| "Roll Away the Stone" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Mott the Hoople | ||||
| from the album The Hoople | ||||
| B-side | "Where Do You All Come From?" | |||
| Released |
| |||
| Recorded | July 1973 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:02 | |||
| Label | CBS | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Ian Hunter | |||
| Producer(s) | Mott the Hoople | |||
| Mott the Hoople singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio | ||||
| "Roll Away the Stone" on YouTube | ||||
"Roll Away the Stone" is a song written by Ian Hunter, recorded by English rock band Mott the Hoople, and released as a single on the CBS label. [3] On the first version, recorded before Mick Ralphs left the band, Ralphs plays lead guitar and one of the Thunderthighs handles the bridge voice. It was re-recorded by the band for their 1974 album The Hoople , with Ariel Bender on harmony lead line and Lynsey de Paul singing the vocal bridge. [4]
It reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in December 1973, spending five weeks in the top 10. [5] The band performed the song on the BBC Television show Top of the Pops on 15 November 1973. [6]
Cash Box said that "Hunter's unique, far reaching vocals are stronger than ever and the rest of the group backing him musically is up to the task." [7] Record World called it Mott the Hoople's "biggest rocker since their label debut" and said that the "Easter-themed love epistle should sha-la-la itself to monumental status." [8]
In 1986, the song was used as a background song on the 1974 edition of the BBC TV series The Rock 'n' Roll Years , for the news clips relating to the two general elections in the United Kingdom that year. It also featured in the 2015 film The Diary of a Teenage Girl , [9] as well as on the soundtrack album. [10]
