Behind The Rolling Stones Hit Song and Promotional Film That the BBC Refused to Broadcast 

The Rolling Stones were often thought of as a five-piece band consisting of two guitars, bass, drums, and vocals. When they began, they had a sixth member on piano. Ian Stewart stopped appearing onstage with the group in 1963 but continued to join them in the recording studio. Brian Jones started the band as a rhythm & blues unit, covering songs by Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Howlin’ Wolf. As the band evolved, writing their own material, the instrumentation expanded as well. Jones played guitar, harmonica, saxophone, accordion, keyboards, marimba, autoharp, dulcimer, flute, koto, harp, recorder, and vibraphone.

After Jones was dismissed from the group, they continued experimenting with different instrumentation. As horn sections became more popular in rock music, The Rolling Stones followed suit. Horn sections played important roles on Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., and Goats Head Soup. Saxophones by Bobby Keys and Jim Horn and trumpets by Jim Price and Chuck Findley provided iconic riffs. But the first appearance of horns on a Rolling Stones song happened in 1966. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” by The Rolling Stones.

Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow?
Have you had another baby standing in the shadow?
I’m glad I opened your eyes
The have-nots would have tried to freeze you in ice

The Horns

Arranger Mike Leander had first worked with The Rolling Stones when he created the string parts on “As Tears Go By.” For “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” he arranged the 1920s-influenced horn parts. The trumpets on the recording were credited to the Mike Leander Orchestra. Keith Richards was not happy with the mix. Bassist Bill Wyman wrote in his 2002 autobiography Rolling with the Stones, “Keith always felt that the incorrectly mixed version was released as the single. The rhythm section is buried in the mix, and it failed to create as much excitement as we all felt it should have done. Although we took longer to record and mix this single than any of our previous releases, Keith always felt it needed more.”

Richards told New Musical Express in 1966, “We tried trombones, saxes, and nearly all permutations of brass before arriving at the trumpets. Everything but the trumpets dragged.”

Have you seen your brother, baby, standing in the shadow?
Have you had another baby standing in the shadow?
Well, I was just passing the time
I’m all alone, won’t you give all your sympathy to mine?

Piano

Guitarist Keith Richards began writing the song on the piano, his first on the keyboard. There are conflicting credits of who actually played on the recording. Some cite Ian Stewart, while some credit Brian Jones. Other sources say Keith Richards, while arranger Jack Nitzsche also gets listed. When the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show just before the single was released, Richards sat at the piano while Jones mimed the guitar. They also mimed “Paint It Black.” where Jones sat with a sitar. The string of hits they had enjoyed was disrupted when “Mother’s Little Helper” and “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” failed to reach the top spot. They got back on track with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”

Tell me a story about how you adore me
Live through the shadow, see through the shadow,
Live through the shadow, tear at the shadow
Hate in the shadow, love in the shadow life

Promotional Film

Peter Whitehead shot a film to promote the single. It featured footage of the band onstage at The Ed Sullivan Show, Mick Jagger looking at art while walking the streets of Paris, and the band getting made up as women for a photo shoot used on the 45 rpm record sleeve. Continued Wyman, “We dressed in women’s clothing in a studio, and photographer Jerry Schatzberg took us to a side street off 3rd Avenue and shot the famous photographs that promoted the single. At the same time, we recorded a short film clip. We were nicknamed Sarah (Mick), Molly (Keith), Flossie (Brian), Millicent (Charlie), and Penelope (me).” Bill Wyman being in a wheelchair also raised some objections. The BBC’s Top of the Pops refused to broadcast the clip.

Have you seen your lover, baby, standing in the shadow?
Have they had another baby standing in the shadow?
Where have you been all your life?
Talking about all the people who would try anything twice

Failed to Reach the Top of the Charts

With guitar feedback and an unconventional arrangement, the song was a departure from earlier Rolling Stones singles. The Beatles included feedback on “I Feel Fine” a year earlier, and The Yardbirds were pushing the envelope of guitar experimentation that was just around the corner as Jimi Hendrix would blow it out just a few weeks after “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” Wyman wrote in his 1990 memoir Stone Alone, “We took a small but serious knock when we failed to reach the top of the British chart with ‘Have You Seen Your Mother Baby.’ It only got to No. 2. Bobby Elliott of The Hollies had a view taken by many, “The record was basically above the fans’ heads. It was too hip, and those photographs showing the Stones in drag put the youngsters off a bit. There was more controversy when Brian went with Anita [Pallenberg] to Munich, where she was filming A Degree of Murder. There he posed in a Nazi uniform.”

Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow?
Has she had another baby standing in the shadow?
You take your choice at this time
The brave old world or the slide to the depths of decline

“Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” was an orphan single backed with “Who’s Driving Your Plane?” Both sides posed musical questions. 

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Photo by Everett/Shutterstock