[blogs.tennessean.com]

He’ll also tell you “You’re So Vain” was about Mick Jagger, and that B.B. King is an absolute prince, and that Bonnie Bramlett’s version of “Piece of My Heart” blew Janis Joplin’s away. He’ll tell you about how J.I. Allison, who will soon join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets, is a super-nice guy.

He’ll tell you what it’s like to stand onstage with the Rolling Stones, and what it’s like to be Keith Richards’ running buddy (hint: way more fun than a Mexican jail).

He’ll tell you a bunch of stuff. Just don’t ask about the time he and Richards threw a television set out of a hotel room in 1972.

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Cocaine Eyes

He’ll also tell you “You’re So Vain” was about Mick Jagger, and that B.B. King is an absolute prince, and that Bonnie Bramlett’s version of “Piece of My Heart” blew Janis Joplin’s away. He’ll tell you about how J.I. Allison, who will soon join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets, is a super-nice guy.

He’ll tell you what it’s like to stand onstage with the Rolling Stones, and what it’s like to be Keith Richards’ running buddy (hint: way more fun than a Mexican jail).

He’ll tell you a bunch of stuff. Just don’t ask about the time he and Richards threw a television set out of a hotel room in 1972.

Have you ever heard of the term, "Spoiler Alert?"

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loog droog

Quote
Cocaine Eyes

He’ll also tell you “You’re So Vain” was about Mick Jagger, and that B.B. King is an absolute prince, and that Bonnie Bramlett’s version of “Piece of My Heart” blew Janis Joplin’s away. He’ll tell you about how J.I. Allison, who will soon join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets, is a super-nice guy.

He’ll tell you what it’s like to stand onstage with the Rolling Stones, and what it’s like to be Keith Richards’ running buddy (hint: way more fun than a Mexican jail).

He’ll tell you a bunch of stuff. Just don’t ask about the time he and Richards threw a television set out of a hotel room in 1972.

Have you ever heard of the term, "Spoiler Alert?"

In that case, BIG spoiler alert...

[newsok.com]

Bobby Keys remembers 40 rollicking years with the Rolling Stones
By Gene Triplett | Published: March 23, 2012

Bobby Keys claims he taught Keith Richards a thing or two about partying like a rock star.

But of course, the Texas-born sax man had a couple of years more road experience than the Rolling Stones guitarist, even though both men were born on exactly the same day, Dec. 18, 1943.

Keys has been at it since he was a teenager, having convinced his grandfather to sign his guardianship over to former Buddy Holly drummer J.I. Allison in 1961 so he could go on tour with fellow Texas rocker Buddy Knox of “Party Doll” fame.

Keys even spent some time raising a bit of hell on the Tulsa music scene before finally becoming an auxiliary Stone — and fast friends with that band's legendarily indestructible party beast.

“I taught that boy (Richards) tricks he never knew,” Keys said with a deep Texas drawl and a mischievous chuckle during a recent phone interview from his Nashville home. “No, I'd say we both exploited each other's strengths. We were pretty strong partiers.”

Keys tells (almost) all about his 40 years of touring and recording with the Stones, and the colorful years leading up to that association, in his new memoir, “Every Night's a Saturday Night,” cowritten with journalist Bill Ditenhafer with a forward by Richards.

It begins with his childhood and teen years in Slaton, Texas and nearby Lubbock, where he bribed his way into Buddy Holly's garage with burgers, fries and Cokes from the Hi-D-Ho Drive-In so that future pop star Holly and his band, the Crickets, would allow him to hang around and watch them practice.

Keys was raised by his grandparents in Slaton, but his aunt Aunt Leora lived in Lubbock, right across the street from Holly's parents' house. Holly was the first electric guitarist Keys had ever heard, and he was hooked like a little kid following the Pied Piper.

“It just stirred something inside of me,” Keys said.

As he grew into teen-hood, Keys became friends with Holly and the Crickets, particularly drummer Allison and bassist Joe B. Mauldin. The saxophone became Keys' instrument of choice because it was the only one unclaimed when he joined his school band, but he dedicated himself to learning how to play, seeing it as his ticket into the world of rock 'n' roll and R&B.

