Comfortable Everywhere Keith Richards' Lost Weekend

Ah, Johnny, we only met two or three times,

but the first time I met Johnny Cash, uh,

was at some awards show -

I don't know if it was one of those Waldorf Astoria sort of jobs -

and...I went to the john, you know?

And I walk in and there is one other guy in there

and he was taking a piss, you know?

Uh...so I went in the cubicle

and as I got in, I said, "Dammit," to myself,

I said, "That's Johnny Cash. That is the old JC, man."

So...

When I'm taking a leak, I thought I'd hit him with...

You know, "What's going to be interesting?

"I'm not going to go with A Boy Called Sue."

I start humming a song called Loading Coal...

..which is very, very obscure Johnny Cash.

Very obscure.

And as I walked out, he turned round and looked at me,

I looked at him and he said, "I ain't heard that song in years.

"Only idiots know that song."

And that's how I met Johnny Cash.

It is very rare in this world that you can be who you are

from beginning to end.

Most people change completely

or they, sort of, suddenly meld into the woodwork and become...

It's not easy to stick around in show business.

I mean...

Sometimes you wonder, "What the hell am I still doing here?"

But I've been thinking that for about 40 years,

so I've got over it.

But at the same time, you know, Johnny and I had that...

We were fellow travellers in a way.

You can be a tough guy but you can be, you know,

at the same time, sensitive and shit,

just like me.

Songwriting, you know, where do your songs come from?

I have no idea where they come from.

I have especially never wanted to think of myself as, you know,

"I created this, this is mine."

The songs...

Music is passing through this room as we talk right now, Julian,

except we are talking.

If I had a piano or a guitar,

I might pick one up, you know, but I firmly believe...

It's not a creation.

It is a matter of listening and luck.

I'm like an antenna, a receiver.

I just sit down with an instrument -

it might be the piano, it might be - probably - the guitar,

most of the time,

and I'll play other people's songs just because I love them.

I might play Otis Redding songs, Buddy Holly,

Eddie Cochrane, you know?

Suddenly, now and again, somewhere,

an original twist and an idea comes in.

The muse...

HE CHUCKLES

A big word, with a capital M.

And you get carried away on a totally different path.

You can hear something out of a couple of chords

that suddenly suggest a whole piece of music,

and it might be just one wrong move,

and if you're open-minded enough,

you'll see, "No, that wasn't a screw-up,

"that was a lead-in", you know?

MUSIC: That'll Be The Day by Buddy Holly

# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye

# Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry

# You say you're gonna leave You know it's a lie

# Cos that'll be the day when I die

# Well, you give me all your loving and your turtle doving

# All your hugs and kisses and your money too

# Well, you know you love me, baby until you tell me, maybe

# That some day, well, I'll be through

# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye

# Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry

# You say you're gonna leave You know it's a lie

# Cos that'll be the day when I die

# Well, that'll be the day when you say goodbye

# Yes, that'll be the day when you make me cry

# You say you're gonna leave You know it's a lie

# Cos that'll be the day when I die

# Well, that'll be the day

# Woo-hoo

# That'll be the day

# Woo-hoo

# That'll be the day

# Woo-hoo

# That'll be the day. #

APPLAUSE

Buddy Holly, incredible, incredible.

Oh, the good die young.

Guys like Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent.

This is the hazards of this job, you know?

Do you ever think about these guys, what they would have gone on to do?

I constantly think about their possibilities.

Eddie Cochrane's, Buddy Holly's, Otis Redding's, Jimi Hendrix.

I constantly think about these people.

My only advantage is that I'm still alive.

HE LAUGHS

So you can think...

But the good die young,

so where does that put me, you know what I mean?

Buddy Holly, I mean, what a one-man tour de force!

And to people like me and, I guess, to Mick as well,

this is a guy that can...write 'em, play 'em...record 'em and...

You know, a guy that, all by himself,

could do everything, you know?

Rather than this manufactured stuff that you're getting,

the usual pap which you get these days.

Even worse, probably.

I mean, you know, it's a separate thing, because...

White cats can do it too, you know?

And to us, this was such an inspiration.

I mean, we were in love with black music.

I mean, they had the rhythms, the ideas,

the slant aside of the lyrics and everything,

and after you got that initial spark,

for me, at least,

the rest of the song leads me the rest of the way.

You know, I'm lucky that way. Yeah?

I've never sat down to say, "I'm going to write a song now."

I always think I'm an amateur trying.

