"We Love You" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones that was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Their first new release of the summer of 1967,it was first released as a single on 18 August in the United Kingdom,with "Dandelion" as the B-side. The song peaked at number eight in Britain and number 50 in the United States,where "Dandelion" was promoted as the A-side and peaked at number 14.
Written as a message of gratitude to their fans for the public support towards them during the drug arrests of Jagger and Richards,the recording features guest backing vocals by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles.[5][6] It is considered one of the Rolling Stones' most experimental songs,featuring sound effects,layers of vocal overdubs,and a prominent Mellotron part played by Brian Jones. The single's two tracks were the final new Stones recordings for which a production credit was given for band manager Andrew Loog Oldham. The recording sessions that produced "We Love You" and "Dandelion" represented Oldham's last work with the band before resigning as their producer over personal and professional conflicts with them.
Critics at the time of its release praised the song for its production and vocal and instrumental performances,while also noting its significance to the band's current status. However,some at the time viewed the song as somewhat overproduced. Retrospective reviews have been positive,with some describing its sound as too similar to the Beatles,and emblematic of the band losing its identity over the Summer of Love in favor of following trends. However,others praise the song as a unique offering to the genre of psychedelic music,and for its diverse range of musical influences.
Background
By the late 1960s,drugs were common in the British music industry,although this fact was not commonly known by much of the public. In 1966,the ITV documentary A Boy Called Donovan publicised Donovan's use of marijuana to the wider world,marking one of the first times a musician's drug use had become so publicly known. Donovan later described how "this was the first time a British television audience had caught a glimpse of the lifestyle of the beatniks and many were shocked". In early 1967,Jagger,Richards and Jones began to be hounded by authorities over their recreational drug use,after the News of the World ran a three-part feature entitled "Pop Stars and Drugs:Facts That Will Shock You". The series described alleged LSD parties hosted by the Moody Blues attended by top stars including the Who's Pete Townshend and Cream's Ginger Baker,and alleged admissions of drug use by leading pop musicians. The first article targeted Donovan,who as a result was raided soon after,the second article (published on 5 February) targeted the Rolling Stones.
In February 1967,two members of The Rolling Stones,lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards were arrested at Richards' home,Redlands,West Wittering,Sussex for drug possession. By this point,Jagger had begun suing News of the World for libel over their article on the Rolling Stones' drug use. Although both Jagger and Richards were convicted following the raid,a publicity campaign by their colleagues in the music industry encouraged popular support and criticism of the decision to prosecute them. Most notably,the traditionally conservatively oriented newspaper The Times published an op-ed by William Rees-Mogg asking Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?,in which he criticised the prosecutions as unfounded and unnecessary. Additionally,the Who recorded cover versions of Stones songs "Under My Thumb" and "The Last Time" as a show of solidarity with the Stones throughout the trials.[7]
Composition
"We Love You" was written in the aftermath of the drug arrest and the public outrage that followed it,and has traditionally been interpreted as a message to fans of the group thanking them for their support through the controversy. Conversely,the song's lyrics have been described as "a spoof" of the Lennon–McCartney song "All You Need Is Love",[8] which the Beatles performed on the Our World satellite broadcast on 25 June. However,the Rolling Stones began recording the song two weeks prior to the Our World broadcast. Alternatively,as Lennon insisted was the case,in his 1970 Rolling Stone interview,the lyrics can be seen as echoing the message of the Beatles song,on which Jagger and Richards were among the many chorus singers. Bill Wyman later said that Jagger and Richards had been working on the song "for some time".[1]
Recording
The Stones recorded "We Love You" during the sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request at Olympic Studios during June and July 1967. In contrast to the single's flip side "Dandelion",which largely features baroque instrumentation and influences,"We Love You" is largely inspired by the burgeoning psychedelic genre,and by music of the Arab world. According to bassist Bill Wyman,the final arrangement was created in the studio.[1] The opening piano riff was played by session musician Nicky Hopkins,who had been workshopping it prior to using it on the song.[9]
In the first session,on 13 June 1967,all members but Charlie Watts attended. This session was primarily devoted to fleshing out the arrangement for the song. The Stones also worked further on "Dandelion",at this session,which had begun recording the previous day.[10] Later that week,Brian Jones departed to Monterey,California to attend the city's International Pop Festival. Following his return,Jones suffered a nervous breakdown,and was hospitalized,missing further sessions for the song on 21 June and 2 July. However,the other band members,including now Watts,attended these sessions,and continued work on the song.
