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"Honky Tonk Women"
Single by The Rolling Stones from the album Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)
B-side	"You Can't Always Get What You Want"
Released	July 4, (UK), July 5, 1969 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Recorded	Olympic Studios, London, England, March 10-11, 1969
Genre	Rock
Length	3min 2s
Label	London Records
Writer	Jagger/Richards
Producer	Jimmy Miller
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
Street Fighting Man (1968) Honky Tonk Women (1969) Brown Sugar (1971)

"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on July 4, 1969 in the United Kingdom, and the next day in the United States, it topped the charts in both nations.

Contents 1 Inspiration and Recording 2 Country Honk 3 Pop culture 4 Guitars and amplifiers 5 Notes

Two versions of the song were recorded by the band: the familiar hit which appeared on the 45 single and their collection of late 1960s singles, Through The Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2); and a honky-tonk version entitled "Country Honk" with slightly different lyrics which appeared on Let it Bleed.

Popular legend has that it guitarist Brian Jones had written the riff shortly before he was fired from the band but this is not true.^{[citation needed]} While Jones was present when the very first demos were recorded in March 1969, all the Stones members have stated in interviews that the inspiration for the final electric version came from a session with Mick Taylor in early June 1969.

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while on vacation in Brazil in late December 1968, early January 1969. Inspired by Brazilian gauchos/cowboys bringing cattle back to the ranch where Jagger and Richards were staying the song was originally conceived as an acoustic country song. Thematically, a "honky tonk woman" refers to a dancing girl in a western bar who may work as a prostitute; the setting for the Blues narrative version is Memphis while "Country Honk" sets the first verse in Jackson.^[1] There were originally two different sets of lyrics for "Honky Tonk Women" and "Country Honk" - this is evident from one of the original takes of "Honky Tonk Women". The original "Honky Tonk Women" verses:

v.1

“

I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis. She tried to take me upstairs for a ride. She had to heave me right across her shoulder; 'Cause I just can't seem to drink you off my mind.

”

Country Honk's lyrics:

v.1

“

I'm sittin in a bar, tipplin' a jar in Jackson. And on the streets the summer sun it shine. I've met many a barroom queen in Jackson, but I just seem to drink you off my mind

”

They both share the same second verse, with some slight alterations:

“

I laid a divorcee in New York City. I had to put up some kind of fight. The lady did she cover me in roses. She blew my nose, and then she blew my mind.

”

Recorded in London in early February 1969 without Jones present, the band initially recorded a track called "Country Honk". New band member Mick Taylor was responsible for transforming ^[2] the song into the familiar electric, riff-based hit single 'Honky Tonk Women' some time in the spring of 1969. ^[3] The song is distinctive among the Stones' catalog as it opens not with a riff, but with the single beat of a cowbell. The Stones' producer Jimmy Miller performed it for the recording and while most live versions of the song do utilize the cowbell, it has never opened the song. Live takes are included on the albums Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!, Love You Live, and Live Licks.

Keith Richards claimed he took the opening riff from Ry Cooder, who taught Richards how to play in the "open-G" guitar tuning that he used on that song and many other Stones songs. Richards also claimed that he was inspired to do so due to the country riffs Taylor was playing at the recording session. Cooder has accused the Stones of "ripping him off," and to date refuses to speak in specifics about his sessions with the Stones. Stones pianist Ian Stewart also disliked the song: "It's bloody ten times Keith you hear."

As a counter to the above Mick Taylor has been quoted, in Sean Egan's 'The Making of Let it Bleed' for example, that the backing track was already recorded before he added his lead fill overdubs. The track was nearly complete before he even arrived at his first stones session at the end of May 1969.

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from August 23, 1969. The single was released in England on the day after founding member Brian Jones' funeral. ^[4] "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was the single's B-side.

Rolling Stone ranked it #116 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Gram Parsons claimed to have been responsible for the Country Honk arrangement although this claim is disputed by Jagger and Richards. Richards has repeatedly claimed that Country Honk is how Honky Tonk Women was originally written. According to Byron Berline (who memorably played fiddle on the track) Parsons was certainly responsible for him being hired to play on the recording. Berline had previously recorded with Parson's band The Flying Burrito Brothers among many others.

