Jumpin’ Jack Flash Keith. You’ve Made It To 80!

Legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards Lives to Celebrate his 80^th Birthday. 

A Brief One from Doug Draper

Posted December 18^th, 2023 on Niagara At Large

Rolling Stones icon Keith Richards, the way he looks today.

I had a CBC television news network on this past Sunday, December 17^th when I heard one of the broadcasters say; “Keith Richards, guitarist for The Rolling Stones… and immediately I found myself thinking; “Oh no, he has died.

And why wouldn’t that be my first thought?

For us children of the 1960s, the music heroes we grew up with are now passing on at an accelerated pace.

There was Jeff Beck, guitarist extraordinaire with The Yardbards, Robbie Robertson, the guitarist and principle songwriter for The Band, and Charlie Watts, the drummer for The Rolling Stones, just to name a few who left us this year alone.

But thankfully, that broadcaster on CBC went on to say that Keith Richards has lived to defy the odds and is celebrating his 80^th birthday this December 18^th, which certainly seems remarkable given the tsunami of drugs, alcohol and tobacco smoke he ingested for so many of those years.

Indeed, Keith once said in an interview that he has lost count of the number of times in recent years that others have told him that when he dies, he should donate his body to science.

Keith Richards, the way he looked way back when.

Then there are all those dark jokes about him like one that goes something like this; “When the Earth ends, there will be nothing left but cockroaches and Keith Richards.”

I remember hearing the late great ragtime piano player and composer Eubie Blake once saying when he was about 95 years old; “If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”

The same line might now be used by Keith Richards.

On that note, Happy 80^th Birthday Keith! So Very Glad you are still around.

Finally, I could fill up a box set with the number of Rolling Stones songs I like the most, and I will leave you with one I feel fits the occasion. You can watch and hear a live performance of it, from the mid-1960s, by clicking on the screen below –

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