Winter (The Rolling Stones Song)
"Winter" is a song by English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones featured on their 1973 album Goats Head Soup.
"Winter" bears many similarities to "Moonlight Mile" from the band's 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Credited to singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, "Winter" is likely the work of Jagger and the Stones' lead guitarist at the time, Mick Taylor. It was the first song recorded for the album and does not feature Richards at all. On the song, Bill Janovitz says in his review, "Here they were in sunny Jamaica, and the Rolling Stones were writing and recording an entirely convincing and evocative picture of a Northern Hemisphere winter. Perhaps they were so happy to be escaping the season they felt that starting the sessions with "Winter" could transition them out of the old and into the new climate. Though it bemoans many of the negatives of the season lyrics... "Winter" seems to simultaneously celebrate the season as something inherently beautiful, with other evocations of holiday scenes and wanting to wrap a coat and keep a lover warm."
| “ | It sure been a hard, hard winter, My feet been draggin' 'cross the ground; And I hope it's gonna be a long, hot summer; And the light of love will be burnin' bright | ” |
| “ | And I wish I been out in California, When the lights on all the Christmas trees went out; But I been burnin' my bell, book and candle, And the restoration plays have all gone 'round | ” |
Recording began at Kingston's Dynamic Sound Studios in November and continued into December 1972. Jagger opens the song with the acoustic rhythm guitar piece and is accompanied by Taylor's "country-like licks" on lead. Taylor also plays slide guitar. Nicky Hopkins performs the song's accompanying piano while Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts perform bass and drums, respectively. The songs strings were arranged by Nicky Harrison.
Despite his considerable contribution to the song, Taylor never received official credit from Jagger or Richards.
This song was featured in the series finale of the CBS drama Cold Case.
Read more about Winter (The Rolling Stones Song): Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words winter, rolling and/or stones:
“The moles nested in my cellar, nibbling every third potato, and making a snug bed even there of some hair left after plastering and of brown paper; for even the wildest animals love comfort and warmth as well as man, and they survive the winter only because they are so careful to secure them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This whole moment is the groin
Of a borborygmic giant who even now
Is rolling over on us in his sleep.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Some spring the white man came, built him a house, and made a clearing here, letting in the sun, dried up a farm, piled up the old gray stones in fences, cut down the pines around his dwelling, planted orchard seeds brought from the old country, and persuaded the civil apple-tree to blossom next to the wild pine and the juniper, shedding its perfume in the wilderness. Their old stocks still remain.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)