The track was recorded at the Elektra recording studio on La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, with producer Glyn Johns suggesting that Berline actually record his part on the sidewalk outside the studio to add ambience to the track. The car horn also resulted from the sidewalk recording. Nanette Workman performs backing vocals on this version (although the album sleeve credits actress Nanette Newman). Some sources claim that Country Honk was recorded at Olympic Studios right after Honky Tonk Women, with only Berline's fiddle part overdubbed at Elektra Studios. This might be supported by the existence of a bootleg recording that does not contain either the fiddle, or Mick Taylor's slide guitar.

• The Song was covered by Elton John in his first live album, 17-11-70.
• The Song was covered by Celtic folk/punk band The Pogues in 1992 as their first single after original lead singer Shane MacGowan left in 1991.
• Blues-great Albert King recorded a version for his album Lovejoy.
• The Song's name was used as the title in episode 3 of the popular Japanese anime television show, Cowboy Bebop.
• In 1987 the opening drum beat was sampled for two hip hop records: "The Motorcade Sped On" by Steinski and the Mass Media and "Travelling at the Speed of Thought" by Ultramagnetic MCs.
• The song was covered by rock band Humble Pie on their 1973 album Eat It.
• The song was covered by a Hungarian rock band called Z'Zi Labor. On this version there are also the female folk-choir of Veresegyház.

There has been much debate on what guitar and amp was used by Richards for the recording. In his own words from a 1989 interview:

"It was a great amp on that... I really can't honestly say what it was, but the guitar was probably a Telecaster, maybe a Les Paul Jr."

Research by various members of the www.iorr.org Rolling Stones message board has learned that the Stones had a restricted use of Vox amplifiers from 1966 until early 1970. As described by Andy Babiuk in his Beatles Gear book, the Stones and The Beatles were constantly supplied with the newest Vox amplifiers for all tours and studio sessions. For the Stones this meant that for the Their Satanic Majesties Request, Beggars Banquet and Let it Bleed albums, most guitar tracks were recorded with the then state-of-the-art solid state line of amplifiers, namely the Vox Conqueror, Vox Supreme. The Stones were also provided several solid state amplifiers from makers connected with the Vox' company Triumph.

For Honky Tonk Women, Keith Richards most probably used the amplifier he used throughout the sessions at Olympic Studio in 1969, being either the Vox Supreme or the Triumph Silicon 100 watt amplifier and together with a Gibson Les Paul custom the exact sound of the original recording can be achieved.

Preceded by "In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)" by Zager and Evans	Billboard Hot 100 number one single August 23, 1969	Succeeded by "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies
Preceded by "Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman	UK number one single July 23, 1969	Succeeded by "In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)" by Zager and Evans

• The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (fifth edition)

v • d • e The Rolling Stones singles
Decca/London singles
1963: Come On, I Wanna Be Your Man • 1964: Not Fade Away, It's All Over Now, Tell Me, Time Is on My Side, Little Red Rooster, Heart of Stone • 1965: The Last Time / Play with Fire, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Get off of My Cloud, As Tears Go By • 1966: 19th Nervous Breakdown, Paint It, Black, Mother's Little Helper / Lady Jane, Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? • 1967: Let's Spend the Night Together / Ruby Tuesday, We Love You / Dandelion, In Another Land, She's a Rainbow • 1968: Jumpin' Jack Flash, Street Fighting Man • 1969: Honky Tonk Women •
Rolling Stones/ Atlantic singles
1971: Brown Sugar, Wild Horses • 1972: Tumbling Dice, Happy • 1973: Angie, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) • 1974: It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It), Ain't Too Proud to Beg • 1976: Fool to Cry, Hot Stuff •
Rolling Stones/Virgin singles
1978: Miss You, Beast of Burden, Respectable, Shattered • 1980: Emotional Rescue, She's So Cold • 1981: Start Me Up, Waiting on a Friend • 1982: Hang Fire, Going to a Go-Go (live), Time Is on My Side (live) • 1983: Undercover of the Night • 1984: She Was Hot • 1986: Harlem Shuffle, One Hit (to the Body) • 1989: Mixed Emotions, Rock and a Hard Place • 1990: Almost Hear You Sigh, Terrifying • 1991: Highwire, Ruby Tuesday (live) •
Virgin singles
1994: Love Is Strong, You Got Me Rocking, Out of Tears • 1995: I Go Wild • 1997: Anybody Seen My Baby? • 1998: Saint of Me, Out of Control • 2002: Don't Stop, Sympathy for the Devil (remix) • 2005: Streets of Love / Rough Justice, Rain Fall Down • 2006: Biggest Mistake •