Ruby Tuesday (song)

"Ruby Tuesday"
7" single cover
Single by The Rolling Stones
from the album Between the Buttons (US Version) and Flowers
A-side	"Let's Spend the Night Together"
Released	13 January 1967 (UK) January 1967 (US)
Recorded	8 November – 3 December 1966, London, England
Genre	Baroque pop
Length	3:16
Label	Decca/ABKCO, London (US and Canada)
Writer(s)	Jagger/Richards Brian Jones(uncredited)
Producer(s)	Andrew Loog Oldham
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" (1966) "Ruby Tuesday/Let's Spend the Night Together" (1967) "We Love You/Dandelion" (1967)

"Ruby Tuesday"
Single by Melanie
from the album Candles in the Rain
B-side	"What Have They Done to My Song Ma" (fr)
Released	August 1970 (UK) November 1970 (US)
Genre	Folk pop
Length	4:31 (UK) 3:44 (US)
Label	Buddah
Writer(s)	Jagger/Richards Brian Jones(uncredited)
Producer(s)	Peter Schekeryk
Melanie singles chronology
"Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" (1970) "Ruby Tuesday"/ "What Have They Done to My Song Ma" (fr) (1970) "Peace Will Come (According to Plan)" (1970)

"Ruby Tuesday"
Single by The Rolling Stones
from the album Flashpoint
Released	24 May 1991
Format	7" vinyl, cassette
Recorded	27 February 1990
Length	3:34
Label	Rolling Stones
Writer(s)	Jagger/Richards
Producer(s)	Chris Kimsey and The Glimmer Twins
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
"Highwire" (1991) "Ruby Tuesday" (1991) "Love Is Strong" (1994)

"Ruby Tuesday" is a song recorded by The Rolling Stones in 1966, released in January 1967. The song, coupled with "Let's Spend the Night Together", was a number-one hit in the United States and reached number three in the United Kingdom.

Music and inspiration

Multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones played recorder, and the double bass was played jointly by bassist Bill Wyman (pressing the strings against the fingerboard) and Keith Richards (bowing the strings). According to Keith Richards in a 1971 Rolling Stone interview, he wrote the song in a Los Angeles hotel room in early 1966 about a groupie he knew;^[1] he has also stated that it was about Linda Keith, his girlfriend in the mid-1960s.^[2] The song's lyrics concern an apparently free-spirited woman, with Jagger singing, "Who could hang a name on you?/When you change with every new day/Still I'm gonna miss you."^[3]

"That's a wonderful song," Mick Jagger told Jann Wenner in 1995. "It's just a nice melody, really. And a lovely lyric. Neither of which I wrote, but I always enjoy singing it."^[4] Bill Wyman states in Rolling with the Stones that the lyrics were completely written by Keith Richards with help from Brian Jones on the musical composition. However, Marianne Faithfull recalls it differently; according to her, Brian Jones presented an early version of this melody to the rest of the Rolling Stones.^[5] According to Victor Bockris, Richards came up with the basic track and the words and finished the song with Jones in the studio.^[6] Jones typically added elements to mostly finished tunes, and should also be a co-writer on Under My Thumb and most 1967 songs for extensive Mellotroj overdubbing.

From Richards's autobiography, Life, the song was written about his girlfriend Linda Keith. Linda had taken up with Jimi Hendrix, and had got involved with drugs. She left Richards, and he tried to get her back. He eventually went to her parents and told them she was going down a dark path. Linda's father went to New York City to collect her, and by order of court she was grounded. Richards reports that Linda regarded this as a betrayal, and they did not speak again for many years. According to Richards's autobiography, Linda Keith survived, brought up a family, and now lives in New Orleans.^[7]

Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #310 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[8] The song title was the source of the restaurant chain of the same name.

In the US, "Ruby Tuesday" was released on two consecutive albums in 1967: the US version of Between the Buttons and the compilation album Flowers.^[3] In later years, the song was included on compilations such as Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969), Hot Rocks 1964–1971 (1971), Rolled Gold (1975), and 30 Greatest Hits (1977), and, in mono, on Singles Collection: The London Years (1989).

The 2002 ABKCO reissues of the song -- including on reissued albums and a new compilation, Forty Licks -- have a remastering error; a vocal overdub is missing in the chorus. This was subsequently remedied, and the versions on 2007's Rolled Gold+, 2012's GRRR!, and the 2013 iTunes remasters contain the overdub.

A concert rendition of the song from the Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour was released on the band's 1991 concert album Flashpoint. A July 2013 live performance is featured on Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live.

