Rolling Stone Keith Richards's account of snorting his father's ashes was "lost in translation", the rocker has claimed.

Richards made headlines around the world with his extraordinary comments in an interview with NME magazine.

He described mixing the cremated remains with cocaine and snorting them during a drugs bender.

His dad, Bert, died in 2002 aged 84.

But now hellraising Richards, 63, has offered a somewhat different recollection.

"The complete story is lost in translation," Richards said in a statement.

"The truth of the matter is that I planted a sturdy English oak. I took the lid off the box of ashes and he is now growing oak trees and would love me for it. I was trying to say how tight Bert and I were. That tight!"

He added: "I wouldn't take cocaine at this point in my life unless I wished to commit suicide."

However, NME magazine is standing by its story.

Mark Beaumont, the journalist who conducted the interview, insisted it had been no throwaway joke.

"He didn't offer the information, I had to ask him a couple of questions to get the information out of him. He didn't come straight out with that," Beaumont said.

In the interview, Richards said: "The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared, he didn't give a s***.

"It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."