The Quiet One (2019) Movie Script
1
[silence]
[whistles]
Shall we do a mic test, Bill?
Well, I'll just talk
about that loud, don't I?
Not much louder.
It looks like it's got
quite a good level there.
Bouncin' about.
Yep.
Here we go.
[instrumental music]
Play simple.
You're leavin' space and holes
for people to fill in.
Not to get in the way.
Not to be really noticed.
'Cause if you did
the right thing
you don't get noticed.
And that's the way I play.
Very simple.
I am Charlie Watts.
I am the drummer.
I'm Brian Jones, the guitarist
and harmonica player.
Keith Richards, guitar.
Mick Jagger, s..
I sing...songs.
Bill Wyman.
I play bass...guitar.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"Paint It Black"]
I see a red door
And I want it painted black
No colors anymore
I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by
Dressed
in their summer clothes
[screaming]
I have to turn my head
Until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars
And they're all
painted black
With flowers and my love
Both never to come back
I see people
turn their heads
And quickly look away
Like a newborn baby
It just happens every day
I look inside myself
And see my heart is black
I see my red door
I must have it
painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away
And not have to face
the facts
It's not easy facin' up
When your whole world
is black
No more will my green sea
Go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee
this thing
Happening to you
You've always been
the silent Stone.
That's been the-- the image.
The great Stone Face, I know.
My love will laugh with me
Before the mornin' comes
[instrumental music]
People always ask me
why I collected things
and why I built an archive
like I did and still do.
This is my little capsule
of my life in here.
I suppose if you looked
at my bookshelves
you would sort of
understand me better.
I always thought it was
important to keep a record
of what was going on.
I've -- I've always
kept records
or information of things
since I was a-- a little boy
in the war.
[jazz music]
[alarm blaring]
I remember standing out
in the streets
with all the local families
and watching the formations
of German bombers going over.
It was just droning.
Just this sound.
There was
a German fighter bomber
roaring up the street
towards us firing his guns.
[gunfire]
As it passed,
I ran down the street
to where my grandmother
was waiting for me.
She grabbed me
and we ran to go down
the back of the stairs
to the air raid shelter.
[explosion]
[droning]
And then the silence.
You go back to the school,
and there were two little girls
who was in our class,
they weren't there anymore.
They got killed.
We go to that bomb site
where there used to be
about 16 houses
and find toys
and children's books
and then we'd get chased off
by the air raid men.
[instrumental music]
My grandmother
was like my mother.
I mean,
she taught me everything.
She was wonderful.
She started me
collectin' things.
All kinds of treasured
little things.
I was collectin' stuff
and I made a scrapbook.
And then I had to make
another scrapbook
and another scrapbook.
Then I have to get a trunk.
And it just kept goin'
on and on.
Whenever I came into contact
with anything
that I could claim was mine,
I kept it.
Throw it in the room here.
Throw it in the room.
I always wanted to be
a musician.
I always wanted to be
in a band.
And I know it was so impossible
and so unlikely
um, that I would be
that I just dismissed it
completely from my mind.
And, um, suddenly last year..
...I -- I re -- remembered,
you know, after all that time.
I suddenly remembered
that I'd always wanted to be
and now I was, you know.
It didn't mean a thing
to me anymore.
It was a big,
it was such a big ambition.
It was-- it was unobtainable
when I was little.
[instrumental music]
[indistinct chatter]
I was coming from one
of the worst streets in Penge.
It was like gang warfare
in those days.
Most of the boys
in Blenheim Road
ended up in borstals or prisons
and a lot of them went bad.
I was really quite ahead
of everybody
because of what my gran
was teaching me.
She did whatever she could
to bring me up.
My mom and my dad
were not that kind of people.
There was a emptiness,
a blankness in 'em.
All that working-class stuff
that children should be seen
and not heard.
You felt pushed aside
all the time.
I never really felt
like I had a home, you know.
I really didn't.
[school bell rings]
I went to a grammar school,
which was something special
you know, in those days,
um, coming from a slum street.
I was accused
of trying to be snobby
by my mates in the street
and also by my dad.
He always tried to insist
that I was working class
and I should never
try to change
because that's what I was.
My dad pulled me out of school
and the headmaster
wrote a letter to him.
I've got it.
I've got the letter.
And not only did he
pull me out of school
he did the worst thing
possible.
Put me to work
in a bettin' shop.
He said,
"You're gonna contribute
to payin' for the house."
Because he was a bricklayer,
and if he had bad weather
in the winter
he couldn't work.
I returned to live
with my grandmother
a number of times
because I just couldn't get on
with my dad at all.
[indistinct chatter]
I realized I was on me own.
Once my grandmother died
being loved kind of vanished,
really.
She died when I was away
and I just never..
...paid her back, really
for all the love and affection
she gave me
and I feel guilty about it.
When I was born, she picked me
up in-- in her arms
and said, "This boy's
gonna be world-famous."
And everybody laughed
including my mom, my dad,
my relatives.
They all thought
it was like a big joke.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"Not Fade Away"]
I wanna tell you
how it's gonna be
You're gonna give
your love to me
Give it up
for the Rolling Stones.
[singing "Around And Around"]
It sounds so sweet
The audience just stood
and sort of stared at us
because we didn't have
no uniforms
we didn't have
any matching guitars
and we played
this blues and R&B
which was alien to them.
And then this crowd goes
fucking apeshit.
Going round and round
Yeah reelin' and a rockin'
What a crazy sound
And they never
stopped rockin'
Till the moon went down
[cheering]
We were just so different
from any other band.
We played different music
to them.
We played in a different way.
We played it better than them.
Keith had all the licks off.
And then you got Mick up front
who's just all over
the bloody stage
with the maracas and
the tambourine and all that.
The greatest front man
there's ever been.
[cheering]
It was a special band
and we could blow
anyone off the stage
no matter who it was.
[cheering]
[instrumental music]
Bill had
a very individual style
that wasn't particularly
hip or cool
but he was his own person.
He had a tremendous presence
but he didn't impose
himself on you.
Stone Face,
I think people called him
or referred to him
as Stone Face.
He was rake thin
and when he smiled,
which wasn't that frequently
his whole face lit up
in a sort of great crease
of a smile.
And he always had an air
of world-weariness.
I remember seeing Bill
when we first rehearsed
up the road in a pub.
You know, he'd had a different
sort of upbringing.
He's locked into an era
that was before us, really.
So when we got on the road
I think it was like liberation
for him.
I went into the military
in '55.
Thank God I got the strength
when I was in the military
to be able to stand up
for myself
and fight for my beliefs.
Before that, I couldn't.
[droning]
[instrumental music]
[indistinct chatter]
I was posted to Germany.
When I got there,
I met this great guy
who was a genius footballer.
His name was Gordon Lee Wyman.
He was bit of a rebel.
All his clothes were scruffy.
And I kind of really
liked him for that
because we all had to dress
tidy and neat
otherwise we got a bollocking.
But he seemed to
get away with it.
[airplane droning]
He used to be
in the refuelin' trucks
and he'd open the top
when it was being refueled.
He'd be smokin' a cigarette
and he'd just throw
the cigarette in the fuel.
[chuckles]
He did insane things.
When he finished his fag,
he just dropped it in there.
[intense music]
He was like the first person
I kind of idolized
if you like.
He did things his way,
and I related to all that.
At the beginning of the Stones,
I decided to change my name
because I'd never liked
my name.
I officially changed my name
in '64 to Bill Wyman.
I felt such a relief
havin' a different name
and it just took a cloud
off my head.
My dad hated me for it.
He thought I was trying
to get away from my roots
which I kind of was in a way.
I mean,
it just changed my life.
I bought a fleck jacket
just to be different, really.
I'd have a Tony Curtis haircut
hanging down the center there,
you know, a curly bit.
People used to stare at me
in the street
and I was proud of that.
I was being an odd one out.
[radio static]
[indistinct chatter on radio]
At the barracks, the guys in
our room all clubbed together.
We bought a radio in town,
in Oldenburg, for our room
and at last we were able
to listen to whatever we wanted
mostly through
American Forces Radio, AFN.
We'd wake up at 5:30
in the morning
and listen
to "Stickbuddy Jamboree"
this fantastic country program.
A very big, big, happy howdy
to you out there,
friends and neighbors.
This is your old country buddy
Wagon Wheel Willie
comin' at you
on "Stickbuddy Jamboree."
Sit back and relax
and enjoy 25 minutes
of good country
and western recorded music.
[country music on radio]
Then, of course,
shortly after that
we heard the beginnings
of rock and roll.
[singing "Mystery Train"]
Train I ride
I could go
to the American PSI shops
and buy the first
little 45 records.
Train I ride
It was just like
brand-new music.
It just blew me away.
And I had to be involved in it.
I had to.
I went straight down
into the Oldenburg town
and I bought
my first acoustic guitar.
When I came out of
the military on leave
I went to the cinema,
the, uh, Regal Cinema
in Beckenham
with a couple of friends
and we saw this film
called "Rock, Rock, Rock!"
About halfway through,
I saw this trio
called Johnny Burnette
Trio who did this..
Lonesome train
...on a lonesome track.
Tum tum lonesome train
A bit like early Elvis.
I'm coming back
With all this, you know
his mouth a bit twisted
like Elvis and all that.
I thought,
"Oh, they're great," you know.
About ten minutes
further into the film
there's this black guy
with a little mustache
in a white suit
with a little
Gibson Les Paul guitar.
Do do do la da da
do do da la da da da
Chuck Berry.
[singing "You Can't Catch Me"]
And that just blew my mind.
My hair went on the back
of my neck.
I thought, "Fuckin' hell."
It just blew me away.
This guy was doin'
the duck walk across the stage
and shakin' his legs
and shudderin'.
And the audience are laughing.
They thought it was
a comedy show or something.
And I'm sitting there thinking
"This is the most
incredible thing
that's ever happened to me."
It was then that I thought
"Well, I've got
to form a band."
Get too close
you know I'm gone
Like a cool breeze
I'm out of the military
and that's when the Cliftons
came into existence.
Wee wee hours
We used to sit in my kitchen
with a little tape recorder
and just learn
all these basic songs.
Here come a flat-top
he was moving up with me
We used to play
all the hits of the day.
Um, for that,
we used to get a pound each
and a sandwich and a beer.
How long did it take you
to learn to play?
It was about --
[laughter]
Now give him a chance, please.
You can ask these questions,
everybody sends
somebody else up.
No one wants to say anything.
I just messed about
with a guitar at home.
About three years ago.
Three and a half years ago.
And eventually formed a group
and I had to play bass 'cause
nobody else did, did they?
- And then I --
- Why do you play bass?
Nobody else did.
Yeah, because
there's more guitarists
and less bass players.
I went to my sister's house
for the weekend
and we went to a dance.
And I heard the bass.
[blues music]
I heard the real bass guitar
for the first time.
The low sound just filled you
up right down there, you know
when everybody else
was playing up high.
And I thought,
"God, that's what's missing
in the Cliftons."
And I asked them all. I said,
"Steve, you wanna play bass?"
"No." "Cliff, do you
wanna play bass?" "No."
Fucking hell, I suppose
I better do it then.
He didn't have a bass guitar
because he couldn't afford
to buy one.
What he did was detune
two or three of the top strings
of an ordinary six-string
and he made..
What he made of it
was brilliant, you know.
And I think we may have
all clubbed together
to buy the bass guitar.
We bought it and it was
the most ugly, horrible thing.
I turned this bass over,
got some chalk
and redrew the body.
And I went down the road
to my friend
who had a fret work machine.
I said, "I want you
to cut all this out."
He went, "Are you serious?"
I said "Yes, cut it out."
[whirring]
Took it home,
put all new electrics in it.
[whirring]
I put another pickup in,
a Baldwin pickup.
Stripped it all down,
took all the frets out.
Then I had to buy new strings,
these framer strings
which were really
springy and soft.
And I bought this amplifier.
The fucking thing,
every time I touched it
I'd get electrocuted
because it didn't have
an earth or anything.
I'd just go, "Ah!"
I bought
an 18-inch Goodman speaker
the biggest speaker there was.
And when I played this bass,
Jesus, the sound.
[imitates bass guitar]
I mean, it was amazing.
Without knowing it,
I invented the fretless bass.
[Booker T & the MG's
singing "Green Onions"]
I heard "Green Onions"
by Booker T & the MG's.
Boom doom pa doom doom
Doom doom pa doom
pa doom doom
And I thought,
"That bass is great."
And I started to focus
on trying to play bass
like Duck Dunn.
That's who I learned
my basics from.
The way to play,
to leave space
don't be busy,
don't fill it up.
You're not a fucking
lead guitarist
you're a bass player.
Focus on what
the drummer's doin'
and play exactly
with the drums
so that you've got
a strong foundation there
that's solid, that everybody
else can build upon.
Can you handle it?
Handle it
Can you handle it
[instrumental music]
I'd done gigs
with some of the lesser-known
musicians of the time.
I did have a bit of
experience like that
but it was all rock and roll.
The stuff that we were
all listening to
they weren't many bass players
on any of those records.
And I remember seeing
Bill playing and thinking
"What, a bass player?"
And he looked like a Teddy Boy.
I thought,
"Where's he come from?"
You know, his bass playing
was fantastic.
Really unique.
Forming the Cliftons
was a breath of fresh air.
I'd fallen in love
with playing music.
We were doing all these gigs
and working hard
but the trouble was
those shite promoters.
They owed us so much money,
they just wouldn't pay us.
And so the bottom started
to fall out of the band.
Tony Chapman answered an ad
for a drummer
with an R&B band.
That night we went back
to Mick's parents' house
and they played Jimmy Reid
and various things
that I'd never heard.
I think they quite liked
the way I played
because I could play
the shuffle beat
which most people couldn't.
And then that's how I got to
play with the Stones, really.
