THE ROLLING STONES - "As Tears Go By"

The Rolling Stones
"As Tears Go By"
Single / B-side: "Gotta Get Away" (US) / "19th Nervous Breakdown" (UK)
Released: 18 December 1965 (US) / 1966 (UK)
Album: December's Children (And Everybody's) (Released: 4 December 1965 - US)
Writers: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Andrew Loog Oldham
Label: London

"As Tears Go By" is a song written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham. It was released as a single by Marianne Faithfull in 1964 and peaked at #9 in the United Kingdom. The Rolling Stones recorded their own version later, releasing the track in late 1965 on the album December's Children (And Everybody's) and subsequently as a single in North America.

The Rolling Stones' single: "As Tears Go By" (1965)

The Rolling Stones - "As Tears Go By" (Vinyl, Hungary)

"As Tears Go By" was one of the first original compositions by Jagger and Richards, as until that point The Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing blues standards. A story surrounding the song's genesis has it that Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: "I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." The result was initially named "As Time Goes By", the title of the song Dooley Wilson sings in the film Casablanca. It was Oldham who replaced "Time" with "Tears". According to Jagger biographer Philip Norman, the song was mainly created by Jagger, in co-operation with session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan.

The Rolling Stones album: December's Children, 1965
(Photo courtesy of  Rolling Stones)

The Rolling Stones - "As Tears Go By" (TV show 1965)

Oldham subsequently gave the ballad (a format that the Stones were not yet known for) to Faithfull, then 17, for her to record as a B-side. The success of the recording caused the record company, Decca, to switch the song to an A-side, where it became a very popular single. The melody features a distinctive oboe line. The demo had Mick Jagger singing and Big Jim Sullivan playing 12-string guitar. It reached no. 9 in the British charts and launched Faithfull's career as a major singer. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 in America the week ending 28 November 1964, where it stayed for nine weeks peaking at no. 22. Faithfull also performed the song on the television show Hullabaloo, in the segment presented by Beatles manager Brian Epstein from London.

Gered Mankowitz, The Rolling Stones (1965), December's Children

The Rolling Stones - "As Tears Go By" (Ed Sullivan Show)

It is sometimes said that the song was written as an answer to The Beatles' "Yesterday", a strings-driven ballad that became one of the band's biggest hits in 1965. However, this is false: "As Tears Go By" was written at least one year before "Yesterday"'s parent album, Help!, was even released. However, the Rolling Stones may have been influenced by "Yesterday'"s particular arrangement. The Rolling Stones changed the arrangement from Faithful's 1964 version to one that more closely resembled the arrangement of "Yesterday", which may have been intentional given that the new arrangement was recorded while the Beatles' song was topping charts all over the world, including the US Billboard Hot 100. Marianne Faithful's 1964 version of "As Tears Go By" features percussion and strings throughout; the Rolling Stones' version completely lacks percussion and opens with acoustic guitar followed by strings entering in the second verse, just as in "Yesterday".

The Rolling Stones recorded their own version of "As Tears Go By" in 1965. This recording is notable for its heavy string arrangement by Mike Leander. It was one of the three songs (including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "19th Nervous Breakdown") that the band performed live during their third appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was released as a single in December 1965 by their North American record label, London Records, due to popular demand after radio DJs across the country started playing it from the band's recently released album, December's Children (And Everybody's). 

The Stones released a version with Italian lyrics as a single in Italy, under the title "Con Le Mie Lacrime".

The Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By" Italian version

The Rolling Stones - "Co Le Mie Lacrime" ("As Tears Go By" Italian version)

It was performed live on tour for the first time in November 2005 on the Stones' "A Bigger Bang" tour. A performance from the 2006 leg of the tour was captured for the 2008 live release, Shine a Light. On 11 July in Milan they performed the song with the Italian lyrics. The song was performed as a duet between Jagger and Taylor Swift on 3 June 2013 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, for the band's "50 & Counting" tour.

Line-up / Musicians:

Mick Jagger — vocals
Keith Richards — 12-string acoustic guitar
Mike Leander — string arrangement

Link / Review:
wikipedia: As Tears Go By (song)
songfacts: As Tears Go By by The Rolling Stones
allmusic: As Tears Go By - The Rolling Stones
rollingstone: 100 Greatest Rolling Stones Songs - As Tears Go By (1965)

THE ROLLING STONES - "Moonlight Mile"

The Rolling Stones
"Moonlight Mile"
Album: Sticky Fingers
Released: 23 April 1971
Writers: Mick Jagger / Keith Richards
Label: Rolling Stones / Virgin

"Moonlight Mile" is a song from The Rolling Stones' 1971 album Sticky Fingers.

Credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Moonlight Mile" is widely considered to be one of the Rolling Stones' most underappreciated ballads. Recording took place in October 1970 at Stargroves. The song was the product of an all-night session between Jagger and Mick Taylor. Taylor had taken a short guitar piece recorded by Richards (entitled "Japanese Thing") and reworked it for the session. Jagger performs the song's prominent acoustic guitar riff. Jagger felt it easier to extemporize with Taylor. Keith Richards was not at the recording session because he a bit "out of it" by the end of the Sticky Fingers recording session. Richard likes the song, though. It was Taylor's idea to add a string arrangement by Paul Buckmaster to the song. Piano is played by regular Rolling Stones trumpet player Jim Price.

