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WAG: Did
you have a clear understanding that the book would take this
shape from the beginning or did it change as you worked on it?
Oldham: I
always had in mind a choice of three endings for this first
book. The first was "And then I met the Rolling
Stones," which might have been deemed a bit cheeky in the
ego department. The second was "And then we recorded
'Satisfaction,'" but that process brought America into the
game, which is a separate story. Post-Beatles music, and
therefore mine with the Rolling Stones, has two lives. The first
is making it in Britain when America was a fantasy and not a
possibility; the second is the world that opened up for all of
us once the Beatles had hit. Before that, America was not even a
holiday possibility, just a field of dreams we survived on via
its films and music. The only British pop records that made it
in the States were one-off freaks like Acker Bilk's "On The
Shore"--not even Cliff Richard could get a look in.
WAG: Stoned
seems cathartic. What was writing the book and reviewing that
period of your life like for you emotionally?
Oldham: Catharsis
is a process of " getting rid of." I had nothing to
get rid of. I'm applauding the time and the people. Stoned
is a celebration and a history. It's a time that is often
overlooked by those on the left side of fifty by the
accordianing in of those years, as if we kicked off with peace
and love. That only came about when the fame and money weren't
working. Stoned tells of the ride up, when every waking
day had us beaming at not having had to settle down and work for
the Man. Most of the people in Stoned were war-babies
who'd been told to tow the line for the sacrifices of our
elders. Thank God, we didn't; thank God, we rocked the boat.
Thank you, Eddie Cochran ! Thank you, James Dean!
WAG: The
Rolling Stones have a running habit of turning down interviews,
and they avoid discussing the period your book covers. Why do
you think that is?
Oldham: I
can't see any valid reason for discussing your yesterdays unless
it's part of your work process today. I certainly would not make
a habit of it. It's a very dangerous box to allow yourself to be
fitted into. The Rolling Stones have to be engaged in tomorrow
or it's over. I'm certainly not interested in Bill Wyman or Mick
Jagger except as present-time objects in this wonderful world of
words, and I understand them not being interested in me. They
are in my life, at the moment, but I'm not in theirs.
WAG: What
do you think was your greatest accomplishment as a producer in
the 1960s? And what do you think was your greatest failing?
Oldham: Providing
the environment in which the Stones could produce their music,
cheer leading them into "go," making enough valid
suggestions that ended up as recorded moments and knowing when
to leave the room. I did not have "a greatest
failing"--the work worked.
WAG: Will
there be other volumes in your autobiographical output or did Stoned
sum up everything you want to say?
Oldham: Well,
your reader will know we haven't met. I'm not done by a long
shot. I'm nearly through 2Stoned, and if the reader will
have me, there could be Stoned Free. 2Stoned
basically covers 1964 to 1967 and our coming to America. As you
know, Stoned ends just as the Beatles have taken America,
and the Stones are getting ready to go. It's a heady time, and
this one may qualify as cathartic. I seem to be clearing my
universe in the process of getting it done. Finally, if Oscar
Wilde were alive today, he'd have just finished a CD of duets
with Leonard Cohen, Beck and Marianne Faithfull.
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