Tony came to me and said,
"Bass player's left.
Do you wanna come up
to rehearsal on Friday?"
So I went up with him
and I had my big bass cabinet
in the boot of his car
stickin' out.
I took my homemade bass
and I went to the
Weatherby Arms in Chelsea.
I went in, and there they were,
Ian Stewart.
He was nice
when I went in there.
[indistinct chatter]
Mick was fairly sociable.
[instrumental music]
And Brian and Keith
just didn't speak to me.
They were up at the bar,
and they were really beatnik-y.
I bought them all
a round of drinks
and then they got
a bit more friendly
and -- and passed
the cigarettes round.
So, then they were sociable,
you know.
They didn't have any money
or anything.
They asked me
what music I liked
and what music I played.
So I said, "Well, Chuck Berry,"
and they went, "Great."
"Jerry Lee Lewis." "No!"
"Eddie Cochrane." "No!"
All the rock and rollers,
they didn't like any of them.
They said, "We're a blues band,
we're not a rock and roll band.
We don't play that shit."
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Mona"]
They'd already spoken
to Charlie Watts
so they fired Tony,
and Charlie said he'd join.
I kind of slotted in alright.
I said yeah
Yeah yeah yeah Mona
Oh Mona
I tell ya Mona
what I wanna do
I was a bit
of a rock and roller
more than anything else
and found that they were
playing pure blues.
Man
I mean,
really slow, slow blues.
You know I didn't enjoy
things that kings and queens
You couldn't buy
a bloody blues record
to save your life
in those days.
It was unheard of in England.
I remember saying to them
at that rehearsal
I said, "We can't play 12-bar
blues all fucking night."
Which I was totally wrong about
because we ended up
doing exactly that.
Within two months,
we were brilliant
and sounded fantastic.
And in 1963,
we played about 340 shows.
We traveled everywhere
in Stu's van.
He was a fantastic
blues piano player
and he looked after us
on the road for 22 years.
He was like
the sixth Stone, really.
Stu would turn around and say
"Okay, you three-chord wonders,
you're on."
Let's go fishin'
in the crawdad hole
One two three four
five and nine
I couldn't survive working
because we started to get gigs
out of London.
I said hey crawdaddy
I said hey crawdaddy
I said hey crawdaddy
Hey crawdaddy
I told my parents and friends
that I was gonna give up work
and go professional.
Every single person I knew said
"Don't do it.
Don't take the risk."
And I thought,
"Fuck it, I'm gonna do it."
Top British
rhythm and blues group
and the best new group,
the Rolling Stones.
[audience cheering]
I didn't think of it
as progressin' anywhere
really big.
It was the most excitin' thing
in my life.
The sound we had,
no one compared
with that sound in those days,
no one.
I started to collect
the little bits and pieces
as we traveled.
If I was very lucky,
I grabbed a little poster
and someone would give me
a photo they had taken.
And it just slowly escalated
into this mountain.
You know, it is all
a bit of a haze to me.
I mean, if I wanna know what
I did for certain in those years
I have to ask Bill Wyman,
you know.
- Who keeps the archives.
- Yeah.
Bill was the first guy
to have a computer.
He'd have his videos
and they'd be all stacked up.
I bet he's probably got them
even now.
He had movie cameras
before everybody.
I took reels of film.
Twenty years of home movies
on the road.
The biggest ambition we had
was to play in a club
and have people like
what we were playin'.
We never dreamed
about making a record.
It never crossed our minds
that we would ever
be on TV or radio.
Pie in the sky to think
we might go abroad sometime
because we were playin'
uncommercial music.
We were playin' pure blues
and the only place we could
play it was in jazz clubs.
Suddenly, we got a followin'
and it blossomed from there.
Glyn Johns, who was
in that band, The Presidents
said to us,
"I work at IBC Record Studios.
I can get you three hours
recording time."
We went, "What?
Make a record?"
I'd seen the Rolling Stones
and I thought
they were really good
and I thought,
"There's definitely
a commercial opportunity here."
So I approached
the studio owners and said
"Can I bring these people in
and see what we can do?"
And they said, "Yes,
on the condition that you have
"absolutely nothing to do
with getting the deal.
We'll do the business."
[instrumental music]
I took the Stones in
and that was their first
recording session.
We cut four things, I think.
Bill and I argue about this.
I thought it was only three,
but he says it was five.
He's probably right
because he's got it
all written down somewhere.
We went
and we cut five tracks.
The guy who owned the place,
Harold Clewson
took them around
to Decca and EMI and Pi
and nobody liked them.
And we thought that was the end
of our recording careers.
It started to happen
when Andrew Oldham signed us.
I'm proud of most things I did.
Just, whether the proudness
remains
is whether they happen
or they don't happen.
Um, the biggest thing
naturally is the Rolling Stones.
Andrew said he saw the sex
emanatin' from us
and, you know,
and all this sort of bullshit
the way Andrew talks,
which was fantastic
'cause he was a genius.
Bill, I didn't pay
much attention to
and he knows that.
Because of being
deeply superficial
I judged books by their cover
and he seemed to be
much more of a Duane Eddy
Johnny and the Hurricanes
type of guy to me
than a, than a Bo Diddley guy.
Bill might have had moments
where he thought
not that his life was over,
but his life was set.
And then along came
the Rolling Stones.
The phone rings
and it's Andrew Oldham saying
"Can I speak to Terry O'Neill?"
So I speak to him.
He said,
"Can you do what you did
for the Beatles
for the Stones?"
I said,
"Well, I'll give it a try."
And that's when
I first met Bill.
I took the pictures back,
and the picture editor said
"God, they look like
five prehistoric monsters."
It was a mania
with the Beatles
whereas with the Stones,
it was an appreciation.
It became a cult.
[instrumental music]
Alright then, this is
the Rolling Stones interview
for the fan club,
December, Christmastime.
Mick, Bill and Charlie.
When did you first get mobbed?
Do you remember that word?
- Yeah.
- Well, that's a good question.
I don't remember, you know.
It was like something,
I remember --
- I do.
- Oh, well, Bill, okay, go on.
He remembers everything.
I'm trying --
We, the first time
we got mobbed..
- Go on, where was it?
- This doesn't happen anymore.
It was about a third of the way
through
the Everly Brothers tour.
- Really?
- Up in the north.
It was either
in Manchester or Liverpool
one of those places.
Um, where we were actually
attacked for the first time
when we tried to get out
of the theater.
[crowd cheering]
Okay, here we go.
And now I'd like
to introduce to you
the fabulous Rolling Stones.
[cheering]
We'd go on stage
and go jan-ta-jan
and the whole crowd
would pour on stage
and that was the end
of the show.
Two chords, end of the show.
And if we got through three
songs, it was, like, amazing.
[instrumental music]
Sometimes they put police dogs
on each end of the stage
to stop the kids getting on.
The police dogs went nuts.
[dogs barking]
The only way you could get out
of the theater in time
when you played the last chord
of the last song
the curtains closed
and they had to play
"God Save The Queen."
[crowd cheering]
[instrumental
"God Save The Queen"]
And the audience had to stand
there for those two minutes.
And that was the two minutes
we had to get off the stage
down the corridors,
out of the building
into the police van
or whatever it was
the Black Mariah
or the ambulance
or the newspaper van
we were using
to be inconspicuous.
And gone.
Sometimes we didn't get out
in time
and then we just got mashed.
And then we went abroad,
fucking hell.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"Street Fighting Man"]
Please fasten your seatbelts
and do not smoke.
Everywhere I hear the sound
Of marching
charging feet boy
'Cause summer's here
and the time is right
For fighting
in the street boy
Well now what can
a poor boy do
Except to sing
for a rock and roll band?
'Cause
in sleepy London town
There's just no place
for a street fighting man
You talk about being worn out
but you've never been
as worn out
as we were the other week.
On Wednesday, the 15th
we left Munich
and flew to West Berlin
and that's where
the story really starts.
We arrived at the airport.
They said we'll hold
a press conference.
We got in,
started the press conference.
We were there five minutes,
and the kids
are breaking the doors down
and everything
and the police kept
bringing reinforcements in
to hold the doors
and everything at each end.
The chief of police
came over and he said
"We can't hold 'em any longer.
You'll have to go."
So we had to run out and fight
our way through to the bus
and then the bus had to fight
its way through the crowd.
And away we went with an escort
of about six police cars
and about twenty helmeted
and armed police on motorbikes.
Unbelievable, you know.
I never had my movie camera
with me.
I'm so annoyed
that I missed it, you know.
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Route 66"]
Well if you ever plan
We were over the moon to hear
that we were gonna go
to America.
Just take my way
That's the highway
that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66
The Beatles,
they made it in America.
The Rolling Stones
were made by America.
One started to be able to watch
with all of them
some magical development
as they were able to record
with their feet
touching the land
that created their passion.
You had to break every town
and every state.
You were right
in the middle of it.
Oklahoma City looks
oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo
Let's run one down.
Rolling master A.
Master A, take one.
[instrumental music]
Going to Chess
was like a pilgrimage.
We knew that that's where
most of our idols recorded.
Bo Diddley,
Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf.
We hoped we could get
the right sound
that we weren't being able
to get in the UK.
And we did.
We played
their blues music brilliantly
and that's what shocked them.
- What's your ambition now?
- To be a musician.
I'm not -- I'm not a musician.
I just play in a band, you know.
Well I'm a king bee
Buzzing around
There was something about
Bill's bass lines
in the Stones.
It was the first thing
you'd hear
the thing
that was most hooky about it.
It was so precise
and so contained, you know.
It wasn't gettin' away
with itself.
It was just right.
The best informed
are the best players
and I think
Bill's one of those.
It's never been pop.
It's been rock and roll
but it's been informed by blues
which is
the magical combination.
Bill is like no other
bass player I've ever heard.
He has an incredibly simplistic
approach to what he's doing.
And I think that's just
Bill's complete lack of ego
as a musician, really.
It's very often
not what you play
but what you don't play,
what you leave out
that makes a distinction
as to your abilities, really.
We can make honey
The world has never seen
There were a lot of these
really technically brilliant
bass players that can play me
off the stage any time.
To me, they just sound like
lead guitar players.
So busy that there doesn't seem
much room for anybody else.
Sting-a-been
[indistinct chatter]
The key for me
is Bill and Charlie together.
When they play together,
it's extraordinary.
The power of the two of them
is greater than the four.
Just that magic chemical
combination of feel.
I just wanna
make love to you
Really easy guy.
And a really good bass player.
Very, very unassuming
bass player.
And some of the records
that we made
he's quite brilliant on.
Fortunately, the pair of us
made a living
out of doing it together.
We were always referred
to as the straightest
rhythm section
in rock and roll.
[indistinct chatter]
Bill, how did this,
uh, come about?
This, uh, with writing
miserable articles
about the Stones?
Did this originate in Europe?
It started when we started
in England, you know
but, um, by now in England
everybody knows
what we really are like
so they don't write things
that are untrue, you know.
The Beatles are loved
by pretty well everybody
from the moms
down to the teenagers.
It seems to me that
you're either loved or hated.
Everything we did
was so alien to the norm.
They just did not get it.
Why we didn't succumb
to being showbiz-y.
All the other bands
would succumb to doing
what they're told
just for that bit of publicity.
We didn't need it, we avoided
publicity in the end.
It was us against the world.
It really was.
We were just refusing
to conform.
If a kid wants
to let his hair grow long
or he wants to wear rags,
or he wants to play a guitar
or do anything,
or kick a ball in the street
it's nothing to do with us.
If he likes to listen
to our music, that's great
if he wants to come
to a concert.
But apart from that,
we didn't believe
we had any responsibility.
I always thought he didn't
like me being in the Stones
'cause he never
said anything nice.
He was always moaning about it.
I just don't think
that generation could get
into their head that
their kids could be successful
in something
that wasn't a normal job.
So when I succeeded
playing music
a -- and doing better than them
it was out of order,
wasn't it?
But my mom did tell me
on a couple of occasions
when t -- they were in the pub
uh, when someone
was going on about
"Stones, dirty lot,"
he would stick up for us.
He'd tell them
to mind their own business.
And so he did it
without my knowledge
but he never did it to my face.
But he wasn't
that kind of a person.
I mean, looking back,
I don't blame him
because he -- he had
a terrible childhood.
A really terrible childhood.
Everything was changin'
in those early '60s.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"19th Nervous Breakdown"]
You're the kind of person
you meet at certain
Dismal dull affairs
Center of a crowd
talking much too loud
The music, art, fashion.
Suddenly,
girls were wearing miniskirts.
It just went
right across the board.
And though you try
you just can't hide
All the clubs
started to appear in London.
You'd bump into the Beatles
or the Animals or the Hollies.
Ah, they were just everywhere.
You just moved
from one to the other
and sometimes
you saw live acts.
You'd go
and see Benny King somewhere
and then you'd see
Lee Dorsey somewhere else.
I'm at the Scotch of St. James,
I met Otis Redding
and talked to him
for about half an hour.
You know, when you met
those people in those days
they were like gods to me.
I think a lot of it
had to do with the music
and then the birth pill
all them British movies
it was coming from everywhere.
It was sort of a hurricane
and we were coming
in the middle of it.
Your father's
still perfecting ways
Of making sealing wax
You better stop
Me and Brian used to go out
to the clubs
and pick up girls.
They used to camp outside
the hotel on the grass.
You know, of course,
I jumped at it
and it just became part
of my life after that.
It became a habit just through
honestly, loneliness
and just wanting affection.
And these girls
were affectionate.
[crowd cheering]
There was probably
an addiction to sex
because I wasn't addicted
to drugs
and I wasn't addicted to wine.
My first marriage,
it never worked.
It was down
to the same old thing
of marrying the girl
next door was the phrase.
Getting married
got me out of the family.
Of course, it did,
out of the home.
