Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / 4:20
Musicians
Mick Jagger: vocals, rhythm guitar
Keith Richards: rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Ron Wood: lead guitar (?), slide guitar (?), pedal steel guitar (?), backing vocals
Bill Wyman: bass
Charlie Watts: drums
Recorded
EMI Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France: October 10–December 21, 1977
Atlantic Studios, New York: March 15–31, 1978
Technical Team
Producers: The Glimmer Twins
Sound engineer: Chris Kimsey
Assistant sound engineers: Barry Sage, Ben King
After clearing a space for themselves on the dance floor with “Miss You,” the Stones then make an equally remarkable and unexpected entry into the world of punk. As often, Keith Richards came up with the riff and Mick wrote the words. “I looked around and said, shit, he’s finally written a rock ’n’ roll song. By himself!”2 In the lyrics to “When the Whip Comes Down,” Jagger tells the story of a boy, a homosexual, who leaves Los Angeles for New York, where the implication is that he sells his body. “Well, there is one song that’s a straight gay song—‘When the Whip Comes Down,’” Mick would tell Jonathan Cott some time later, “but I have no idea why I wrote it. It’s strange—the Rolling Stones have always attracted a lot of men [laughing].” 29
The Stones had nothing to learn from the young punks, and they made it clear with this very basic rock number built on the minimum number of chords—two! The sound is raw, and the band feels very closely knit, each musician playing alongside his neighbor, probably without sound screens, in order to promote “leakage,” just as Chris Kimsey wanted. A kind of garage band sound. Keith fires off his riff furiously, supported by Mick on rhythm and Ronnie, meshing closely with Keith, on lead. Ronnie also seems to take a solo on the pedal steel guitar at 2:11, albeit one that is not particularly true to the character of the instrument, and in any case somewhat drowned in the mix. It also seems to be Ronnie who plays the very good slide part from 2:35. By contrast with “Miss You,” the overall guitar sound is very aggressive. The first two tracks on the album have their sights set fairly and squarely on the two main musical trends of the day: disco and punk. The Stones as opportunists? As for the rhythm section, Charlie is back in rock territory and delivers a ferocious drum part, while Bill plays an excellent bass line on his Travis Bean Koa TB 2000 with its very clean sound. It is interesting to note that the recording is mono, again Kimsey’s choice. Meanwhile, Mick seems to have been inspired by Lou Reed—in both his singing and in the lyrics.