The Rolling Stones first No. 1 hit was actually a cover. On July 14, 1964, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts hit No. 1 in the U.K. for the first time with their cover of “It’s All Over Now.”
Bobby Womack and Shirley Womack wrote the tune, which was first released by The Valentinos in 1964. The song wasn’t a huge success, as it peaked at No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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The Stones, however, were big fans of the tune, and “just liked the sound of it,” Wyman said in ’64. Bobby Womack wasn’t initially all that thrilled about the idea of them covering the song, though.
“I just wanted my songs to be sung by me and heard all round the world,” Womack explained in a 2011 interview.
Regardless, nine days after hearing it, the band recorded their version of the song.
“They recorded it, released it, it happened so fast, I was pissed, because I thought they had stolen our song,” Womack said. “But Sam [Cooke] said to me, man you will get credit for this, and it will put you where you want to be.”
Womack only realized that to be true when he received his first royalty payment of $400,000.
“I had never seen so much money in my life,” Womack recalled. “Sam said to me, ‘You going get a cheque like that about three to four times a year.’ I replied, ‘Do you know where The Rolling Stones live?’”
The Rolling Stones Earn Success With “It’s All Over Now”
It wound up being good for The Stones too, as it earned them their first No. 1 hit on the U.K. singles chart. In the U.S., the Stones’ version of the track stayed in the Billboard Hot 100 for ten weeks, peaking at No. 26.
Despite its commercial success, The Rolling Stones had mixed feelings about the song.
“I’m not all that keen on the record. It’s alright, but I don’t know, there’s just something,” Jones said the year of the song’s release.
Richards totally disagreed, stating, “As it happens, I think ‘It’s All Over Now’ is the best single we’ve done, and I’m glad to say the group improves every time it makes a single. At least, we think so. I like the overall sound on this new one more than I did on anything before.”
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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