Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / 4:37
Musicians
Mick Jagger: vocals, acoustic guitar
Keith Richards: slide guitar (?), backing vocals
Mick Taylor: 12-string acoustic guitar (?)
Bill Wyman: bass
Charlie Watts: drums
Nicky Hopkins: piano
Recorded
Musicland Studios, Munich: November 14–25, 1973
Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, Stargroves, Newbury: April 12–May 2, 1974
Island Studios, London: May 5–27, 1974
Technical Team
Producers: The Glimmer Twins
Sound engineers: Andy Johns, Keith Harwood, George Chkiantz
Assistant sound engineers: Tapani Tapanainen, Rod Thear, Howard Kilgour, Reinhold Mack
Like so many Stones songs, “Till the Next Goodbye” tells the story of a couple on the verge of falling apart. A man recalls meeting his lover in a movie house on Forty-Second Street. Given that from the early seventies onward, this particular New York thoroughfare was lined mainly with theaters showing porn flicks, it seems a strange place to meet… Little matter, time has passed, and having survived one crisis after another, his feelings have become blunted. Nothing can now reawaken the love he once had for his girl, not even her cider-apple-and-elderberry-wine-based miracle cure concocted in New Orleans. He might be arranging to see her in the coffee shop on Fifty-Second Street for a final meeting, and admits that he could do without the tears she will cry when they say good-bye.
The intro is reminiscent of tracks from the Sticky Fingers or Exile on Main St. era, such as “Wild Horses,” featuring two acoustic guitars that answer each other. On “Till the Next Goodbye,” a first rhythm part is probably played by Mick Jagger on a Gibson Hummingbird, and a second most likely by Mick Taylor on a (Martin D12-20?) 12-string, his use of harmonics being one of his trademarks. This would leave Keith on electric slide, which is corroborated by the promotional clip shot, as usual, by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1974. Furthermore, the phrasing of this slide part is characteristic of Keith, rather than Mick Taylor. Nicky Hopkins, his lyrical style instantly recognizable, makes his first appearance on the album here. Bill Wyman plays a fairly subdued bass line on his Dallas Tuxedo, while Charlie Watts demonstrates a certain inventiveness with an extremely subtle accompaniment that alternates tom and cymbal breaks with a very effective but unobtrusive rhythm. Mick Jagger is perfect, credible in his emotion without being mawkish, and Keith Richards provides valuable support in the vocal harmonies. “Till the Next Goodbye” may not be one of the duo’s masterpieces, but it is a good, unpretentious song.