The single Keith Richards called The Rolling Stones’ best early hit
When thinking about the very best of The Rolling Stones, people typically refer back to the band’s late 1960s and storming 1970s period. At that point, the boys from London took the world by storm, establishing themselves as the greatest rock and roll band in the world and securing their place in history. But even way back when they first started out, riding the early waves of rock as they crashed into the UK from America, their greatness was already obvious. On one track in particular, Keith Richards heard the power and potential that was heard back then.
It was 1964. Beatlesmania was just breaking out, The British invasion was underway, and more and more acts from the UK were tuning into the sound of rock and roll coming over from the US. It was still a genre in its absolute infancy, informed by a merge of country, blues and doo-wop, all of which were pioneered by black American artists. For Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was these artists that they first bonded over when they met and shared their record collections. It was also these influences that they brought into the mix when the two friends met Brian Jones and the rest of the band on the London live scene.
But while the Stones are best known now for their own compositions and for the powerful songwriting duo that Jagger and Richards became. Back then, they were just like every other emerging troupe, finding songs they liked and covering them. It was the done thing back then as songs were passed around acts, with people delivering their own interpretation.
One of those songs that caught the Stones’ attention was ‘It’s All Over Now’, a track written by Bobby Womack and his sister-in-law Shirley Womack and first recorded by Womack’s band, The Valentinos. Their original is a unique number, merging doo-wop, early blues rock with a soul slickness. Bobby Womack’s voice mixes soul with a gruffness that would become associated with rock and roll.
That’s perhaps why the Stones loved the track so much. It spoke to all their influences and the direction they saw themselves going in. It speaks to the sound that they were already beginning to craft. As Bill Wyman said of the song, “We just liked the sound of it. We didn’t think it sounded country and western until we read it somewhere.” Instead, they just heard the potential.
On their own take, the Stones lean into that country-blues sound. Replacing Bobby Womack’s own, Jagger’s now infamous rock and roll vocals swagger over the mix with the same characterful performance that would make him a star. As this cover became the band’s first UK number one, it was the first sign of that stardom approaching their throne.
For Keith Richards, the cover’s success was no surprise. “As it happens, I think ‘It’s All Over Now’ is the best single we’ve done,” he said upon its release in 1964. But to him, the band were only getting better and better as he continued, “I’m glad to say the group improves every time it makes a single. At least, we think so. I like the overall sound on this new one more than I did on anything before.”
