The Rolling Stones were no strangers to controversy by 1967. As the ‘Swinging Sixties’ took over London, the Stones were at the forefront of a psychedelic and sexual revolution that threatened the morals of an older generation. While it might seem quaint now, directly talking about sex or drugs was almost unheard of in pop music, especially when it came to full-fledged chart hits.
The Stones didn’t seem at all fazed by this, however, and opted not to treat sex as a perversion. Instead, it was a celebration, as could be heard in their 1967 single ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’. Although there aren’t any direct references to carnal knowledge on the track, the implication of sex was enough to cause controversy when the song began racing up the British charts that year.
“I always say ‘Let’s spend the night together’ to any young lady I’m taking out,” Mick Jagger explained after the song was released. “If people have warped, twisted, dirty minds, I suppose it could have sexual overtones. Actually, the song isn’t very rude. When you hear it you’ll realise this. There are a few slightly rude bits, but I’ve covered them up.”
The origins of the song came from Keith Richards playing an instrument that he wasn’t fully familiar with: the piano. “Yeah, I played piano on ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’, and then I overdubbed the guitar,” Richards claimed in 1982. “To me, that song was a progression from ‘Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby?’. It was like ‘Have You Seen Your Mother’ was a step toward ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’, because the chords and the structure of the song are very similar. And the fact that I’d wrote them both on piano, one was almost the same as the other.”
During the actual session for the track, Richards was one of three keyboard players. While he laid down an initial line, session player Jack Nitzsche also provided an additional piano part. During the overdub sessions, Brian Jones came in to add organ, giving the song a more arranged feel.
During the sessions at RCA Studios, police entered the studio. Evidently, a door had been left open, and the police were checking to see if there was anything amiss. Rather than ask them to leave, producer Andrew Loog Oldham asked to borrow the policemen’s truncheons, playing them as a percussion instrument during the song’s bridge.
Check out ‘Let’s Spend the Night Together’ down below.
