Thinking more about Keith Richards... and this time, not before I fall asleep, or when I'm thinking about my own mortality...

Here's a theory about why Keith's songs rock so much. Keith is a screw-up; the relationships, the alcohol, the drugs, the permanent residence on death's door. But he's the king of the screw-ups. He does it right, with aplomb and style. His best songs fall into one of two categories: I'm a screw-up and I'm sorry, but hey, you knew what you were getting into ("I said, from the first/ that I/ I am the worst..."), or I'm a screw-up and I'm looking for salvation ("I need a love that'll make me happy..."). They yearn for something. While you can plot the basic theme of his songs along the same line of the graph, the songs are at least introspective. Mick's songs, on the other hand, lack any sort of introspection. And that may have served him well in his younger days, when he had attitude and youth to back up his posturing, it doesn't fly in his 60s. Now he's just old, and he doesn't have the requisite sense of that we require of older artists (see: Dylan, Bob). Now it's just empty.

So that's my $.02. And that and a nickel will get you a cup of coffee. In the 1950s.