In the world of rock and roll, The Rolling Stones are the last people you’d think of when it comes to wholesome material. While The Beatles might have been singing about wanting to hold their girlfriend’s hand and sending all their loving home to them, the Stones just wanted to get down and dirty with their partners. When they toned things down, however, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards could hit you straight in the heart.
Across their vast discography, some of the best songs the Stones ever wrote came from a vulnerable side, talking about how much they relied on their lovers to get them through hard times. Even though Jagger’s voice might exude rock and roll bravado, his turns singing mellow ballads have brought grown men to tears over the years.
In fact, some of the best sides of the Stones come from when they aren’t even playing rock music. Though all of these songs fit comfortably into the Stones’ aesthetic, their intimate moments bring in elements from country, traditional rock and roll, and even baroque pop music all wrapped into one.
As any fan of the Stones will know, it all comes down to the blues at the end of the day, and these love songs also have a tinge of heartache about them across their runtime. It’s never easy for your heart to take damage, but you have to slog through the bad times to appreciate the good times as well.
The 10 best love songs by The Rolling Stones:
10. ‘You Got the Silver’
Mick Jagger has always been the gold standard for male rock vocalists. Elvis Presley may have set the benchmark, and John Lennon may have had some soulful grit, but Jagger’s aggressive attitude whenever he stepped up to the mic always wreaked of sexual energy. When the band decided to tone things down, Keith Richards had a more than capable voice for the ballads.
Written for Richards’ girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, most of ‘You Got the Silver’ benefits from just how rough around the edges Keef’s voice sounds next to the instrumentals. Although he can carry a tune, the broken-down voice works a lot better here, as if Richards has run around one too many times and is trying to make up for the wrongs that he’s done to his lover.
The sentimental value might be great here, but the band was also fracturing, featuring one of the final contributions from Brian Jones before his departure from the band. Let It Bleed isn’t an album filled with happiness, but ‘You Got the Silver’ is trying to put a happy face on a bad situation.
9. ‘Dead Flowers’
Rock and roll and humour don’t always go hand in hand. As much as rockers might like to write funny songs every now and again, it’s only a matter of time before you start to sound like a parody of yourselves. Once the Stones got in touch with their country roots, ‘Dead Flowers’ was one of the few humorous efforts they wrote about love gone wrong.
While the sound of the blues comes from heartache, the dysfunctional couple in the middle of this song almost finds more joy in laying into each other than getting along. As Susie talks to her higher-class friends in the first verse, all Jagger can think about is being as far away from her as he possibly can.
Then again, there is a spark of love in there somewhere, as he promises to put roses on her grave despite the dead flowers she leaves at his doorstep. Love isn’t quite there, but this is probably the closest thing to love that this country singer knows by now.
8. ‘She Smiled Sweetly’
During the mid-1960s, the Stones were starting to try out different genres of music across each album. Though the blues was always the mainstay, Between the Buttons was the moment they started to explore the studio, with Brian Jones having a field day with every instrument he could find. Although songs like ‘Yesterday’s Papers’ may have sounded a bit harsh, ‘She Smiled Sweetly’ was proof that the Stones could clean up nicely.
Instead of the usual distorted guitars, the main draw of this song is a bright piano figure, which is offset by what sounds like strings to anchor everything. Although Jagger might have a bad boy attitude half the time, the lyrics here feel like they’re ripped out of a wholesome family sitcom, as he looks back at his woman as she assures him everything is going to be alright.
Even though the Stones may have dove into this style headfirst, the chipper nature of this song is them fully diving into pop territory. While this was not on the same level as what The Beatles were doing around the same time, this could easily be sung by Marianne Faithfull if the genders were swapped.
7. ‘Moonlight Mile’
There’s an unspoken rule with the Stones that Keith Richards is the riff master. Although the band always collaborate on every song, it usually stems from Keef picking up his guitar, creating something brilliant, and everyone else putting their stamp in and around it. When it came time for sentimental songs, ‘Moonlight Mile’ began in the mind of Mick Jagger.
With some help from newcomer Mick Taylor, Jagger writes the ultimate road anthem here, as he talks about the many miles he has to travel before he comes back home to his lover. While a song like ‘All My Loving’ by the Beatles had a similar slant, this version feels more lived-in, as Jagger depicts life on the road like a chore before he can finally return to his lover’s arms.
As Richards lays back into the groove, Taylor’s guitar figure on this song follows Jagger’s lead, filled with emotion and dropping out at just the right time for Jagger to retake center stage. The Stones’ best songs might make you shed a tear, but they knew they hit on something powerful when even the guitar sounded like it was crying.
