{"id":336275,"date":"2025-08-11T17:28:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/336275\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T17:28:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T17:28:16","slug":"the-two-icons-keith-richards-considers-his-muse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/336275\/","title":{"rendered":"The two icons Keith Richards considers his muse"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Keith<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Bent Rej)<\/p>\n

Mon 11 August 2025 16:00, UK <\/p>\n

Rock and roll would be a very different place without the wild antics, eccentric personality, and incredible songwriting of Keith Richards<\/a>. Right from the outset of his extensive music career, however, the Rolling Stones\u2019 guitarist has been indebted to his wide-ranging influences. <\/p>\n

Growing up in 1950s Britain didn\u2019t offer a lot of excitement for a young Keith Richards, or the other kids of the post-war generation. The nation was still struggling to rebuild following the devastation of World War II, and rationing was still in effect until 1954. It is no surprise, therefore, that the future Rolling Stones songwriter turned to music<\/a>, finding solace in the fresh, new, and exciting sounds of American rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, along with age-old American blues records, too. <\/p>\n

It was these influences that set Richards on a path to musical greatness, as well as uniting him with his bandmates. When the Stones first formed back in 1962, under the leadership of Brian Jones, they were endlessly devoted to American blues, covering a wealth of tracks by the likes of Howlin\u2019 Wolf<\/a> or Muddy Waters, in addition to a few rock and roll anthems and blues standards. In fact, it could certainly be argued that the Rolling Stones were essential in introducing those songs and artists to young, mainstream audiences in the UK.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, though, a band can only last so long playing cover versions of old blues tracks. The Stones\u2019 manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was the first to recognise that fact and spurred Richards and Mick Jagger to begin writing their own original material, following in the footsteps of The Beatles and their countless self-penned hit singles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To say that their decision to start writing songs worked out would be a catastrophic understatement. The Jagger-Richards partnership quickly produced a litany of rock\u2019s most iconic anthems, from \u2018(I Can\u2019t Get No) Satisfaction\u2019 to \u2018Sympathy for the Devil\u2019. <\/p>\n

Yet, according to Keith Richards himself, the writing process of those tracks had little to do with him. Speaking to the Brazilian programme Gente de Express\u00e3o in 1998, he explained how songs are all floating around in the ether, and his job is just to pluck them out and put them onto tape. \u201cReally, I see myself as an antenna, a receiver,\u201d he shared. <\/p>\n

So what is Richards\u2019 method for dragging these legendary songs from the air? Seemingly, it all comes down to the influence of his most beloved artists. \u201cI pick up my guitar, or I sit at the piano, and I\u2019ll play my favourite songs, Buddy Holly, or I\u2019ll do some Nat King Cole,\u201d the guitarist shared. Apparently, those rather disparate influences then go on to conjure up new material for the Stones, despite their obvious differences in sound.\u00a0 \u201cA musician is only a result of what he hears,\u201d the songwriter added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Buddy Holly is an obvious muse for Richards. After all, the young songwriter typified the first age of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, providing inspiration to an entire generation of songwriters and guitarists, before tragically passing away, thus cementing his legacy indefinitely. The Rolling Stones exercised their love for the thick-rimmed spectacle-wearing rock and roller in 1964, covering his track \u2018Not Fade Away\u2019 as their first single in the US. <\/p>\n

Nat King Cole, on the other hand, doesn\u2019t immediately draw parallels with the Stones\u2019 work. Nevertheless, Richards has always maintained a deep appreciation for his iconic voice, likely owing to the jazz music which made up his mother\u2019s listening habits throughout his childhood back in the 1950s. <\/p>\n

Keith Richards certainly owes a lot to those two major muses, as they seem to have inspired the work which first launched him into rock and roll stardom, and have kept him there for upwards of 60 years. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Bent Rej) Mon 11 August 2025 16:00, UK Rock and roll would be a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[81483,77,31828,269,43084,9942,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-336275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-buddy-holly","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-keith-richards","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-nat-king-cole","13":"tag-the-rolling-stones","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115011316133383443","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}