Keith Richards: "I Ain't Retiring"

Further Rolling Stones obligations may loom, but for now the inimitable Keith Richards is focusing on his long-neglected solo career. Uncut has a chat with rocks most convivial wildman about Crosseyed Heart, fallen comrades, Dylan, retirement and, of course, the future of the Stones. "I love what I do, man," he says. "I'm a lucky son of a bitch!"

- Michael Bonner

Reflecting on a career spanning 53 years, Keith Richards is trying to account for his extraordinary longevity. “We didn’t just do it to get a few hit records and be famous and blah blah blah, ’cos sometimes that’s a curse,” he insists. “We’re doing what we feel we’re good at, and in order to be heard. I don’t think there should be any time limit on that. I’m still growing up."

A conversation with Richards is peppered with similar such routines. a flash of insight undercut by a self deprecating punchline delivered with a throaty chuckle. although his sentences are liberally scattered with colloquialisms like “croak” – at one point, he describes himself as “a lucky son of a bitch” – nevertheless his warm,feline purr carries a faintly thespish quality. When talk turns to the home counties villages that incubated the British ’60s blues boom, Richards’ briefly adopts an unexpectedly genteel tone. “Epsom?” He says wistfully. “Oh, not far away. I know it very well. I used to drive through it on my way to Sussex.”