It was hard
coming home to my wife
who obviously knew
what was going on.
But then I found at one time,
she had a relationship going.
I mean, obviously,
I don't blame her.
And then you end up
with a child out of the blue
and you just stay together
for the sake of the child
which is always
the worst thing you can do.
Until I finally got divorced.
She insisted
that she would take Stephen
to South Africa with her,
which really hurt me.
But then I thought, "Well,
it's better that he grows up
with one parent
in a normal way of life."
If it isn't with me,
then it has to be with her.
I'll get Stephen to say
something to you.
Just a minute.
Come and say hello to Dave.
Come and say hello to Dave.
- Hello.
- Say hello, Dave.
- Hello.
- Say how are you?
How are you?
I will see you soon. Bye-bye.
He came back
in the summer of '68.
And when I saw the state
he was in, I was shocked
because he was complainin'
of toothache
he was thin,
he didn't look well at all.
So I refused to return him
to South Africa.
And then I had to fight for him
and a divorce.
I went to the court
and the judge gave me custody,
which was a miracle.
And from that day on,
I brought Stephen up.
I broke up from my wife.
Astrid, my girlfriend,
moved in with me.
I'd met her by then.
We arrived at this gate
and a gardener came
with a shotgun broken off
and said, "What do you want?"
And we said,
"Is this Gedding Hall?"
And he said, "Yes."
And I said, "We understand
that the place is goin' up
for sale tomorrow.
Could we have a look?"
And he said,
"Well, the owners are not here
but I'll show you
'round the outside."
And I saw this
unbelievable house
which I just couldn't believe.
Oh, God,
it was extraordinary.
The owner was Jeff Allen.
He took me into the lounge
for a cup of tea
and I saw a 10 by 8 photo
on the top of the TV
of Ronnie,
Reggie and Charlie Kray
saying "Love to Jeff
from the boys."
"Uh, what's that, Mr. Allen?"
He says,
"Oh, they -- they're the Krays.
They're friends of mine.
They're nice lads."
I found later
that he was a godfather
and he would invest their money
in country houses and stuff
but that's another story.
I asked him how much he wanted
for the property
and it was 45,000 pounds.
After being a top band
for five years
we didn't have money.
Money always seemed to vanish.
Jeff, bless him, did a deal
and let me have it
for a price I could afford.
He said, "I'll tell you what.
"I admire you.
You're a self-made man like me.
"I come from the east end of
London, you come from London.
It's yours."
It's a wonderful place.
I mean, my soul is there,
I think.
I'm never happier
than when I'm there.
So when the drug busts
were coming in '67
I was just reading it
in the press.
Mr. Jagger
accused of allowing his home
at West Wittering
to be used for the purpose
of smoking cannabis resin,
better known as hashish.
And after the three-minute
hearing, Jones came out
through the back of the court
and drove away
crouching down
on the rear seat of a car.
I honestly didn't know whether
who was gonna be in jail
what week and who was gonna be
in the studio.
I didn't want anything
to do with drugs.
I didn't confront it with them.
I just ignored it,
stepped away from it
and got stuck
into what I wanted to do.
I was avoiding
facing their problem
because it wasn't my problem.
So I was living two lives,
really.
Once, I had a puff
of some bloody joint they had.
Apparently, it had
elephant tranquilizer in it.
I went down this corridor
and there was someone coming
towards me
that I kind of vaguely knew
so I stopped
and chatted to them
for about 10 or 15 minutes.
And then I looked up again
and it was me.
I was looking in the mirror.
And I thought,
"I don't fucking need this."
I have to have my feet
on the ground.
I can't go floatin' off.
The emptiness underneath me
terrifies me.
I've got a phobia about it.
Most people think
there's something else
on the other side of the street
which they're not experiencin'
and so they wanna go there
and try it out, don't they?
So if you look at any band
and I mean any band
from the mid '60s
you've got losses. Every band.
Searching for something
that really ain't there.
Brian was a typical example
of that.
I was really sad
when Brian started
to, uh, fall to bits basically.
We'd be in LA
and we'd go out to the clubs
and he'd be on LSD.
And he -- he'd be getting out
the limo and going
"Oh, look, there's snakes
all over the ground."
He'd be jumping about
all over the ground.
Fucking hell, Brian. You know,
"The ceiling's on fire."
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it certainly is, Brian.
I just used to let him
get on with it, but, um
he would go off
on those tangents a lot.
He was thrown out of the band
and he died a month later.
Charlie phoned me up.
He just said, "Brian died."
I couldn't believe it,
you know.
The press was so bad
at the funeral.
I mean, everybody's around
the grave, you know
and they're -- they're putting
the coffin in and all that
and the, the preacher's
reading -- reading out
and, like, all his family
and relatives
are all, like, tranquillized
and everything.
Everybody's crying and upset.
There's thousands
of fans everywhere.
And there's kids
running up to you
asking for autographs, you know.
And, uh, there's press guys
with cameras everywhere
like all leaning over you
and getting snaps in the..
Oh, man, it was really sick.
There's...movies going
and all that, you know.
There was no respect at all.
And when he went,
it really sort of got me bad.
Somebody a bit special.
That planned Hyde Park concert
ended up being a bit
of a memorial to Brian
because of his death
two days earlier.
An English park
on a Saturday afternoon
July 5, 1969.
There must be 200,000 people
here, youngsters.
In about another hour,
I should imagine
there will be a quarter
of a million.
And it was extraordinary
that day.
[crowd cheering]
Alright!
[singing "I'm Yours
And I'm Hers"]
You know I'm yours
and I'm hers
Somebody else's too
You know I'm yours
and I'm hers
It was Mick Taylor's
first show with us.
That must have been
a staggerin' thing for him.
The first gig with a band
and you're playin'
half a million people.
From every direction
I looked at
there were just heads
and it was just like a carpet
of different colored hair.
That's what
I could explain it as.
The whole day was wonderful.
There was no -- no violence,
no fights, no drugs, no..
It just went like a dream.
That autumn, we set off
on a tour of America
with Mick Taylor
and it was a wonderful tour.
The future of the band
was looking very healthy
and positive.
You didn't have so much
of the screamin'
or very little of it,
and people were listening.
And then came Altamont.
We wanted to repeat
Hyde Park in America
as a thank you
to the US fans.
Okay, it's definitely on.
The Rolling Stones
are not going to appear
at the, uh, raceway in Sonoma.
They've decided now they're
going to hold the concert
with the Grateful Dead,
the Jefferson Airplane, Santana
and, of course, the Rolling
Stones at Altamont Speedway
which is halfway between
Tracy and Livermore.
What you do
is you catch Highway 80..
I don't really like
talking about Altamont
'cause it was such
an awful, awful, awful event.
The violence
just never stopped.
And we kept trying to stop it,
and we knew if we just
walked off the stage,
it'd probably be worse.
So we hung on
and tried to cool people out
and it didn't work.
Four people in the audience,
uh, died
one of them from stab wounds,
and the argument goes on
about how and what
is to blame for that
or how that could have been
prevented, I should say.
Sometimes
things get out of control
and you can't do
anything about it.
It was the death of the '60s,
that's what they called it.
The death of the '60s.
It was, really.
It was the time when the Stones
could have just died
and they nearly did.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"You Can't Always Get"]
By 1970, we all owed
around about 100,000 pounds
to the Inland Revenue
which we thought had been paid.
Tax with the labor government
was between 83 and 93%.
There was no way
we could possibly
earn enough money
to pay it back.
I saw her today
It was impossible for us
to stay in England
and so we had to go to France.
A glass of wine
in her hand
And then, of course, we became
the very first tax exiles.
I knew she was gonna meet
her connection
It was difficult.
We're probably
the most robbed band ever
but you learn, don't you?
You can't always get
what you want
I mean, some bands have
one shot, they got nothing
that's the end of it.
They don't have the chance
of moving on
to improve their situation.
You can't always get
what you want
But I hated leaving England.
I hated it.
But we were told
there was no alternative.
[plane whirring]
When I left that mornin'
and I left my mom and dad there
and my son, Stephen
I was tearful,
and I really didn't wanna go.
Fair share of abuse
I was sure I wasn't gonna like
living in France.
[instrumental music]
People thought we all went
and lived in the same house.
[chuckles]
We had to look
for somewhere to record
because, you know,
we needed a new record.
And in the end,
we never found anything.
We have to go
to Keith's house to do it.
Keith insists,
otherwise Keith ain't ever
gonna go to the session,
you know.
That's where we recorded
Exile On Main Street.
We did it in the basement
of his house.
It was a sad time
because everybody just got
absorbed in takin' drugs.
I didn't want it.
I didn't want anything of it,
apart from the music.
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Hip Shake"]
I wanna tell you
about a dance
We were in this basement,
which was like an oven.
And there's pictures of us
lying on the floor, you know.
Whatever inconveniences,
whatever things were impossible
to deal with sometimes,
it worked.
We were dynamite.
Un -- unbeatable, really.
Title five, take one.
[instrumental music]
Last week, New York City
finally got to see
and hear the Rolling Stones.
We were the last stop on a tour
that I'm sure most of you
have heard about.
Would you ever do
30 cities again
in that amount of time
if it were up to you?
As long as I get a holiday,
you know.
There's never been so much
energy as on this tour.
If the Stones broke up
I don't wanna start any rumors
'cause there aren't any
but if they did,
say, next week after this tour
what would you do?
You know, I always tried
to live a normal life
when I would finished recording
or finished touring
or finished the concert
or whatever it was
I'd go back
and try to be normal.
We managed to build finances
and be able to pay our taxes
and still have money.
And then, of course,
it opened me
to a whole new life here.
[instrumental music]
You've got a lovely suntan.
This presumably is, uh,
south of France suntan
because that's where
you're living now, is it not?
Yeah, that's my French look.
What do you do when you're
there apart from sunbathe?
In France, there are
so many different people
to -- to mix with
and, uh, I meet
with quite a lot of them
and going to art exhibitions,
all kinds of stuff.
It's really nice.
And I did meet Andre Verde
who was the one
that introduced me to artists
and poets and writers
and sculptors.
And you would go
to the little dinners
in the local restaurants.
It became
a lovely little family.
And then I met Jimmy Baldwin,
fucking hell.
I met him at the Colombe d'Or.
I'd go to his house
and I realized how much
he loved Ray Charles.
And I didn't know a lot
about Ray Charles.
I'd seen a Ray Charles concert
with Keith and Charlie
in '64 in England.
I said to Jimmy, "Can I borrow
some of your Ray Charles'
records?"
He said, "Yeah."
He said, "I'll bring them
up to your house."
And, God,
over the next few days
I just played
Ray Charles nonstop
and he became my favorite
musician of the 20th century.
Then Andre Verde invited me
to go to Marc Chagall's house.
"You mean Marc Chagall,
the painter?"
He said, "Yeah, yeah."
He was absolutely wonderful.
He said, "Your long hair,
not original, change it."
I said, "But we were
the first band with long hair."
He said, "Oh, that's okay then.
Then you are the originals."
[chuckles]
I was friends with him for the
last eight years of his life.
I got to know
the -- the simple way he lived.
You don't avoid
all them little things.
They're all part of living,
aren't they?
Of course, then you enjoy
the bigger things better
if you deal
with the little things.
[chopper whirring]
[crowd cheering]
[audience clapping]
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Brown Sugar"]
So what's the purpose
of doing the tour?
Oh, I got fed up with gardening.
Oh, man, the Rolling Stones
are just it, you know.
What do you mean?
They're the greatest
rock and roll band in the world.
Gold Coast slave ship
bound for cotton fields
Sold in the market
down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows
he's doin' alright
Hear him whip the women
just around midnight
Brown sugar
how come you taste so good?
Brown sugar
Just like a good boy should
Yeah yeah yeah woo
Just like a
just like a black boy should
[fireworks]
On a personal sense, Bill,
is it difficult
in -- in some respects
being a Rolling Stone
in terms
of -- of the pressure that --
That's difficult for a start,
but carry on.
In terms of the pressure
in the sense
that that brings on you
as an individual?
There's a lot of difficulties,
uh..
I think the main difficulty
in being a Rolling Stone
is to pursue
your other interests.
[Bill Wyman singing
"Monkey Grip"]
I did the first solo album
of a Stone in '73
called Monkey Grip.
Good old monkey grip
monkey grip
Monkey grip monkey grip
I was regarded as bass player
of the Rolling Stones.
I was not expected
to be anything else
or to do anything else.
You really had to go out there
and try to prove yourself.
You did an album back in '74
with Buddy Guy
uh, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
who were two of the original
Chicago Blues Brothers.
I was just asked to get
a rhythm section together
to play with them
at the Montreux Jazz Festival
in Switzerland.
I got this phone call
from Claude Nobbs.
He said,
"I'd like to invite you
"to the Montreux Jazz Festival
"because I've got Muddy Waters
"and he hasn't got
a band or anything.
"Do you think you could put
a little rhythm section
together?"
We just loaded up,
and I drove to Switzerland.
Gonna make pretty women
Jump and shout
Then the world wanna know
What's this all about
But they'll know I'm here
Everybody knows I'm here
Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
are sittin' on the side
listenin' to us and Buddy says,
"Can you be our support band?"
I said, "Yeah, yeah."
The thing that I think
I would do
Ooh no one will never know
We went there
to back up Muddy Waters.
So I needed that bass player
to fill every missed note
which I still do.
Every note I missed, I wanted
him to...fill in for me
'cause I was missin'
a lot of notes back then.
Somebody like him can get
the word out faster than I can.
People still look at those guys
as the greatest rock and roll
band that ever played.
[cheering]
[instrumental music]
Glyn Johns rings up and says,
"Bill, are you interested
in doing a session tomorrow
for me?"
He says, "I need you
to play with Howlin' Wolf."
I went, "What? Howlin' Wolf?
