‘Sister Morphine’: how The Rolling Stones song captures the band at their darkest
When you think of The Rolling Stones, images of hip thrusting, partying and up-tempo music come to mind. If the three pillars of a musical movement are sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll, it was the Rolling Stones who erected them and have kept them standing. They made it look like a lot of fun to be a rock star; however, we can often get lost in the bright lights of fame and forget that the band and those around them were subject to some extremely dark periods.
In 1965, the Rolling Stones wrote one of their first original songs, ‘As Tears Go By’. It was released with Marianne Faithfull and marked a significant moment for all involved as they started to develop and find their creative voice. Even though the song isn’t considered either artist’s best, it was the beginning of what would be huge careers.
“We had a number one hit with Marianne Faithfull,” said Keith Richards when discussing the song, ”So suddenly, ‘Oh, we’re songwriters’, with the most anti-Stones sort of song you could think of at the time, while we’re trying to make a good version of [Muddy Waters] ‘Still A Fool’.”
Faithfull did more than just duet with the Rolling Stones, though. She and Mick Jagger were in a relationship for a period throughout the ‘60s, and she was the inspiration behind some of the band’s most popular songs, such as ‘Wild Horses’ and ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’.
That being said, while Faithfull helped aid the creation of some of Rolling Stones’ greatest love songs, she also helped with the lyrics of their song ‘Sister Morphine’, which is arguably one of the band’s darkest numbers. The rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle has to pay its price eventually. With Faithfull, it led to her developing an addiction to drugs and finding herself in a deep hole that, for some time, it felt as though she would never recover from. She reached her absolute lowest in Sydney when she was taken to hospital after attempting to kill herself.
The Rolling Stones song ‘Sister Morphine’ takes place in a hospital bed, where the focal point of the song recovers from serious injuries and is awaiting their next hit of morphine. The narrative throughout the track is one of Rolling Stones darkest, as it implies that the narrator dies towards the end.
Jagger claims that he wrote the majority of the song; however, Keith Richards has previously stated that he believes the words are all Faithfull’s. Given that she was going through such a difficult period during that time and that she and Jagger were spending a lot of time together, it made sense to him that Faithfull would have come up with the words.
“Marianne had a lot to do with ‘Sister Morphine’,” he said, “I know Mick’s writing, and he was living with Marianne at the time, and I know from the style of it there were a few Marianne lines in there.”
It’s deeply saddening to think that Faithfull might have managed to write such sad lyrics when in a period of despair; however, it shouldn’t be only negatives that are taken from this story. Faithfull passed away on January 30th, 2025, over five decades after that track was written. While she may have struggled with addiction and depression, she was also proof that you could overcome those things. She had a good career following such a low point, and when she died, she did so at 78, surrounded by her loving family. While addiction was a part of her life, it never ended up defining her.
