Hi everyone. I wanted to share with you the history of Keith Don't Go directly told by Nils.
"Keith Don't Go" by Nils Lofgren - a brief song history
Back in 1973 I (Nils Lofgren) was touring England with Neil Young in the "Tonight's The Night" band. It was an intense, crazy, and beautiful musical adventure for me. I have always been a passionate Rolling Stones fan and Keith Richards remains one of my greatest musical heroes, so he was a topic of frequent conversations on the tour, especially with Englishmen and women. Dozens of people kept claiming to be Keith's close friend and regularly expressed grave concern for his health. I didn't think most of them knew him as well as they claimed, however, it got me thinkin' about the extraordinary inspiration and contribution Keith has made to all our lives through his music. I had a great, dark musical riff that I needed to write lyrics for and realized it would be a good musical foundation for a piece about Keith. Thus the song "Keith Don't Go" was born. It is intended to be a giant thank you note to Keith on behalf of all of us fans. The ominous chords and melody, were also a great backdrop to implore Keith to take care of his health for his sake and ours and to continue sharing his great gift with us all.
Written in 1973, the song first appeared on my first self-titled solo album. In 1975, an electric version produced by the great, late David Briggs who also produced Tonight's The Night and was on that tour with us. In the late '70's it appeared on Night After Night, a live double album and I sang "Keith Don't Go, back to Toronto..." alluding to his trial at that time. However, this was years after the initial composition.
The song has become a centerpiece in my acoustic shows, perhaps my favorite version. It appears in this acoustic form on the Acoustic Live CD, the new DVD, Nils Lofgren and Friends, Live Acoustic, and is the 1st guitar lesson from my new guitar school adventure (all available at [
www.nilslofgren.com]). You can also preview my live performance of the song as it starts the guitar lesson on you tube at
The first lesson breaks all the song sections down for you and the 2nd lesson addresses the harmonic techniques and licks featured in "Keith Don' Go". Hope you dig it!