No Spare Parts

Composers: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards 
Recording date: October-December 1977 & August-September 2011
Recording locations: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France; La Fourchette, Pocé sur Cisse, France; Electric Lady Studio, NY and/or Berkeley Street Studios, Santa Monica, USA 
Producers: The Glimmer Twins, Chris Kimsey & Don Was           Chief engineers: Chris Kimsey, Krish Sharma & Matt Clifford
Mixer: Bob Clearmountain                      Never performed onstage


Line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass: Bill Wyman
Acoustic guitar: Mick Jagger
Electric guitar: Ron Wood
Pedal steel guitar: Ron Wood
Vocals: Mick Jagger
Piano: Keith Richards
Electric piano: Mick Jagger
Tambourine: Mick Jagger
 

Your daddy drank himself half to death when he was 39 years old
But I hope you don’t think I feel like a father to you
But I want to tell you I miss you so much, you’re a thousand miles away
I’m at the wheel of my car and I’m coming on home to you, yeah

Lonely hearts, they’re not made to break
I got no spare parts, got no oil to change

Honey, I ain’t accustomed to lose
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through

I take the 10 to Phoenix, be in Tucson by the afternoon
Get some shut eye in Benson and a bite at the greasy spoon
Took a turn off 90, I should have stayed on the interstate
I was lost in Del Rio, my map was kind of out of date

I saw the lights of Marfa, I guess it was a scenic route
When I had to change a tire, I’m glad I wore my western boots

Lonely hearts, they’re not made to break
I got no spare parts, got no oil to change

Honey, I ain’t accustomed to lose
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through

Honey, I ain’t accustomed to lose
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through, yeah
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through, yes

When I got to Sonora, the sun was shining in my eyes
With the air-con busted, the windshield full of flies
In just a few hours, you’re going to fall in my loving arms
I've been so hot to see you, I set off the fire alarms, yeah

Lonely hearts, they’re not made to break
I got no spare parts, got no oil to change

Honey, I ain’t accustomed to lose
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get it, baby
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through
If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through, yeah

Lonely hearts, they’re not made to break
I got no oil to change, yeah
Lonely hearts, they’re not made to break
I got no spare parts, got no oil to change

 
 
TrackTalk

(T)he country song called No Spare Parts had sort of an idea but was just a few words, so I had to sort of put my head down and write the song about driving from L.A. to San Antonio.
- Mick Jagger, 2011


It's a country tune. The idea for the song began at the Some Girls sessions, 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. Was it worth the trip? Well, it's a lovely drive, dear, you shouldn't miss it.
- Mick Jagger, 2011


There’s two country songs on the extras, there’s one called No Spare Parts and there’s a Hank Williams cover... I was a fan of country music when I was 11 or 12, and I always liked the famous country artists. Johnny Cash was big back then, and he had songs like Big River and Ballad of a Teenage Queen. Then I got into other artists, like George Jones, that were quite popular in England. Ferlin Husky, and Hank Snow doing I’m Moving On – those kind of things. So I listened to all of those artists when I was a teenager. It’s always been with me. It was a big crossover music as well. People talk about Ray Charles doing Hank Snow’s I’m Moving On before he did all those other country songs.
- Mick Jagger, 2011


We talked for a couple of hours about the state of rock and roll, a typical Rolling Stone magazine interview, and drank a lot of brandy and reached no great conclusions... Mick started singing Do You Think I Really Care? - an  unreleased Stones song cut in their last Paris sessions. McLagen (sic) went out and got an electric piano, Woody got his acoustic guitar, Mick found a harmonica, and all we lacked was a drummer. Mick enlisted me, Now, this song is called "High and Lonesome", he instructed me, as we sloshed more glasses of brandy. You take this telephone book and slap it with your hand, like this. You'll be percussion. This is a blues...We did Buddy Holly's Maybe Baby pretty well and Jimmy Reed's Oh, Baby, You Don't Have to Go and Big Boss Man... He jumped into a C&W number had been working on, called Got No Spare Parts, Got No Oil to Change: "If I want something bad enough, I always find a way to get through / I tell you lonely hearts ain't made to break / I got no spare parts, I got no oil to change"...
- Chet Flippo, Rolling Stone journalist, describing hanging out with Mick Jagger, Ron Wood
and Ian McLagan in a hotel room after a Houston concert on July 19, 1978


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