"Goin' Home" is a song recorded by the English rock band

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...

. Written by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

, it was the longest popular music song at the time, coming in at 11 minutes and 35 seconds, and was the first extended rock

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

released by a major recording act. It was included as the sixth track on side one of the United Kingdom version and the fifth track on side two of the American version of the band's 1966 studio album '' Aftermath''.

Writing and recording

"Goin Home" was written by

and

, and recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood from 8 to 10 December 1965. The recording is a long

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

-inspired track that is notable as one of the first songs by a rock and roll band to break the ten-minute mark and the longest recorded song on any Stones album. While many bands had stretched a song's duration in live performances, and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

was known to write long songs (such as ''Highlands''), "Goin' Home" was the first "jam" recorded expressly for an album. In an interview with the magazine ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', Richards said:

Jack Nitzsche Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spe ...

, a regular Stones contributor throughout the 1960s, here performs percussion. The song, while lengthy, is built around a common theme, as opposed to later Stones songs of great length like " Midnight Rambler" or " Can't You Hear Me Knocking" which are divided into distinct sections punctuated by differing instrumentations. "Goin' Home" plays as a long jam, eventually deconstructing Richards' guitar piece, Jagger's lyrics, and Watts' drum lines which build in power as the song progresses. Jagger's lyrics are called "a basic expression of ispining for his girl and determining to go home and get him some. It's the bumpety-bump, ascending chorus of announcing his intentions to go home that's the most 'pop' element of the song." A bitter-sweet ending is in the final lyrics: "Come on, little girl, you may look sweet, but I know you ain't".

Legacy

According to the music historian Nicholas Schaffner, at 11 minutes and 35 seconds, "Goin' Home" displaced the 1965

song "

Desolation Row "Desolation Row" is a 1965 song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was recorded on August 4, 1965, and released as the closing track of Dylan's sixth studio album, ''Highway 61 Revisited''. It has been noted for its length (11:21) and ...

" (11:21) as the longest recording in popular music. He also cites it as "the first extended improvisation released by a major rock group—though by no means the last."

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon, except where noted: The Rolling Stones *

vocals *

lead guitar, rhythm guitar *

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica in ...

Bill Wyman William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who achieved international fame as the bassist for the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member ...

bass *

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...

brushed

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

Additional musicians * Ian Stewart piano *

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called " zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, tho ...

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Complete Official Lyrics
{{authority control The Rolling Stones songs 1966 songs Songs written by Jagger–Richards Song recordings produced by Andrew Loog Oldham