Keith Richards on writing "Satisfaction" in his sleep

0:13Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is Desert Island Discs Postcards. Each year we take a short break, which is the perfect time for us to delve into our archive and revisit some of our favourite castaways with you. Every weekday we'll be delivering an audio postcard from our desert island directly to you. You'll hear from Hollywood greats, award-winning authors, Olympians and Paralympians, comedians, singers and more. Our first postcard comes from the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards who spoke to Kirsty Young back in 2015. He recalled the moment he bumped into his primary school friend Mick Jagger at Dartford train station in 1961, years after losing touch with him.

0:55I was going to Sidcup Art School and Mick at that time was going to the London School of Economics. I just get off at Sidcup. I'm sitting in the carriage and suddenly he walks in. There's Mick, who I haven't seen in years. Wow, man. What's that under your arm? And he pours out The Best of Muddy Orders and Rockin' at the Hops by Chuck Berry. And these are American pressings, you know. And you can't get these records in England at the time. I mean, basically that was the hook-up for the Stones and for Mick and I, was just that we had the same interest in music. He said, you got any more records like that?

1:38And he said, sure. I said, I send away to Chicago for them. Well, this man's organised. Was your writing partnership always an easy partnership? Not always, but in the early days, very easy, in a way. I mean, this was like being on the factory line, you know, because I remember very well when Satisfaction had just come out and it's number one all over the world. Mick and I are going, yeah, great, fantastic, man, you know. And then the knock at the door and there is basically the record company is saying, where's the follow-up? Sure. Is it true, and I don't know, It's one of these things you read and you think, can that actually be true, that satisfaction came to you, the riff came to you in your sleep and you didn't even know you'd...

2:29No, I thanked God to the recently invented cassette player. Which was by your bed. Yes. And I happened to be between friends at the time and I was sleeping with the guitar on the bed. And somewhere, obviously in the night, I got up and laid down the basic framework for satisfaction. And the only way I knew something had happened, because I looked at the tape, and I know that I'd put in a brand-new tape, so therefore the reel has to be empty that side and full. But it had gone the other way. It was recorded. So I thought maybe I'll hit the button in the wrong position during my sleep or something.

3:18So I roll it back and listen back, and there is this very weak, faint idea of satisfaction, you know, the riff, the first verse and the second. And then 45 minutes of me snoring. But it was by a miracle he was captured on that little machine. Thank goodness for that tape recorder. We might never have had one of the most recognisable riffs in rock history without it. You can listen to Keith's full episode on BBC Sounds. Just search for Keith Richards Desert Island Discs.