Keith Richards

As part of my rock star reading I'm plowing through a 500 plus word autobiography of Keith Richards called "Life" which has no boring parts.  Happy to discover another famous British musician who knows how to write.  Lots of interesting stuff in there but I'll focus on some quotes for this post.

About songwriting:

    pg. 240 "These crucial wonderful riffs that just came, I don't know where from.  I'm blessed with them and I can never get to the bottom of them."
    pg. 277   "So what makes you want to write songs? In a way you want to stretch yourself into other people's heads.  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..."
    pg. 309  "Great songs write themselves...you're just the conveyor."
    pg. 310  "When I first knew I could do it, I wondered if I could do another one.  Then I found they were rolling off my fingers like pearls.  I never had any difficulty writing songs.  It was a sheer pleasure.  And a wonderful gift that I didn't know I had.  It amazes me."

About playing and recording:

   pg. 243  "It's what you leave out that counts."
   pg. 244   "Rhythm really only has to be suggested."
   pg. 306   "With a great band you only really need a little sparkle of an idea, and before the evening's over it will be a beautiful thing,"
   pg. 241   "The big discovery late in 1968 or early 1969 was when I started playing the open five-string tuning.  It transformed my life."
   pg. 244    "Five strings cleared out the clutter."
   pg. 315    "For me there is no such thing as time when I'm into recording.  Time changes."