The 2 Times The Rolling Stones Got The Beatles to Work With Them

The Beatles and Rolling Stones were two of England’s biggest bands in the 1960s, yet they rarely crossed paths professionally. Paul McCartney said the press manufactured the rivalry between the bands, but it wasn’t hard to fabricate animosity as the groups rarely worked together and presented different images in the media (the clean-cut Beatles and grimier Stones). They recorded the same song twice, but outside of that, The Rolling Stones worked with The Beatles just twice.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave The Rolling Stones 1 of their first hit songs

Once Paul and John Lennon established themselves as ace songwriters, they weren’t above giving their songs to other artists. That includes The Rolling Stones. 

The Beatles’ leaders gave Jagger, Richards, and crew “I Wanna Be Your Man.” The song became the Stones’ first hit single as it nearly made the top 10 in England in November 1963. John called the song a throwaway, but The Beatles grabbed it from the garbage can for their With the Beatles record that same year. The Beatles and Stones also recorded cover versions of “Money (That’s What I Want)” around the same time.

Both bands tread some of the same ground when they started their careers, but members of The Beatles worked with The Rolling Stones just twice.

The 2 times The Rolling Stones worked with The Beatles

Both bands stayed busy throughout the 1960s, and the Fab Four fractured in 1970, limiting the opportunities for the groups to work together. They were both London-based, but the stacked schedules made it hard for The Beatles and Rolling Stones to collaborate.

Still, Mick, Keith, and their bandmates worked with John twice and with Paul once in the late 1960s.

1. ‘We Love You’

Jagger and Richards wrote “We Love You” as an ode to their fans following their early 1967 drug bust. The experimental song — complete with an insistent piano riff, bright horns, Mellotron strings, and panning stereo effects — appeared as a non-album single later in the year.

John and Paul appear on the song as high-pitched background singers, per the Telegraph. The Stones credited them as vocal guest artists when The Rolling Stones placed “We Love You” on various compilation albums, including More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies) in 1972.

2. ‘The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus’

The Rolling Stones buried their 1968 album-movie project Rock and Roll Circus for nearly 30 years. (Possibly because several guest artists upstaged the hosts). That meant John’s one-off supergroup The Dirty Mac — with Keith (on bass), Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell — didn’t meet the world until 1996. John and his cohorts performed a familiar song — “Yer Blues” off The Beatles White Album. Richards executes well on the bass, and both John and Clapton take solos (with Slowhand unsurprisingly shining a little bit brighter).

That’s the full list of Rolling Stones’ projects to feature members of The Beatles, though that could soon change. Paul and Ringo Starr are rumored to appear alongside Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on the Stones’ next record. We can’t think of a more perfect drummer to play with the Stones or a better time for members of two legendary classic rock bands to get together again. 

The Fab Four welcomed Stones to record with them three times

Mick, Keith, and The Rolling Stones corralled Beatles members to work with them twice. Three Fab Four songs featured Rolling Stones members.

Brian Jones, one of the original Rolling Stones, sang backup and played the clinking glass sound on “Yellow Submarine.” That means he played on two Beatles records, as the song appeared on both Revolver and Yellow Submarine.

Jones played the sloppy saxophone on “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number),” and Jagger supposedly supplied background vocals on “Baby You’re a Rich Man” from the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack.

The Rolling Stones got members of The Beatles to work with them twice in the 1960s. The first was a Stones single that only ever appeared on compilations; the other was a project that remained buried for 28 years. They were two of the most famous bands of the 1960s, but The Rolling Stones and The Beatles rarely worked together.

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