B-side "Play with Fire" Genre Rock | Format 7" Length 3:41 | |
Released 26 February 1965 (1965-02-26) (UK)
13 March 1965 (1965-03-13) (US) Recorded 11–12 January 1965
RCA Studios, Hollywood | ||
"The Last Time" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, and the band's first single written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California in January 1965, "The Last Time" was the band's third UK single to reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top in March and early April 1965. It reached No.2 in the Irish Singles Chart in March 1965.
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Although The Last Time is credited to Jagger/Richards, the song's refrain is very close to "This May Be the Last Time", a 1958 track by The Staple Singers. In 2003, Richards acknowledged this, saying: "we came up with 'The Last Time', which was basically re-adapting a traditional gospel song that had been sung by the Staple Singers, but luckily the song itself goes back into the mists of time." The Rolling Stones' song has a main melody and a hook (a distinctive guitar riff) that were both absent in the Staple Singers' version. Phil Spector, whose "Wall of Sound" approach can be heard on the recording, assisted with the production.
Footage still exists of a number of performances of this song by the Rolling Stones in 1965: from the popular BBC-TV music show Top of the Pops, the 1965 New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert and American TV shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig! and The Hollywood Palace. A full live performance is also prominently featured in the 2012 re-edit of the 1965 documentary Charlie Is My Darling. The footage confirms that the rhythm chords and guitar solo were played by Keith Richards, while the song's distinctive hook was played by Brian Jones, suggesting that Jones may have composed that riff.
A popular song in the Stones' canon, it was regularly performed in concert during the band's 1965, 1966 and 1967 tours. It was then left off their concert set lists until 1997–98, when it reappeared on the Bridges to Babylon Tour. It would later appear on some of the band's set lists in 2012–13 on the 50 & Counting tour.
Personnel
Cover versions
The Grateful Dead covered it multiple times during the 1990s – in particular, at a concert on 26 June 1993 at RFK Stadium during the second set after "Space". They also covered it on 2 April 1995 at the Pyramid Arena, only the second time they had played in Memphis. The song also appears on the Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It live album released in September 2012.
In 1965, Andrew Oldham Orchestra recorded it for their album The Rolling Stones Songbook. The recording and its distinctive passage for strings was written and arranged by David Whitaker.
In May 1965, French singer Ronnie Bird released a French-language adaptation, "Elle m'attend" ("She's Waiting for Me")
In October 1965, the Norwegian rock band The Pussycats covered the song in a TV-show.
In 1966, American girl group Candy & The Kisses recorded the song and released it as a single.
In 1967, Peruvian rock band The Mad's covered it and released it on their album Molesto in 2013.
In 1967, The Who covered it and released it as a single, with "Under My Thumb" as the B-Side. (This was as a gesture of support to Jagger and Richards, and protest against the harsh sentences that had recently been imposed against them, following their drug bust.)
American rocker Bruce Springsteen has occasionally covered the song in concert.
In 1978, American country singer Bobby Bare covered the song on his album Sleeper Wherever I Fall.
In 1996, Serbian singer Dušan Prelević released a Serbian language cover of the song, entitled "Neću da se predam" ("I Won't Give Up"), on his album Ja, Prele.
In 1997, country music group The Tractors covered the song on the album Stone Country: Country Artists Perform the Songs of the Rolling Stones. Their version peaked at number 75 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
In 1997, former Rolling Stones business manager Allen Klein, whose company ABKCO Records owns the rights to all Rolling Stones material from the 1960s, sued English rock band The Verve for using a sample of The Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of "The Last Time" in their hit song "Bitter Sweet Symphony". The Verve had obtained a licence to use the sample, but Klein successfully argued that the band used more than the licence covered. The Verve were required to relinquish their royalties to ABKCO and the songwriting credit was changed to Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft. This led to Andrew Loog Oldham, who owns the copyright on the orchestral rendition that was sampled, also suing The Verve. In spite of all of this, the Oldham recording and its distinctive passage for strings was written and arranged by David Whitaker.
In 1998, American singer and actress Mare Winningham released a cover of the song on her album Lonesomers.
Australian singer John Farnham covered the song in 2002, as the lead single and title track of his 2002 album, The Last Time.
The German singer Nena recorded a version on her 2007 album Cover Me.
The same hook was sampled in several other subsequent recordings by other artists, most notably in "Number 1" by Tinchy Stryder featuring N-Dubz, which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, in the week of its official release on 20 April 2009.
Mick Jagger performed a version of the song with Arcade Fire on an episode of Saturday Night Live that aired on 19 May 2012. The song began with a gospel intro, paying homage to the song's inspiration, The Staple Singers' "This May Be the Last Time".
The Who version
In 1967, after the imprisonment of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, on drugs charges, The Who recorded covers of "The Last Time" and "Under My Thumb" as a single. The intention was to help Jagger and Richards make bail, but by the time the single was made available, they had been released. The songs were rush recorded and the record appeared in shops in only one week. As John Entwistle was away on his honeymoon he authorised The Who to do the record without him and bass parts were overdubbed by Pete Townshend. The UK-only release reached number 44 on the UK Singles Chart.