The Song Mick Jagger Wrote for Keith Richards Following His Eviction

Though most know “Start Me Up” from The Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You, there’s another track on the album Keith Richards wishes he’d written.

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Mick Jagger wrote “Neighbours” for Richards, who frequently found himself in difficult living situations. As the 1970s blurred into the 1980s, The Rolling Stones had grown up. But Richards still caused a ruckus.

Set aside how a late-night jam might induce any reasonable person to come knocking on your door. If Richards fires up his Tele at 3 a.m., the only reason to knock is to see if he’ll let you inside.

Turn Down the Music!

While Jagger wrote the song, Richards explained to Rolling Stone in 1981 how his Glimmer Twin “never had trouble” with his neighbors. Jagger wasn’t a quiet tenant then—Richards said he was just “smart.”

“I have a knack of finding a whole building of very cool people, you know, but there’ll be one uncool couple—they’re always a couple. And my apartment will always be either just above them or next door to them or just below. And they’re the kind of people who’ll knock you up at six in the morning, while you’ve just sort of got a little bit of music going,” Richards said.

Regardless of where he moved, Richards said trouble followed him: “I swear they’re the same couple everywhere I go.” He added, “‘Neighbours’ is the first song I think Mick’s ever really written for me. It’s one I wish I’d written, that.”

Perhaps if the agitated couple knew it was a Rolling Stone jamming next door, they’d be more forgiving. Nonetheless, Richards and his then-girlfriend Patti Hansen were evicted from multiple New York City apartments. (They married in 1983.)

Neighbors
Have I got neighbors?
Ringing my doorbells
All day and all night

Getting Along

There are moments in “Neighbours” where Jagger appears sympathetic to the other side of the argument. He rages on loud televisions and saxophones and can’t get no peace and no quiet, or dare say, satisfaction.

Then Jagger offers wise advice.

Neighbors do unto strangers
Do unto neighbors what you do to yourself

Still, he knows his bandmate better than most. If Keith Richards wants to jam, well …

The Rolling Stones Growing Up

In 1981, Richards was 37 years old and contemplating a maturing version of The Rolling Stones. Tattoo You, at the time, offered a turning point.

Said Richards, “It’s kind of interesting to find out how rock and roll can grow up.” He pushed for the band to stay on tour, worried they might stop if they didn’t keep working. “And I’m trying to hustle them because I know that it’s the only way to keep ’em together,” he said.

The songs on Tattoo You were drawn from earlier sessions. The band had amassed a large vault of material from which to choose. They felt rushed against a deadline on their previous album Emotional Rescue, and tried to be more thoughtful in their approach this time.

However, with middle age staring down The Rolling Stones in 1981, they had plenty of gas left in the tank to keep going. Richards, now 81, probably has a much different living situation.

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