Jagger/Richards
Jagger/Richards is a songwriting team that consists of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. They have written together for more than 40 years. The partnership between the two is often considered second only to John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Lennon/McCartney) of The Beatles.
Contents |
History
Jagger and Richards' first song written as a team was "As Tears Go By". Keith Richards about the beginning of this partnership:
“ | So what Andrew Oldham did was lock us up in the kitchen for a night and say, "Don't come out without a song." We sat around and came up with "As Tears Go By". It was unlike most Rolling Stones material, but that's what happens when you write songs, you immediately fly to some other realm. The weird thing is that Andrew found Marianne Faithfull at the same time, bunged it to her and it was a fuckin' hit for her - we were songwriters already! But it took the rest of that year to dare to write anything for the Stones.[1] | ” |
Despite claims to the contrary, the first original Jagger/Richards song to be released as a single by the Stones was "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" from the album England's Newest Hitmakers. It peaked at number 24 on the US charts. The earlier "Good Times, Bad Times" was released as the b-side to their cover of Bobby and Shirley Womack's "It's All Over Now".
Notable is the fact that though most of the "Jagger/Richards" compositions were written while co-operating, some of the songs credited to the famous partnership are originally basically solo songwriting from either Jagger (say "Brown Sugar") or Richards ("Happy"), equally comparable with the Lennon/McCartney partnership, in which the case was the same.
Co-credits
Jagger and Richards have shared credits with very few others. Among them are:
- Andrew Loog Oldham: "As Tears Go By"
- Marianne Faithfull: "Sister Morphine"
- Mick Taylor, former Stones guitarist: "Ventilator Blues"
- Ron Wood, Stones guitarist: "Dance (Pt. 1)", "If I Was A Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)", "Everything Is Turning to Gold", "Black Limousine", "No Use in Crying", "Pretty Beat Up", "One Hit (to the Body)", "Fight", "Dirty Work", "Had It With You". He is credited as "Inspiration by Ron Wood" on "Hey Negrita"
- Billy Preston is credited as "Inspiration by Billy Preston" on "Melody"
- Chuck Leavell, keyboardist : "Back to Zero"
- Steve Jordan: "Almost Hear You Sigh"
- k.d. lang and Ben Mink: "Anybody Seen My Baby?"
- Lang and Mink did not co-write; they were credited retrospectively before release when Richards' daughter informed him that there was a strong similarity between "Constant Craving", a hit from the 1992 Ingénue album.
- Pierre de Beauport: "Thief in the Night"
It is known Taylor left the band for the lack of credits he received while working with the band. Of note are the songs "Winter", from the 1973 album Goats Head Soup, and both "Sway" and "Moonlight Mile", from 1971's Sticky Fingers, both of which are thought to be Jagger/Taylor compositions.
The Verve's 1997 hit single “Bitter Sweet Symphony” uses a small five-note sample from an orchestral version of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.” After the song became a hit, The Verve was sued by Allen Klein, who owns the copyrights to The Rolling Stones' pre-1970 songs. Klein claimed The Verve broke their licence agreement when they used a larger portion than was covered in the license. The band handed over 100 percent of their songwriting royalties. They were then sued by Oldham, who claimed to possess the copyright on the sampled sound recording.[2] “Bittersweet Symphony” was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Song category, which honours songwriters. Because the unfavourable settlement transferred the Verve’s copyright and songwriting credit to Klein and The Rolling Stones, the Grammy nomination went to “Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.”[3]
Jagger/Richards compositions given away
There are very few Jagger/Richards compositions that were given away to other musicians to record, and not released by The Rolling Stones.
- "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind", single by Vashti
List of songs
These are the Jagger/Richards songs that have been released as a Rolling Stones single, either as an A-side or a B-side
See also
Notes
- ^ McPherson, Ian. Time Is On Our Side (website). Keith Richards 1989 quote.
- ^ "The Verve Sued Again over "Bitter Sweet Symphony"VH1, 11 January 1999
- ^ "Songwriters: Careful with those music samples!", August 11, 2006
- ^ actually Wood/Jagger, but attributed to Jagger/Richards
- ^ actually Jones/Richards, but attributed to Jagger/Richards
External links
- Rolling Stones Complete Official Discography
- http://www.timeisonourside.com/songwriting.html
- http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/the_rolling_stones/special_features/8652