I have a hard time thinking about myself as a pro.

I can't write songs to order.

To me, songwriters are guys that somebody calls up and says,

"We need a song for Gone With The Wind

"or Over The Rainbow", or something,

and the guys can go to work and do that.

I can't do that. Songs have to come to me.

I can't manufacture things.

I can't...

I'm too lazy.

Hoagy Carmichael.

There was a great songwriter.

He is in a couple of Warner Brothers movies

with Bogart and Bacall.

I think you can check him out best on To Have And Have Not.

# Am I blue?

# Ain't these tears in my eyes telling you?

# Am I blue?

# You'd be, too

# If each plan with your man

# Done fell through

# Was a time

# I was his only one

# But now I'm the sad and lonely one

# So lonely

# Was I gay, till today

# Now he's gone and we're through

# Am I blue... #

Take over.

# Was the time...

# I was his only one

# But now I'm...

# The sad and lonely one So lonely

# Was I gay Was I gay

# Till today Till today

# Now she's gone and we're through Baby...

# Am I blue

ALL: # Am I blue. #

I was in Barbados and the maid comes out of the house

and says, "There's a Mr Carmichael on the phone."

And, I mean, it went right by me.

"I don't know any Carmichaels.

"Give it to me anyway."

And it's Hoagy Carmichael.

Wow.

He must've been in his mid-80s, or something like that.

Sammy Khan gave me a little tape

that I'd given another guy, a lawyer,

but somehow Sammy Khan, another great songwriter,

had given it to Hoagy and he said,

"I really love the way you treated Nearness Of You."

It was really...

I think, "Wow..." You know?

"This is Hoagy I'm talking to?"

He said, "Yes, this is Hoagy Carmichael, you know?"

He said, "Where are you? Barbados?"

I said, "Yeah".

He said, "Go down the bar and ask for Corn N' Oil",

which is a really old Barbadian drink.

It is actually rum and falernum, a heavy-duty mix,

but...he told me, "By the way, I've got these other songs",

and then he proceeded to try and sell me...

I said, "I know every song you wrote, man. I know."

HE LAUGHS

But it was amazing.

He was hitting on me, but at the same time,

he'd heard a version that touched him.

That, to me, was a real honour. You know?

Talking about pros here.

You know, I'm just a rock'n'roller.

This guy has been writing songs since the '20s,

you know what I mean?

So, yeah, yeah, it was an extra buzz.

# It's just the nearness of you

# It's not the pale moon that excites me

# Baby

# That thrills and delights me

# Oh, no

# It's just the nearness of you... #

'To know that you can touch people's emotions,

'something that they can't control,'

you can touch them through rhythm, through melody, through harmony...

When you realise that you have written songs over 50 years

and people are still singing them, you know, you start to say,

"Well, maybe...maybe I'm pretty good at it."

You know, to be a minstrel,

especially a fairly successful one, is a good feeling. Hmm?

How is it to have people say, "You're great", all the time?

I tell you, you can get used to it, and you say,

"Yeah, pull the other one, it's got bells on."

CHIMING

The most time, I take it as very, sort of, heartfelt

and..."Thank you."

You know?

"Thanks for liking it."

You only make music for other people to enjoy.

We got one more we're going to do

and then we're going to call up everybody.

I've got my mojo working, woman. You hear me?

MUSIC: Got My Mojo Working by Muddy Waters

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you

# I wanna love you so bad till I don't know what to do

# I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand

# I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand

# I'm gonna have all you women right here under my command

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you... #

Lay it on me, son!

# ..I got a gypsy woman givin' me advice

# I got a gypsy woman givin' me advice

# I got a whole lotta tricks keepin' her on ice

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Brrr...working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you

# Oh!

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Brrr... Working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you... #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

WILD CHEERING AND WHISTLING

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you

# I wanna love you so bad till I don't know what to do

# I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand

# I'm going down to Louisiana to get me a mojo hand

# I'm gonna have all you women right here under my command

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work on you... #

Lay it on me!

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my brrr...working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working

# Got my mojo working but it just don't work you. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You know...thankful that I did get to see old London

before they put up the Cucumbers and everything.

Not that I don't like the Cucumber.

The horse shit was the essence of growing up in those times.

It was unique, you know,

and I'll probably never smell it again.

Unless somebody makes it up.

I'd buy a few horses, let them crap all over the place,

just to get the essence of the old town, you know?

BOOM!

That was London to me. Old London. Yeah.