The Story Behind the Rolling Stones Classic That Keith Richards Created on Nine Days of No Sleep

At 81 years old, Keith Richards has lived at least nine lives. Frankly, some could argue that the number is far higher. Regardless, Richards is like a cockroach who survived a nuclear holocaust. He just doesn’t go away, and even though his habits suggest the opposite, they seemingly haven’t affected his health too extensively. Even one of the seemingly worst ones, which was a total and deliberate lack of sleep.

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As stated previously, there is something just super-human about Keith Richards. But even super-humans need to sleep, so maybe Richards is more than a super-human, as this man once went nine days straight without a single hour of sleep. Consequently, he created the Rolling Stones song “Before They Make Me Run” for their iconic album, Some Girls.

Sleep Is Not a Necessity for Keith Richards

Of course, there are very few humans in the history of the world who have been able to claim that sleep is not a necessity. Thus, nobody could seemingly keep up with Richards, and when he recorded “Before They Make Me Run,” it took him and two rotating producers to finish cutting the track.

Regarding the recording, Richards wrote in his book, Life, “One [engineer] would flop under the desk and have a kip, and I’d put the other one in and keep going.” “Nine days without a wink” and “I fell asleep standing up, eventually … I was just putting another cassette back on the shelf, and I was feeling great, and I turned ’round and fell asleep. I fell against the edge of the speaker. Woke up in a pool of blood, wondering, ‘Is that claret?’” Richards epically concluded.

Also, “Before They Make Me Run” didn’t seem like it was recorded by a sleep-deprived maniac. Matter of fact, when it was released in 1978, the single helped the album, Some Girls, peak at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

A mere mortal would never be able to create a song for a No. 1 album off zero hours of sleep, but as we know, Keith Richards is no mere mortal. Rather, he is a walking contradiction and a biological paradox. Frankly, he might be the secret to eternal life. And it makes sense, as he once told Rolling Stone, “Adrenaline is the most amazing thing we have.” To say the least, Keith Richards is a modern marvel and scientific anomaly.

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