(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Tue 23 December 2025 17:00, UK
For two people who have been defining cultural icons for upwards of half a century, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger have inexplicably managed to remain fairly enigmatic figures: rock and roll aliens beamed down to Earth with the sole purpose of keeping the spirit of rock alive.
If there is anybody who truly knows the pair, it is each other, such that even when Brian Jones was the man at the helm of The Rolling Stones, during their early days as blues devotees in the underground nightclubs of London Town, it was the partnership between Jagger and Richards that formed the core structure of the band.
Inevitably, when the pair moved into the realm of songwriting, with the much-needed push of Andrew Loog Oldham, those bonds only strengthened and, before too long, Jagger and Richards were as essential to the realm of rock and roll as Elvis’ quiff or Chuck Berry’s cherry red Gibson.
With that newly established songwriting partnership, though, the pair often isolated themselves from the rest of the band, which was one of the contributing factors in the tragic downfall of Brian Jones towards the tail-end of the 1960s. That, along with the band’s famously hedonistic approach to everyday life, cast a certain degree of mystery around the two songwriters; they are, after all, living a life that no ordinary person can ever hope to truly comprehend.
Nevertheless, ‘The Glimmer Twins’ have routinely provided insight into their world of rock and roll excess and, to their credit, they appear to be among the only songwriting partnerships to have never experienced a catastrophic falling out, an even more impressive feat when you take into account the extreme longevity of the band’s existence.
That isn’t to say, however, that the Stones’ songwriters haven’t thrown a few light-hearted quips at each other over the decades, in various interviews and retrospectives. For instance, Richards’ rather revealing take on Jagger’s temperament was once revealed by keyboardist and regular Stones collaborator Ian McLagen, per Classic Rock, who said, “Keith’s classic line to describe Mick’s personality is: ‘It depends whoever she is today, dear’”.
“He is very mercurial, but he has been very sweet to me at different times,” McLagen continued, providing some context to Richards’ sardonic summary of his comrade’s character. “Mick is very business-like. You think Keith knows where he’s playing in two days’ time? Mick’s been to the venues, he knows the name of the promoters, knows how many tickets have been sold. It’s all part of his deal; that’s what he does.”
Although you could easily write off Richards’ seven-word summation of Jagger as a mere example of the guitarist’s famous sense of humour, it does provide a certain degree of insight into the inner workings of The Rolling Stones.
Perhaps the very fact that the two songwriters are so different in their approach to the group, with Jagger typically being more organised, is the reason, or, at the very least, one of the reasons, why they have been able to work together for so long without becoming sick of the sight of each other. Like yin and yang, the wild rock and roll hedonists balance each other out perfectly.
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