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TL;DR:

  • Keith Richards said his manager locked him and Mick Jagger in a kitchen to write “As Tears Go By.”
  • Jagger discussed his version of events.
  • Jagger said the song was “dumb and naive.”
The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in black-and-white
The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards and Mick Jagger | Keystone Features / Stringer

The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards said he and Mick Jagger wrote “As Tears Go By” after their manager locked them in a kitchen. Jagger recollected things differently. Subsequently, Marianne Faithfull revealed what she thought about the song.

Keith Richards said he wasn’t too upset when he was locked in a room and forced to write ‘As Tears Go By’

According to the 2013 book 50 Licks: Myths and Stories from Half a Century of The Rolling Stones, Richards discussed the origin of “As Tears Go By.” “With the pressure of the game, [manager] Andrew [Loog] Oldham boxed Mick and me in a kitchen and said, ‘Come out with a song,'” he recalled. “I said, ‘Well, we’ve got some food, so I guess we can last for a while.’ Eventually, we did come out of the kitchen, with ‘As Tears Go By,’ which within six weeks was in the top 10 by Marianne Faithfull.” 

Richards felt the composition of “As Tears Go By” was a major moment of his career. “Before that, I thought of songwriting as a totally separate job — like there’s the blacksmith, and there’s the stonemason, and you did this, and I did that,” he said. “So at that point, I integrated that I was not only a guitar player, but that I could write what I was going to play, instead of just revamping all the time. It was an eye-opener.”

Mick Jagger said Keith Richards exaggerated the truth about ‘As Tears Go By’

Jagger said Richards liked telling the story of Loog Oldham locking him and Richards in a kitchen. He said it wasn’t true.

Jagger said Loog Oldham might’ve said he should lock Jagger-Richards in a room so they would write a song, but he never actually did it. The frontman said Loog Oldham only locked them in a room in a mental sense. Jagger didn’t seem to take issue with Richards recounting a different version of events.

Related

Marianne Faithfull Felt Her Hit Version of The Rolling Stones’ ‘As Tears Go By’ Was Too Happy

What Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger thought about the song

“As Tears Go By” became the signature tune of Jagger’s girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull. She was happy that was the case. Although she got sick of the track sometimes, she felt it was beautiful and it connected with audiences. Faithfull was glad her signature song wasn’t a lesser hit like Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs’ “Wooly Bully.”

Jagger seemed less impressed with “As Tears Go By.” During a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, he called the hit “rather dumb and naive.” The Rolling Stones didn’t initially think of recording the song because they were a macho blues band. Despite his criticism, he also said the song was mature.

“As Tears Go By” is one of the most memorable ballads of the 1960s whether it was written in a kitchen or not.

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