I love this song. That’s all I really have to say about it.
To paraphrase Wikipedia, it was the first original song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Before that, they would only cover blues standards. As the myth goes, Andrew Loog Oldham locked the two in the kitchen, forcing them to write a song, telling them: “I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex.” Amazing. Really. Imagine someone trying to say this to Prince. Anyway, the end recorded result is a folkish, rather flat song swirling in delicate, flowery strings.
The song made Marianne Faithfull’s career at age 17 in 1964 (shown above), reaching #4 on the UK charts. Her performance is rigid and uncomfortable. It is positively sexless, and in many ways, the cold opposite of the Rolling Stones. (and yes, despite being Jagger’s girlfriend at the time.)
The Stones’ own version (1965) peaked at #6 on US Billboard charts. Nancy Sinatra also covered it in 1966.













