Keith Richards: 'I Had a Sound in My Head That Was Bugging Me'

Turning 70 next week, he talks about 'Street Fighting Man'

By Marc Myers, WSJ
Dec. 11, 2013 2:03 p.m. ET

In late 1966, Keith Richards was hearing things. The Rolling Stones guitarist and songwriter had in mind a series of strong, bluesy chords and a melody line based on French police-car sirens. But he couldn't quite reproduce the way he envisioned it sounding—dry and crisp, with a "garage" feel. Then he purchased an early Philips cassette tape recorder and, using an acoustic guitar, created the basis for what would become "Street Fighting Man."

Recorded in March, April and May 1968 and released in the U.S. in August, the summer single from their album "Beggars Banquet," only managed to reach #48 on the Billboard pop chart—dwarfed by the band's #3 "Jumpin' Jack Flash." Nevertheless, "Street Fighting Man" featured one of Mr. Richards' now-famous chord riff intros and, with Mick Jagger's lyrics, became the Stones' first statement about the political unrest unfolding in Europe and marked the start of a new gritty phase for the band.

With the approach of his 70th birthday on Dec. 18, Mr. Richards talked about how he and drummer Charlie Watts crafted the song's minimalist acoustic sound, why Mr. Richards played electric bass and not Bill Wyman, and the special way he hit the strings to get his signature sound. Edited from an interview:

Keith Richards: "Street Fighting Man" is one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs—probably because the music came together through a series of accidents and experimentation. We recorded it in a totally different way than anything we had done up until that point and the results were pretty exciting and unexpected.

(More here.)