The song 'Imagine'

crimson I think Keith Richards is an eloquent man but the way he expresses himself verbally is bizarre - he does make me laugh, though. I remember him refusing to play at a concert for Princess Diana - 'dont know the chick, man!' His autobiography was written by him, with help from James Fox. I gather it was his own words, but some heavy proof-reading needed.

When we visited Memphis and went along Beale Street, where BB King and Eric Clapton often get together in BB's club, Keith Richards is revered as a brilliant musician. He is extremely knowledgeable about southern soul music.

Those 60s groups who changed the face of music for us teenagers in those days were fantastic. I saw the Yardbirds and many others at the Twisted Wheel in Manchester - that was the equivalent of places like the Crawdaddy and Eel Pie Island. How I would love to have been in nanaej's neck of the woods in those days - so exciting!

I think, jings, that anyone that does something really great does it when they're really young. But, I see what you mean...I've often referred to my 'Eleanor Rigby' face, especially during 'the divorce years'.

Whenim64; it's a really interesting book, isn't it [The Keith Richards one]. I read it when I'm looking after my grandson a couple of times a week, and find I can just dip into it and read a chapter completely out of sequence. I love the way he talks about music; how he learned so much from black musicians in the States in the early years..and how he talks about how he will play till the day he dies because he has to. I know it's dim of me, but I'd never realised how influential he was in the band. Remember the bit where he said they and the Beatles used to let each other know when they were releasing a single so they could take it in turns to be number one, and how John Lennon 'gave' him 'I Wanna be your man', realising that it was more of a Stones song than a Beatles one, and they'd do very nicely thank you very much with the royalties.Do you think it's all in his own words because it's very eloquent and well put together? We used to hear about Ronnie Wood when we used to stay in Ireland, because his house was just outside Naas, up the road from where we stayed b&b. absent; I loved The Yardbirds; had such a crush on Keith Relf. Still get their 'best of' cd out and have a quick blast.

Yes. How did they come to write Eleanor Rigby?

How could they know so much, so young!

Ringo Starr bought me a drink! I lived in Monaco and he and his wife used to frequent Flashman's Bar, where a lot of British expats hung out. We were introduced by one of my men friends, who was Operations Manager for Olympic Maritime, the Onassis company. Ringo was very friendly and happy to talk to anyone. So was Michael Crawford, but Oliver Reed was very unpopular.

I thought the lyrics for Eleanor Rigby were ground-breaking and very moving.
I was a teenager in the 1950's and most of our pop songs were just pap.
We danced in the aisles of the cinema to 'Rock Around the Clock' -I still think it is great for dancing!

Maybe we saw each other too! Great times! A girl in my year at school also went out with one of the Kinks! Can't remember which one!

nanaej Yes, saw the Stones at Eel Pie and the Yardbirds at the Crawdaddy.

I saw Adam Faith in the City.

Spent lots of Saturdays walking up and down Kings Rd or going to Carnaby St in the hope we'd see someone famous!! Eventually had to get a Saturday job so I could save up for the clothes I 'needed' , so that put an end to that!

Say what you like - the 60s were the best time of all for teenagers!

Yes I must have been about 14/15 ..just left a boarding school and attending local school in Kingston.. was a crazy time. Excited to have so much freedom after being a boarder! We were all under age for drinking and thought a port and lemon was the most sophisticated thing to order! Live music was cheaper and easier to see then! Also attended great music tours held at local cinema with loads of 'names' on the programme. Bought one ticket, someone would use it to go in then open the emergency exit and another three of us would go in!

Lucky you nanaej. That was such a special time - round about 1963/64?

Saw the Stones at Eel Pie island..anyone else?

They did write some great songs together, and the early Beatles stuff was great, until they started tripping on LSD and taking themselves a bit too seriously, but I was always a Stones fan - still am today. The Keith Richards biography is really interesting - so is Ronnie Wood's. There is a biography about the Stones by Philip Norman and I have my picture in there, along with hundreds of other fans (but I can see me and my friend) at a concert in 1965.

meant songs

How sad is this?When my sister and I were in our teens we used to listen to our Beatles LPs and play the game 'Who can cry first?'.It involved flopping in armchairs, playing the sings and seeing who could cry first!!!!!I could still win now with John singing 'In my life' !

I was never a great Beatles fan and certainly never liked Imagine, melody or lyric wise. However, I've been dipping into the Keith Richards autobiography and Lennon is one of two people that he rates as being totally obsessed with music; I'll try to dig the quote out next week. As for living in New York, it seemed to be the place for someone to go to who happened to be one of the most famous people on the planet, a place where he could lead some sort of 'normal' life. Sad how it turned out.

Second favourite blackbird

I love I'm only sleeping

Who needs mature?

Or Lucy the Sky with Diamonds. One of my granddaughters (five years old) sent me home with a picture for Mr absent. He is sitting on a cloud with coloured balloons. Maybe I should write a song…

It's a very childish picture, though, isn't it? Not very mature or sophisticated in its thinking – and musically rather dreary (though nothing like so awful as the egregious Mull of Kintyre by his erstwhile colleague)? I think I prefer I am the Walrus.

Now who's playing the flippin' innocent, jingl?

Actually, it's lovely.

And John was beeeeautiful!!!

greatnan he only asked you to imagine..not actually do it!
I still like the song and the sentiments. JL was an odd person not sure if I would have liked him if I had known him. I enjoyed the recent film about his early life..not sure how accurate it was though!