The excesses of the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle make it hard to remember everything about one’s career with detailed clarity, which might be why a Rolling Stones track that hit No. 1 in the fall of 1973 has multiple backstories, most of which contradict one another. On their own, each story has a certain level of plausibility (even the explanation that there is no explanation). When listed out altogether, suddenly, none of them seems likelier than the other. So, who really was Angie, anyway?
The titular character of The Stones’ 1973 track, “Angie”, from Goats Head Soup could be plenty of people—or no one at all, depending on which band member you asked and when. One of the most salacious theories is that Mick Jagger wrote the song about David Bowie’s wife, Angie Bowie. In her memoir, Backstage Passes, Angie wrote about catching her husband and Jagger in bed together. “I felt absolutely dead certain that they’d been screwing. It was so obvious, in fact, that I had never even considered the possibility that they hadn’t been screwing,” she wrote.
According to this theory, Jagger wrote “Angie” as a sort of apology. But per Jagger himself, he wasn’t even the one who wrote the song. Keith Richards did, and he had no in-bed romps to apologize for (with Bowie, anyway). However, Richards’ explanations are no less murky.
Keith Richards Offers Conflicting Backstories for No. 1 Rolling Stones Hit
“Angie” by The Rolling Stones topped the charts in the U.S. in the fall of 1971. The song was a softer offering compared to songs like “Paint It Black” and “Street Fighting Man”, which would make sense, given the state of mind Keith Richards was in when he wrote it. In his memoir, Life, he recalled being in a Swiss rehabilitation clinic while his partner, Anita Pallenberg, gave birth to their daughter. He wrote what would later become “Angie” in one afternoon, although he clarified, “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’. Anita named her Dandelion. She was only given the added name Angela because she was born in a Catholic hospital where they insisted that a proper name be added,” he continued.
Richards offered a slightly contradicting story in the liner notes of a best-of compilation from 1993. In this interview, Richards claimed he wrote “Angie” sometime after Angela was already born. “The name was starting to ring around the house,” he said. “But I’m not into writing about my babies. Angie just fitted. I mean, you couldn’t sing ‘Maureen.’”
Adding to the mystery of who “Angie” might really be is the fact that Jagger contributed most of the lyrics, which paint a bleak picture of a failed relationship. “All the dreams we held so close seemed to all go up in smoke.” For this reason, some listeners speculated Jagger wrote the song about his relationship with Marianne Faithfull.
No matter who the song was actually about, “Angie” has become a beloved addition to The Rolling Stones’ catalogue, enjoyed by Angies and non-Angies alike.
Photo by Robert Knight Archive/Redferns