Something Happened to Me Yesterday
"Something Happened to Me Yesterday" is the closing track of the Rolling Stones' 1967 album Between the Buttons.
| "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" | |
|---|---|
| Song by the Rolling Stones | |
| from the album Between the Buttons | |
| Released | 20 January 1967 (UK) 11 February 1967 (US) |
| Recorded | 3–11 August 1966 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 4:55 |
| Label | Decca/ABKCO (UK) London/ABKCO (US) |
| Songwriter(s) | Mick Jagger, Keith Richards |
| Producer(s) | Andrew Loog Oldham |
| Between the Buttons track listing | |
12 tracks
| |
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and recorded in August and November 1966, "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" is the first officially released Rolling Stones track to feature Richards on separate lead vocal. Jagger sings the verses, while Richards sings the chorus. Richards plays electric and acoustic guitars; Charlie Watts is on drums and Bill Wyman on bass; Brian Jones whistles and plays trumpet, trombone and tuba;[2][3] Jack Nitzsche plays piano; and the Mike Leander Orchestra performs the brass section.
At the time of the song's release, Jagger said: "I leave it to the individual imagination as to what happened."[4] Matthew Greenwald calls it "one [of] the most accurate songs about LSD".[1]
The song ends with a spoken passage: "Well thank you very much and now I think it's time for us all to go. So from all of us to all of you, not forgetting the boys in the band and our producer Reg Thorpe, we'd like to say God bless. So if you're out tonight, don't forget, if you're on your bike, wear white. Evening all."[5] Jagger has said (plainly facetiously) that this passage is "something I remember hearing on the BBC as the bombs dropped".[4] However, this sort of homily was typically rendered at the end of an episode of the early police procedural Dixon of Dock Green by PC Dixon, an old school bobby.
Personnel
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:[6]
The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – vocals (verses)
- Keith Richards – vocals (chorus), acoustic guitar, electric rhythm guitar, bass
- Brian Jones – saxophone[note 1]
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar
- Charlie Watts – drums
Additional musicians
Notes
- While Margotin and Guesdon are confident Jones played saxophone on the track, they are uncertain if he played anything else, such as tuba and clarinet.[6]
References
- Greenwald, Matthew. "Something Happened to Me Yesterday by The Rolling Stones - Track Info | AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
- It's Only Rock n Roll - James Karnbach
- Stones Complete Recording Sessions - Martin Elliott
- "Something Happened to Me Yesterday". timeisonourside.com. Retrieved 2006-07-28.
- Gilliland, John (1969). "The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries. Track 5.
- Margotin & Guesdon 2016, p. 203.
Sources
- Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2016). The Rolling Stones All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-0-316-31774-0.