After Holly's short streak of success, which ended with his death in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959, the Crickets went on hiatus and Keys was spending more and more time in Lubbock, even living with Mauldin during his senior year in high school. The two eventually formed a band, the Hollyhawks, and were playing gigs as far away from home as Tucson, Phoenix and Albuquerque.

Then Knox, a native of Happy, Texas, who'd had a smash hit in 1957 with his original song “Party Doll,” told Allison he was looking for a sax player to take on tour with him. Allison recommended Keys and the young sax-blower kissed home and high school goodbye.

Right time, right place

He was immediately hooked on the road, which led to big cities such as New York, where his association with Knox landed him a recording session in 1961 with Dion, during which Keys recorded the sax accompaniment and solo on “The Wanderer.”

In 1962, Keys was once again in the right place at the right time in Los Angeles, when an old friend from Lubbock, now a songwriter in L.A., called Keys in as a last-minute replacement for a player who couldn't make a recording date. The kid found himself playing sax on the session for Elvis Presley's “Return to Sender.”

“I was a teenager, I was 18,” Keys said. “It's still one of the coolest things I've ever done.”

But later that year, Knox had to abandon the tour for family reasons, and Keys and the other band members found themselves stuck in Tulsa.

“We got sorta stranded there,” Keys said. “I remember we were playin' in a place called the Fondalight Club. … I was playin' with a guy named Jimmy Markham (singer, harmonica player), who still lives there to this day. Through Jimmy I met (fiddle player) Bill Boatman, (drummer) Jimmy Karstein and (bassist) Carl Radle and a whole bunch of people.”

This was a time when “the great Okie Musicians Migration to Los Angeles,” as Keys calls it, was well under way. Keys spent a few months playing clubs around Tulsa until Buddy Knox's booking agent got him a gig with a band that was going to back clean-cut teen idol Bobby Vee on Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars Tour, which also included Little Anthony & the Imperials, Freddie Cannon, Major Lance, the Shangri-La's and many others.

Stones connection

It was on that tour, when it stopped at the Teenage World's Fair in San Antonio in June 1964, that Keys first met the Rolling Stones. They were interested that Keys had known Buddy Holly, as the Stones' current single at the time was a cover of Holly's “Not Fade Away.”

Keys, in turn, was most impressed with Richards, because he reminded the sax-player of Holly.

In his book, Keys wrote, “even though they didn't look alike physically, they had a lot of the same qualities. They were both highly motivated people. I mean, Holly knew he was gonna make it … he had no fear. And that's what I saw right away in Keith Richards. It was one of those moments, like a chill-down-to-the-spine moment. He just had that same look in his eye.”

When the Dick Clark tour ended, Keys headed back to Tulsa, and ended up getting swept along in that “Okie Musicians Migration” to L.A., where “you couldn't throw a stick without hittin' an Okie — or maybe even two of 'em.”

“Man, they were in abundance,” Keys said. “They were all out there, I think, following my Texas buddies … Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Sonny Curtis and, of course, Snuff Garrett. Texans and Okies just seemed to get together.”

Keys recalls becoming a regular at “West Coast Okies Headquarters,” which was Leon Russell's house in North Hollywood, and that's where Keys connected with the beginnings of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett's band, which included Oklahomans Karstein on drums, Radle on bass, Johnny (later J.J.) Cale on guitar, and later Jim Keltner on drums.

It was through his stint with the Bramletts and his friendship with Russell that he met such British luminaries as Eric Clapton and George Harrison, which led to still more introductions — and gigs on record or onstage — with John Lennon, Joe Cocker (on the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour with Russell as band leader), Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon, Warren Zevon and Sheryl Crow, to name a few.

Branching out

He was finishing sessions in London on Harrison's “All Things Must Pass” in 1969 when he ran into Mick Jagger at a nightclub.

“He was wanting to maybe branch out the Stones stuff and they had a couple of songs that were oriented more toward Otis Redding and the Memphis-Stax sound, and he saw the opportunity for Jim (Price, Keys' longtime horn section partner) and I to play there and see if it was what he was lookin' for. Apparently it was.”

