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November 7th, 2026 · 2:45am GMT
Is there a band that embodies the ideology of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll more than The Rolling Stones?
A lot of this was by design. Manager Andrew Loog Oldham saw how successful The Beatles were and decided to take what people were connecting with and exaggerate it. The band grew their hair longer, they dressed more flamboyantly, and they owned their relationship with both sex and drugs. Much of the image was very intentional; however, a lot of it was based on fact.
For instance, the reason the band could be so easily perceived as sleeping around and taking drugs is that they were, you guessed it, sleeping around and taking drugs. Now, this wasn’t exactly uncommon for a lot of rock bands at the time; however, The Rolling Stones really felt the full force of the law when they were arrested for drug charges in 1967.
Just as the band’s career was really kicking off and they were releasing some of their best music, a police raid on Keith Richards’ home had landed the group in hot water with the law. It was looking like the punishment would be pretty severe, and as the Glimmer Twins were on bail waiting to find out what their sentences were, they decided to write one final track as a thank you to their fans who had continued to stick by them.
It’s one of the band’s most overlooked classics. It’s understandable why it might get overlooked at times, given there was so much happening with the band at the time. However, because of the situation the band found themselves in, paired with the genuine emotion and sentiment behind the track, it makes it one of the most emotional and genuine Rolling Stones tracks out there. There are very few songs by the band where they can convey so much so effectively.
Despite many people now recognising the song as an overlooked classic, Richards remembers the actual writing of the track being a real low point. Richards and Jagger were out on bail and very convinced they were going to prison. While the song might have been a thank you, there was a lot of self-pity that surrounded the process.
“That’s jail to me. We were on bail,” he said. “We thought we were going to go to jail, basically. It was kind of like a last fling before the jail doors started slamming. We thought, ‘Well, you know, we won’t be doing this for a while’. That was a really low point because we figured they’d really nailed us. And that was kinda going to be our last tune for a while.”
Further reading: From The Vault
The main issue that Rolling Stones faced from a technical perspective at this point was being able to convey the emotion behind the song while also keeping it upbeat and ensuring it’s a solid reflection of their signature sound. The original rendition, given how down both he and Jagger were at the time, was way too slow. So, the band needed to try and work out how to keep getting that emotion across but still giving people an energetic number.
“How long did it take to record? I don’t remember really hankering over it,” he said, concluding, “It was such a very slow song, so we had to double it up with the timing and everything. I think it was a rhythm thing. Nicky Hopkins was there doing that beautiful piano thing. In the beginning, it was a real dirge. We had to sort of speed it up somehow without losing that dirge-like, prism-like feel.”
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