“We kicked Brian out of the band two or three weeks before he died.”

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” Mick [Jagger – red.] he basically wrote it himself. I remember him coming into the studio and saying he had a song. I asked if there were any verses and he said there were, but he didn’t know what they would sound like. He wrote it on guitar and it was more of a folk song back then. I had to come up with a rhythm, an idea… I tried different variants with the band and maybe it was Charlie who decided which direction to go. It’s all about experimenting.

We added the choir at the end, deliberately. Keep the chorus simple. In other words, let’s try to reach the people up there too. In a way it was a challenge. Mick and I thought we should have a choir, something like gospel, because we were playing with black gospel singers in America. And then we thought, why not invite one of the best choirs in England, all these great white singers, and see what we can get out of them. Untwist them a bit, rock them. “You caaan’t always… (You can’t always…)”. This combination turned out beautiful.

In early June, while we were working on these songs day after day at Olympic Studios, I turned the Mercedes I was driving with Anita upside down [Pallenberg – aktorką, ówczesną partnerką – red.]when she was seven months pregnant. Anita broke her collarbone. I took her to St Richard’s and within half an hour they had her patched up while I sat and waited – we were looked after by some really great people, but we walked straight out into the arms of Brighton Detectives.

They took us to Chichester police station and began interrogating us. For God’s sake, I have a pregnant woman with me with a broken collarbone. It’s 3 a.m. and they don’t give a damn. The more I deal with cops, especially British ones, I have to say there is something wrong with their training.

My approach probably wasn’t helping, but what was I supposed to do? Roll over on your back? Get lost. They suspected drugs. Of course there were drugs. They should check out the oak tree around the corner. They started with: “How did the car rollover? You must have been high.” Not really. On a corner near Redlands, the car’s red light came on and everything stopped working. Plumbing defect. The brakes and steering wheel didn’t work, he just slid onto the slippery grass and spun around. It was a convertible, so the three tons rolled supported by the windshield and the bars holding the tarpaulin. The miracle was that the windshield held. Only later did I learn that it was because the car was manufactured in 1947 from parts of German motorized infantry cars and armored steel. Immediately after the war, German scrap was lying around on the battlefields – they used what they had at hand for production. This steel was extremely durable. I just drove a tank with a canvas roof. No wonder they wiped out France in six weeks. No wonder they almost captured Russia. Motorized infantry vehicles saved our lives.

My body left the car. I watched what was happening from a height of four meters above the ground. Believe me, you can leave your body. I’ve been trying all my life, but this was the first time it happened to me.

I watched the car spin three times in slow motion, felt nothing, was very composed. Like an observer. No emotions. Forget it, you’re done. And before the lights went out… I noticed the car’s chassis and the diagonally connected bars that made it up. They looked very solid. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. You hold your breath for a very long time. I know Anita is in the car, and with another part of my head I wonder if she’s looking down at it too. I’m more worried about her than myself, because I’m not even in the car. I escaped to my mind, or where you escape to when things like this happen in a split second. But then, after three revolutions, the car hit the hedge and I was back at the wheel.

So Marlon survived his first car accident two months before he was born. It is therefore not surprising that he has never driven a car or obtained a driving license. Marlon’s full name is Marlon Leon Sundeep. Brando called while Anita was in the hospital to congratulate her on her role in Performance. “Marlon is a good name. Maybe we should call him Marlon?” The poor kid had to go through a religious ceremony when he arrived at the house on Cheyne Walk, rice and flower petals and chants and crap.

After Marlon’s birth, King’s College Hospital, London, August 10, 1969 Harris Rex USA /albatros promotional materials

Well, Anita is a mother, right? Who am I to disagree? Everything you wish for, Mother. You just gave birth to our son. So the Bauls of Bengal came, invited by Robert Fraser. Robert also ordered a bed, beautiful, small, that rocked. So his name is Marlon Leon Sundeep Richards. This is the most important. The rest is just an excuse.

