"The Last Time" is a song by the English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

featuring the Andrew Oldham Orchestra, and the band's first original song released as an A-single in the UK. Written by

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

and

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

, and recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California in January 1965, "The Last Time" was the band's third UK single to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top in March and early April 1965. It reached number two in the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

in March 1965, and was released on the US version of the album ''Out of Our Heads'' on 30 July 1965.

Composition

Although "The Last Time" is credited to Jagger/Richards, the song's chorus is identical, in melody and lyrics, to "This May Be the Last Time", a gospel song recorded in 1954 by

the Staple Singers The Staple Singers were an American Gospel music, gospel, soul music, soul, and Rhythm and blues, R&B singing group. Pops Staples, Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group w ...

which itself was an arrangement of the first part of a sermon recorded by

Reverend J. M. Gates Reverend J.M. Gates (born James M. Gates July 14, 1884 – August 18, 1945) was an American preacher who recorded sermons and gospel music, gospel songs extensively between the mid-1920s and 1940s. Recording over 200 sides in his career, Gates wa ...

in 1926 titled "You May Be Alive, You May Be Dead, Christmas Day". In 2003 , Richards acknowledged this, saying, "We came up with 'The Last Time', which was basically re-adapting a traditional

gospel song Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compos ...

that had been sung by the Staple Singers, but luckily the song itself goes back into the mists of time." The Rolling Stones' song has a verse melody and a hook (a distinctive guitar riff) that were both absent in the Staple Singers' version.

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

, whose "

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

" approach can be heard on the recording, assisted with the production. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described it as "a raunchy, hard-driving romantic

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

er about a twosome who are destined to split up".

Live performance

Footage exists of a number of performances of this song by the Rolling Stones in 1965: from the popular BBC-TV music show ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', the 1965 ''New Musical Express'' Poll Winners Concert and American TV shows including ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' and ''

Shindig! ''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles,Charlie Is My Darling''. The footage confirms that the rhythm chords and guitar solo were played by Keith Richards, while the song's distinctive hook was played by

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...

. In the August 1965 issue of ''

Beat Instrumental ''Beat Instrumental'' was a UK monthly pop and rock magazine. Founded by Sean O'Mahony (aka Johnny Dean) and first published in May 1963 as ''Beat Monthly'', it became ''Beat Instrumental Monthly'' with issue 18 and ''Beat Instrumental'' from i ...

'', in reply to the question of "who plays the prominent figure on The Stones releases?", Keith Richards said "I played it on 'Satisfaction', Brian played it on 'The Last Time'. It all depends who thinks it up." A popular song in the Stones' canon, it was regularly performed in concert during the band's 1965, 1966 and 1967 tours. It was left off their concert set lists until 1997–98, when it reappeared on the

Bridges to Babylon Tour The Bridges to Babylon Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones. Staged in support of their album '' Bridges to Babylon'', the tour visited stadiums from 1997 to 1998. It grossed over $274 million, becoming the second-highest-g ...

. It later appeared on some of the band's set lists in 2012–13 on the

50 & Counting 50 & Counting was a concert tour by the Rolling Stones to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band, which started in October 2012 with two secret club gigs in Paris, and ended in July 2013 with two major shows at Hyde Park. History 2012 p ...

tour.

Personnel

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon: The Rolling Stones *

lead vocals *

backing vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, lead guitar (solo) *

lead guitar (riff) *

Bill Wyman William George Wyman ( né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 ...

bass *

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

drums Additional personnel *

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

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, thoug ...

Charts

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra version

In 1965, the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recorded the song for the album ''The Rolling Stones Songbook''. The recording and its distinctive passage for strings was written and arranged by David Whitaker.

Copyright issue

In 1997, former Rolling Stones business manager

Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased pr ...

, whose company

ABKCO Records ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. (Allen & Betty Klein Company) is an American independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and/or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, the Animal ...

owns the rights to all Rolling Stones material from the 1960s, sued English rock band

the Verve The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Sim ...

for using a sample of the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of "The Last Time" in their hit song "

Bitter Sweet Symphony "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by the English rock band the Verve, released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the lead single from their third album, ''Urban Hymns''. It was produced by Youth (musician), Youth at Olympi ...

