Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / 6:16
Musicians
Mick Jagger: vocals
Keith Richards: rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Mick Taylor: lead guitar
Bill Wyman: bass
Charlie Watts: drums
Nicky Hopkins: piano
Blue Magic (Ted Mills, Keith Beaton, Wendell Sawyer, Vernon Sawyer): backing vocals
Recorded
Musicland Studios, Munich: February 20–March 3, 1974
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
“If You Really Want to Be My Friend” opens with the words: If you really want to be my friend, let me live it up like I used to do, followed a few lines later by: If you really want to understand a man, let him off the lead sometimes, set him free. Nothing is working for this couple anymore… the song’s protagonist has realized that his relationship with his wife or girlfriend is becoming more and more onerous to him, and he is asking her to be a little more accommodating. The message sounds like a warning. Is it addressed implicitly to Bianca?
After “Till the Next Goodbye,” this is the Stones’ second ballad of the album. This time the vocal group Blue Magic has been brought in to provide a touch of gospel. It seems that the English musicians had a genuine fondness for the genre; they had made one of their earliest incursions into it back in 1968 with “Salt of the Earth” on Beggars Banquet. Keith Richards opens the song with an augmented fifth chord. To obtain his rich and colorful swirling sound, he is probably plugged into a Leslie speaker, although he might be using the Synthi Hi-Fli as he did on “Time Waits for No One.” It is almost certainly Keith on acoustic too (Gibson Hummingbird), and a fuzz guitar can be heard at 1:40 and 2:59 that also bears his signature. Mick Taylor, meanwhile, plays a clear-toned lead, at least in the intro, before delivering a pretty extraordinary solo at 3:32, this time with phasing (on his Gibson Les Paul?). Mick Jagger is not always as comfortable singing ballads as he is in rock or blues numbers, but it has to be acknowledged that he masters this song with ease and flair, perhaps inspired by the presence of Blue Magic. Nicky Hopkins, who joins the others whenever some lyrical piano is required, performs his task with disconcerting facility, demonstrating the importance of his contribution to the Stones sound, especially during this period. As for Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, their rhythm playing is perfect for this song, the drummer and bassist providing powerful and yet subtle support that shows why, as a unit, they were such a key element in the group.