Bobby Keys: The Lost Rolling Stone Interview

Legendary saxophone player Bobby Keys has passed away at age 70. Keys was best known for touring with the Rolling Stones for more than 45 years, but his career extended far beyond the band, from a childhood friendship with Buddy Holly to a role in hits by the Plastic Ono Band and George Harrison.  In 2012, I spoke with Keys around the release of his book Every Night’s a Saturday Night, discussing his long career and wild past.

I know you went on a lot of those Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars tours early in your career. What were those like?
I was pretty fresh out of Texas at the time that started happening, man, and I find myself rolling down the highway with a bunch of people that had records on the Top 10, like Little Anthony and Little Eva and Major Lance and Billy Stewart and Freddy Cannon. I was listening to some of these very same people less than a year earlier on the radio. Your seating position on the bus sort of determined your status on the tour. And the band went to the back of the bus.

How was the sound at those shows? It was before the Stones created the modern way of touring.
It was really bad. I mean, amplifiers weren’t as big as they are now. There were no monitor systems or anything like that. There’d be a mic for Anthony and another one for the Imperials. And then they had another mic set up for the horn section. But it wasn’t anywhere at all as elaborate as it is today, where every single thing is mic’d. Even the drummer’s underwear.

Who blew you away on those tours?
I always loved Little Anthony and the Imperials. They were like the precursors of the Temptations. I loved their music. Besides that, we shared a common interest in pot.

It must’ve been hard to find pot in those days.
Well, it was for me because I didn’t know anyone! But I got to be friends with the guys in the Imperials. I’d ask Sammy or Clarence or whoever’s gonna go see the Man to pick me up a bag. And back then, they used to bring it to you in these little penny candy sacks, little brown paper bags. A baggie full of that was like 10 bucks, man and it was [laughs] not like today.

It’s much stronger today, right? I’ve heard that back then it wasn’t that strong.
Ehh. I’ve been smoking pot for over 50 years, and I never let a day go by unless I’m in jail. I am a devout pothead. I have been, will be, don’t see a damn thing wrong with it except the cost. I used to buy this stuff for 90 bucks a kilo. That’s over two pounds. And now, man, they’re selling ounces in New York for about 500 bucks an ounce. Hydroponic grown… it’s ridiculous. It’s absurd. Legalize it, get the tax from it, the country’s broke. Hell, we’ll make an immediate recovery. I myself alone would be sponsoring a great portion of that. And I’ve got a number of friends who feel the same way.

You knew Buddy Holly early on. What was he like?
I didn’t know Buddy real well because he was older than me. There’s a big social difference in a four or five year age difference. I remember one afternoon, he was out on his front porch and he was sitting in rocking chair. And I just wandered over across the street from my aunt’s house. And he was saying, “You know Robert, I believe I’m gonna make it.” And I look him and I say, “I don’t think so, I just don’t see it, pal.” I was just kidding. Buddy was a pretty energetic fella. He was the first guy I heard play electric guitar, and it impressed the hell out of me.