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Rolling Stones quotes: Keith Richards on the inspiration for writing Jumpin’ Jack Flash
THE STORY OF JUMPIN’ JACK AND KEITH It all started with Keith hearing his gardener’s heavy boots stomping outside at dawn. Mick wakes up, asks what the noise is, and Keith casually replies, “That’s Jack… that’s Jumpin’ Jack.” One guitar riff in open tuning later—and Mick tossing in the word “Flash”—the whole thing suddenly clicked. A random morning sound turned into one of the most iconic, high-voltage riffs in rock history. Classic Stones magic born out of pure accident.
“There was the sound of these heavy stomping rubber boots near the window, belonging to my gardener, Jack Dyer, a real country man from Sussex. It woke Mick up. He said, ‘What’s that?’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s Jack. That’s jumping Jack.’ I started to work around the phrase on the guitar, which was in open tuning, singing the phrase ‘Jumping Jack.’ Mick said, ‘Flash,’ and suddenly, we had this phrase with a great rhythm and ring to it. So we got to work on it and wrote it.
You’d think a song like Jumpin’ Jack Flash was born from a mystical, drug-fueled jam session deep inside a candlelit recording studio. Nope. Try a pair of muddy boots. Keith Richards recalls that it all started one morning with the clomping footsteps of his gardener, Jack Dyer — a Sussex man with heavy rubber boots and, apparently, impeccable timing. The sound jolted Mick Jagger awake, prompting him to groggily ask, “What’s that?” Keith, as only Keith can, responded with poetic flair: “That’s Jack. That’s Jumping Jack.” The phrase stuck. Keith began messing around with it on his guitar (open tuning, of course), and soon Mick, not to be outdone, threw in a well-timed “Flash”. Voilà — what began as a groggy observation of a country gardener turned into one of the Stones’ most electrifying riffs. Moral of the story? Never underestimate the songwriting power of a rude awakening.
The Jumpin’ Jack Flash inspiration and the Birth of a Rock Legend )
Once the phrase Jumpin’ Jack Flash was alive and kicking, Keith and Mick dove in headfirst. Open chords were slashed, lyrics were conjured, and just like that, a now-iconic rock anthem took shape — no vision quests or studio wizardry required. Just the rhythmic stomp of Jack Dyer doing his job and two slightly sleep-deprived rock stars doing theirs. And to think, had Jack chosen to wear sneakers, rock history might be down one anthem.
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