beyond heaven

------------------- [excerpt / Keith Richards - Life] ------------------- The first time the Stones went to America, we felt we'd died and gone to heaven.

It was the summer of '64.

Everybody had their own little thing about America.

Charlie would go down to the Metropole when it was still swinging, and see Eddie Condon.  The first thing I did was visit Colony Records and buy every Lenny Bruce album I could find.

Yet I was amazed by how old-fashioned and European New York seemed -- quite different to what I'd imagined.  Bellboys and maitre d's, all that sort of thing.  Unnecessary fluff and very unexpected.  It was as if somebody had said, "These are the rules" in 1920 and it hadn't changed a bit since.

On the other hand, it was the fastest-moving modern place you could be.

And the radio!  You couldn't believe it after England.  Being there at a time of a real musical explosion, sitting in a car with the radio on was beyond heaven.  You could turn the channels and get ten country stations, five black stations, and if you were traveling the country and they faded out, you just turned the dial again and there was another great song.

Black music was exploding.  It was a powerhouse.  At Motown they had a factory but without turning out automatons.  We lived off Motown on the road, just waiting for the next Four Tops or the next Temptations.  Motown was our food, on the road and off. 

Listening to car radios through a thousand miles to get to the next gig. 

That was the beauty of America. 

We used to dream of it before we got there.

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{Life, by Keith Richards, with James Fox.  Copyright 2010, Little Brown.}

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