Sunday, Lemmy and Me, Part Five
The conclusion of my epic encounter with Motörhead's fearless leader
Greetings, Jagged Time Lapsers! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas.
Eight years ago today, Lemmy Kilmister’s incredible existence ended at the age of 70, so it seems appropriate to wrap up my epic 2002 interview with him on the anniversary of his passing.
In case you’re just catching up, Part One is here:
Part Two is here:
Part Three is here:
And you can find Part Four here:
And now… on to Part Five!
Lemmy had just turned 56 about a month before our interview, which made him about a year and a half younger than I am now, though of course Lemmy had lived his 56 years much, much harder than I’ve lived my 57 1/2. But while I certainly wouldn’t have bet at the time that the man had at least another decade left in him, he also didn’t seem remotely frail, even considering the health issues that he admitted to during our conversation. After all, he snorted a rather hefty dose of speed in front of me without even blinking…
It’s a little jarring for me to realize that I’m older now than Lemmy was at the time of our conversation. Because as the bourbon continued to flow and it became ever more difficult for me to keep the interview on any sort of linear track, Lemmy turned the tables and started asking some questions of his own — and some of the answers I gave him send a bit of a chill up my spine when I look back at them now.
In any case, I was sufficiently liquored up by this point to comment on what appeared to be his remarkably improved dental situation…
Did you get new teeth?
Soon. These are temporary. I’m going to get the bolts driven into the jawbone, and then they’ve gotta heal for about six months. I’ve never had time! Interviews always come up, and it’s like [mushmouth mumble]…
I had a plate in there bolted to my old roots, and it came out while I was eating a hamburger in a strip joint. Most embarrassing, you know! I covered up real good, though. [laughs]
Do you see yourself doing this past sixty?
See, I knew that question was gonna come! Do you see yourself doing this past sixty?
Um, no.
What do you think you’re gonna do instead?
I’ll probably be in my garret somewhere, writing books.
Novels?
Yeah, maybe. Well, I think I’ll still be writing, in any case; I just don’t think I’ll be interviewing musicians at age sixty.
Yeah? Are you sure?
No... no, I’m not. [laughs]
See, you can’t ever tell! [laughs]
But if that happens, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
That’s right, it wouldn’t. You get all them free albums, too! What would you do? Buy albums and be a novelist? I don’t think that stacks up very well!
Well, I’ll be sixty years old, and so I probably won’t care about the new music that’s coming out, anyway.
See, I used to think like that. And now I think to myself, “In four years, I’ll be sixty.” Four! And that tends to put things in perspective. Like I said, I got away with it…