At the final session,Brian Jones returned after being discharged from hospital. Notable in the final mix of the song is Jones' performance on Mellotron,which has been acclaimed for its complexity and Jones' proficiency with the instrument. Studio engineer George Chkiantz said that even though there was a delay between hitting the note and the sound coming out of the Mellotron,Jones managed to overcome this challenge and get "a tight rhythmic punch" out of the instrument for the track.[11]
For the final session,held on 19 July 1967,John Lennon,Paul McCartney and the poet Allen Ginsberg were invited to visit,following a meeting at McCartney's house a few days earlier.[9] Lennon and McCartney ended up overdubbing backing vocals on the song. It has been suggested that the pair also contributed vocals to "Dandelion" at this session,as it was confirmed by Keith Richards in October 2023.[12]
Release history
While it was recorded during the sessions for Their Satanic Majesties Request,"We Love You" was released as a non-album A side on 18 August 1967 in the United Kingdom,with "Dandelion" as the B side. The song reached number 8 on the British single charts.[13] Two weeks later this single was released the United States,but with "Dandelion" promoted as the A side;"Dandelion" reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100,whereas "We Love You" only got as high as 50.[14] "We Love You" also charted within the top 10 on singles charts in Germany,Austria,Sweden,and Norway.
Mick Jagger was quoted at the time as saying that "We Love You" was "just a bit of fun".[11] The original single releases had a faded-in coda consisting of a short,distorted section of vocals from the B-side,"Dandelion". The same effect,fading in a portion of "We Love You",was used at the end of "Dandelion". Musicologist Walter Everett identifies this feature as a response to the Beatles' use of a fade-out/fade-in ending to close their February 1967 single "Strawberry Fields Forever".[15] This coda has generally been absent from reissues of the song on compilation albums by the Stones such as Through the Past,Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) and GRRR!. Similarly,"Dandelion" has also been traditionally abridged in this way on compilations that feature it. However,the 1989 release Singles Collection:The London Years features unabridged versions of both songs.[16]
The promotional film for the single was directed by Peter Whitehead. As a commentary on the song's origin it included footage from recording sessions along with segments that re-enacted the 1895 trial of Oscar Wilde,with Jagger,Richards and Marianne Faithfull respectively portraying Wilde,the judge in the Wilde trial,and Lord Alfred Douglas. Footage also appears of Brian Jones,apparently high on drugs with his eyes drooping and unfocused.
The producer of Top of the Pops refused to show the film on that programme. A BBC spokesman said the producer did not think it was suitable for the type of audience who watched Top of the Pops. He went on to say there was not a ban on it by the BBC,it was simply this producer's decision.[11]
In 2022,the promotional film for "We Love You" was remastered in 4k resolution and released online for the first time.[17]
Contemporary reception
Among contemporary reviews of the single,Chris Welch of Melody Maker described the song as "considerably too much",and said that "The Stones and their highly recognisable friends chant the message while what sounds like mellotron,piano,drums and cymbals move to a monstrous,majestic climax like a soul Ravel."[18] In the NME,Keith Altham identified "Dandelion" as the more "immediate" of the two sides. He described "We Love You" as "a musical-mindjammer with everything going like the clappers... to provide that special kind of ugly-excitement in sound which is the Rolling Stones speciality",and he concluded:"The basic idea of the song is as simple as 'All You Need Is Love' but the musical holocaust surrounding it is so cleverly produced you will be able to listen to it again and again and still find new ideas."[19]Cash Box called it "a psychedelic offering with sound effects and a brilliant vocal-instrumental showing."[20]
In 1970,in an interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine,John Lennon described "We Love You" as an example of a trend he perceived of the Rolling Stones copying the Beatles' style and recent songs with their material,in this case,being very similar to the sentiment the Beatles had espoused in "All You Need Is Love". He said "Every fuckin' thing we did,Mick does exactly the same –he imitates us. And I would like one of you fuckin' underground people to point it out,you know Satanic Majesties is Pepper, 'We Love You,' it's the most fuckin' bullshit,that's 'All You Need Is Love.'"[21]
Retrospective reception
In the June 1997 issue of Mojo magazine,Jon Savage included the song in his list "Psychedelia:The 100 Greatest Classics". He also wrote:"'We Love You' sounded fabulous on the radio in high summer of '67 with its monster piano riff and Mellotron arabesques hanging in the air. It was only later that you noticed the heavy walking of the prison warden at the song's start or the sarcastic hostility of the lyrics."[22] Author Stephen Davis describes the track as "sensational" and cites Jones' "panoramic Mellotron fanfare" as arguably his "last great contribution" to the Rolling Stones.[23] Writing for AllMusic,Bill Janovitz describes Brian Jones as a "prodigy" for his musical contributions to "We Love You",while also highlighting Bill Wyman's "funky R&B bass line" and Charlie Watts' Bo Diddley-influenced drum performance as other strong elements of the recording.[24]