Bloody hell, put me in.
Who else is on?"
And he says,
"Well, I've got Charlie."
And I thought, "Oh, fantastic."
"And Eric Clapton.
It will be the three of you."
I went, "Oh, God almighty.
I'd love it, yes."
Well I got
a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
And so I went down the next day
met up with everybody
and said hello to Wolf.
Bloody hell.
I was saying hello to my hero.
Alright, let -- let everybody
get together then
and we'll try to make it.
Wolf had a voice
that, uh, nobody else had.
Oh, man, come on, he..
He ain't got nothin' to do
but count off.
Alright, let's get on it.
It was wonderful to do it
with Wolf and meet his family.
He was a lovely man,
he was so gentle.
He was this gentle giant.
He was terrifying to look at
and to be around.
Those moments are there
to be caught.
But you're bloody lucky
most times if you catch 'em.
Too lazy to crow for day
We got the message
from the office
that Mick Taylor said
I've left.
Fuck, now we were just
gonna start recording.
We haven't got a fucking
guitar player, you know.
Tune up room session.
Ah!
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Star Star"]
Baby baby
I've been so sad
It finally came down to trying
to borrow Woody for the tour.
Borrowing him from the Faces.
Where you do belong
He was a nice catalyst
between me and Charlie
and Keith and Mick.
Ronnie was like the clown that
sort of linked it all together.
If I ever get back
to Fun City
Girl I'm gonna make you
scream all night
What is it
after so many years of touring
that -- that keeps you going?
I don't know.
Just playing together.
All -- all the memories
and all the places, the people.
Uh, I can't --
I can't explain it.
It's just good
to get on the stage
and play in front of people
who wanna listen to you.
[singing "When The Whip
Comes Down"]
Mama and papa told me
I was crazy to stay
I was a fag in New York
I was gay
In July '78,
I tripped on some cables
and fell about 6 or 7 feet
with my guitar
and was knocked out.
Everybody else had gone
and then suddenly realized
that I was nowhere around.
So people came back
and just saw my silver boots
stickin' out
through the curtain.
And for the rest of that tour,
I had to play
with two central fingers
strapped up.
'81, we toured America.
Massive tour of America,
it was wonderful.
[crowd cheering]
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Miss You"]
'82, we toured Europe.
Same thing.
Also massive and wonderful.
I've been holding out
so long
I've been sleeping
all alone
Girl I miss you
And then nothing happened.
Mick and Keith started arguing
and fighting about
God knows what.
We never played a gig
for seven years.
In the meantime, I started
to look out for myself.
[instrumental
"Je Suis Un Rock Star"]
Great, let's break
and, uh, have some tea
and then we'll come up
and listen to it again
all the way through, shall we?
That's good.
That sounds really good to me.
Everybody wants to do a solo
album, but not seriously.
So I sat down
and, uh, started writin'.
I -- I made up
little cassettes at home
on this terrible
little tape recorder I've got
not a ReVox
or anything sophisticated.
When I did "Je Suis Un Rock
Star," everything went crazy.
Je suis un rock star
Je avais un residence
Je habiter la
A la south of France
Voulez vous
Partir with me?
And come and rester la
with me in France
Playing the single now.
That is Bill Wyman, "Si, Si,
Chay Suis Un Rock Star."
Am I saying that right, Bill?
"Je Suis Un Rock Star."
I am a rock star, yeah.
I don't believe it.
I mean, I'm not serious.
Currently in Europe,
your single is, uh
in the top ten, right?
In -- In England?
Yeah, it's gone top 15
in every country so far
and I'm really pleased with it.
I'm very naively excited
about having a hit record
just like I was in '63
with the Stones.
It's -- it's like Christmas.
Je avais un residence
Tell me, Bill, is it different
when a superstar goes
to the men's room
than for your average
ordinary person?
Um, yeah.
What's the difference?
- You have a super pee.
- Super pee.
[instrumental music]
Everybody thought
that our life was so romantic
and wonderful and exciting
and all that.
It was for two hours,
if you were on stage.
The rest of the time
was boredom.
It's very difficult
to keep your sanity, actually.
You moved away
from all your friends.
You were always traveling.
You're always on the road,
you know.
So it's forever changin'.
Nothing's kind of permanent.
There was no time.
I mean,
you looked around suddenly
and you hadn't seen
your cousin Peter for two years
and even brothers and sisters
you almost lose touch with
because you're -- you're livin'
in a different world.
I got this invite
to go to this event
and there was all these people
dancing in the front.
I saw this beautiful girl
with her hair up.
I spoke to her and found
her name was Mandy Smith.
It was from the heart.
It wasn't from, like, lust
or anything like that
which people was seeing it as.
[indistinct chatter]
Bill, were you in any way,
were you in any way hesitant
having been a bachelor boy
for so long
or free -- free spirit
for so long
were you very hesitant about
taking the months
of marriage again?
No, I always thought
she was the right girl
from the moment I met her,
but it was just the wrong time.
She was too young.
I thought she had to go out
and see life a bit
before she could make
that kind of a decision.
He is the rebel Rolling Stone
but their wedding blessing
today
could not have been
more traditional.
They both said
they wouldn't feel married
without the formalities
of a church service.
And those they had,
right down to the confettis.
When we first met each other,
actually.
When, like, years ago,
we wanted to get married
but obviously we couldn't.
The things work out in the end
if they're right
and we always thought
it was right since the beginning
and, uh, here we are.
I was really stupid to ever
think it could possibly work.
Two sad marriages, really
and I decided it was time
I got my fucking life in order.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Fire.
[crowd cheering]
Start me up
If you start me up
I'll never stop
We hadn't played one show
from '82 to '89.
So it was
a coming together again
but I saw it as a grand finale.
We did five Wembley Stadiums
we did six Shea Stadiums
in New York.
We went to Japan
for the first time.
We played the Tokyo Dome,
45,000 people
ten shows one after the other.
It was fantastic.
[whistling]
I can't get no
In Prague,
we played to 130,000 people
because they came from Poland
and Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
All in all, those three tours
we played 120 shows
seven and a quarter
million people.
It was extraordinary.
Supposed to fire
my imagination
I can't get no
We finished that tour.
I just sat back
and I thought this is
a nice time to end my career
with the Rolling Stones,
on a big high.
So I left.
[instrumental music]
All those 31 years
with the band
I -- I absolutely loved
what we did
loved what we achieved.
But I needed to sort out
my personal life and my future.
There's a very happy bird
up there.
[chuckles]
[instrumental music]
It's fantastic.
They're really cute
little butterflies.
Love is such
a wonderful thing
When you need it
Look around for it
Love is such
a wonderful thing
Go on, you go.
You've got a better memory
than me on those days.
- Oh, yeah. Why?
- The romantic moments.
Yeah, why do you forget
all the romantic moments?
I do. I -- I remember
all the other stuff.
You remember all the facts,
but you forget
all the romantic moments.
Yeah.
Suzanne and I met in 1979
and she became the inspiration
for "Je Suis Un Rock Star."
- Can you see me in there?
- Can you say famous?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Hi.
We are cliche.
I was a model,
he was a musician.
He was with a photographer,
I was quite bored at the party
and I thought
I should probably go up
and talk to this photographer.
And Bill started to chat me up
and I started to -- to talk
about music
askin' him why
he was so interested in music.
And I felt kind of bad
that I didn't recognize him.
And that's Matilda.
We got you.
Can we use your paintbrushes?
I guess so.
It's a bit late now, isn't it?
Oh, we'll have to get
these eggs.
When we decided to get married,
it was to have a family.
He wanted to start life
over again.
He just wanted to have
a normal life.
He wanted to be able
to walk down the street
and be able to go
to a movie theater
without being bothered.
He just wanted to know
what that felt like.
Yeah, so.. Shh.
[laughs]
When we got married
and when we had the kids
it gave him time.
I think time is his foundation
and he wants to use
all this time
in a very productive way.
He just has this need
to almost relive
what he experienced
and put it
in some sort of order
and find out who he really was
and what he'd gone through.
So he started to dig out
the old boxes
scannin' things..
...and really started
to look at it
as a life's work ahead of him
that he had to complete.
I think when he works on the
archive, it inspires him.
It's almost like
he has a treasure
and he wants to share it
with someone else.
[instrumental music]
And I decided
to play music again.
[blues music]
Forming the Rhythm Kings
enabled me to play
with a whole variety
of wonderful musicians
and dig into the roots
of -- of music
finding a lot of early stuff
which had been forgotten about
and reviving it.
[blues music]
Do you mind, sir,
putting that down?
We can't have that
going on here.
[instrumental music]
[indistinct chatter]
The atmosphere on the bus,
it's like, uh, it's a family.
He likes being around players.
He likes the jokes.
All his life,
he's been a working player.
Bill is the kind of artist
who wants to do the music
but he doesn't necessarily
have to have
all the adulation for it.
He's playing his music
for himself.
You have to have that courage
to take that other road
to be yourself,
to find yourself
because you can get lost
in this road to stardom.
I mean, you really can,
and that's all you have
and then maybe at the end
of your life, you're like
"Wow, I wish I had,
you know, taken a few moments
to stop and smell the roses."
And I don't think that
Bill will ever say that.
I think he has been able to not
only smell them but name them.
[chuckles]
To have gone through
that life experience
and still be very rooted,
really the child of the 1940s
I mean, you're looking
at old England with this guy.
People only really
get bothered by fame
or it disturbs them is
when they start acting famous.
I don't think Bill
ever started acting famous.
I can get by on things we do
and, uh,
some better than average
better than some
and worse than some.
But, uh, you can always learn
and you never become as good
as you'd like to.
I don't think,
no matter what you play.
[Ray Charles singing
"Georgia On My Mind"]
Georgia Georgia
Ray Charles was playing
at the South Bank.
And halfway through the concert,
Ray Charles decides to do
"Georgia On My Mind"
on the piano
and he dismisses the band
and the Raylettes and everyone
and he's by himself
on the stage, and he starts..
Georgia da da da Georgia
And it was so emotional.
The whole audience,
4000 people in tears.
With Ray Charles,
and I thought
"No one, no one
gets an audience like that,
you know, except him."
It was amazing. And, uh, anyway,
the concert finished.
See, I get emotional
because it was so fantastic.
It finished, and the people,
and my friends said
"Can we go backstage
and meet him?" And I went..
[clicks tongue]
I said, "Musicians, they don't
really like people
"coming backstage when
they've just come offstage.
"They're exhausted, and they're
tired, and they're sweaty
and they just wanna have a break
and all that."
So I said,
"No, I'd rather not."
They said, "Alright, but just
stay here until the audience go
and then we can go
quieter out."
While we were waiting there,
someone came
from backstage,
and they came over and said, um
"Mr. Charles knows you're here
and he wants to invite you."
Because you admire him
more than any other musician
don't you, yeah?
[chuckles]
[clears throat]
You know, it was,
it was a fantastic moment.
- Just wait a minute.
- It's okay.
Ah! Leave it a minute.
[clears throat]
So..
Yeah, he, uh..
We went backstage and met him.
He was...fantastic.
- I can't do it, sorry.
- Anyhow, they asked him..
Ray Charles asked him
if he would play
on his next album and --
- And I chickened out.
- He just said how could I --
I said, "I'm not good enough."
That's what he.. Yeah.
You just, well, you didn't
say it to his face --
- I did.
- Did you really?
- Yeah.
- Oh, my God.
I didn't know that.
- Yeah.
- And what did he say?
He was, we -- we spent half
an hour in his dressing room.
He's absolutely fantastic.
And then he said that.
He said, "Would you like to play
on my next album?"
I said, "I'm not good enough."
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
Almost every bass player
I've ever met
is always a big guy
with huge hands.
When I was a little boy,
you know
all my heroes
were the little guys.
I think there's something
about being the little guy
you always wanna prove
that you can still do it
against the big guys
and that's the drive.
And it's been my drive
all my life.
[instrumental music]
You make your own way,
don't you?
You just head in directions
that you think are good
at the time.
Something magical happened.
Something unusual.
Something rare.
Which shouldn't have really
happened to a working-class boy
from South London,
and it's bizarre.
It's a bizarre life I've had.
Bill Wyman.
I play bass...guitar.
I think we're done here,
aren't we?
[Rhythm Kings singing
"Tell You A Secret"]
Tell you a secret
You gotta keep it hid
Tell you about a woman
And the things she did
She took my money
And she took my pride
I'm gonna tell you a secret
I got nothing to hide
Because I'm moving on
down the line
I'm gonna leave
that no-good woman
Get that devil woman
off my mind
I'll take
the moonlight special
Moonlight special
Gonna do it right
Yeah the moonlight special
Moonlight special
And travel overnight
I'm going up the country
I'm going up the country
Where I can't be found
Find a hideaway and keep
my ear close to the ground
Yes I'm moving on
down the line
I'm gonna leave
that no-good woman
Get that devil woman
off my mind
Aww tell me
She's a mean mistreater
Mean mistreater
And she treat me bad
Treat me bad
She's a robber
and a cheater
Robber and a cheater
She's got me mad
Got me mad
Gonna wash that woman
Gonna wash that woman
Right out of my mind
Right out of my mind
I'm gonna leave that woman
Gonna leave that woman
Leave that woman way behind
'Cause I'm moving on
down the line
I'm gonna leave
that no-good woman
Get that devil woman
off my mind
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Gonna keep it hid
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Ooh about the things
she did
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Gonna keep it hid
Shh.
Early in the morning
about the break of day
That's when
my baby ran away
Crying and pleading
won't do no good
Come back baby
I wish you would
I love you girl
I can't help myself
Oh aah
Go
Yeah
Oh
Goodnight.
Everyone,
this is Rhythm Kings.
Goodnight to you all.
[audience cheering]
[silence]
[whistles]
Shall we do a mic test, Bill?
