Line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass: Bill Wyman
Electric guitars: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Ron Wood (incl. solo)
Lead vocals: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Mick Jagger & Ron Wood
Piano: Elton John
Percussion (incl. handclaps): Mick Jagger
 

TrackTalk
 

It was very laid back at first. Then the guitar riff came in and once I had the lyrical idea, I just went with it.

That's kind of slightly retro.

It was a good idea to get Bill Wyman to play bass on a track featuring Charlie Watts because the feel of the song is set by the original band.

(W)e had two tracks from 2019 that Charlie was on we thought would fit in (the album). And then one we thought OK, well why don't we try Bill on this track, overdubbing bass? So we got the original (laughing) rhythm section. So I phoned Bill up and I said, You still playing Bill? He said What do you mean I'm still playing? Of course I'm still playing! So then we got him to do that... You have a kind of unique rhythm section there, a slightly different feel to the other songs.

Mick got in touch and asked if I would play on one of the new album tracks featuring Charlie on drums, which I was happy to agree to. It was a great opportunity to play alongside the late Charlie, my much missed and closest friend, once again.

We had just started working on those (two) tracks (with Charlie) a few years ago, before Covid shut everything down. We left Charlie's tracks as they were and re-did the vocals and everything else with Andy Watt. As soon as you hear that snare, you know it's him.

(Bill)'s 86 years old. He wanted to make sure he was getting it right. I’d sent him the song before so he could familiarize himself with it. We soloed up Charlie, and he started playing along, and as he was doing it, he started having so much fun. He was smiling and laughing, and stories came back to him with Charlie. And I remember him saying, Now it’s swinging, now it’s swinging. And I can just imagine that that was something he had said to Charlie in the past.

When we were doing Live by the Sword we were talking about getting a honky tonk, almost Jerry Lee Lewis/Nicky Hopkins piano part for that. I thought Why not get Elton? Number one, he’s fucking Elton John. Number two, nobody in the world plays that style better than Elton. Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard are his gods. He’s a student of that piano playing. It was so great watching Mick bounce off him and call for things. And Elton was like a session musician that day. He was playing an upright piano, not a grand, so he got that sound, and he just ripped through it and played off the guitars so beautifully. The way Elton was playing, it almost got this T. Rex-y kind of thing. It was great seeing him say Mick, what did you think of that? And Mick saying Could you play a little more melodic in the bridge? How about a line here? It was great to watch those guys collaborating.

Isn’t Reg [Elton John] on that one? They did the session with him in London, which I wasn’t on, so I tried to match my guitar to the feel of what was already there.

iI’ll never forget, Mick and I listened to just the bass and drums soloed up and it was so emotional. Charlie playing straight, and Bill swinging so hard — that’s, like, the most 60s song on the album.

The message is all there in the words. If you live by the sword… It’s the other side of that equation I’m not so sure about.

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