In the view of sociomusicologistSimon Frith,writing in 1981,the song was symptomatic of the band's disorientation in the year that "pop" transformed to "rock". He said that the Stones' elevation to "hippie heroes",due to the drug busts,had an adverse effect on their music,since:"for a moment,Jagger and Richards' detached,selfish rock'n'roll commitment was shaken –'We Love You' and the Satanic Majesties LP were too-obvious attempts to follow the Beatles' psychedelic trip. It wasn't until 1968,when youth politics got rougher,that the Stones made 'Jumping Jack Flash' and became a rock group,translating drug culture back into rock'n'roll terms."[25]
Author and critic Philip Norman dismissed "We Love You" as "a single that loses all ironic point in its feeble attempt" to copy "All You Need Is Love",adding that it was part of Jagger's ongoing "obsession" with aligning himself with the Beatles' flower power idealism and trying to match the mystical quality of the band's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.[26] Writing for Mojo in 2002,music critic John Harris said in response to Norman's comments on the song:"Fortunately,nothing could be further from the facts. Its charms are legion:Nicky Hopkins' beautifully mesmeric piano,its opening chorus of sarcastic falsetto voices,mellotron passages…whose eeriness cannot help but evoke the idea of a conspiracy."[27]
Many publications have listed "We Love You" as one of the Stones' best songs. The German edition of Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the band's 25th best song,[citation needed] while the Spanish edition of the magazine ranked it 32nd.[citation needed]Uncut magazine listed it as among the 50 essential songs from the Summer of Love,and in another article ranked as the band's 10th best song.[28] In the magazine's entry on the song,music journalist Nick Hasted commented on the song's defiant origins.
Recorded the month after The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”, this more urgently paced, and obviously cynical, combative contribution to Britain’s Summer Of Love is an us-and-them taunt from a band on the run, a defiant, two-fingered retaliation to concerted establishment attempts to jail Jagger, Richards and Jones for drug use and general bad manners. The hunted footsteps and slamming jail doors punctuating the record, and the Jagger-as-Wilde promo reel that completes it, shows the distorted scale of the year’s persecution which, for all the song’s sly bravado, helped kill Jones, and cripple the Stones.
Personnel
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[1]
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active across seven decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader. Andrew Loog Oldham became their manager in 1963 and encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership became the band's primary songwriting and creative force.
Magical Mystery Tour is a record by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double EP in the United Kingdom and an LP in the United States. It includes the soundtrack to the 1967 television film of the same name. The EP was issued in the UK on 8 December 1967 on the Parlophone label, while the Capitol Records LP release in the US and Canada occurred on 27 November and features an additional five songs that were originally released as singles that year. In 1976, Parlophone released the eleven-track LP in the UK.
"Street Fighting Man" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, written by the songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Considered one of the band's most popular and most controversial songs, it features Indian instrumentation contributed by Brian Jones, which has led to it being characterized as a raga rock song. It also features controversial and ambiguous lyrics about armed revolution. In the United States, it was released as a single in August 1968, while it was not released in the United Kingdom until four months later on the Beggars Banquet album, where it opened side two. The B-side of the American single featured "No Expectations", considered one of the final Stones tracks in which founding member Jones played a significant role in its construction. And it was the final Rolling Stones single on which Jones performed.
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released as a non-album single in 1968. Called "supernatural Delta blues by way of Swinging London" by Rolling Stone magazine, the song was seen as the band's return to their blues roots after the baroque pop and psychedelia heard on their preceding albums Aftermath (1966), Between the Buttons (1967) and especially Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967). One of the group's most popular and recognisable songs, it has been featured in films and covered by numerous performers, notably Thelma Houston, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Peter Frampton, Johnny Winter, Leon Russell and Alex Chilton. To date, it is the band's most-performed song; they have played it over 1,100 times in concert.
"Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. The song was written by Mick Jagger and credited to the Jagger–Richards partnership. It is the opening track on the band's 1968 album Beggars Banquet. The song has received critical acclaim and features on Rolling Stone magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, being ranked number 106 in the 2021 edition.
Beggars Banquet is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 6 December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and by London Records in the United States. It was the first Rolling Stones album produced by Jimmy Miller, whose production work formed a key aspect of the group's sound throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Their Satanic Majesties Request is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in December 1967 by Decca Records in the UK and by London Records in the United States. It was the first Rolling Stones album released in identical versions in both countries. The title is a play on the "Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires" text that appeared inside a British passport.