*

Strange that after we had to pull the plug on Brian [Jonesa – założyciela The Rolling Stones – red.] in the studio three years earlier, lying unconscious on the floor next to a humming amplifier, he was still appearing on recordings in early 1969, the year of his death. Autoharp on “You Got the Silver”, drums on “Midnight Rambler”. Where did this come from? The last flare fired from a sinking ship.

In May we played with his successor Mick Taylor at Olympic Studios – he played in Honky Tonk Women, his overdubbing is recorded in this song for posterity. We weren’t surprised because he was an excellent guitarist. He seemed to naturally join the team. We all heard Mick and knew him because he played with John Mayall and Bluesbreakers. Everyone looked at me because I was the second guitarist, but my attitude was that I could play with everyone. We could only find out by playing together. Together we created great songs, some of the best in Stones history. His playing had everything – melodiousness, “holding” chords and the ability to read a song. It had a beautiful sound, full of emotions. He found what I was going for in front of me. Sometimes I listened to Mick Taylor in awe, especially when he played the Hawaiian guitar – try “Love in Vain”. Sometimes we were just strumming along, warming up, and I thought, gosh! Then the emotions came out. I loved this guy, I loved working with him, but he was very shy and distant.

I got close to him while we were working on songs and playing. When he loosened up he was very funny. But I always found it very difficult to find anyone more than Mick Taylor as I first met him. This can be seen on screen during “Gimme Shelter” – his face remains still. Somewhere inside he was fighting with himself. There’s not much you can do about it with guys like that, you can’t get them out. They must first overcome their own demons. He managed to reach him for an hour or two, during the evening or overnight, but the next morning he was lost in thought again. Let’s be clear, he wasn’t the life of the party.

Some people need space. You realize that you can spend a day with certain guys and you’ll learn everything you’ll ever know about them. The exact opposite of Mick Jagger.

*

We kicked Brian out of the band two or three weeks before he died. Things came to a boil and Mick and I went to Winnie the Pooh’s cottage. (Cotchford Farm, which Brian bought, had previously belonged to the writer AA Milne). We didn’t really want to go there, but when we got there we said, “Hey, Brian… it’s over, man.”

We were in the studio with Mick Taylor when we got the call. There is a minute-and-a-half-long recording of Stevie Wonder’s “I Don’t Know Why,” interrupted by a phone call announcing Brian’s death.

I knew Frank Thorogood, who confessed on his deathbed that he had drowned Brian Jones in the swimming pool, where his body was found minutes after several people had seen him alive. However, I am always suspicious of deathbed confessions because the only person present is the one to whom the dying person has to confess something – an uncle, a daughter or someone else. “On his deathbed he confessed that he had killed Brian.” It was true or not, I don’t know. Brian had severe asthma and was taking quaaludes and tuinal, after which diving in the pool is not the best idea. It’s easy to choke. He was under the influence of strong sedatives. He was very resistant to drugs, I admit. However, the coroner’s report stated that Brian suffered from pleurisy, an enlarged heart and a diseased liver. I can imagine a scenario where Brian was so obnoxious to Thorogood and the construction crew who worked on his house that they could play games with him. He dived and never resurfaced.

However, when someone states, “I killed Brian,” I would consider it a homicide.

Okay, maybe you stabbed him, but you didn’t mean to murder him. He was pissing off the builders, a whining bastard. But it didn’t matter whether the builders were there or not – he was at a point in his life where there was nothing left of him.

Three days later, on July 5, we played our first gig in Hyde Park in almost two years. For free. About half a million people came. It was great. The most important thing for us was that it was our first concert in a long time and we performed with a changed lineup. Mick Taylor played for the first time. We would play regardless of the circumstances. Of course, a statement had to be made one way or another, so we turned it into a concert in Brian’s memory. We wanted to say goodbye to him in style. It’s one thing to be up and down with a guy, but when his time comes, release the pigeons or, in this case, lots of white butterflies.

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