Well, I'll just talk
about that loud, don't I?
Not much louder.
It looks like it's got
quite a good level there.
Bouncin' about.
Yep.
Here we go.
[instrumental music]
Play simple.
You're leavin' space and holes
for people to fill in.
Not to get in the way.
Not to be really noticed.
'Cause if you did
the right thing
you don't get noticed.
And that's the way I play.
Very simple.
I am Charlie Watts.
I am the drummer.
I'm Brian Jones, the guitarist
and harmonica player.
Keith Richards, guitar.
Mick Jagger, s..
I sing...songs.
Bill Wyman.
I play bass...guitar.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"Paint It Black"]
I see a red door
And I want it painted black
No colors anymore
I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by
Dressed
in their summer clothes
[screaming]
I have to turn my head
Until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars
And they're all
painted black
With flowers and my love
Both never to come back
I see people
turn their heads
And quickly look away
Like a newborn baby
It just happens every day
I look inside myself
And see my heart is black
I see my red door
I must have it
painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away
And not have to face
the facts
It's not easy facin' up
When your whole world
is black
No more will my green sea
Go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee
this thing
Happening to you
You've always been
the silent Stone.
That's been the-- the image.
The great Stone Face, I know.
My love will laugh with me
Before the mornin' comes
[instrumental music]
People always ask me
why I collected things
and why I built an archive
like I did and still do.
This is my little capsule
of my life in here.
I suppose if you looked
at my bookshelves
you would sort of
understand me better.
I always thought it was
important to keep a record
of what was going on.
I've -- I've always
kept records
or information of things
since I was a-- a little boy
in the war.
[jazz music]
[alarm blaring]
I remember standing out
in the streets
with all the local families
and watching the formations
of German bombers going over.
It was just droning.
Just this sound.
There was
a German fighter bomber
roaring up the street
towards us firing his guns.
[gunfire]
As it passed,
I ran down the street
to where my grandmother
was waiting for me.
She grabbed me
and we ran to go down
the back of the stairs
to the air raid shelter.
[explosion]
[droning]
And then the silence.
You go back to the school,
and there were two little girls
who was in our class,
they weren't there anymore.
They got killed.
We go to that bomb site
where there used to be
about 16 houses
and find toys
and children's books
and then we'd get chased off
by the air raid men.
[instrumental music]
My grandmother
was like my mother.
I mean,
she taught me everything.
She was wonderful.
She started me
collectin' things.
All kinds of treasured
little things.
I was collectin' stuff
and I made a scrapbook.
And then I had to make
another scrapbook
and another scrapbook.
Then I have to get a trunk.
And it just kept goin'
on and on.
Whenever I came into contact
with anything
that I could claim was mine,
I kept it.
Throw it in the room here.
Throw it in the room.
I always wanted to be
a musician.
I always wanted to be
in a band.
And I know it was so impossible
and so unlikely
um, that I would be
that I just dismissed it
completely from my mind.
And, um, suddenly last year..
...I -- I re -- remembered,
you know, after all that time.
I suddenly remembered
that I'd always wanted to be
and now I was, you know.
It didn't mean a thing
to me anymore.
It was a big,
it was such a big ambition.
It was-- it was unobtainable
when I was little.
[instrumental music]
[indistinct chatter]
I was coming from one
of the worst streets in Penge.
It was like gang warfare
in those days.
Most of the boys
in Blenheim Road
ended up in borstals or prisons
and a lot of them went bad.
I was really quite ahead
of everybody
because of what my gran
was teaching me.
She did whatever she could
to bring me up.
My mom and my dad
were not that kind of people.
There was a emptiness,
a blankness in 'em.
All that working-class stuff
that children should be seen
and not heard.
You felt pushed aside
all the time.
I never really felt
like I had a home, you know.
I really didn't.
[school bell rings]
I went to a grammar school,
which was something special
you know, in those days,
um, coming from a slum street.
I was accused
of trying to be snobby
by my mates in the street
and also by my dad.
He always tried to insist
that I was working class
and I should never
try to change
because that's what I was.
My dad pulled me out of school
and the headmaster
wrote a letter to him.
I've got it.
I've got the letter.
And not only did he
pull me out of school
he did the worst thing
possible.
Put me to work
in a bettin' shop.
He said,
"You're gonna contribute
to payin' for the house."
Because he was a bricklayer,
and if he had bad weather
in the winter
he couldn't work.
I returned to live
with my grandmother
a number of times
because I just couldn't get on
with my dad at all.
[indistinct chatter]
I realized I was on me own.
Once my grandmother died
being loved kind of vanished,
really.
She died when I was away
and I just never..
...paid her back, really
for all the love and affection
she gave me
and I feel guilty about it.
When I was born, she picked me
up in-- in her arms
and said, "This boy's
gonna be world-famous."
And everybody laughed
including my mom, my dad,
my relatives.
They all thought
it was like a big joke.
[crowd cheering]
Yeah.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"Not Fade Away"]
I wanna tell you
how it's gonna be
You're gonna give
your love to me
Give it up
for the Rolling Stones.
[singing "Around And Around"]
It sounds so sweet
The audience just stood
and sort of stared at us
because we didn't have
no uniforms
we didn't have
any matching guitars
and we played
this blues and R&B
which was alien to them.
And then this crowd goes
fucking apeshit.
Going round and round
Yeah reelin' and a rockin'
What a crazy sound
And they never
stopped rockin'
Till the moon went down
[cheering]
We were just so different
from any other band.
We played different music
to them.
We played in a different way.
We played it better than them.
Keith had all the licks off.
And then you got Mick up front
who's just all over
the bloody stage
with the maracas and
the tambourine and all that.
The greatest front man
there's ever been.
[cheering]
It was a special band
and we could blow
anyone off the stage
no matter who it was.
[cheering]
[instrumental music]
Bill had
a very individual style
that wasn't particularly
hip or cool
but he was his own person.
He had a tremendous presence
but he didn't impose
himself on you.
Stone Face,
I think people called him
or referred to him
as Stone Face.
He was rake thin
and when he smiled,
which wasn't that frequently
his whole face lit up
in a sort of great crease
of a smile.
And he always had an air
of world-weariness.
I remember seeing Bill
when we first rehearsed
up the road in a pub.
You know, he'd had a different
sort of upbringing.
He's locked into an era
that was before us, really.
So when we got on the road
I think it was like liberation
for him.
I went into the military
in '55.
Thank God I got the strength
when I was in the military
to be able to stand up
for myself
and fight for my beliefs.
Before that, I couldn't.
[droning]
[instrumental music]
[indistinct chatter]
I was posted to Germany.
When I got there,
I met this great guy
who was a genius footballer.
His name was Gordon Lee Wyman.
He was bit of a rebel.
All his clothes were scruffy.
And I kind of really
liked him for that
because we all had to dress
tidy and neat
otherwise we got a bollocking.
But he seemed to
get away with it.
[airplane droning]
He used to be
in the refuelin' trucks
and he'd open the top
when it was being refueled.
He'd be smokin' a cigarette
and he'd just throw
the cigarette in the fuel.
[chuckles]
He did insane things.
When he finished his fag,
he just dropped it in there.
[intense music]
He was like the first person
I kind of idolized
if you like.
He did things his way,
and I related to all that.
At the beginning of the Stones,
I decided to change my name
because I'd never liked
my name.
I officially changed my name
in '64 to Bill Wyman.
I felt such a relief
havin' a different name
and it just took a cloud
off my head.
My dad hated me for it.
He thought I was trying
to get away from my roots
which I kind of was in a way.
I mean,
it just changed my life.
I bought a fleck jacket
just to be different, really.
I'd have a Tony Curtis haircut
hanging down the center there,
you know, a curly bit.
People used to stare at me
in the street
and I was proud of that.
I was being an odd one out.
[radio static]
[indistinct chatter on radio]
At the barracks, the guys in
our room all clubbed together.
We bought a radio in town,
in Oldenburg, for our room
and at last we were able
to listen to whatever we wanted
mostly through
American Forces Radio, AFN.
We'd wake up at 5:30
in the morning
and listen
to "Stickbuddy Jamboree"
this fantastic country program.
A very big, big, happy howdy
to you out there,
friends and neighbors.
This is your old country buddy
Wagon Wheel Willie
comin' at you
on "Stickbuddy Jamboree."
Sit back and relax
and enjoy 25 minutes
of good country
and western recorded music.
[country music on radio]
Then, of course,
shortly after that
we heard the beginnings
of rock and roll.
[singing "Mystery Train"]
Train I ride
I could go
to the American PSI shops
and buy the first
little 45 records.
Train I ride
It was just like
brand-new music.
It just blew me away.
And I had to be involved in it.
I had to.
I went straight down
into the Oldenburg town
and I bought
my first acoustic guitar.
When I came out of
the military on leave
I went to the cinema,
the, uh, Regal Cinema
in Beckenham
with a couple of friends
and we saw this film
called "Rock, Rock, Rock!"
About halfway through,
I saw this trio
called Johnny Burnette
Trio who did this..
Lonesome train
...on a lonesome track.
Tum tum lonesome train
A bit like early Elvis.
I'm coming back
With all this, you know
his mouth a bit twisted
like Elvis and all that.
I thought,
"Oh, they're great," you know.
About ten minutes
further into the film
there's this black guy
with a little mustache
in a white suit
with a little
Gibson Les Paul guitar.
Do do do la da da
do do da la da da da
Chuck Berry.
[singing "You Can't Catch Me"]
And that just blew my mind.
My hair went on the back
of my neck.
I thought, "Fuckin' hell."
It just blew me away.
This guy was doin'
the duck walk across the stage
and shakin' his legs
and shudderin'.
And the audience are laughing.
They thought it was
a comedy show or something.
And I'm sitting there thinking
"This is the most
incredible thing
that's ever happened to me."
It was then that I thought
"Well, I've got
to form a band."
Get too close
you know I'm gone
Like a cool breeze
I'm out of the military
and that's when the Cliftons
came into existence.
Wee wee hours
We used to sit in my kitchen
with a little tape recorder
and just learn
all these basic songs.
Here come a flat-top
he was moving up with me
We used to play
all the hits of the day.
Um, for that,
we used to get a pound each
and a sandwich and a beer.
How long did it take you
to learn to play?
It was about --
[laughter]
Now give him a chance, please.
You can ask these questions,
everybody sends
somebody else up.
No one wants to say anything.
I just messed about
with a guitar at home.
About three years ago.
Three and a half years ago.
And eventually formed a group
and I had to play bass 'cause
nobody else did, did they?
- And then I --
- Why do you play bass?
Nobody else did.
Yeah, because
there's more guitarists
and less bass players.
I went to my sister's house
for the weekend
and we went to a dance.
And I heard the bass.
[blues music]
I heard the real bass guitar
for the first time.
The low sound just filled you
up right down there, you know
when everybody else
was playing up high.
And I thought,
"God, that's what's missing
in the Cliftons."
And I asked them all. I said,
"Steve, you wanna play bass?"
"No." "Cliff, do you
wanna play bass?" "No."
Fucking hell, I suppose
I better do it then.
He didn't have a bass guitar
because he couldn't afford
to buy one.
What he did was detune
two or three of the top strings
of an ordinary six-string
and he made..
What he made of it
was brilliant, you know.
And I think we may have
all clubbed together
to buy the bass guitar.
We bought it and it was
the most ugly, horrible thing.
I turned this bass over,
got some chalk
and redrew the body.
And I went down the road
to my friend
who had a fret work machine.
I said, "I want you
to cut all this out."
He went, "Are you serious?"
I said "Yes, cut it out."
[whirring]
Took it home,
put all new electrics in it.
[whirring]
I put another pickup in,
a Baldwin pickup.
Stripped it all down,
took all the frets out.
Then I had to buy new strings,
these framer strings
which were really
springy and soft.
And I bought this amplifier.
The fucking thing,
every time I touched it
I'd get electrocuted
because it didn't have
an earth or anything.
I'd just go, "Ah!"
I bought
an 18-inch Goodman speaker
the biggest speaker there was.
And when I played this bass,
Jesus, the sound.
[imitates bass guitar]
I mean, it was amazing.
Without knowing it,
I invented the fretless bass.
[Booker T & the MG's
singing "Green Onions"]
I heard "Green Onions"
by Booker T & the MG's.
Boom doom pa doom doom
Doom doom pa doom
pa doom doom
And I thought,
"That bass is great."
And I started to focus
on trying to play bass
like Duck Dunn.
That's who I learned
my basics from.
The way to play,
to leave space
don't be busy,
don't fill it up.
You're not a fucking
lead guitarist
you're a bass player.
Focus on what
the drummer's doin'
and play exactly
with the drums
so that you've got
a strong foundation there
that's solid, that everybody
else can build upon.
Can you handle it?
Handle it
Can you handle it
[instrumental music]
I'd done gigs
with some of the lesser-known
musicians of the time.
I did have a bit of
experience like that
but it was all rock and roll.
The stuff that we were
all listening to
they weren't many bass players
on any of those records.
And I remember seeing
Bill playing and thinking
"What, a bass player?"
And he looked like a Teddy Boy.
I thought,
"Where's he come from?"
You know, his bass playing
was fantastic.
Really unique.
Forming the Cliftons
was a breath of fresh air.
I'd fallen in love
with playing music.
We were doing all these gigs
and working hard
but the trouble was
those shite promoters.
They owed us so much money,
they just wouldn't pay us.
And so the bottom started
to fall out of the band.
Tony Chapman answered an ad
for a drummer
with an R&B band.
That night we went back
to Mick's parents' house
and they played Jimmy Reid
and various things
that I'd never heard.
I think they quite liked
the way I played
because I could play
the shuffle beat
which most people couldn't.
And then that's how I got to
play with the Stones, really.
Tony came to me and said,
"Bass player's left.
