Out today (November 13th) is Keith Richards' deluxe reissue of his and the X-Pensive Winos' 1991 concert collection, Live From The Hollywood Palladium, which was recorded on December 15th, 1988. The limited edition box set and digital version includes three bonus tracks new to the set — the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You favorite, "Little T&A,” Richards' then-recent “You Don’t Move Me," and the Lennon & McCartney-written early Stones single, “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
"I Wanna Be Your Man," which John Lennon and Paul McCartney literally finished in front of the Stones in 1963 and offered it up to them as their second single, scored the band its first Top 20 UK hit. Despite all the reports of there being a rivalry — throughout the 1960's, the Beatles and the Stones were thick as thieves. During a new chat with USA Today, Richards shed light on his ongoing friendship with Paul McCartney: "We obviously didn't see a lot of each other because we're all on the road in those days, but I always treasured their friendship very much. Paul still sends me a case of beer every Christmas. It's Old Stinkhorn — it's his own brew, I believe."
He recalled Lennon & McCartney offering them "I Wanna Be Your Man": "I remember the day very well. For some reason, both bands were at this recording studio at the same time. They were just leaving and we were just arriving. Suddenly, John and Paul came over and said: 'Hey, guys, we've been thinking about you. We've got a song for you.' And so they took us in the back room and knocked it out on the piano. I was always surprised (it happened so easily). Because at the time, we did need a song — we weren't writing too many ourselves. So it was a beautiful gift from the lads. I've always been grateful."
Keith Richards was an immediate fan and friend of the "Fab Four." He admits that following manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s brief that the Stones become the opposite of the lovable “Mop Tops” was ingenious and important in separating the Stones from all the other British beat groups that followed in the Beatles wake: [“There was no competition between the bands, per se, y’know — but in the greater world, the Beatles were the “Fab Four,” y’know? As I say, that’s wearing the ‘white hat.’ So the only other (laughs) place to go is to wear the ‘black hat’ (laughs), y’know? And at the same time, we were pretty natural, and I think all we really did was, we didn’t ‘showbiz’ ourselves up.”] SOUNDCUE (:21 OC: . . . showbiz ourselves up)
