Mick Jagger Always Thought Keith Richards Would’ve Been Better Suited to Sing This Rolling Stones Classic

The Rolling Stones have dabbled in various styles of music, from the blues that originally inspired them (and helped name the band) to the jangly psychedelia of the late 1960s to country music via the budding friendship between Keith Richards and Gram Parsons. Songs of the last variety, frontman Mick Jagger argued, never quite sat right in his voice—including “Dead Flowers”.

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From the band’s ninth album, Sticky Fingers, “Dead Flowers” is somber, sarcastic, and as desolately unromantic as one might expect from a song called “Dead Flowers”. In this sardonic way, the song fit right into The Stones’ catalogue, specifically under the “country-influenced” category. But in Bill Janovitz’s Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell The Story Of The Rolling Stones, Jagger revealed that he never felt fully comfortable singing it.

Speaking of “Dead Flowers” and Some Girls’ “Far Away Eyes”, Jagger said, “The actual music is played completely straight. But it’s me who’s not going legit with the whole thing because I’m a blues singer, not a country singer. I think it’s more suited to Keith’s voice than mine.”

The Issue With “Dead Flowers” Wasn’t the Genre, Per Se

In that same book, Mick Jagger clarified that his issue with “Dead Flowers” wasn’t because it was in the country vain. He had no problem with that kind of music. “Keith and I had been playing Johnny Cash records and listening to The Everly Brothers—who were so country—since we were kids. I used to love country music even before I met Keith. The country songs like ‘Factory Girl’ or ‘Dear Doctor’ on Beggars Banquet were really apstiches. There’s a sense of humor—a way of looking at life in a humorous kind of way.”

Perhaps this affinity for country music’s comedic side is what caused the hang-ups Jagger had about “Dead Flowers”. After all, there was a bit of cheekiness to the song. But the overarching melancholy is what really sells it. Without that contrast to the comedy, the song doesn’t have the same impact. According to Keith Richards, this was a byproduct of Jagger’s specific way of approaching new music.

“Mick feels the need to get into other caricatures. He’s slightly vaudeville in his approach,” Richards explained. “When he sings it as a caricature, you expect Mick to walk out in his cowboy duds on an eighteen-wheeler set or sing it into his CB.”

Something like “Dead Flowers” leaves no room for that kind of chap-clad campiness. This writer would humbly argue that Townes Van Zandt’s subsequent version of The Stones’ track is the best exemplification of the bitter humor that pervades each verse.

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