Do you wanna come up
to rehearsal on Friday?"
So I went up with him
and I had my big bass cabinet
in the boot of his car
stickin' out.
I took my homemade bass
and I went to the
Weatherby Arms in Chelsea.
I went in, and there they were,
Ian Stewart.
He was nice
when I went in there.
[indistinct chatter]
Mick was fairly sociable.
[instrumental music]
And Brian and Keith
just didn't speak to me.
They were up at the bar,
and they were really beatnik-y.
I bought them all
a round of drinks
and then they got
a bit more friendly
and -- and passed
the cigarettes round.
So, then they were sociable,
you know.
They didn't have any money
or anything.
They asked me
what music I liked
and what music I played.
So I said, "Well, Chuck Berry,"
and they went, "Great."
"Jerry Lee Lewis." "No!"
"Eddie Cochrane." "No!"
All the rock and rollers,
they didn't like any of them.
They said, "We're a blues band,
we're not a rock and roll band.
We don't play that shit."
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Mona"]
They'd already spoken
to Charlie Watts
so they fired Tony,
and Charlie said he'd join.
I kind of slotted in alright.
I said yeah
Yeah yeah yeah Mona
Oh Mona
I tell ya Mona
what I wanna do
I was a bit
of a rock and roller
more than anything else
and found that they were
playing pure blues.
Man
I mean,
really slow, slow blues.
You know I didn't enjoy
things that kings and queens
You couldn't buy
a bloody blues record
to save your life
in those days.
It was unheard of in England.
I remember saying to them
at that rehearsal
I said, "We can't play 12-bar
blues all fucking night."
Which I was totally wrong about
because we ended up
doing exactly that.
Within two months,
we were brilliant
and sounded fantastic.
And in 1963,
we played about 340 shows.
We traveled everywhere
in Stu's van.
He was a fantastic
blues piano player
and he looked after us
on the road for 22 years.
He was like
the sixth Stone, really.
Stu would turn around and say
"Okay, you three-chord wonders,
you're on."
Let's go fishin'
in the crawdad hole
One two three four
five and nine
I couldn't survive working
because we started to get gigs
out of London.
I said hey crawdaddy
I said hey crawdaddy
I said hey crawdaddy
Hey crawdaddy
I told my parents and friends
that I was gonna give up work
and go professional.
Every single person I knew said
"Don't do it.
Don't take the risk."
And I thought,
"Fuck it, I'm gonna do it."
Top British
rhythm and blues group
and the best new group,
the Rolling Stones.
[audience cheering]
I didn't think of it
as progressin' anywhere
really big.
It was the most excitin' thing
in my life.
The sound we had,
no one compared
with that sound in those days,
no one.
I started to collect
the little bits and pieces
as we traveled.
If I was very lucky,
I grabbed a little poster
and someone would give me
a photo they had taken.
And it just slowly escalated
into this mountain.
You know, it is all
a bit of a haze to me.
I mean, if I wanna know what
I did for certain in those years
I have to ask Bill Wyman,
you know.
- Who keeps the archives.
- Yeah.
Bill was the first guy
to have a computer.
He'd have his videos
and they'd be all stacked up.
I bet he's probably got them
even now.
He had movie cameras
before everybody.
I took reels of film.
Twenty years of home movies
on the road.
The biggest ambition we had
was to play in a club
and have people like
what we were playin'.
We never dreamed
about making a record.
It never crossed our minds
that we would ever
be on TV or radio.
Pie in the sky to think
we might go abroad sometime
because we were playin'
uncommercial music.
We were playin' pure blues
and the only place we could
play it was in jazz clubs.
Suddenly, we got a followin'
and it blossomed from there.
Glyn Johns, who was
in that band, The Presidents
said to us,
"I work at IBC Record Studios.
I can get you three hours
recording time."
We went, "What?
Make a record?"
I'd seen the Rolling Stones
and I thought
they were really good
and I thought,
"There's definitely
a commercial opportunity here."
So I approached
the studio owners and said
"Can I bring these people in
and see what we can do?"
And they said, "Yes,
on the condition that you have
"absolutely nothing to do
with getting the deal.
We'll do the business."
[instrumental music]
I took the Stones in
and that was their first
recording session.
We cut four things, I think.
Bill and I argue about this.
I thought it was only three,
but he says it was five.
He's probably right
because he's got it
all written down somewhere.
We went
and we cut five tracks.
The guy who owned the place,
Harold Clewson
took them around
to Decca and EMI and Pi
and nobody liked them.
And we thought that was the end
of our recording careers.
It started to happen
when Andrew Oldham signed us.
I'm proud of most things I did.
Just, whether the proudness
remains
is whether they happen
or they don't happen.
Um, the biggest thing
naturally is the Rolling Stones.
Andrew said he saw the sex
emanatin' from us
and, you know,
and all this sort of bullshit
the way Andrew talks,
which was fantastic
'cause he was a genius.
Bill, I didn't pay
much attention to
and he knows that.
Because of being
deeply superficial
I judged books by their cover
and he seemed to be
much more of a Duane Eddy
Johnny and the Hurricanes
type of guy to me
than a, than a Bo Diddley guy.
Bill might have had moments
where he thought
not that his life was over,
but his life was set.
And then along came
the Rolling Stones.
The phone rings
and it's Andrew Oldham saying
"Can I speak to Terry O'Neill?"
So I speak to him.
He said,
"Can you do what you did
for the Beatles
for the Stones?"
I said,
"Well, I'll give it a try."
And that's when
I first met Bill.
I took the pictures back,
and the picture editor said
"God, they look like
five prehistoric monsters."
It was a mania
with the Beatles
whereas with the Stones,
it was an appreciation.
It became a cult.
[instrumental music]
Alright then, this is
the Rolling Stones interview
for the fan club,
December, Christmastime.
Mick, Bill and Charlie.
When did you first get mobbed?
Do you remember that word?
- Yeah.
- Well, that's a good question.
I don't remember, you know.
It was like something,
I remember --
- I do.
- Oh, well, Bill, okay, go on.
He remembers everything.
I'm trying --
We, the first time
we got mobbed..
- Go on, where was it?
- This doesn't happen anymore.
It was about a third of the way
through
the Everly Brothers tour.
- Really?
- Up in the north.
It was either
in Manchester or Liverpool
one of those places.
Um, where we were actually
attacked for the first time
when we tried to get out
of the theater.
[crowd cheering]
Okay, here we go.
And now I'd like
to introduce to you
the fabulous Rolling Stones.
[cheering]
We'd go on stage
and go jan-ta-jan
and the whole crowd
would pour on stage
and that was the end
of the show.
Two chords, end of the show.
And if we got through three
songs, it was, like, amazing.
[instrumental music]
Sometimes they put police dogs
on each end of the stage
to stop the kids getting on.
The police dogs went nuts.
[dogs barking]
The only way you could get out
of the theater in time
when you played the last chord
of the last song
the curtains closed
and they had to play
"God Save The Queen."
[crowd cheering]
[instrumental
"God Save The Queen"]
And the audience had to stand
there for those two minutes.
And that was the two minutes
we had to get off the stage
down the corridors,
out of the building
into the police van
or whatever it was
the Black Mariah
or the ambulance
or the newspaper van
we were using
to be inconspicuous.
And gone.
Sometimes we didn't get out
in time
and then we just got mashed.
And then we went abroad,
fucking hell.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"Street Fighting Man"]
Please fasten your seatbelts
and do not smoke.
Everywhere I hear the sound
Of marching
charging feet boy
'Cause summer's here
and the time is right
For fighting
in the street boy
Well now what can
a poor boy do
Except to sing
for a rock and roll band?
'Cause
in sleepy London town
There's just no place
for a street fighting man
You talk about being worn out
but you've never been
as worn out
as we were the other week.
On Wednesday, the 15th
we left Munich
and flew to West Berlin
and that's where
the story really starts.
We arrived at the airport.
They said we'll hold
a press conference.
We got in,
started the press conference.
We were there five minutes,
and the kids
are breaking the doors down
and everything
and the police kept
bringing reinforcements in
to hold the doors
and everything at each end.
The chief of police
came over and he said
"We can't hold 'em any longer.
You'll have to go."
So we had to run out and fight
our way through to the bus
and then the bus had to fight
its way through the crowd.
And away we went with an escort
of about six police cars
and about twenty helmeted
and armed police on motorbikes.
Unbelievable, you know.
I never had my movie camera
with me.
I'm so annoyed
that I missed it, you know.
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Route 66"]
Well if you ever plan
We were over the moon to hear
that we were gonna go
to America.
Just take my way
That's the highway
that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66
The Beatles,
they made it in America.
The Rolling Stones
were made by America.
One started to be able to watch
with all of them
some magical development
as they were able to record
with their feet
touching the land
that created their passion.
You had to break every town
and every state.
You were right
in the middle of it.
Oklahoma City looks
oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo
Let's run one down.
Rolling master A.
Master A, take one.
[instrumental music]
Going to Chess
was like a pilgrimage.
We knew that that's where
most of our idols recorded.
Bo Diddley,
Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf.
We hoped we could get
the right sound
that we weren't being able
to get in the UK.
And we did.
We played
their blues music brilliantly
and that's what shocked them.
- What's your ambition now?
- To be a musician.
I'm not -- I'm not a musician.
I just play in a band, you know.
Well I'm a king bee
Buzzing around
There was something about
Bill's bass lines
in the Stones.
It was the first thing
you'd hear
the thing
that was most hooky about it.
It was so precise
and so contained, you know.
It wasn't gettin' away
with itself.
It was just right.
The best informed
are the best players
and I think
Bill's one of those.
It's never been pop.
It's been rock and roll
but it's been informed by blues
which is
the magical combination.
Bill is like no other
bass player I've ever heard.
He has an incredibly simplistic
approach to what he's doing.
And I think that's just
Bill's complete lack of ego
as a musician, really.
It's very often
not what you play
but what you don't play,
what you leave out
that makes a distinction
as to your abilities, really.
We can make honey
The world has never seen
There were a lot of these
really technically brilliant
bass players that can play me
off the stage any time.
To me, they just sound like
lead guitar players.
So busy that there doesn't seem
much room for anybody else.
Sting-a-been
[indistinct chatter]
The key for me
is Bill and Charlie together.
When they play together,
it's extraordinary.
The power of the two of them
is greater than the four.
Just that magic chemical
combination of feel.
I just wanna
make love to you
Really easy guy.
And a really good bass player.
Very, very unassuming
bass player.
And some of the records
that we made
he's quite brilliant on.
Fortunately, the pair of us
made a living
out of doing it together.
We were always referred
to as the straightest
rhythm section
in rock and roll.
[indistinct chatter]
Bill, how did this,
uh, come about?
This, uh, with writing
miserable articles
about the Stones?
Did this originate in Europe?
It started when we started
in England, you know
but, um, by now in England
everybody knows
what we really are like
so they don't write things
that are untrue, you know.
The Beatles are loved
by pretty well everybody
from the moms
down to the teenagers.
It seems to me that
you're either loved or hated.
Everything we did
was so alien to the norm.
They just did not get it.
Why we didn't succumb
to being showbiz-y.
All the other bands
would succumb to doing
what they're told
just for that bit of publicity.
We didn't need it, we avoided
publicity in the end.
It was us against the world.
It really was.
We were just refusing
to conform.
If a kid wants
to let his hair grow long
or he wants to wear rags,
or he wants to play a guitar
or do anything,
or kick a ball in the street
it's nothing to do with us.
If he likes to listen
to our music, that's great
if he wants to come
to a concert.
But apart from that,
we didn't believe
we had any responsibility.
I always thought he didn't
like me being in the Stones
'cause he never
said anything nice.
He was always moaning about it.
I just don't think
that generation could get
into their head that
their kids could be successful
in something
that wasn't a normal job.
So when I succeeded
playing music
a -- and doing better than them
it was out of order,
wasn't it?
But my mom did tell me
on a couple of occasions
when t -- they were in the pub
uh, when someone
was going on about
"Stones, dirty lot,"
he would stick up for us.
He'd tell them
to mind their own business.
And so he did it
without my knowledge
but he never did it to my face.
But he wasn't
that kind of a person.
I mean, looking back,
I don't blame him
because he -- he had
a terrible childhood.
A really terrible childhood.
Everything was changin'
in those early '60s.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"19th Nervous Breakdown"]
You're the kind of person
you meet at certain
Dismal dull affairs
Center of a crowd
talking much too loud
The music, art, fashion.
Suddenly,
girls were wearing miniskirts.
It just went
right across the board.
And though you try
you just can't hide
All the clubs
started to appear in London.
You'd bump into the Beatles
or the Animals or the Hollies.
Ah, they were just everywhere.
You just moved
from one to the other
and sometimes
you saw live acts.
You'd go
and see Benny King somewhere
and then you'd see
Lee Dorsey somewhere else.
I'm at the Scotch of St. James,
I met Otis Redding
and talked to him
for about half an hour.
You know, when you met
those people in those days
they were like gods to me.
I think a lot of it
had to do with the music
and then the birth pill
all them British movies
it was coming from everywhere.
It was sort of a hurricane
and we were coming
in the middle of it.
Your father's
still perfecting ways
Of making sealing wax
You better stop
Me and Brian used to go out
to the clubs
and pick up girls.
They used to camp outside
the hotel on the grass.
You know, of course,
I jumped at it
and it just became part
of my life after that.
It became a habit just through
honestly, loneliness
and just wanting affection.
And these girls
were affectionate.
[crowd cheering]
There was probably
an addiction to sex
because I wasn't addicted
to drugs
and I wasn't addicted to wine.
My first marriage,
it never worked.
It was down
to the same old thing
of marrying the girl
next door was the phrase.
Getting married
got me out of the family.
Of course, it did,
out of the home.
It was hard
coming home to my wife
who obviously knew
what was going on.
