Keith Richards Honours His Grandfather

Keith Richards stopped by The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote his new children’s book, Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar.

The 70-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist told Fallon his grandfather “teased” him into playing the guitar by keeping one high and out of Keith’s reach, telling him that if he wanted to play it, he’d have to get it.

Richards told Fallon, “One day I was standing there in grandpa’s parlor with the guitar in my hand and he said, ‘How did you get that?’” Keith recalls when he told his grandpa he used chairs and a book to reach the guitar, his grandpa replied, “‘If you need it that much, let’s start learning a few things.’”

During the interview, Richards also recalled the circumstances surrounding the first song he and Mick Jagger wrote. The guitarist said the Stone’s manager at the time, Andrew Loog Oldham, told them they needed to start writing their own songs and locked the two in a kitchen until they came up with one.

“After 36 hours, and the kitchen was very barely stocked, so…we’re getting hungry and thirsty…Eventually we came out with ‘As Tears Go By,’” Richards recalled.

The Stones guitarist also told Fallon the story of when his idol, rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry, punched him out backstage after one of Berry’s concerts.

“His guitar was laid out in its case [and I said to myself] ‘come on Keith, just a touch. Just let me give it an E chord.’ [Berry] walks in and goes, ‘nobody touches my guitar.’” Keith said Berry then socked him. Richards ended the story by declaring, “And that’s one of Chuck’s biggest hits, baby.”

Richards’ new children’s book features illustrations by his daughter, Theodora, 29, who was in the studio audience. Fallon invited her onstage, where she presented the Tonight Show host with a drawing she sketched of him and Richards during the interview.