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TL;DR:

  • Mick Jagger said John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote one of The Rolling Stones’ songs.
  • Jagger said John and Paul were great “hustlers” at the time.
  • The Rolling Stones were trying to sound like a famous guitarist when they recorded the track.
The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger holding a microphone
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger | Evening Standard/Getty Images

One of The Rolling Stones‘ songs was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Mick Jagger called the song “completely crackers.” In addition, he revealed The Rolling Stones were trying to sound like a famous blues musician when they recorded it.

Mick Jagger said John Lennon and Paul McCartney personally sold 1 of The Rolling Stones’ songs to the band

One of The Rolling Stones’ early songs was “I Wanna Be Your Man.” The track was written by Lennon-McCartney. During a 1968 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger discussed how his band came to record “I Wanna Be Your Man.”

“Well, we knew them by then and we were rehearsing and Andrew [Oldham] brought Paul and John down to the rehearsal,” Jagger recalled. “They said they had this tune, they were really hustlers then. I mean the way they used to hustle tunes was great: ‘Hey Mick, we’ve got this great song.'” Jagger mimicked John’s accent when he recalled what the Beatle said.

Mick Jagger said his band was not trying to sound like The Beatles when they recorded the song

Subsequently, Jagger revealed what The Rolling Stones thought about “I Wanna Be Your Man.” “So they played it and we thought it sounded pretty commercial, which is what we were looking for, so we did it like Elmore James or something,” he remembered. For context, James was a blues musician known as the King of the Slide Guitar.

Jagger thought “I Wanna Be Your Man” was odd. “I haven’t heard it for ages but it must be pretty freaky ’cause nobody really produced it,” he said. “The guy who happened to be our manager at the time was a 50-year-old northern mill owner [Eric Easton]. It was completely crackers, but it was a hit and sounded great on stage.”

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How The Rolling Stones’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“I Wanna Be Your Man” never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the B-side to the track “Not Fade Away.” The track reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 13 weeks.

On the other hand, “I Wanna Be Your Man” was a big hit in the United Kingdom. The Official Charts Company reports it reached No. 12, remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. The track became The Rolling Stones’ first song to reach the top 20 in the U.K.

“I Wanna Be Your Man” was a hit and it’s an interesting connection between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

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