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IFLTS: 'Sway,' The Rolling Stones

'Sway,' The Rolling Stones
From 1971's 'Sticky Fingers'

I must have cued this song up a couple hundred times, and I couldn't tell you a single lyric. Mick Jagger's alternately howling and dazed vocals (dude manages to squeeze four syllables out of what sound like four-letter words) are no sonic match for Mick Taylor's guitar barrage. In fact, Taylor (the Stones' Brian Jones upgrade) is so thunderous here that a heroin-afflicted Keith Richards didn't even bother to play on this one. (Conventional wisdom also has Taylor as the co-writer of this song with Jagger, but you won't find any evidence in the credits).

Overshadowed by its illustrious neighbors -- it's sandwiched between 'Brown Sugar' and 'Wild Horses' on 'Sticky Fingers' -- 'Sway' also features nifty piano work by Nicky Hopkins and an epic string arrangement by Paul Buckmaster (who's worked on everything from David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' to Guns N' Roses' -- wait for it -- 'Chinese Democracy').

Halfway through 'Sway,' Jagger manages to punch through Taylor's toxic concoction with a noble cry of 'Hey, hey, heyyy, nowww' (or something like that), but the guitarist soon takes control again with the Stones' most muscular licks this side of 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking' (and, yep, that was him too). Tired of being treated like a second-class Stone, Taylor would quit the band three years later. The Stones would occasionally achieve greatness without him, but never again this explosiveness.

Hear the song after the jump.

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9 Comments

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clovis saint-clair

Is there any recording with uncutted version of Mick Taylor`s solo in Sway?

May 16 2007 at 6:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Neil

Anyone ever notice the striking similarities between this song and "Sister Luck" on the Black Crowes first album? Same chords, same tempo, really similar solos...

March 08 2007 at 5:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
HeyJude

Thanks, Alex ... Jones does indeed deserve credit as the Stones' original ringleader, but he was a spare part by the end. Taylor was a ringer.

March 08 2007 at 2:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Laura

As much as I freakin' love "Sway", I must object to your referring to Brian as a downgrade from Mick Taylor. As great as Mick Taylor is, Brian started this band and was a fantastically talented musician.

March 03 2007 at 9:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Alex

I can't believe this song was actually noticed! This is definitely one of their greatest.

March 03 2007 at 10:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
HeyJude

Thanks for the lyrics, Andy. I always thought "demon life" was "evil eye."

We'd love to post readers' I Freakin' Love This Songs -- send to us thru the Contact Us link in the upper right-hand corner. Put IFLTS in the subject line ... 100-200 words about a song underappreciated, underexposed or just brand-spanking new that you want to be the first to share with Spinner folks.

February 25 2007 at 8:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
andy

Oh my god I've always loved this song and haven't heard it in years. But the words are incredible! Way back I bought a Sticky Fingers song book and knew the words at the time, but had to look up a few on Google just now. Almost like "Love Will Tear Us Apart" with a happy ending. Gotta hear it again.


Did you ever wake up to find
A day that broke up your mind
Destroying your notion of circular time
It's just that demon life has got you in its sway
It's just that demon life has got you in its sway


Ain't flinging tears out on the dusty ground
For all my friends out on the burial ground
Expect the feeling getting so brought down


It's just that demon life has got me in its sway
It's just that demon life has got me in its sway


There must be ways to find out
Love is the way they say is really strutting out


Hey, hey, hey now
One day I woke up to find
Right in the bed next to mine
Someone that broke me up with a corner of her smile


It's just that demon life has got me in its sway
It's just that demon life has got me in its sway

February 25 2007 at 2:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mac

Thanks for recognizing the hidden classic on "Sticky Fingers".

February 23 2007 at 12:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
KB

Wierd! I'm going to an "Exile on Main" tribute tomorrow night at Galopagos in Brooklyn NY. I just freakin love the Rolling Stones and 'Sway' is one def one of my favs.

February 22 2007 at 5:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply