3 Songs You Didn’t Know Mick Jagger Wrote for Other Artists

Mick Jagger is rock music incarnate. Whether he’s strutting up and down the stage like it’s a catwalk or he’s singing into the microphone, belting out iconic lyrics he penned as if touched by the rock gods, Jagger has helped to define the musical genre for going on seven decades. The ageless wonder has seemingly done it all.

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And part of that illustrious career is marked by Jagger’s willingness to collaborate with others. Indeed, he hasn’t just written songs for the benefit of himself and his band, The Rolling Stones. No, he has also written tracks for other artists. That’s what we wanted to highlight below. These are three songs you didn’t know Mick Jagger wrote for other artists.

“Act Together” by Ron Wood from ‘I’ve Got My Own Album To Do’ (1974)

Ron Wood, who is a guitarist for The Rolling Stones, wanted to release his own LP. So, he famously sought big-name artists to collaborate with, including bandmate Mick Jagger. The title for Wood’s debut 1974 LP comes from all those people telling him they had their own record to make! But no matter the struggle, Wood succeeded in getting the help he needed. Jagger co-wrote the rousing track “Act Together”, and it’s one of the highlights from the album.

“Disease” by Matchbox Twenty from ‘More Than You Think You Are’ (2002)

One of the more successful bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s, Matchbox Twenty and their frontman, Rob Thomas, were able to work with Mick Jagger on the 2002 song “Disease”, which the group released on their LP, More Than You Think You Are. The track of love and tragedy compels Thomas to say he is stricken with a disease that he can’t rid himself of. The tune was one of two Thomas sent to Jagger while the former was helping to produce the latter’s then-new LP, Goddess in the Doorway. But in the end, Jagger returned “Disease” and said Thomas should use it for his own LP.

“Sister Morphine” by Marianne Faithfull (Single, 1969)

This reflective song was written by Mick Jagger and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards for their friend, Marianne Faithfull. She released it in 1969 as the B-side for her single, “Something Better” in February of that year. Two years later, in 1971, The Rolling Stones released their own version. But it was Faithfull who got to record it first and share it with the world. The song builds and builds over time, and it crescendos with Faithful foretelling her impending doom. How very rock!

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