Ruby Tuesday (song)

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; he has also stated that it was about Linda Keith, his girlfriend in the mid-1960s. 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."

"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." 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. According to Victor Bockris, Richards came up with the basic track and the words and finished the song with Jones in the studio.

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.

Release

"Ruby Tuesday" was released as the B-side to "Let's Spend the Night Together" on 13 January 1967. Due to the controversial nature of the A-side's lyrics, "Ruby Tuesday" earned more airplay and ended up charting higher in both the UK and the US. The song topped the American Billboard Hot 100 chart, while reaching number 3 in the UK's Record Retailer chart, although "Let's Spend The Night Together" was listed instead.

"Ruby Tuesday" was included on the US version of Between the Buttons, while being left out of the British edition, as was common practice with singles. Later in the year, it appeared in the compilation album Flowers. Due to its success, the song became a staple in the band's compilations, being included in 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

Bill Wyman – double bass (fingers on fingerboard), bass guitar

Charlie Watts – drums

Jack Nitzsche- piano

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.

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. It also reached #7 in New Zealand, the only version of the song to chart there. 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.

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.

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.

Darby Walker, performed this song on Season 11 of The Voice, coached by Miley Cyrus.

2016: Shawn Colvin & Steve Earl recorded a version of the song on their album, Colvin And Earle.

Animated film

In September 2006, Jagger will co-produce an animated movie based on the song with EuropaCorp and directed by Paul and Gaetan Brizzi. In January 2008, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais will write the film.