WAITING ON A FRIEND

“Waiting On A Friend” was almost 10 years in the making, beginning in Jamaica while recording the 1973 album Goats Head Soup. The final product, which included ex-member Mick Taylor’s previously-recorded guitar and a saxophone solo added later by Sonny Rollins, was completed in 1981 and used as the closing track and second single of the very successful album Tattoo You . It reached #13 in the US in February 1982, and #50 in the UK. In the liner notes of Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones (1971-1993), Mick Jagger said, we all liked it at the time but it didn’t have any lyrics… The lyric I added is very gentle and loving, about friendships in the band. The song was one of the early songs intended for MTV and the video helps shed some light on the meanings of the lyrics. Waiting on a Friend is a song by rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 release Tattoo You. It was first played as early as 1970, when Mick Taylor first joined the group and was recording with Jagger in London. Recording on "Waiting on a Friend" began in late 1972 through early 1973 in Kingston, Jamaica, during the Goats Head Soup sessions when the band still had Mick Taylor as a member. His guitar piece made it to the overdubbing sessions in April of 1981 when the song was selected by Tattoo You producer Chris Kimsey as one the band could re-work for the album. In the liner notes to 1993's compilation album Jump Back, Jagger had this to say: "We all liked it at the time but it didn't have any lyrics, so there we were... The lyric I added is very gentle and loving, about friendships in the band." Jagger also had stated that the 1981 lyrics were contemplated for a future possible video, making the song the first Stones single to be packaged as a possible video for the emergingly important MTV channel. The video, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who also directed their 1968 special Rock and Roll Circus), became very popular on MTV and featured reggae artist Peter Tosh sitting on a stoop with Jagger who is seen waiting on Richards. The building is found at 96-98 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan, which is the same building featured on the album cover of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. The video also features Ronnie Wood playing Mick Taylor's part (similar to the videos for "Hot Stuff" and "Worried About You," in which Wood is imitating the guitar playing of Harvey Mandel and Wayne Perkins respectively). In 1981, Sonny Rollins was asked to play on tracks by The Rolling Stones for their album Tattoo You, including the single, Waiting on a Friend. Mick Jagger said in 1983: Just let me be cynical for a moment. First of all, it’s really NOT about waiting on a woman friend. It’s just about a FRIEND; it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. I can see people saying, Oh, we’re all much older now, Mick’s writing this much more compassionate stuff, must be about a real person. But that’s only in their perception of it. Later in 1993, Jagger gave some background information about the song: This one dates from the Goats Head Soup sessions. We all liked it at the time but we didn’t have any lyrics, so there we were. As well as the vocal, we stuck on that amazing sax solo at the end by Sonny Rollins. The lyric I added is very gentle and loving, about friendships in the band. At least I think that’s what it was about. The influence of the video comes in here because when we scripted it we had me and Keith sitting round waiting for each other. But I can’t actually remember now if that was the original idea of the song.

Waiting On A Friend Lyrics The Rolling Stones {Intro} [Verse 1] Watching girls go passing by It ain't the latest thing I'm just standing in a doorway I'm just trying to make some sense' Out of these girls that passing by The tales they tell of men I'm not waiting on a lady I'm just waiting on a friend [Verse 2] A smile relieves a heart that grieves Remember what I said I'm not waiting on a lady I'm just waiting on a friend Just waiting on a friend I'm just waiting on a friend I'm just waiting on a friend {Bridge} [Verse 3] Don't need a whore, I don't need no booze Don't need a virgin priest But I need someone I can cry to I need someone to protect Making love and breaking hearts It is a game for youth But I'm not waiting on my lady I'm just waiting on a friend [Outro] I'm just waiting on a friend I'm just waiting on a friend I'm just waiting on a friend I'm just waiting on a friend Just waiting on a friend Waiting on a friend Waiting on a friend Produced By The Glimmer Twins Written By Mick Jagger & Keith Richards Congam Mike Carabello Cabasa Mike Carabello Claves Mike Carabello Guiro Mike Carabello Saxophone Sonny Rollins Piano Nicky Hopkins Drums Charlie Watts Bass Bill Wyman Electric Guitar Keith Richards & Mick Taylor Vocals Mick Jagger Release Date November 30, 1981