". The Verve had obtained a licence to use the sample, but Klein successfully argued that the band used more than the licence covered. The Verve were required to relinquish 100% of their royalties from their hit song to ABKCO and the songwriting credit was changed to Jagger/

Richards Richards may refer to: *Richards (surname) In places: * Richards, New South Wales, Australia * Richards, Missouri, United States * Richards, Texas, United States In other uses: * Richards (lunar crater), on the Moon See also * Richard (dis ...

Ashcroft Ashcroft may refer to: Places * Ashcroft, British Columbia, a village in Canada **Ashcroft House in Bagpath, Gloucestershire, England—eponym of the Canadian village * Ashcroft, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia * Ashcroft, Colorado, ...

. This led to

Andrew Loog Oldham Andrew Loog Oldham (born 29 January 1944) is an English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 to 1967, and was noted for his flamboyant style. Early life Oldham's f ...

, who owns the copyright on the orchestral rendition that was sampled, also suing the Verve. In May 2019, Richard Ashcroft announced that the Stones had handed over their copyrights on the song to him.

The Who version

In 1967, after the imprisonment of Jagger and Richards on drugs charges,

the Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

recorded "The Last Time" and "Under My Thumb" as a single. The Who announced in an advertisement for the single: The songs were rush recorded and the record appeared in shops in only one week. However, by the time the single was made available, Jagger and Richards had been released. As

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band ...

was away on his honeymoon he authorised the Who to do the record without him and bass parts were overdubbed by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...

. The UK-only release reached number 44 on the UK Singles Chart.

Other renditions

Covers of the song were recorded by garage rock bands in the 1960s. The Sceptres, a group from

Glen Ellyn, Illinois Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lomba ...

, recorded it as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

in 1965. The girl group The Debutantes recorded a version in the 1960s, but the track was not released until 2018. The

Buchanan Brothers The Buchanan Brothers were two brothers, Chester and Lester Buchanan, who recorded country music during the 1940s on the RCA Victor label. Their biggest hit, ''Atomic Power'', reached #6 on '' Billboard's'' "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" ch ...

included a cover of "The Last Time" in their self-titled 1970 album. American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City", and " 500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Earl ...

covered the song on his 1978 album, ''Sleeper Wherever I Fall''.

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...

performed the song 70 times between 1990 and 1995, and continued to do so in their various later incarnations such as

RatDog RatDog is an American rock band. The group began in 1995 as a side project for Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Bob Weir. After the Dead disbanded later that year, RatDog became Weir's primary band. They performed some Grateful Dead songs, a mi ...

, Furthur and

Dead & Company Dead & Company is an American rock band that formed in 2015 with a lineup of former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir (guitar and vocals), Mickey Hart (drums), and Bill Kreutzmann (drums), along with John Mayer (guitar and vocals), Oteil Burbridge ...

. An officially released Grateful Dead version from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ON, Canada on March 22, 1990, can be found on the album '' Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It''. In 1997, country music group

the Tractors The Tractors (formerly known as Uncle Steve & The Tractors) were an American country rock band composed of a loosely associated group of musicians headed by guitarist Steve Ripley. The original lineup consisted of Steve Ripley (lead vocals, gui ...

covered the song on the album '' Stone Country: Country Artists Perform the Songs of the Rolling Stones''. Their version peaked at number 75 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. Australian singer

John Farnham John Peter Farnham (born 1 July 1949) is a British-born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until the mid-1970s, billed as Johnny Farnham. He has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

covered the song in 2002, as the lead single and title track of his 2002 album, '' The Last Time''. The same

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

was sampled in several subsequent recordings by other artists, most notably in " Number 1" by

Tinchy Stryder Kwasi Esono Danquah III ( ; born 14 September 1986), better known by his stage name Tinchy Stryder, is a British rapper, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur and investor. Stryder has released three solo studio albums, '' Star in the Hood'' (2007 ...

featuring

N-Dubz N-Dubz are an English hip-hop trio from Camden Town, London, England, consisting of cousins Dappy and Tulisa, and their friend Fazer. After winning a MOBO Award for Best Newcomer in 2007, N-Dubz briefly signed with Polydor Records before j ...

, which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, in the week of its official release on 20 April 2009.

Notes

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Time (Rolling Stones song), The The Rolling Stones songs 1965 singles Songs written by Jagger–Richards UK singles chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in the Netherlands The Tractors songs The Who songs Decca Records singles London Records singles Track Records singles Song recordings produced by Andrew Loog Oldham Song recordings with Wall of Sound arrangements 1965 songs