Probable line-up:

Drums: Steve Jordan
Bass: Keith Richards & Andrew Watt
Acoustic guitar: Mick Jagger
Electric guitars: Keith Richards, Ron Wood & Mick Jagger
Lead vocal: Mick Jagger
Harmony & co-lead vocal: Lady Gaga
Background vocals: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood & Andrew Watt
Piano: Stevie Wonder
Rhodes electric piano: Stevie Wonder
B3 organ: Matt Clifford
Moog synthesizer: Stevie Wonder
Saxophone: James King
Trumpet: Ron Blake
Percussion: Mick Jagger
 

TrackTalk
 

That's more like a gospel song... Kind of gospel... But it's got personal things in it.

It's a song that I wrote on the piano.

In Paris (in October 2022), there was a drum set, and I was playing drums. Mick and I were jamming, and I guess it brought a memory back for him that when he wrote Miss You, Billy Preston was on the drums and he was on the guitar. Mick was telling me how great it was for the Stones to have Billy Preston come to the studio. Like, when a guest would arrive, everyone would behave. So I was thinking, Who could be the Billy Preston of the Stones in 2023? Then Mick played me an early version of Sweet Sounds of Heaven. He was playing the piano. What’s amazing about that song is that it’s very simple chordally. It’s almost like a classic gospel kind of Stones song in the way of You Can’t Always Get What You Want or Shine a Light.

(It was) very ad-libbed.

I have some tattoos on my fingers. One of the people I have tattooed on my finger is Stevie Wonder. When we were talking about Sweet Sounds of Heaven, I was thinking That feels like a moment for a guest. I saw my finger and I thought, Stevie Wonder. As a fan, how cool would it be for Stevie Wonder to be playing on a Rolling Stones song and not just singing? I asked Mick what he thought, and he instantly got it. So we asked Stevie if he’d want to play, and he said, Yeah.

Yeah there's that moment, especially in that session, where we had Stevie and you're feeling your way a little bit and then you do that soul ending, which you do sometimes onstage where you stop and you start. It’s a very kind of tried and tested, re-doubling thing.

Andrew once again, he said, Oh my mate, Stevie Wonder (laughs), he’s gonna pop by later. We’re like What? He said, Oh just jamming with him yesterday or something. And we said we’re working. He said I’ll come down, can I come down? We’re like Can you come down? Come on, the genius, open the cage and let those vibes out, you know. And true enough, we were like kids watching him play.

Stevie was late. I was like I’ve got the Rolling Stones here sitting around waiting. I called his right hand, and she says Stevie’s on the way. He just stopped to vote. It’s a very important thing. When I came in and told the guys, everyone was laughing. It was a great icebreaker. So Stevie comes and we’re getting into it. I’m calling the chords and showing him the sections. And he calls out in the middle of it, Andrew, you got a bass? I picked up the bass, and he goes This is the bass line. And he starts singing it. I had to figure it out, and it became a theme that the guitars played, and he played it on the Moog. It was this big climactic thing. To make a gospel rock song with Moog bass, that’s tricky.

I felt that the song needed a place of celebration, a celebration of the spirit of the rhythms and the spirit of just everybody coming together for that event. It’s not saying Goodbye, to me it’s saying Hello.

It just was so moving to be in the studio with Stevie. Watching Stevie play his array of keyboards: a little bit of synthesizer, a little bit of Moog here, and a bit of clavinet there, and a grand piano here.

He was very, very kind and generous. And saying how great it was to see us all again, and fun doing new songs. So yeah, it was really nice.

We'd already cut the track with Stevie (before Lady Gaga showed up).

(Lady Gaga i)s a talented piece of work. It also helped to have Stevie Wonder playing keyboards. Having the both of them in the same room was pretty interesting.

To get Stevie to play it with all those gospel chords, it makes it come alive and takes it to another level. And you feel, Oh, wow.

(Lady Gaga) just walked in, in front of me, and she just curled up in a ball in front of me on the floor. And then someone gave her a mic, and she started singing oohs and ahs.

She was sitting there on the floor just digging it and singing along, and Mick said Well, come on in. Stand up. Let’s make a thing of this then. Let’s do it properly... Lady Gaga sings really sweet on Sweet Sounds of Heaven... It's just brilliant. I think it's very moving.

The lady herself just strolled in because she was working in the studio next door… And she started to just join in, so it was kind of organic (laughs). In that respect. It was not a set up session Let’s get Stevie and Lady Gaga – it didn’t happen that way. It grew by itself and that’s why I really, really like the track. She’s a piece of work, man, she really is, she’s got a lot of talent.

Yeah she's a really great singer and I'd never heard her sing quite that style before, not exactly. We did it live in the room and that was a great experience, her just coming in the room and her just opening up and singing her bits and feeling her way and then getting more confident. And then we came back and then did some extra parts that we hadn’t done on the day. Then we did some tidying up where we were just in the control room, in the overdub room, really face to face, getting them really tight - the parts - really tight. And then being slightly competitive in this moment (laughs).

I was in the studio at Henson preparing for (the film) Joker, leaving to go home for the night and someone said Mick wants to see you. I only know one Mick, so I walked down to a studio at the other end of the hall and opened the door. It was a portal to the 70s. I saw Mick, Keith, Ronnie. Stevie Wonder was there along with all the musicians they were collaborating with. Steve Jordan on the drums. Family and friends hanging out listening on big speakers while Andrew Watt smiled marveling at their unreleased album. We hung out for a bit listening to music and catching up. Mick then asked if I’d hang in the live room while they cut another record. I sat down on the floor, my back against a Rhodes - someone handed me some headphones and eventually a mic. Mick was towering over me smiling saying Go on and do your thing then. I listened to the music and scribbled furiously, trying to learn the tune and then freestyled and sang along… trying not to step on everyone’s toes 'cause Andrew had the whole room mic’d the way they did back in the day, and I didn’t want my vocals to bleed into any of the magic they’d been making. The Rhodes was vibrating furiously through my back; Stevie was playing and my whole body was shaking with every note. We played for a few hours and everyone was so excited having me there (this felt so exciting if not slightly insane). I went home not thinking much of it, I loved the song and all the musicians but I thought we were just hanging. Andrew texted me the next day saying Mick wanted to cut the vocals WITH me that night - the way he’d cut them back in the day. Same room, two mics. Single takes. I thought about Merry Clayton… Gimmie Shelter… gospel and soul. I thought about my favorite old Stones tunes and all the great vocalists who had sung with Mick, making what we know now as a "sound" unique to a band that defined a huge piece of rock and roll. Then we cut it live. Making the "sweet sounds of heaven". I sang in a way I never really sang before except for with Mick. And Andrew and I both cried - there’s something about witnessing music history and when you get to be a part of it I think that’s exactly what our heaven feels like. It’s just a sweet sound.

She's such a fucking badass. I watched her following Mick's phrasing. It's such a natural thing. It wasn't like, OK, second verse - here's the feature. She joined the band on that song. She's almost embodying Merry Clayton.

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