But then I found at one time,
she had a relationship going.
I mean, obviously,
I don't blame her.
And then you end up
with a child out of the blue
and you just stay together
for the sake of the child
which is always
the worst thing you can do.
Until I finally got divorced.
She insisted
that she would take Stephen
to South Africa with her,
which really hurt me.
But then I thought, "Well,
it's better that he grows up
with one parent
in a normal way of life."
If it isn't with me,
then it has to be with her.
I'll get Stephen to say
something to you.
Just a minute.
Come and say hello to Dave.
Come and say hello to Dave.
- Hello.
- Say hello, Dave.
- Hello.
- Say how are you?
How are you?
I will see you soon. Bye-bye.
He came back
in the summer of '68.
And when I saw the state
he was in, I was shocked
because he was complainin'
of toothache
he was thin,
he didn't look well at all.
So I refused to return him
to South Africa.
And then I had to fight for him
and a divorce.
I went to the court
and the judge gave me custody,
which was a miracle.
And from that day on,
I brought Stephen up.
I broke up from my wife.
Astrid, my girlfriend,
moved in with me.
I'd met her by then.
We arrived at this gate
and a gardener came
with a shotgun broken off
and said, "What do you want?"
And we said,
"Is this Gedding Hall?"
And he said, "Yes."
And I said, "We understand
that the place is goin' up
for sale tomorrow.
Could we have a look?"
And he said,
"Well, the owners are not here
but I'll show you
'round the outside."
And I saw this
unbelievable house
which I just couldn't believe.
Oh, God,
it was extraordinary.
The owner was Jeff Allen.
He took me into the lounge
for a cup of tea
and I saw a 10 by 8 photo
on the top of the TV
of Ronnie,
Reggie and Charlie Kray
saying "Love to Jeff
from the boys."
"Uh, what's that, Mr. Allen?"
He says,
"Oh, they -- they're the Krays.
They're friends of mine.
They're nice lads."
I found later
that he was a godfather
and he would invest their money
in country houses and stuff
but that's another story.
I asked him how much he wanted
for the property
and it was 45,000 pounds.
After being a top band
for five years
we didn't have money.
Money always seemed to vanish.
Jeff, bless him, did a deal
and let me have it
for a price I could afford.
He said, "I'll tell you what.
"I admire you.
You're a self-made man like me.
"I come from the east end of
London, you come from London.
It's yours."
It's a wonderful place.
I mean, my soul is there,
I think.
I'm never happier
than when I'm there.
So when the drug busts
were coming in '67
I was just reading it
in the press.
Mr. Jagger
accused of allowing his home
at West Wittering
to be used for the purpose
of smoking cannabis resin,
better known as hashish.
And after the three-minute
hearing, Jones came out
through the back of the court
and drove away
crouching down
on the rear seat of a car.
I honestly didn't know whether
who was gonna be in jail
what week and who was gonna be
in the studio.
I didn't want anything
to do with drugs.
I didn't confront it with them.
I just ignored it,
stepped away from it
and got stuck
into what I wanted to do.
I was avoiding
facing their problem
because it wasn't my problem.
So I was living two lives,
really.
Once, I had a puff
of some bloody joint they had.
Apparently, it had
elephant tranquilizer in it.
I went down this corridor
and there was someone coming
towards me
that I kind of vaguely knew
so I stopped
and chatted to them
for about 10 or 15 minutes.
And then I looked up again
and it was me.
I was looking in the mirror.
And I thought,
"I don't fucking need this."
I have to have my feet
on the ground.
I can't go floatin' off.
The emptiness underneath me
terrifies me.
I've got a phobia about it.
Most people think
there's something else
on the other side of the street
which they're not experiencin'
and so they wanna go there
and try it out, don't they?
So if you look at any band
and I mean any band
from the mid '60s
you've got losses. Every band.
Searching for something
that really ain't there.
Brian was a typical example
of that.
I was really sad
when Brian started
to, uh, fall to bits basically.
We'd be in LA
and we'd go out to the clubs
and he'd be on LSD.
And he -- he'd be getting out
the limo and going
"Oh, look, there's snakes
all over the ground."
He'd be jumping about
all over the ground.
Fucking hell, Brian. You know,
"The ceiling's on fire."
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, it certainly is, Brian.
I just used to let him
get on with it, but, um
he would go off
on those tangents a lot.
He was thrown out of the band
and he died a month later.
Charlie phoned me up.
He just said, "Brian died."
I couldn't believe it,
you know.
The press was so bad
at the funeral.
I mean, everybody's around
the grave, you know
and they're -- they're putting
the coffin in and all that
and the, the preacher's
reading -- reading out
and, like, all his family
and relatives
are all, like, tranquillized
and everything.
Everybody's crying and upset.
There's thousands
of fans everywhere.
And there's kids
running up to you
asking for autographs, you know.
And, uh, there's press guys
with cameras everywhere
like all leaning over you
and getting snaps in the..
Oh, man, it was really sick.
There's...movies going
and all that, you know.
There was no respect at all.
And when he went,
it really sort of got me bad.
Somebody a bit special.
That planned Hyde Park concert
ended up being a bit
of a memorial to Brian
because of his death
two days earlier.
An English park
on a Saturday afternoon
July 5, 1969.
There must be 200,000 people
here, youngsters.
In about another hour,
I should imagine
there will be a quarter
of a million.
And it was extraordinary
that day.
[crowd cheering]
Alright!
[singing "I'm Yours
And I'm Hers"]
You know I'm yours
and I'm hers
Somebody else's too
You know I'm yours
and I'm hers
It was Mick Taylor's
first show with us.
That must have been
a staggerin' thing for him.
The first gig with a band
and you're playin'
half a million people.
From every direction
I looked at
there were just heads
and it was just like a carpet
of different colored hair.
That's what
I could explain it as.
The whole day was wonderful.
There was no -- no violence,
no fights, no drugs, no..
It just went like a dream.
That autumn, we set off
on a tour of America
with Mick Taylor
and it was a wonderful tour.
The future of the band
was looking very healthy
and positive.
You didn't have so much
of the screamin'
or very little of it,
and people were listening.
And then came Altamont.
We wanted to repeat
Hyde Park in America
as a thank you
to the US fans.
Okay, it's definitely on.
The Rolling Stones
are not going to appear
at the, uh, raceway in Sonoma.
They've decided now they're
going to hold the concert
with the Grateful Dead,
the Jefferson Airplane, Santana
and, of course, the Rolling
Stones at Altamont Speedway
which is halfway between
Tracy and Livermore.
What you do
is you catch Highway 80..
I don't really like
talking about Altamont
'cause it was such
an awful, awful, awful event.
The violence
just never stopped.
And we kept trying to stop it,
and we knew if we just
walked off the stage,
it'd probably be worse.
So we hung on
and tried to cool people out
and it didn't work.
Four people in the audience,
uh, died
one of them from stab wounds,
and the argument goes on
about how and what
is to blame for that
or how that could have been
prevented, I should say.
Sometimes
things get out of control
and you can't do
anything about it.
It was the death of the '60s,
that's what they called it.
The death of the '60s.
It was, really.
It was the time when the Stones
could have just died
and they nearly did.
[The Rolling Stones singing
"You Can't Always Get"]
By 1970, we all owed
around about 100,000 pounds
to the Inland Revenue
which we thought had been paid.
Tax with the labor government
was between 83 and 93%.
There was no way
we could possibly
earn enough money
to pay it back.
I saw her today
It was impossible for us
to stay in England
and so we had to go to France.
A glass of wine
in her hand
And then, of course, we became
the very first tax exiles.
I knew she was gonna meet
her connection
It was difficult.
We're probably
the most robbed band ever
but you learn, don't you?
You can't always get
what you want
I mean, some bands have
one shot, they got nothing
that's the end of it.
They don't have the chance
of moving on
to improve their situation.
You can't always get
what you want
But I hated leaving England.
I hated it.
But we were told
there was no alternative.
[plane whirring]
When I left that mornin'
and I left my mom and dad there
and my son, Stephen
I was tearful,
and I really didn't wanna go.
Fair share of abuse
I was sure I wasn't gonna like
living in France.
[instrumental music]
People thought we all went
and lived in the same house.
[chuckles]
We had to look
for somewhere to record
because, you know,
we needed a new record.
And in the end,
we never found anything.
We have to go
to Keith's house to do it.
Keith insists,
otherwise Keith ain't ever
gonna go to the session,
you know.
That's where we recorded
Exile On Main Street.
We did it in the basement
of his house.
It was a sad time
because everybody just got
absorbed in takin' drugs.
I didn't want it.
I didn't want anything of it,
apart from the music.
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Hip Shake"]
I wanna tell you
about a dance
We were in this basement,
which was like an oven.
And there's pictures of us
lying on the floor, you know.
Whatever inconveniences,
whatever things were impossible
to deal with sometimes,
it worked.
We were dynamite.
Un -- unbeatable, really.
Title five, take one.
[instrumental music]
Last week, New York City
finally got to see
and hear the Rolling Stones.
We were the last stop on a tour
that I'm sure most of you
have heard about.
Would you ever do
30 cities again
in that amount of time
if it were up to you?
As long as I get a holiday,
you know.
There's never been so much
energy as on this tour.
If the Stones broke up
I don't wanna start any rumors
'cause there aren't any
but if they did,
say, next week after this tour
what would you do?
You know, I always tried
to live a normal life
when I would finished recording
or finished touring
or finished the concert
or whatever it was
I'd go back
and try to be normal.
We managed to build finances
and be able to pay our taxes
and still have money.
And then, of course,
it opened me
to a whole new life here.
[instrumental music]
You've got a lovely suntan.
This presumably is, uh,
south of France suntan
because that's where
you're living now, is it not?
Yeah, that's my French look.
What do you do when you're
there apart from sunbathe?
In France, there are
so many different people
to -- to mix with
and, uh, I meet
with quite a lot of them
and going to art exhibitions,
all kinds of stuff.
It's really nice.
And I did meet Andre Verde
who was the one
that introduced me to artists
and poets and writers
and sculptors.
And you would go
to the little dinners
in the local restaurants.
It became
a lovely little family.
And then I met Jimmy Baldwin,
fucking hell.
I met him at the Colombe d'Or.
I'd go to his house
and I realized how much
he loved Ray Charles.
And I didn't know a lot
about Ray Charles.
I'd seen a Ray Charles concert
with Keith and Charlie
in '64 in England.
I said to Jimmy, "Can I borrow
some of your Ray Charles'
records?"
He said, "Yeah."
He said, "I'll bring them
up to your house."
And, God,
over the next few days
I just played
Ray Charles nonstop
and he became my favorite
musician of the 20th century.
Then Andre Verde invited me
to go to Marc Chagall's house.
"You mean Marc Chagall,
the painter?"
He said, "Yeah, yeah."
He was absolutely wonderful.
He said, "Your long hair,
not original, change it."
I said, "But we were
the first band with long hair."
He said, "Oh, that's okay then.
Then you are the originals."
[chuckles]
I was friends with him for the
last eight years of his life.
I got to know
the -- the simple way he lived.
You don't avoid
all them little things.
They're all part of living,
aren't they?
Of course, then you enjoy
the bigger things better
if you deal
with the little things.
[chopper whirring]
[crowd cheering]
[audience clapping]
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Brown Sugar"]
So what's the purpose
of doing the tour?
Oh, I got fed up with gardening.
Oh, man, the Rolling Stones
are just it, you know.
What do you mean?
They're the greatest
rock and roll band in the world.
Gold Coast slave ship
bound for cotton fields
Sold in the market
down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows
he's doin' alright
Hear him whip the women
just around midnight
Brown sugar
how come you taste so good?
Brown sugar
Just like a good boy should
Yeah yeah yeah woo
Just like a
just like a black boy should
[fireworks]
On a personal sense, Bill,
is it difficult
in -- in some respects
being a Rolling Stone
in terms
of -- of the pressure that --
That's difficult for a start,
but carry on.
In terms of the pressure
in the sense
that that brings on you
as an individual?
There's a lot of difficulties,
uh..
I think the main difficulty
in being a Rolling Stone
is to pursue
your other interests.
[Bill Wyman singing
"Monkey Grip"]
I did the first solo album
of a Stone in '73
called Monkey Grip.
Good old monkey grip
monkey grip
Monkey grip monkey grip
I was regarded as bass player
of the Rolling Stones.
I was not expected
to be anything else
or to do anything else.
You really had to go out there
and try to prove yourself.
You did an album back in '74
with Buddy Guy
uh, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
who were two of the original
Chicago Blues Brothers.
I was just asked to get
a rhythm section together
to play with them
at the Montreux Jazz Festival
in Switzerland.
I got this phone call
from Claude Nobbs.
He said,
"I'd like to invite you
"to the Montreux Jazz Festival
"because I've got Muddy Waters
"and he hasn't got
a band or anything.
"Do you think you could put
a little rhythm section
together?"
We just loaded up,
and I drove to Switzerland.
Gonna make pretty women
Jump and shout
Then the world wanna know
What's this all about
But they'll know I'm here
Everybody knows I'm here
Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
are sittin' on the side
listenin' to us and Buddy says,
"Can you be our support band?"
I said, "Yeah, yeah."
The thing that I think
I would do
Ooh no one will never know
We went there
to back up Muddy Waters.
So I needed that bass player
to fill every missed note
which I still do.
Every note I missed, I wanted
him to...fill in for me
'cause I was missin'
a lot of notes back then.
Somebody like him can get
the word out faster than I can.
People still look at those guys
as the greatest rock and roll
band that ever played.
[cheering]
[instrumental music]
Glyn Johns rings up and says,
"Bill, are you interested
in doing a session tomorrow
for me?"
He says, "I need you
to play with Howlin' Wolf."
I went, "What? Howlin' Wolf?
Bloody hell, put me in.
