The Rolling Stones have released the brand-new song “Living in a Ghost Town” to tide fans over until they’re able to reschedule the upcoming leg of their No Filter tour.
It’s their first original composition since “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot” came out on their 2012 compilation album GRRR!, although they did put out the blues cover collection Blues & Lonesome in 2016.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, Jagger said he wrote the song with Keith Richards over a year ago. “It wasn’t written for now, but it was just one of those odd things,” he said. “It was written about being in a place which was full of life but is now bereft of life so to speak…I was just jamming on the guitar and wrote it really quickly in like 10 minutes.”
He changed some of the lyrics to reflect the times. “Keith Richards and I both had the idea that we should release it,” he said. “But I said, ‘Well I’ve got to rewrite it.’ Some of it is not going to work and some of it was a bit weird and a bit too dark. So I slightly rewrote it. I didn’t have to rewrite very much, to be honest. It’s very much how I originally did it.”
The Stones have been slowly picking away at a new album for the past few years. Richards told Lowe that this song was recorded at a Los Angeles studio in early 2019. “It’s sort of eerie when suddenly it’s coming to life,” he said. “I mean the ghost comes to life… I had said to Don [Was] about a month or so ago, ‘Hey, this is a time for the ghost town track.’ And then Mick called me and said the same thing and that great minds think alike.”
It’s their first original composition since “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot” came out on their 2012 compilation album GRRR!, although they did put out the blues cover collection Blues & Lonesome in 2016.
In a new interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music, Jagger said he wrote the song with Keith Richards over a year ago. “It wasn’t written for now, but it was just one of those odd things,” he said. “It was written about being in a place which was full of life but is now bereft of life so to speak…I was just jamming on the guitar and wrote it really quickly in like 10 minutes.”
He changed some of the lyrics to reflect the times. “Keith Richards and I both had the idea that we should release it,” he said. “But I said, ‘Well I’ve got to rewrite it.’ Some of it is not going to work and some of it was a bit weird and a bit too dark. So I slightly rewrote it. I didn’t have to rewrite very much, to be honest. It’s very much how I originally did it.”
The Stones have been slowly picking away at a new album for the past few years. Richards told Lowe that this song was recorded at a Los Angeles studio in early 2019. “It’s sort of eerie when suddenly it’s coming to life,” he said. “I mean the ghost comes to life… I had said to Don [Was] about a month or so ago, ‘Hey, this is a time for the ghost town track.’ And then Mick called me and said the same thing and that great minds think alike.”
The Stones were in the studio recording new material before the lockdown & one song - Living In A Ghost Town - we thought would resonate through the times we’re living in. It’s out at 5pm BST today and you can hear the track and interview on @Beats1 now! https://t.co/MkrRESZwY6 pic.twitter.com/4rHPctkwws
— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) April 23, 2020