Aftermath is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The group recorded the album at RCA Studios in California in December 1965 and March 1966, during breaks between their international tours. It was released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 1966 by Decca Records and in the United States in late June or early July 1966 by London Records. It is the band's fourth British and sixth American studio album, and closely follows a series of international hit singles that helped bring the Stones newfound wealth and fame rivalling that of their contemporaries the Beatles.
"Good Day Sunshine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. It was written mainly by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. McCartney intended it as a song in the style of the Lovin' Spoonful's contemporaneous hit single "Daydream". The recording includes multiple pianos played in the barrelhouse style and evokes a vaudevillian mood.
"Doctor Robert" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in 1966 on their album Revolver, apart from in North America, where it instead appeared on their Yesterday and Today album. The song was written by John Lennon, although Paul McCartney has said that he co-wrote it. The Beatles recorded the track in seven takes on 17 April 1966, with vocals overdubbed on 19 April.
"The Night Before" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 film Help! and soundtrack album of the same name. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Described as a pop rock or rock and roll song, its lyrics reflect on the singer's last night with his lover before being abandoned.
"Baby, You're a Rich Man" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the B-side of their "All You Need Is Love" single in July 1967. It originated from an unfinished song by John Lennon, titled "One of the Beautiful People", to which Paul McCartney added a chorus. It is one of the best-known pop songs to make use of a clavioline, a monophonic keyboard instrument that was a forerunner to the synthesizer. Lennon played the clavioline on its oboe setting, creating a sound that suggests an Indian shehnai. The song was recorded and mixed at Olympic Sound Studios in London, making it the first of the Beatles' EMI recordings to be entirely created outside EMI Studios.
"Magical Mystery Tour" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles and the title track to the December 1967 television film of the same name. It was released on the band's Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack record, which was a double EP in Britain and most markets but an album in America, where Capitol Records supplemented the new songs with tracks issued on the Beatles' 1967 singles. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.
"She's a Rainbow" is a song by the Rolling Stones and was featured on their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. It has been called "the prettiest and most uncharacteristic song" that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote for the Stones, although somewhat ambiguous in intention.
"Back Street Girl" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It first appeared on the UK version of their 1967 album Between the Buttons but was not included on the US version. It was first released in the US on the 1967 album Flowers.
"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was recorded in the late summer of 1966 during early sessions for what would become their Between the Buttons album. It was the first Stones single to be released simultaneously in both the UK and the US, and reached number five and number nine on those countries' charts, respectively.
"Mother's Little Helper" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership, it is a folk rock song with Eastern influences. Its lyrics deal with the popularity of prescribed tranquilisers like Valium among housewives and the potential hazards of overdose or addiction. Recorded in December 1965, it was first released in the United Kingdom as the opening track of the band's April 1966 album, Aftermath. In the United States, it was omitted from the album and instead issued as a single in July 1966 during the band's fifth American tour. The Rolling Stones' twelfth US single, "Mother's Little Helper" spent nine weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 8, and it reached No. 4 on both Record World and Cash Box's charts.
"Dandelion" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and first released as a B-side to "We Love You" in August 1967. As recently as October 2023 Keith Richards confirmed that John Lennon and Paul McCartney sing backing vocals. Billboard described the single as "an easy beat rocker with good story line."
"2000 Light Years from Home" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on their 1967 album Their Satanic Majesties Request. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it also appeared as the B-side to the American single "She's a Rainbow", and charted as a single in Germany.
"Tell Me (You're Coming Back)" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, featured on their 1964 self-titled album (subtitled and often called England's Newest Hit Makers in the US). It became the first A-side single written by Jagger/Richards to be released, although not in the United Kingdom. The single reached number 24 in the United States (becoming their first top 40 hit there) and the top 40 in several other countries.
↑ Welch, Chris (19 August 1967). "New Singles from the Stones, Monkees, Jimi Hendrix et al". Melody Maker. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
↑ Altham, Keith (12 August 1967). "The Rolling Stones: 'We Love You'". NME. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
↑ Norman 2001, pp.286–87. sfn error: no target: CITEREFNorman2001 (help)
↑ Harris, John (2002). "Banding Together". Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days That Shook the World (The Psychedelic Beatles – April 1, 1965 to December 26, 1967). London: Emap. p.110.
↑ Hallberg, Eric (1993). Eric Hallberg presenterar Kvällstoppen i P 3: Sveriges radios topplista över veckans 20 mest sålda skivor 10. 7. 1962 - 19. 8. 1975. Drift Musik. p.243. ISBN9163021404.
Babiuk, Andy; Prevost, Greg (2013). Rolling Stones Gear: All the Stones' Instruments from Stage to Studio. Milwaukee: Backbeat Books. ISBN978-1-61713-092-2.
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