The Rolling Stones

The band releases their song, Mixed Emotions, from the album, Steel Wheels. Richards:

I think we cut that in Montserrat, an island that no longer exists. That smoldering heap of volcanic eruptions. And we were the last guys to cut there. That was the last record anybody cut there. It’s what happens when you work with The Stones. They got a hurricane and then it erupted. It was a pretty island once. With Mixed Emotions I think I had the music and I went to Mick and said, bring your bit to it. Because it’s a two-way street a lot of the time. I mean there was a time when Mick and I used to write face-to-face all the time. But we were on the road then. Now we can bring ideas to each other and sometimes it’s strange – we hadn’t seen each other for maybe 5 or 6 months and we get together and funny enough, we’d each have written a piece of music that actually fits together even though we haven’t been in communication with each other.

The band releases their song, Harlem Shuffle, from the album, Dirty Work. Richards:

I’ve been trying to get Harlem Shuffle on an album, without actually telling Mick, for 5 or 6 years. I thought that was a natural number for him to sing – it was made for him. I’ve been giving him cassettes with Harlem Shuffle stuffed in the middle somewhere for a long time, but I never got any real response. One night we were in the studio and Woody and I started plunking away at it. We were amazed at how simple the song was – about 2 chords. The band was just warming up on it, jamming, when Mick walked in and started singing. We realized, YEAH. And we did it in 2 takes. So it paid off eventually, though it cost me a fortune in cassettes.