The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers LP, 1971

The Rolling Stones - "Moonlight Mile"

In his review of the song, Bill Janovitz says, "Though the song still referenced drugs and the road life of a pop-music celebrity, it really is a rare example of Jagger letting go of his public persona, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the weariness that accompanies the pressures of keeping up appearances as a sex-drugs-and-rock & roll star." Rock critic Robert Christgau said the song, "re-created all the paradoxical distances inherent in erotic love with a power worthy of Yeats, yet could also be interpreted as a cocaine song. "This is a reference to the first stanza, which reads, "When the wind blows and the rain feels cold, With a head full of snow..." . It was meant to be about coming down from a cocaine high.

The Rolling Stones's Sticky Fingers (front cover)

The Rolling Stones - "Moonlight Mile"

"...'Moonlight Mile' did mark a change of direction and thus a growth spurt for the Stones, stretching out a little more from the blues, country, and R&B-based roots music they had returned to after flirting -- with mixed results -- in the late '60s with psychedelia and other genres. For one thing, the Stones had been producing layered but streamlined electric guitar-based records at this time. In relation, "Moonlight Mile" was an epic production, not only with the sweeping strings, but other studio techniques like doubling Jagger's lead vocal -- a technique he rarely employed, seeming to prefer two-part harmony..." (Allmusic review by Bill Janovitz)

The Rolling Stones - "Moonlight Mile"

The Rolling Stones's Sticky Fingers Session(l - r: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts)

The track was used extensively during the final episode of the first part of the HBO series The Sopranos' sixth season, "Kaisha", as well as giving its title to and being used in the 2002 motion picture Moonlight Mile. The song has been covered live by The Flaming Lips and on The 5th Dimension album, Earthbound. American hard rock supergroup Saints of the Underground covered this song for their only album Love the Sin, Hate the Sinner. Southern soul artist Lee Fields covered this song on his 2012 album Faithful Man.

Line-up / Musicians:

Mick Jagger - vocals, acoustic guitar

Mick Taylor - lead guitar

Bill Wyman - bass guitar

Charlie Watts - drums

With:

Jim Price - piano

Paul Buckmaster – string arrangement

Links / Reviews:

Wikipedia: Moonlight Mile (song) 

Songfacts: Moonlight Mile by The Rolling Stones

Allmusic: Moonlight Mile - The Rolling Stones

THE ROLLING STONES - "Angie"

The Rolling Stones
"Angie"
Single / B-side: "Silver Train"
Released: 20 August 1973
Album: Goats Head Soup - (Released: 31 August 1973)
Writers: Mick Jagger - Keith Richards
Label: Rolling Stones 

"Angie" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and featured on The Rolling Stones 1973 album Goats Head Soup.

The Rolling Stones' single "Angie", 1973

The Rolling Stones - "Angie" (Official Promo Video  version 1)

Recorded in November and December 1972, "Angie" is an acoustic-guitar-driven ballad which tells of the end of a romance. The song's distinctive piano accompaniment was played by Nicky Hopkins, a Rolling Stones recording-session regular. The strings on the piece (as well as on another song, "Winter") were arranged by Nicky Harrison. An unusual feature of the original recording is that singer Mick Jagger's vocal guide track (made before the final vocals were performed) is faintly audible throughout the song (an effect sometimes called a "ghost vocal").

Because of the song's length, some radio stations made edits to shorten it to 3 minutes, omitting the longer coda and the second instrumental section of the song.

There was speculation that the song was about David Bowie's first wife Angela, or the actress Angie Dickinson, or Keith Richards' newborn daughter, Dandelion Angela. Richards, who wrote almost all the music and lyrics for the song, claimed in his autobiography that the name Angie was a pseudonym for heroin, and that the song was about his attempt to quit using it while detoxing in Switzerland. 

Keith in his 2010 autobiography, Life, wrote: "While I was in the (Vevey drug) clinic (in March-April 1972), Anita was down the road having our daughter, Angela. Once I came out of the usual trauma, I had a guitar with me and I wrote 'Angie' in an afternoon, sitting in bed, because I could finally move my fingers and put them in the right place again, and I didn't feel like I had to s--t the bed or climb the walls or feel manic anymore. I just went, 'Angie, Angie.' It was not about any particular person; it was a name, like ohhh, Diana. I didn't know Angela was going to be called Angela when I wrote 'Angie.' In those days you didn't know what sex the thing was going to be until it popped out." 

Mick Jagger achingly sings about a doomed love: "They can't say we never tried / With no loving in our souls and no money in our coats / You can't say we're satisfied," is one of the song's most memorable lines. 

(Allmusic review by Bill Janovitz)

The Rolling Stones - "Angie" (Official promo video vers.2)

The Rolling Stones - Angie (Audio HQ)

The Rolling Stones have frequently performed the song in concert; it was included in set lists on their 1973, 1975, and 1976 tours, and they have performed it on every tour since their 1982 European tour. Concert renditions were released on the albums Stripped and Live Licks.

Line-up / Musicians:
Mick Jagger – lead vocals
Keith Richards – guitar, backing vocals
Mick Taylor – guitar, backing vocals
Bill Wyman – bass guitar
Charlie Watts – drums

With

Nicky Hopkins – piano 

Nicky Harrison – string arrangement 

Links / Reviews:

Official Website: Goats Head Soup

Wikipedia: Angie (song)

Songfacts: Angie by The Rolling Stones

Allmusic: The Rolling Stones - Angie song review