What a tabloid headline it would have made: “Guitar god felled by mutant carrot!"
And it would have been no Spinal Tap-ish joke.
The incident occurred last fall as Jeff Beck, five-time Grammy winner, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and one-of-a-kind six-string wizard, was prepping for a dinner party at his home outside London.
“We had these massively long carrots," he says. “For some stupid reason, I started slicing them lengthwise. I got a bit lazy, and I put full force on the carrot, and it slipped over. Next thing I know, I'm on my knees, going, 'Oh, dear, that's the end of me.' “ Or words to that effect.
The tip of Beck's left index finger -- the one that flies up and down the neck of his Fender Stratocaster, bending and caressing metal strings like an artful demon -- was a bloody nub, “barely hanging on." To make matters worse, he still had work to do on his first studio album in seven years, Emotion & Commotion, which is out today.
The next morning, a surgeon stitched it so expertly that Beck was out of commission for only seven weeks (he practiced chording with his three good fingers) and now sports just a hair-thin scar as he embarks on a 25-date U.S. tour beginning Friday in San Francisco.
“It's the miracle of nature," says Beck, 65, admiring the digit on the morning after a healthy duel with Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden, one of six historic showdowns the ax-wielding icons staged in February.
And it would have been no Spinal Tap-ish joke.
The incident occurred last fall as Jeff Beck, five-time Grammy winner, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and one-of-a-kind six-string wizard, was prepping for a dinner party at his home outside London.
“We had these massively long carrots," he says. “For some stupid reason, I started slicing them lengthwise. I got a bit lazy, and I put full force on the carrot, and it slipped over. Next thing I know, I'm on my knees, going, 'Oh, dear, that's the end of me.' “ Or words to that effect.
The tip of Beck's left index finger -- the one that flies up and down the neck of his Fender Stratocaster, bending and caressing metal strings like an artful demon -- was a bloody nub, “barely hanging on." To make matters worse, he still had work to do on his first studio album in seven years, Emotion & Commotion, which is out today.
The next morning, a surgeon stitched it so expertly that Beck was out of commission for only seven weeks (he practiced chording with his three good fingers) and now sports just a hair-thin scar as he embarks on a 25-date U.S. tour beginning Friday in San Francisco.
“It's the miracle of nature," says Beck, 65, admiring the digit on the morning after a healthy duel with Eric Clapton at Madison Square Garden, one of six historic showdowns the ax-wielding icons staged in February.
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