way Of Telling A Story - And Has Different Stories To Tell.

I've Never Had My Hair Cut By Anybody, I Do It All Myself.

Everything They’d Been Brought Up Not To Do, They Could Do At A Rock-and-roll Show.

[joking About The Length Of The Rolling Stones' Career] You Have The Sun, You Have The Moon, You Have The Air That You Breathe - And You Have The Rolling Stones!

I've Never Had A Problem With Drugs. I've Had Problems With The Police.

Whatever Side I Take, I Know Well That I Will Be Blamed.

There's A Demon In Me, And He's Still Around. Without The Dope, We Have A Bit More Of A Chat These Days.

Rock And Roll Ain't Nothing But Jazz With A Hard Backbeat.

Most Guys I Know Are Assholes. I Have Some Great Asshole Friends, But That's Not The Point. Friendship Has Got Nothing To Do With That. It's Can You Hang, Can You Talk About This Without Any Feeling Of Distance Between You? Friendship Is The Diminishing Of Distance Between People. That's What Friendship Is, And To Me It's One Of The Most Important Things In The World.

One Minute I'm Standing At Ronnie Scott's Getting A Standing Ovation And The Next Minute, I'm On A Marble Slab

The Rock's Easy, But The Roll Is Another Thing.

Its Called A Playground, But Its Nearer To A Battlefield. It Can Be Brutal

You See, To Me, The Art Of Music Is Listening To It, Not Playing It. The Real Art Of It Is Hearing It.

Everybody Thinks You Reach A Certain Age And You're A Grownup, But It's Not True. Nobody Grows Up Until The Day They Croak.

Preaching Is Tax Free. Very Little To Do With God, A Lot To Do With Money

You Know, The Bbc Had Not Been Particularly Generous In Its Deliverance Of Blues And Esoteric Kinds Of Music.

Why Would You Want To Be Anything Else If You're Mick Jagger?

I Don't Have A Problem With Drugs, I Have A Problem With Policemen.

Love Has Sold More Songs Than You've Had Hot Dinners.

But I'm Not Here Just To Make Records And Money. I'm Here To Say Something And To Touch Other People, Sometimes In A Cry Of Desperation: "do You Know This Feeling?

If You're Cool, You Don't Know Nothing About It. It Just Is, Or You Ain't.

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.

I Personally Believe That Most People That Play An Instrument Would Be Able To Write A Few Songs Here And There. But They Say, "i Tried, I Can't Do It" And Give Up And Don't Try It Again; They Get Too Discouraged.

Well, I'm Not Putting Death On The Agenda. I Don't Want To See My Old Friend Lucifer Just Yet. He's The Guy I'm Gonna See, Isn't It? I'm Not Going To The Other Place, Let's Face It.

Treat Each Guitar Track-and Each Song-completely Different. For Example, If I'm Using A Certain Amp And Guitar On One Track, I'll Deliberately Use Something Else For The Next Tune Or Overdub.

You're Sitting With Some Guys, And You're Playing And You Go, "ooh, Yeah!" That Feeling Is Worth More Than Anything. There's A Certain Moment When You Realize That You've Actually Just Left The Planet For A Bit And That Nobody Can Touch You. You're Elevated Because You're With A Bunch Of Guys That Want To Do The Same Thing As You. And When It Works, Baby, You've Got Wings. You Know You've Been Somewhere Most People Will Never Get; You've Been To A Special 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.

I Looked Upon Myself, In A Sort Of Romantic And Silly Way, As Like A Laboratory.

I Was Number 1 On The Who's Likely To Die List For 10 Years...i Was Really Disappointed When I Fell Off That List.

Some Of My Most Outrageous Nights- I Can Only Believe Actually Happened Because Of Corroborating Evidence. No Wonder I'm Famous For Partying! The Ultimate Party- If It's Any Good- You Can't Remember It.

The Big Rules Of Knife Fighting Are (a) Do Not Try It At Home, And (b) The Whole Point Is Never, Ever Use The Blade. It Is There To Distract Your Opponent. While He Stares At The Gleaming Steel, You Kick His Balls To Kingdom Come--he's All Yours. Just A Tip!

I Look For Ambiguity When I'm Writing Because Life Is Ambiguous.

The Thing About Being A Songwriter, Once You Realize You Are One, Is That To Provide Ammo, You Start To Become An Observer. ... You're Constantly On The Alert. That Faculty Gets Trained In You Over The Years: Observing People, How They React To One Another, Which In A Way Makes You Weirdly Distant. ... It's A Little Of Peeping Tom, Being A Song-writer.

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