Mick Jagger and Keith Richards Reveal Why The Rolling Stones’ New Album Gets Political

The Rolling Stones are getting political on Foreign Tongues. Ahead of the release of their latest album, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards sat down for an interview with MOJO about the LP.

At one point in the interview, the guys discussed “Ringing Hollow,” a song about the current state of America that appears on the album.

“It’s about America as an idea,” Jagger said, per Louder. “The American Dream is intact for some people, and I’m sure we can find some wonderful immigrant stories that happened in the last 12 months, but we read about the decline of the American Empire. Is the Iran war America’s Suez moment? Well, it’s not the same at all, but there are a lot of questions about imperial overreach, and the lobbying system.”

“The money spent on an election is absurd—it’s not corruption per se but unnecessary. Is it indicative of this administration, or is it something has been happening a long time? In any case, it’s not the same place as it was,” he added. “I lived in New York for 19 years. I’ve seen lots of America that no Americans have seen.”

Keith Richards’ on “Ringing Hollow”

Richards also spoke about the song, noting that, to him, it’s “about America when we were growing up in the ’50s.”

“The romance of it all: have a cocktail, smoke your cigarettes, play your jukeboxes,” he said. “We were 14, 15 years old, dying for more black music from America, and slowly you go through the rock’n’rollers and realize that these cats all learned from Muddy Waters.”

“Even now, if I’m stuck for an idea I’ll go back to the blues because the musical form is limited and that makes it all the more intriguing. You’re telling me you can get more out of this thing?” Richards added. “‘Ringing Hollow’ is our way of saying: we love you.”

What to Know About The Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues

Earlier this month, Jagger opened up about the process of making the Stones’ latest LP.

“Everything’s different because it’s, like, 60 years ago,” he said during an appearance on BBC Radio 2. “It’s not going to be the same.”

Even with that truth in mind, Ronnie Wood said that the vibes in the studio haven’t changed over the band’s decades together

“It’s always a laugh, always creative, That’s hard work in the studio because you got to get your part right in your mind enough to please the songwriter,” he said. “This album is Mick’s baby, really. He’s kind of been working on these tracks for a long time, just in a demo way.”

Foreign Tongues is due out July 10.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for UMG