Who else is on?"
And he says,
"Well, I've got Charlie."
And I thought, "Oh, fantastic."
"And Eric Clapton.
It will be the three of you."
I went, "Oh, God almighty.
I'd love it, yes."
Well I got
a little red rooster
Too lazy to crow for day
And so I went down the next day
met up with everybody
and said hello to Wolf.
Bloody hell.
I was saying hello to my hero.
Alright, let -- let everybody
get together then
and we'll try to make it.
Wolf had a voice
that, uh, nobody else had.
Oh, man, come on, he..
He ain't got nothin' to do
but count off.
Alright, let's get on it.
It was wonderful to do it
with Wolf and meet his family.
He was a lovely man,
he was so gentle.
He was this gentle giant.
He was terrifying to look at
and to be around.
Those moments are there
to be caught.
But you're bloody lucky
most times if you catch 'em.
Too lazy to crow for day
We got the message
from the office
that Mick Taylor said
I've left.
Fuck, now we were just
gonna start recording.
We haven't got a fucking
guitar player, you know.
Tune up room session.
Ah!
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Star Star"]
Baby baby
I've been so sad
It finally came down to trying
to borrow Woody for the tour.
Borrowing him from the Faces.
Where you do belong
He was a nice catalyst
between me and Charlie
and Keith and Mick.
Ronnie was like the clown that
sort of linked it all together.
If I ever get back
to Fun City
Girl I'm gonna make you
scream all night
What is it
after so many years of touring
that -- that keeps you going?
I don't know.
Just playing together.
All -- all the memories
and all the places, the people.
Uh, I can't --
I can't explain it.
It's just good
to get on the stage
and play in front of people
who wanna listen to you.
[singing "When The Whip
Comes Down"]
Mama and papa told me
I was crazy to stay
I was a fag in New York
I was gay
In July '78,
I tripped on some cables
and fell about 6 or 7 feet
with my guitar
and was knocked out.
Everybody else had gone
and then suddenly realized
that I was nowhere around.
So people came back
and just saw my silver boots
stickin' out
through the curtain.
And for the rest of that tour,
I had to play
with two central fingers
strapped up.
'81, we toured America.
Massive tour of America,
it was wonderful.
[crowd cheering]
[The Rolling Stones
singing "Miss You"]
'82, we toured Europe.
Same thing.
Also massive and wonderful.
I've been holding out
so long
I've been sleeping
all alone
Girl I miss you
And then nothing happened.
Mick and Keith started arguing
and fighting about
God knows what.
We never played a gig
for seven years.
In the meantime, I started
to look out for myself.
[instrumental
"Je Suis Un Rock Star"]
Great, let's break
and, uh, have some tea
and then we'll come up
and listen to it again
all the way through, shall we?
That's good.
That sounds really good to me.
Everybody wants to do a solo
album, but not seriously.
So I sat down
and, uh, started writin'.
I -- I made up
little cassettes at home
on this terrible
little tape recorder I've got
not a ReVox
or anything sophisticated.
When I did "Je Suis Un Rock
Star," everything went crazy.
Je suis un rock star
Je avais un residence
Je habiter la
A la south of France
Voulez vous
Partir with me?
And come and rester la
with me in France
Playing the single now.
That is Bill Wyman, "Si, Si,
Chay Suis Un Rock Star."
Am I saying that right, Bill?
"Je Suis Un Rock Star."
I am a rock star, yeah.
I don't believe it.
I mean, I'm not serious.
Currently in Europe,
your single is, uh
in the top ten, right?
In -- In England?
Yeah, it's gone top 15
in every country so far
and I'm really pleased with it.
I'm very naively excited
about having a hit record
just like I was in '63
with the Stones.
It's -- it's like Christmas.
Je avais un residence
Tell me, Bill, is it different
when a superstar goes
to the men's room
than for your average
ordinary person?
Um, yeah.
What's the difference?
- You have a super pee.
- Super pee.
[instrumental music]
Everybody thought
that our life was so romantic
and wonderful and exciting
and all that.
It was for two hours,
if you were on stage.
The rest of the time
was boredom.
It's very difficult
to keep your sanity, actually.
You moved away
from all your friends.
You were always traveling.
You're always on the road,
you know.
So it's forever changin'.
Nothing's kind of permanent.
There was no time.
I mean,
you looked around suddenly
and you hadn't seen
your cousin Peter for two years
and even brothers and sisters
you almost lose touch with
because you're -- you're livin'
in a different world.
I got this invite
to go to this event
and there was all these people
dancing in the front.
I saw this beautiful girl
with her hair up.
I spoke to her and found
her name was Mandy Smith.
It was from the heart.
It wasn't from, like, lust
or anything like that
which people was seeing it as.
[indistinct chatter]
Bill, were you in any way,
were you in any way hesitant
having been a bachelor boy
for so long
or free -- free spirit
for so long
were you very hesitant about
taking the months
of marriage again?
No, I always thought
she was the right girl
from the moment I met her,
but it was just the wrong time.
She was too young.
I thought she had to go out
and see life a bit
before she could make
that kind of a decision.
He is the rebel Rolling Stone
but their wedding blessing
today
could not have been
more traditional.
They both said
they wouldn't feel married
without the formalities
of a church service.
And those they had,
right down to the confettis.
When we first met each other,
actually.
When, like, years ago,
we wanted to get married
but obviously we couldn't.
The things work out in the end
if they're right
and we always thought
it was right since the beginning
and, uh, here we are.
I was really stupid to ever
think it could possibly work.
Two sad marriages, really
and I decided it was time
I got my fucking life in order.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Fire.
[crowd cheering]
Start me up
If you start me up
I'll never stop
We hadn't played one show
from '82 to '89.
So it was
a coming together again
but I saw it as a grand finale.
We did five Wembley Stadiums
we did six Shea Stadiums
in New York.
We went to Japan
for the first time.
We played the Tokyo Dome,
45,000 people
ten shows one after the other.
It was fantastic.
[whistling]
I can't get no
In Prague,
we played to 130,000 people
because they came from Poland
and Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
All in all, those three tours
we played 120 shows
seven and a quarter
million people.
It was extraordinary.
Supposed to fire
my imagination
I can't get no
We finished that tour.
I just sat back
and I thought this is
a nice time to end my career
with the Rolling Stones,
on a big high.
So I left.
[instrumental music]
All those 31 years
with the band
I -- I absolutely loved
what we did
loved what we achieved.
But I needed to sort out
my personal life and my future.
There's a very happy bird
up there.
[chuckles]
[instrumental music]
It's fantastic.
They're really cute
little butterflies.
Love is such
a wonderful thing
When you need it
Look around for it
Love is such
a wonderful thing
Go on, you go.
You've got a better memory
than me on those days.
- Oh, yeah. Why?
- The romantic moments.
Yeah, why do you forget
all the romantic moments?
I do. I -- I remember
all the other stuff.
You remember all the facts,
but you forget
all the romantic moments.
Yeah.
Suzanne and I met in 1979
and she became the inspiration
for "Je Suis Un Rock Star."
- Can you see me in there?
- Can you say famous?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Hi.
We are cliche.
I was a model,
he was a musician.
He was with a photographer,
I was quite bored at the party
and I thought
I should probably go up
and talk to this photographer.
And Bill started to chat me up
and I started to -- to talk
about music
askin' him why
he was so interested in music.
And I felt kind of bad
that I didn't recognize him.
And that's Matilda.
We got you.
Can we use your paintbrushes?
I guess so.
It's a bit late now, isn't it?
Oh, we'll have to get
these eggs.
When we decided to get married,
it was to have a family.
He wanted to start life
over again.
He just wanted to have
a normal life.
He wanted to be able
to walk down the street
and be able to go
to a movie theater
without being bothered.
He just wanted to know
what that felt like.
Yeah, so.. Shh.
[laughs]
When we got married
and when we had the kids
it gave him time.
I think time is his foundation
and he wants to use
all this time
in a very productive way.
He just has this need
to almost relive
what he experienced
and put it
in some sort of order
and find out who he really was
and what he'd gone through.
So he started to dig out
the old boxes
scannin' things..
...and really started
to look at it
as a life's work ahead of him
that he had to complete.
I think when he works on the
archive, it inspires him.
It's almost like
he has a treasure
and he wants to share it
with someone else.
[instrumental music]
And I decided
to play music again.
[blues music]
Forming the Rhythm Kings
enabled me to play
with a whole variety
of wonderful musicians
and dig into the roots
of -- of music
finding a lot of early stuff
which had been forgotten about
and reviving it.
[blues music]
Do you mind, sir,
putting that down?
We can't have that
going on here.
[instrumental music]
[indistinct chatter]
The atmosphere on the bus,
it's like, uh, it's a family.
He likes being around players.
He likes the jokes.
All his life,
he's been a working player.
Bill is the kind of artist
who wants to do the music
but he doesn't necessarily
have to have
all the adulation for it.
He's playing his music
for himself.
You have to have that courage
to take that other road
to be yourself,
to find yourself
because you can get lost
in this road to stardom.
I mean, you really can,
and that's all you have
and then maybe at the end
of your life, you're like
"Wow, I wish I had,
you know, taken a few moments
to stop and smell the roses."
And I don't think that
Bill will ever say that.
I think he has been able to not
only smell them but name them.
[chuckles]
To have gone through
that life experience
and still be very rooted,
really the child of the 1940s
I mean, you're looking
at old England with this guy.
People only really
get bothered by fame
or it disturbs them is
when they start acting famous.
I don't think Bill
ever started acting famous.
I can get by on things we do
and, uh,
some better than average
better than some
and worse than some.
But, uh, you can always learn
and you never become as good
as you'd like to.
I don't think,
no matter what you play.
[Ray Charles singing
"Georgia On My Mind"]
Georgia Georgia
Ray Charles was playing
at the South Bank.
And halfway through the concert,
Ray Charles decides to do
"Georgia On My Mind"
on the piano
and he dismisses the band
and the Raylettes and everyone
and he's by himself
on the stage, and he starts..
Georgia da da da Georgia
And it was so emotional.
The whole audience,
4000 people in tears.
With Ray Charles,
and I thought
"No one, no one
gets an audience like that,
you know, except him."
It was amazing. And, uh, anyway,
the concert finished.
See, I get emotional
because it was so fantastic.
It finished, and the people,
and my friends said
"Can we go backstage
and meet him?" And I went..
[clicks tongue]
I said, "Musicians, they don't
really like people
"coming backstage when
they've just come offstage.
"They're exhausted, and they're
tired, and they're sweaty
and they just wanna have a break
and all that."
So I said,
"No, I'd rather not."
They said, "Alright, but just
stay here until the audience go
and then we can go
quieter out."
While we were waiting there,
someone came
from backstage,
and they came over and said, um
"Mr. Charles knows you're here
and he wants to invite you."
Because you admire him
more than any other musician
don't you, yeah?
[chuckles]
[clears throat]
You know, it was,
it was a fantastic moment.
- Just wait a minute.
- It's okay.
Ah! Leave it a minute.
[clears throat]
So..
Yeah, he, uh..
We went backstage and met him.
He was...fantastic.
- I can't do it, sorry.
- Anyhow, they asked him..
Ray Charles asked him
if he would play
on his next album and --
- And I chickened out.
- He just said how could I --
I said, "I'm not good enough."
That's what he.. Yeah.
You just, well, you didn't
say it to his face --
- I did.
- Did you really?
- Yeah.
- Oh, my God.
I didn't know that.
- Yeah.
- And what did he say?
He was, we -- we spent half
an hour in his dressing room.
He's absolutely fantastic.
And then he said that.
He said, "Would you like to play
on my next album?"
I said, "I'm not good enough."
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind
Almost every bass player
I've ever met
is always a big guy
with huge hands.
When I was a little boy,
you know
all my heroes
were the little guys.
I think there's something
about being the little guy
you always wanna prove
that you can still do it
against the big guys
and that's the drive.
And it's been my drive
all my life.
[instrumental music]
You make your own way,
don't you?
You just head in directions
that you think are good
at the time.
Something magical happened.
Something unusual.
Something rare.
Which shouldn't have really
happened to a working-class boy
from South London,
and it's bizarre.
It's a bizarre life I've had.
Bill Wyman.
I play bass...guitar.
I think we're done here,
aren't we?
[Rhythm Kings singing
"Tell You A Secret"]
Tell you a secret
You gotta keep it hid
Tell you about a woman
And the things she did
She took my money
And she took my pride
I'm gonna tell you a secret
I got nothing to hide
Because I'm moving on
down the line
I'm gonna leave
that no-good woman
Get that devil woman
off my mind
I'll take
the moonlight special
Moonlight special
Gonna do it right
Yeah the moonlight special
Moonlight special
And travel overnight
I'm going up the country
I'm going up the country
Where I can't be found
Find a hideaway and keep
my ear close to the ground
Yes I'm moving on
down the line
I'm gonna leave
that no-good woman
Get that devil woman
off my mind
Aww tell me
She's a mean mistreater
Mean mistreater
And she treat me bad
Treat me bad
She's a robber
and a cheater
Robber and a cheater
She's got me mad
Got me mad
Gonna wash that woman
Gonna wash that woman
Right out of my mind
Right out of my mind
I'm gonna leave that woman
Gonna leave that woman
Leave that woman way behind
'Cause I'm moving on
down the line
I'm gonna leave
that no-good woman
Get that devil woman
off my mind
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Gonna keep it hid
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Ooh about the things
she did
I'm gonna tell you a secret
Gonna keep it hid
Shh.
Early in the morning
about the break of day
That's when
my baby ran away
Crying and pleading
won't do no good
Come back baby
I wish you would
I love you girl
I can't help myself
Oh aah
Go
Yeah
Oh
Goodnight.
Everyone,
this is Rhythm Kings.
Goodnight to you all.
[audience cheering]