NO SPARE PARTS
Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / 4:31
SINGLE
No Spare Parts / Before They Make Me Run
RELEASE DATE
United Kingdom: November 13, 2011
RECORD NUMBER: ROLLING STONES RECORDS A&M 278 806-8
Musicians
Mick Jagger: vocals, electric piano, acoustic guitar, tambourine
Keith Richards: piano
Ron Wood: rhythm guitar, slide guitar (?), pedal steel guitar
Bill Wyman: bass
Charlie Watts: drums
Recorded
EMI Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France: mid-January–March 2, 1978
La Fourchette Home Studio, Pocé-sur-Cisse, France: August 2011
Electric Lady Studios, New York City: August–September 2011
Mix This!, Los Angeles: August–September 2011
Technical Team
Producers: the Glimmer Twins, Chris Kimsey, Don Was
Sound engineers: Chris Kimsey, Krish Sharma, Matt Clifford
Assistant sound engineers: Barry Sage, Ben King, Phil Joly
Mixing: Bob Clearmountain
Genesis
“No Spare Parts” is one of the twelve bonus tracks that accompanied the release of the two-CD deluxe edition of Some Girls in November 2011. It is a song by Mick Jagger. “The idea for the song began at the Some Girls sessions,” he explains, “but I finished the idea and turned it into a complete piece. It’s all about driving from San Antonio to Los Angeles to meet a woman, which I did once, so it’s based on my own experience.” A road song, then, in which the feelings of the narrator unfold as he crosses the country and finds himself confronted by mechanical problems.
“No Spare Parts” is also a song about solitude sublimated by the big open spaces of the United States… It is in the spirit of country and western, a genre the Glimmer Twins had appreciated for many years and to whose pioneers they had paid regular homage, starting with “Country Honk” on Let It Bleed. This Some Girls bonus track was released as a single a year and a half after “Plundered My Soul,” on November 13, 2011, to be exact (with “Before They Make Me Run” as the B-side), and reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales in the United States.
Production
Starting in the intro, it seems that Ron Wood plays a number of phrases with the bottleneck on his guitar, rather than on pedal steel, as indicated in the credits. He does use this instrument later on the track, however, from 1:30 on. Mick is on acoustic guitar and electric piano, whose sonority calls to mind “Fool to Cry” on Black and Blue (1976). By contrast, Keith chooses to play a discreet accompaniment on acoustic piano that he does not, however, bring in until 2:58. He is therefore replaced by Ronnie, who plays a rhythm part colored by a strong tremolo (0:40). Charlie lays down a simple but effective beat, supported by Bill, who plays his bass with a Zen attitude that is entirely in keeping with the mood of the song. Mick Jagger, as a true country fan, sings with conviction, and it is not surprising that the track met with such favor in the United States. “No Spare Parts” is a good song, but at the same time it is not difficult to see why the Stones did not include it on Some Girls.