{"id":535693,"date":"2026-07-06T12:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/535693\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T12:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T12:26:13","slug":"the-rolling-stones-keith-richards-describes-america-as-a-bit-of-a-disappointment-at-the-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/535693\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards describes America as \u201ca bit of a disappointment at the moment\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rolling Stones<\/a>\u2019 Keith Richards<\/a> has labelled America as \u201ca bit of a disappointment at the moment\u201d given the current political climate and social unrest.<\/p>\n

The comments come as the rock icon has lived in Connecticut for over four decades, moving there in 1985.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Sunday Times<\/a> about the Stones\u2019 upcoming album \u2018Foreign Tongues\u2019<\/a>, which is set for release on July 10, Richards addressed speculation that the song \u2018Ringing Hollow\u2019 is set to be an anti-Trump track.<\/p>\n

While he didn\u2019t specifically say whether or not the song alluded to the US president, the guitarist did say that the song in question is about having \u201ca nostalgic love affair with America, and [it being] a bit of a disappointment at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

After quipping that he has \u201cgot my steel helmet and live[s] in a bunker\u201d, Richards added that he has felt the concern from people around him over financial strain. \u201cAll you hear is the moaning about the price of gas. This is where it hurts people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"RollingRolling Stones \u2018Foreign Tongues\u2019 album artwork<\/p>\n

In a separate interview, frontman Mick Jagger<\/a> spoke to MOJO<\/a> about the inspiration between \u2018Ringing Hollow\u2019 and said that while it isn\u2019t \u201conly about\u201d Trump\u2019s America, it does centre around \u201cAmerica generally and your experiences of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American Dream is intact for some people, and I\u2019m sure we can find some wonderful immigrant stories that happened in the last 12 months, but we read about the decline of the American Empire,\u201d the singer shared. \u201cIt\u2019s not the same at all, but there are a lot of questions about imperial overreach, and the lobbying system.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Far Out<\/a>, the song will feature lyrics including: \u201cLady Liberty don\u2019t look so good when there\u2019s a tear in her gown.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the band haven\u2019t said that the song is a direct criticism of Trump, they have clashed with the president multiple times over the past decade.<\/p>\n

In May 2016, the Stones issued a statement saying they hadn\u2019t given permission for Trump to use the 1969 song<\/a> \u2018You Can\u2019t Always Get What You Want\u2019 and requested for him to \u201ccease all use immediately.\u201d Trump then defied this, and played it at the end end of his 75-minute speech to Republican party members in Cleveland that July.<\/p>\n

In summer 2019, Jagger made a dig at Trump on-stage following his comments in that year\u2019s Independence Day speech<\/a>, and later that year the singer also condemned Donald Trump over his stance on climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a very difficult situation at the moment, especially in the US, where all the environmental controls that were put in place \u2013 that were just about adequate \u2013 have been rolled back by the current administration so much that they are being wiped out,\u201d Jagger said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe US should be the world leader in environmental control but now it has decided to go the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2020, The Rolling Stones issued another warning to Trump to stop using their music at his rallies and events<\/a>, saying that he could face a lawsuit if not.<\/p>\n

\u2018Foreign Tongues\u2019 is set to feature contributions from Paul McCartney<\/a>, The Cure\u2019s Robert Smith<\/a>, Bruno Mars<\/a>, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers<\/a> and more, as well as a cover of Amy Winehouse\u2019s \u2018You Know I\u2019m No Good\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to NME as part of a recent In Conversation interview, Jagger opened up about the \u201ceasy\u201d experience working with McCartney<\/a>, the collab with Robert Smith<\/a>, his love of Sam Fender<\/a>, and whether or not they have more music planned. Read it in full here<\/a>, or watch it above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rolling Stones\u2019 Keith Richards has labelled America as \u201ca bit of a disappointment at the moment\u201d given…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[969,93,61,60,278,1650,640],"class_list":["post-535693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-politics","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}