5 Tidbits You Didn’t Know About ‘Some Girls’ by The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones shook off what many considered a bit of a slump for them with their 1978 album Some Girls. After they seemed to be treading water for a few records, they fired back with a purpose, rocking the pop charts and charming critics in the process.

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Several songs from this record are deemed classics in their catalog. But what about the stories behind making the record? Here are five pieces of info about Some Girls you might not know.

Ronnie’s True Debut

The Rolling Stones’ previous album, Black And Blue in 1976, stood out because there were several different guitarists playing on the record alongside Keith Richards. That’s because the band had to fill in for the loss of Mick Taylor. Ronnie Wood shows up on the cover of Black And Blue, even though he only contributed to a couple of songs. Some Girls was his first full album with the band. He makes an impact throughout, especially on the crunching guitar attack of “When The Whip Comes Down”.

Unusual Collaborators

“Miss You” showed that The Stones could enter the world of disco while still maintaining their identity. And they used some unorthodox guests to get things done. In the past, you might have heard Bobby Keys on sax, Nicky Hopkins or Ian Stewart on piano, and Mick Jagger on harmonica on a Stones record. In this case, Mel Collins took the lead on the soulful sax part. Wood’s former Faces buddy Ian McLagan played electric piano. And Sugar Blue took care of the harmonica that shines in the second half of the song.

Keith’s Gratitude

The Stones may have come out with a more aggressively urban sound on Some Girls. But they didn’t completely abandon some of the retro soulfulness that had worked so well for them on previous records. Keith Richards, always a stalwart for tradition, contributed the basic idea for “Beast Of Burden”. Years later, Richards claimed that he picked the title as a way of thanking Mick Jagger for carrying the load while Keith struggled with personal problems. Not that Richards was overly apologetic, as the next informational tidbit proves.

Richards Back on the Mic

Toronto authorities arrested Keith Richards on charges of heroin possession in early 1977. For a while, it looked like serious prison time might be in the cards, but Richards mostly skated the rap. “Before They Make Me Run” leaned into his outlaw status, suggesting that even the threat of imprisonment wasn’t going to change his ways. Richards kept the track mostly to himself, playing all the guitar parts as well as the bass. It was also his first lead vocal with the band in five years.

A Drug Reference at the End

Even though The Stones didn’t record any of it there, New York City looms large on Some Girls. The heat of the city is pulsing through the beats of “Miss You”. And “Shattered”, the closing track, acts as a kind of sideways tribute to the Big Apple, in all its late 70s squalor. Mick Jagger closes out the song, and the album, with the lines “Pile it up/Pile it high on the platter.” It’s not too much of a stretch to think that he was imagining some foreign substances as part of the plentiful banquet.

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