Personnel

• Mick Jagger – lead vocals, backing vocals, tambourine
• Keith Richards – double bass (bowing strings), 12 string acoustic guitar, backing vocals
• Brian Jones – recorder, piano ^[9]
• Bill Wyman – double bass (fingers on fingerboard), bass guitar
• Charlie Watts – drums
• Jack Nitzsche- piano

^{[10] [11] [12] [13]}

Notable cover versions

• 1967: Richard Anthony recorded a French version called "fille sauvage"
• 1967: Rotary Connection's rendition, with Minnie Riperton on vocals, appeared on their album Rotary Connection.
• 1969: Oliver released a version of the song on his album Good Morning Starshine.^[14]
• 1970: Melanie Safka released a version of the song on her album Candles in the Rain; her version was a UK Top Ten hit that year. She recorded a second cover version on her 1978 album Ballroom Streets.
• 1979: Pozo-Seco Singers featuring Don Williams released a version of the song on their album Spend Some Time With Me.
• 1984: Nazareth released a version of the song on their album The Catch.
• 1989: Julian Lennon released a version of the song on the compilation album entitled The Wonder Years: Music from the Emmy Award-Winning Show & Its Era, a soundtrack for The Wonder Years TV series.^[15]
• 1989: "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded this song and 11 other Rolling Stones songs in his polka medley, "The Hot Rocks Polka".
• 1993: Rod Stewart recorded a version of the song that was included on his 1993 compilation album Lead Vocalist.
• 1994: Marianne Faithfull released a version of the song on the album Symphonic Music of The Rolling Stones by the London Symphony Orchestra.
• 1996: Dick Gaughan recorded a version on his solo album Sail On.^[16]
• 1999: DJ Miko released a Eurodance cover of the song as a single.
• 1999: Franco Battiato released a version of the song on his album Fleurs and it was prominently featured in the 2006 film Children of Men.
• 2002: The Corrs recorded a version of the song with Ronnie Wood on their album VH1 Live in Dublin and also included it on their 2006 greatest hits album Dreams: The Ultimate Corrs Collection.
• 2002: Gotthard released a version of the song on their album One Life One Soul.
• 2007: Sylvie Vartan released a version of the song on her album Nouvelle Vague.
• 2007: Declan Galbraith released a cover version of the song in his third album You and Me.
• 2011: Scorpions released a version of the song on their album Comeblack.
• 2011: Yanokami released a version of the song on their album Tohku wa Chikai.
• A snippet of the song is often sung by Bono along with "Sympathy for the Devil" during performances of "Bad" at U2 concerts. An example of this is in the U2 documentary/concert footage film Rattle and Hum from 1988.
• Katey Sagal, who portrays Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX drama Sons of Anarchy, recorded a cover of the song for the show's second EP, Shelter.
• Lacey Brown covered the song during the ninth season of American Idol during The Rolling Stones theme week. Her full-length recording of the song was available for purchase as "Ruby Tuesday (American Idol Studio Version) - Single" on the iTunes Store during the season's run.
• Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine make significant reference to the song in their 1991 single "After The Watershed".
• Crosby, Stills, & Nash performed a cover of "Ruby Tuesday" on 31 August 2010, during their performance at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (The original Woodstock site in Sullivan County, New York).
• Mick Jagger performed it with Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of Arcade Fire in a medley with "She's a Rainbow" on the 19 May 2012 episode of Saturday Night Live as longtime cast member Kristen Wiig bid farewell to the show.

References

1. Greenfield, Robert (19 August 1971). "The Rolling Stone Interview: Keith Richards". Rolling Stone (Rolling Stone).
2. McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Ruby Tuesday". Retrieved 2008-03-17.
3. Show 46 - Sergeant Pepper at the Summit: The very best of a very good year. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library
4. Wenner, Jann S. (14 December 1995). "Jagger Remembers". Retrieved 2008-03-18.
5. "Brian Jones", Mojo Magazine, July 1999, p.75
6. Bockris, Keith Richards, 1993, p.93-94
7. Life (2010), Keith Richards, pp. 186–187
8. "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
9. http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1981905
10. "The Rolling Stones". The Rolling Stones.
11. The Rolling Stones - 40 Licks CD/
12. Stone Alone - Bill Wyman
13. Rolling With The Stones - Bill Wyman
14. Oliver, Good Morning Starshine Retrieved 14 March 2012.
15. Mathew, Leslie. "The Wonder Years: Music From the Emmy Award-Winning Show & Its Era - Original Tv Soundtrack : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 March 2013.
16. Dick Gaughan for Gaelweb. "Sail On - Dick Gaughan's Discography".