Line-up:

Drums: Steve Jordan
Fuzz bass: Paul McCartney
Electric guitars: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Ron Wood (incl. solo)
Lead vocals: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Ron Wood
Piano: Matt Clifford
Percussion: Mick Jagger & Andrew Watt
 

TrackTalk
 

It is sort of punk or post-punk. And yeah that's the intention, that's the style. It was always in that style.

Paul (McCartney) was amazing... I’d sung with Paul before and I’d hung out with Paul a lot, but I’ve never played with him. I didn’t know what song to do. Should we do Depending on You, like a ballad? Or something else? And Andy said, Well, let’s try him on your punk song, on “Bite My Head Off.” Paul seemed very happy to play in a band where he didn’t have all the responsibility; he was just the bass player... I was playing guitar, he was playing bass... And he really rocked out. He fitted straight in. It was like we’d been playing with him for years. It was a really good feeling.

To be honest, if Paul had come another day, he'd probably have been on a different song (laughs). It wasn't calculated. It just happened to be the flavor of the month that day.

I thought, how cool would it be to have (Paul) play on the most aggressive rock track on the album? I knew Paul loved to rock, and they had a great time recording Bite My Head Off. They were all laughing like teenagers... As Paul and I were becoming friends, I decided to get him a gift. I got him another left-handed '64 Hofner, similar to the one he played in the Beatles. However, I added a twist: my guitar tech installed a Univox Super Fuzz circuit on the Hofner that could be activated with a switch. When I gave it to Paul, he said, This is an incredibly thoughtful gift, but why? I already have my Hofner - why another one? I was like, Just plug it in and give that extra switch a try. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he just started riffing on it. I told him to bring it to the recording session, and he couldn't stop laughing. I shared the song with Paul the day before, and when we entered the studio with the band, he brought out the bass. During the breakdown section of the song, he activated the Super Fuzz switch, and it was complete carnage! Everyone was like, What the fuck was that? It was hilarious and so cool. I think we recorded just three takes of that song, but almost immediately, Keith and Ronnie were on their feet, and Mick dragged the mic into the middle of the room and the roof left the building. I think Paul really enjoyed that he was just a guy in a band again with friends that he's known for 60 years.

So Paul comes in, learns the song, everyone’s playing around a little bit, we start going for takes, Paul stands up. All of a sudden, Ron stands up, Keith stands up, Mick drags a mic into the fucking center of the room, and I swear to God, the roof left the fucking building. I can’t explain what that feels like, but it was the Stones and the Beatles. It wasn’t heavy for them; it was a fucking blast. And the smile on Paul’s face kept getting bigger and bigger. We did three or four takes of that... Like, you can’t make it up. Everyone was on fire. We did another tune because we were having so much fun.

It is played live. I remember with Paul when I I shout out and he's coming through so loud on this fuzz bass and I shout out in this Liverpool accent, you know – it’s still there!

Paul said to me, Can you believe, here we are in the studio together? He said, I have a dream come true: I’m playing with the Rolling Stones. And guess who is producing? Andrew, like we said. He was loving it, like a kid in a toy shop.

That's like when your girlfriend gets really mad with you and you say Will you please stop talking AT me, darling? It's a rude way of saying that.

Mick’s a punk! The punk side of Jagger has always been there and we’ll never get rid of it.

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