Indeed, it was the beginning of a long and beautiful creative and personal friendship with the Stones. There are a few anecdotes in Keys' book about “whenever Keith and I would get drunk and rowdy,” smoke hash and mess with “drugs and chicks,” and stories about living with Jagger early on, when the singer was a bachelor, and they “caroused around London together. What can I say? It was not a bad time. We were a couple of bachelors, especially a guy from Texas, ridin' around in a Rolls-Royce with this internationally-known son of Satan.”

But in his memoir, Keys goes easy on the “sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll” aspects of his career, concentrating more on the music he's made, and the people with whom he's made it over the years — particularly the people he's become closest to, such as Richards.

“I just got a fax from Keith yesterday. He started readin' the book, and he says he likes it better than his,” Keys said.

“He's the best son of a bitch I ever met in my life, you know, in every way. You can depend on him. He's honest. He does not lie. He does not bull - - - -. And besides, he plays guitar just about as good as anybody I've every played with. And I just like him. I like his spirit. I like his heart.”

These days Keys is keeping busy with his own band, the Suffering Bastards, but he's ready for his next call from his friend in this 50th anniversary year of the Stones.

“I feel that if they do another tour, whatever they do, there's a good chance I'll be there,” he said.

Gotta get this book.

Me, too. I was gonna pass it by for now....but this is far too tempting.

Just bought a copy off ebay,should be here in a week or so

Any reviews ??

The one where he says he was yelling to Jim Price what they were doing for the encore at Leeds? Naw, just kidding!! haha

I would love to hear his version of the groupie in a bathtub of Dom perignon story.

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scottkeef
The one where he says he was yelling to Jim Price what they were doing for the encore at Leeds? Naw, just kidding!! haha

Great line and love the use of thread cross referencing.

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tumblingdice

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scottkeef
The one where he says he was yelling to Jim Price what they were doing for the encore at Leeds? Naw, just kidding!! haha

Great line and love the use of thread cross referencing.

In that case what did Bobby think of Gram Parsons?

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71Tele

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tumblingdice

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scottkeef
The one where he says he was yelling to Jim Price what they were doing for the encore at Leeds? Naw, just kidding!! haha

Great line and love the use of thread cross referencing.

In that case what did Bobby think of Gram Parsons?

More importantly...
what do some people on IORR think that Bobby thought of Gram Parsons?
Some should start thread... "Bobby thought Gram Parsons was...... "

Please leave me outta that one this time....everyone knows that pathetic unprofessional , obnoxious , glorified bit player hanger-on junkie in a Texas jump suit really was only trying to get closer to Bill Wyman. ( this is obviously a JOKE SR) peace

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Naturalust
Please leave me outta that one this time....everyone knows that pathetic unprofessional , obnoxious , glorified bit player hanger-on junkie in a Texas jump suit really was only trying to get closer to Bill Wyman. ( this is obviously a JOKE SR) peace

LOL....

OH BOBBY!!! and all his bathtubs full of champagne!!!.... just trying to...




hehehhehe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-05 07:51 by Max'sKansasCity.

threads about Bobby Keys's book - spelling the man's name right makes searches easier:
[www.iorr.org]
[www.iorr.org]
[www.iorr.org]
[www.iorr.org]

Just read it and I love it. Only spoke to the man briefly a couple of times, but I will never forget the way he talked. When reading the book I could actually hear him talking and telling the story. Really had to laugh out loud many times while reading. It's really Bobby Keys talkin' to ya.

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Keep On Rolling

I read it. He contradicts a few things that I've read elsewhere...especially why he got kicked off the 73 tour.

More of a story about the usual drinking/drugging/losing it all and getting back. Pretty funny sometimes if you read it aloud in his voice.

I finished it last night. Great book. Just wish it had been twice as long. Interesting stories, indeed. Took him forever to get back in after leaving the Stones during the '73 tour. I feel after reading this it helps to explain why Mick Taylor left and MT said Bill Wyman was talking about leaving during this time. All in all better than a lot of other Bios that are out. "Life" is still the best. As I mentioned I just wish it had been longer. You will not be disappointed. Btw, I checked it of the local Library.

