{"id":806308,"date":"2026-10-18T06:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T06:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806308\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T06:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T06:20:21","slug":"the-267million-stream-rolling-stones-song-written-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806308\/","title":{"rendered":"The 267million-stream Rolling Stones song written in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mick<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

Sat 17 October 2026 15:30, UK <\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one thing you could say about The Rolling Stones<\/a>, it\u2019s that they love a luxury holiday or two. <\/p>\n

And when you\u2019ve made your millions, that\u2019s probably fair enough. Even so, there was no denying that a contrast existed between the image of a quintessentially British 1960s rock band and the one that actually played out: the Stones found themselves in any number of far-flung corners of the world over the years, and used that to their full sonic advantage. <\/p>\n

Think about it: Texas, Jamaica, Mexico, and countless other places<\/a>. You could make a list as long as your arm in terms of significant moments that have happened for the band so far away from home, and yet still, as soon as Mick Jagger opens his gob, you feel like you\u2019re standing on a street corner in London.<\/p>\n

All of this is to say that getting away and escaping reality for a while has kind of become an essential part of how the cogs in the Stones\u2019 machine work, and when Jagger and Keith Richards took a Christmas trip to Brazil at the tail end of 1968, that was no different. The perception we have of the country might be of bustling cities or South American flair, but what the pair found subverted their expectations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was just like a ranch in Arizona<\/a>, according to Richards, but that led them down a rather unexpected path in their songwriting inspirations. \u201cSomehow, we got into cowboy songs,\u201d he said, and a whole new disposition took hold of them. Suddenly, it was the land of 1940s country and western, Americana, and open-G tunings. <\/p>\n

And, if you hadn\u2019t guessed it already, \u201cI wrote \u2018Honky Tonk Women\u2019 then,\u201d Richards recalled, before qualifying, \u201cIt was sort of a Hank Williams tune.\u201d They do say that influences often spring from the unlikeliest of places, but Brazil was surely an unlikely birthplace for a slice of classic-sounding country rock. <\/p>\n

In the end, the song could have been written anywhere from Brazil to Arizona to someone\u2019s kitchen table, because its far-reaching popularity spoke for itself. At 267million streams later, it still stands as one of The Rolling Stones\u2019 most enduring hits, heard all over the world and all the more beloved for it<\/a>. But for Jagger and Richards, it sends them straight back to Brazil, every single time. <\/p>\n

Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n

Between the original single and \u2018Country Honk\u2019, the country-blues reworking that appeared on the 1969 album Let It Bleed, \u2018Honky Tonk Women\u2019 proved one thing, and one thing only. The band might have liked to paint themselves as rock and roll through and through, but in another life, get them on a ranch, and they could have been cowboys. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that in their delusions of grandeur, both Jagger and Richards quite fancied themselves as cowboys. Stetson on and boots at the ready, you could tell that was where they always wanted to be. It didn\u2019t matter whether it was Brazil, Arizona, or anywhere else: just play a blast of \u2018Honky Tonk Women\u2019, and they\u2019re straight back twanging that guitar.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\\<\/p>\n

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