The Rolling Stones seemed liable to be swept away in a tidal wave of scandals, legal battles, and courtroom appearances in the first half of 1967. It was amid this drama and strife that the musicians realized their loyal fanbase was like a patch of high, dry ground, bolstering them through a particularly rocky moment in their still-fresh careers. As a thank-you to their fans, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger wrote the appropriately titled “We Love You”.
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“We love you, we love you / and we hope that you will love we, too.” The band’s ode to their supporters reflected their assimilation into psychedelic culture that pervaded the album they released around the same time, Their Satanic Majesties Request. But unfortunately, reality didn’t only feel altered in the studio. In the middle of the “We Love You” sessions, Brian Jones suffered a nervous breakdown and had to miss two recording dates.
Though he eventually returned to the studio to track a lauded Mellotron performance, the song was hobbling somewhat. That is, until three guests turned up to the studio and helped create what The Rolling Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, would describe as “magic” decades later.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney Helped Out On “We Love You”
Despite the long-standing narrative that The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were in direct competition with one another, the attitude was more collaborative and comradely. In late July 1967, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Allen Ginsberg (in town for a marijuana legalization demonstration in Hyde Park) were hanging out with Mick Jagger at McCartney’s place. Jagger invited the group to the last session for “We Love You”, and they obliged.
And because you can’t just invite one-half of The Beatles to the studio and not expect them to lay down a part, Lennon and McCartney contributed backing vocals to The Rolling Stones’ track. Ginsberg was there but didn’t sing, later describing the group as “little angels, like Botticelli Graces singing together for the first time.” Technically, though, this wasn’t the first time. The Rolling Stones had already offered their assistance with backing vocals on the iconic Fab Four track, “All You Need Is Love”.
Indeed, the Summer of Love was living up to its name that year. In a 2013 interview with Rock Cellar Magazine, Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham said it wasn’t just love that was swirling in the London heat. There was, as he put it, “Magic. We were in trouble. I’m not sure Mick and Keith could have nailed that vocal. John and Paul did and turned it into a single.”
The song didn’t perform particularly well in the States, peaking only at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. “We Love You” saw a better response in their native U.K., peaking at No. 8. The track reached No. 1 and No. 2 in The Netherlands and Germany, respectively.
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