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Green Lady
These days Keys is keeping busy with his own band, the Suffering Bastards...

Woah, that's the best band name I've heard in awhile!

We all know the body of Keith is like a tank and has endured all kind of shelling.

But Bobby Keys is not far behind....and he has been overweighted most of the time...his heart seems made of iron.

Seems a fun read, a companion to Phelge's memoir au gross.

Pretty simple writing style, but a good read , along with Sam culter book and Nicky Hopkins bio.

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deeppurple
I feel after reading this it helps to explain why Mick Taylor left...

Hey now, you left us hanging - why did Mick Taylor leave?
1.) Cocaine
2.) Unwanted sexual advances from MJ
3.) His wife told him to
4.) All of the above

Well, that would be a bit of a spoiler. But, everyone knows why Bobby left. He felt he would not live to see the tour end. He was that deep into Drugs. MT was reaching that point. BK does not say that. MT has said it. He also said that he was under the impression that Bill Wyman was leaving. MT left and joined up with Jack Bruce. Only problem, JB was in deep with Drugs his self. Bill Wyman was tired of the way he was being treated. Glynn Johns has said that Keith was always tinking with Bill's Bass playing. He would wipe it and over dud his own playing or have someone else do it. He even wiped MT's BV's off of "Sway". Not to mention Ronnie's playing on "IORR." One thing I loved was about the different camps Mick's and Keith's. What Keith calls Chuck Leavell is funny. Not to Chuck. "SPOILER." "Boy Georgia." Keith does have a way with words...;-)

Easy read with some good insider stories from a guy who enjoyed life and lived it with some famous musicians. It is certainly worth reading, and like so many other books from musicians of this era it is the story of heavy drug use that becomes such a depressing thing to read about from these guys. Bobby properly defined the era of the sixties and seventies as the big party time. Lots of drink and drugs amoungst the musicans and the fans. Most of us survived but sadly too many didn't. It was a fun time to be on the planet and Bobby's book reinforces the idea.

Keys is featured on classics like the Wanderer and Return To Sender? I have a new-found respect for the man. Fascinating, totally. Anyone have a picture of him circa early-mid 60's?

So....let's hear 'em.





God I love The Wanderer:

Just finished the book and it was highly enjoyable. Really short but fun to read.

Even Bobby thinks he was on Return To Sender.

Since its one of the few songs that no outtakes have surfaced from, maybe Bobby played on an early take that eventually got replaced with Boots Randolph...

That ain't Bobby on the version we know and love...

I acquired a copy of this book and had Bobby sign it for me at one of his gigs three years ago. I have just now gotten around to reading and finishing it on what would have been his 72nd birthday.

The story about him playing on a Yoko Ono session is pretty funny.

Something I never realized and which never even occurred to me is that the New Barbarians are the only band ever to sell out Madison Square Garden without having ever released a record or even having a record deal. (I was at that show. It was the first time I saw Bobby play in person.)

It's surprising that in 266 pages he never once mentions his 1972 solo album.

It meant a great deal to him that of all the Rolling Stones sidemen, he was the one who always got the biggest applause during band introductions.

There are some truly spectacular inaccuracies, including Songs In The Key Of Life being described as Stevie Wonder's current LP at the time he toured with the Stones in 1972 (it actually wasn't released until almost 5 years later, in late 1976), but even this is nothing compared to an incredible 14-year historical discrepancy when Bobby says the Stones performed on the back of a flatbed truck to announce their 1989 tour.

It's far from being essential reading, even for the most ardent Rolling Stones fans, but it's a fun, enjoyable read and I don't hesitate to recommend it.

P.S. I definitely felt a twinge of sadness when I picked the book up after 3 years of having it gather dust, and saw the inscription in the front. I had asked Bobby to make it out "To Nick and Marlene." He said, "Dick?" I said, "No. Nick. To Nick and Marlene." He said, "Mick?"

I decided that it would have been extremely rude to correct him a second time. The inscription reads, "To Mick and Marlene."



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015-12-18 15:01 by tatters.

Thanks for the reminder tatters. I really enjoyed reading this book. About time to read it again.

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Keep On Rolling