6. ‘She’s A Rainbow’
There’s been a long-running joke that the Stones have always been playing second fiddle to the Beatles. While the Fab Four had always got on well with the Stones, Jagger and Richards’ habit of cribbing from the band’s style didn’t always sit well with the rock journalists of the day. And when the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper, the Stones had their psychedelic experience in mind and got one of the purest love songs they had ever made.
From the starting piano line from Nicky Hopkins, ‘She’s A Rainbow’ is one of the most optimistic songs that the Stones have ever released. After describing the many virtues of his lady friend, Jagger approaches these lyrics like a child, enamoured with how she combed her hair and the different colours falling off her.
‘Rainbow’ also had a little bit of help from one of the premier session players of the day, with future Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones laying down the orchestral pieces of the song. While this is far from the most nuanced song they would ever release, the Stones have never captured the young innocence of love like this ever again.
5. ‘Tumbling Dice’
Exile on Main St. provides the ultimate catch-all for the Stones’ career. Across a double album’s worth of material, the band tore through the elements of blues, country, and old-school rock and roll without batting an eye. Though the love songs normally need an acoustic guitar, the Stones could bring some thunder to some of their heartfelt material.
Then again, the story in the middle of ‘Tumbling Dice’ isn’t always the most wholesome either. Like all great rock songs about sex, Jagger is a little coy when talking about the women he’s been with, comparing himself to the dice that you roll when gambling.
However, if anyone knows anything about the ins and outs of rock and roll (so to speak), it’s Jagger, who is quite content to fall apart like dice at the sight of the women who want to gamble with his heart. Rock and roll has always been a gamble, and Jagger has been battered dice more times than he can count.
4. ‘Love in Vain’
Every great Rolling Stones song always comes back to the blues. For all of the great rock and roll tunes, Jagger and Richards would have been just as content with writing songs about how a woman did them wrong for the rest of their lives. Then again, why write a new song when the perfect one is sitting right in front of you?
While the band have always been known to cover blues artists, their interpretation of this Robert Johnson classic feels like a completely different composition. Despite Johnson’s gruff voice, the lowdown acoustic guitar on this song is enough to rip your heart out, as Jagger sings about loving a woman who doesn’t love him back.
Unrequited love has never been a new topic in rock and roll, but the Stones singer makes it sound like you’ve been dumped for the first time with every phrase that falls out of his mouth. The Stones have been students of the blues, but some modern bluesmen could take a few cues from this song.
3. ‘Ruby Tuesday’
With every good love story, there always comes the moment of the breakup. Not every couple is meant to stay in love forever, and sometimes life just pulls people apart without any clear reason. When Jagger looks back on his relationship in ‘Ruby Tuesday’, he doesn’t see any anger.
Across this song, Jagger seems to be taken with Tuesday’s mysterious life, talking about her never staying in one place for too long and how yesterday doesn’t mean a thing to her. When her time with Jagger ends, he wishes her some sort of peace, knowing that she changes like the seasons and will be moving on to someone else later down the line.
Despite the understanding in the lyrics, Jagger does have a tinge of regret, knowing that he’s going to miss her when she goes and practically having a single tear in his eye as he watches her leave. It’s never easy to let go of an old flame like this, but it’s always best to smile because it happened.
2. ‘Angie’
The relationship between Mick Jagger and David Bowie has always been somewhat murky. While they have remained friends for years, the Starman and Jagger have also had rumours of a more sexual relationship follow them around since they were allegedly found in bed together. Though Angie Bowie may have been given the runaround, her name did become the centrepiece of Jagger’s greatest story song.
As opposed to talking about some romantic fling, this is a slice-of-life story that feels more at home in heartland rock. Since Jagger had more experience in rock and roll stardom, hearing him sing something down to Earth is refreshing, as he talks about him and Angie persevering through any setback that comes their way.
They might not have that much money and might not even have a chance at making it, but what they do have is hope. It might not seem like much, but only hope can get you through some of the hardest parts of life.
1. ‘Wild Horses’
When writing love songs, it’s always a bit tricky to write about death. Regardless of how hard your love life can be, comparing it to your own mortality usually invites some questionable looks from fans and critics alike. When Jagger decided to look to the future on ‘Wild Horses’ though, he didn’t mince any of his words.
Set to a traditional-sounding country tune, the singer is filled with remorse throughout the track, wondering why he still feels alone after he bought his lover everything she could have asked for. As he sees his lover wither away as the years go by, Jagger is set to make things write however he can, paralleling their love affair to the wild horses that graze over the countryside.
Even though Jagger is convinced that this love isn’t meant for this world, he’s convinced that whatever is coming after death is going to be much better. There are never any guarantees in life outside of death, so Jagger’s looking to do some living with his lover after they die.
