Keith Richards turns 80 this December, and last week, during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM to promote The Rolling Stones’ new album, Hackney Diamonds, the rock legend discussed how he’s handling the aging process.
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As seen in a YouTube clip from the show, host Howard Stern admitted to Richards that he wasn’t doing well with getting older, to which the guitar great responded, “Nobody does well with it!”
Having said that, Richards noted that he still had plenty of energy.
“From that end of it, I feel perfectly fine,” he declared. “I feel no different [than when I was younger] … I can jump onstage now and do the show, you know?”
He continued, “It’s a process. Like … you never grow up. The moment you get to a certain [stage], you’re growing down,” adding with a laugh, “I’m waiting for the diapers.”
Of course, Richards had a notorious reputation for drinking and abusing drugs when he was younger, as well as being a heavy smoker, but he’s given up those vices in recent years.
Stern asked him which was harder to quit, smoking or the drink and drugs.
“Actually, I found … quitting smoking fairly easy,” Richards said. “It was just something … inside that said, ‘Now! You gotta.’ You know, you’ve got that inner force that says, ‘OK, this is no pussyfooting. You gotta [stop].’ And [quitting smoking was] comparatively easy. Far easier than booze.”
Also during the interview, Richards chatted about how The Beatles’ John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave The Rolling Stones a song they wrote, “I Wanna Be Your Man,” which became The Stones’ first Top 20 hit in the U.K. back in 1963.
Stern asked Richards why he thought that Lennon and McCartney were kind enough to give them one of their songs.
“I don’t know if it was [them being] kind,” Richards responded. “I think they felt that they and … we were part of something larger, and that England was finally coming out with something, and I think that they wanted to support us … They were big-hearted.”
McCartney, of course, remains on friendly terms with The Stones to this day, and he even has contributed bass to a song on Hackney Diamonds, “Bite My Head Off.”
As previously reported, The Rolling Stones played a surprise club show in New York City on Thursday night to celebrate Hackney Diamonds’ release. The band has now posted a brief video clip on their social media pages of Lady Gaga singing the new tune “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” during the concert.
Meanwhile, Richards will be a guest on NBC’s The Tonight Show this evening.
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
