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| "As Tears Go By" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Dutch single picture sleeve | ||||
| Single byMarianne Faithfull | ||||
| B-side | "Greensleeves" | |||
| Released | June 1964 | |||
| Genre | Baroque pop | |||
| Length | 2:33 | |||
| Label | Decca | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Andrew Loog Oldham | |||
| Marianne Faithfull singles chronology | ||||
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| Official audio | ||||
| "As Tears Go By" (Official Lyric Video) onYouTube | ||||
| "As Tears Go By" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bythe Rolling Stones | ||||
| A-side | "19th Nervous Breakdown" (UK) | |||
| B-side | "Gotta Get Away" (US) | |||
| Released |
| |||
| Recorded | 26 October 1965 | |||
| Studio | IBC, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:45 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | Andrew Loog Oldham | |||
| The Rolling Stones US singles chronology | ||||
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| The Rolling Stones UK singles chronology | ||||
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"As Tears Go By" is a song written byMick Jagger, Keith Richards andRolling Stones' managerAndrew Loog Oldham.Marianne Faithfull recorded and released it as a single in the United Kingdom in 1964. Her song peaked at number nine on both the UK and Irish singles charts. Later, the Rolling Stones recorded their own version, which was included on the American albumDecember's Children (And Everybody's).London Records released it as a single, which reached number six in theBillboardHot 100 singles chart.[4]
"As Tears Go By" was one of the early compositions by Jagger and Richards; previously the Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing American blues and R&B tunes. By one account, Rolling Stones managerAndrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: "I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." The result initially was named "As Time Goes By", the title of the songDooley Wilson sings in the filmCasablanca. It was Oldham who replaced "Time" with "Tears". Richards said:
We thought, what a terrible piece of tripe. We came out and played it to Andrew [Oldham], and he said "It's a hit." We actually sold this stuff, and it actually made money. Mick and I were thinking, this is money for old rope![5]
According to Jagger biographerPhilip Norman, the song was mainly created by Jagger, in co-operation with session guitaristBig Jim Sullivan,[6] although Jagger claims he was responsible for the lyrics while Richards wrote the melody.[7] Oldham subsequently gave the ballad (a format that the Stones were not yet known for) to Faithfull, then 17, for her to record as aB-side. Oldham played a demo for her with Jagger singing and Big Jim Sullivan on acoustic guitar. "He handed me a scrawled lyric sheet and I went back into the studio and did it. As soon as I heard thecor anglais playing the opening bars I knew it was going to work. After a couple of takes it was done. Andrew came and gave me a big hug. 'Congratulations darling. You've got yourself a number six,' he said."
The success of the recording causedDecca Records to switch the song to an A-side, where it became a popular single. The melody features a distinctiveenglish horn line.[8] It reached number nine in theUK Singles Chart and launched Faithfull's career as a major singer. The song entered theBillboard Hot 100 the week ending 28 November 1964, where it stayed for nine weeks peaking at number 22. In Canada, it peaked at number two on theRPM chart.[9] Faithfull performed the song on the television showHullabaloo, in the segment presented byBeatles managerBrian Epstein from London.
It is unclear if the song was written especially for Faithfull or an out-take from the Stones' repertoire. "All that stuff about how Mick wrote it for me was awfully nice but untrue" she toldPenthouse in 1980, writes Hodkinson. Ten years later, on the sleeve notes for theBlazing Away album, she referred to it as "the song that Mick Jagger and Keith Richard wrote for me".[10] In her own autobiography,Faithfull (1994), written together with David Dalton, she says"'As Tears Go By' was not, contrary to popular folklore, written for me, but it fitted me so perfectly it might as well have been". Originally, the A-side of her first record should have been a song written byLionel Bart, "I Don't Know (How To Tell You)". But that song was "awful", she writes. "It was one of those showbiz songs that needed the proper register. My voice was just plain wrong! We did take after agonizing take ... but I could not simply do it. In desperation Andrew got me to try the song that originally had been planned for the B-side, 'As Tears Go By'." Faithful admits that she "was never that crazy about 'As Tears Go By'." "God knows how Mick and Keith wrote it or where it came from ... In any case, it is an absolutely astonishing thing for a boy of 20 to have written a song about a woman looking back nostalgically on her life."
Norwegian NewspaperØvre Smaalenene describe Faithfull’s version as a “recording with a pleasant familiarity, without the melody itself standing out in any particular way”.[11]
The Rolling Stones recorded their own version of "As Tears Go By" in 1965, changing the arrangement from Faithful's 1964 version: her 1964 version features percussion and strings throughout; the Rolling Stones' version completely lacks percussion and opens with acoustic guitar followed by strings entering in the second verse.[citation needed] The stringarrangement on the Stones' version was done byMike Leander.
Billboard described the Rolling Stones' version as a "beautiful folk- flavored ballad...baroque, semi-classical smash hit!"[12]Cash Box said the Stones gave the song a "hauntingly, plaintive slow-moving laconic, classical-oriented style".[13] The track was a surprise hit on the US Easy Listening chart.
"As Tears Go By" was one of the three songs, including "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "19th Nervous Breakdown", that the band performed live during their third appearance onThe Ed Sullivan Show. It was released as a single in December 1965 by their North American record label,London Records. DJs across the country made "As Tears Go By" an in-demand hit when they started playing it from the band's recently released albumDecember's Children (And Everybody's). It peaked at number six on the AmericanBillboard Hot 100, echoing the success the Beatles had attained the same year with McCartney's plaintive ballad "Yesterday". The song was later released in the UK in 1966 as the B-side to the single, "19th Nervous Breakdown".
The Stones released a version with Italian lyrics as a single in Italy, under the title "Con Le Mie Lacrime"[14] with the lyrics written byDanpa.
The song was performed live on tour for the first time in November 2005 on the Stones'A Bigger Bang Tour. A performance from the 2006 leg of the tour was captured for the 2008 concert filmShine a Light and the accompanyingsoundtrack album. On 11 July in Milan the Stones performed it with the Italian lyrics.[15][16] The song was performed as a duet between Jagger andTaylor Swift on 3 June 2013 at theUnited Center in Chicago, Illinois, for the band's50 & Counting tour.[17]
Marianne Faithfull version[edit]According to musicologistWalter Everett,[18] except where noted:
| Rolling Stones version[edit]According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon,[21] except where noted: The Rolling Stones
Additional musicians
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| Chart (1964–65) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[23] | 35 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[24] | 2 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[25] | 9 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[26] | 9 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[27] | 22 |
| USCash Box Top 100[28] | 30 |
| Chart (2025) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Israel International Airplay (Media Forest)[29] | 19 |
| UK Single Sales (OCC)[30] | 18 |
| UK Singles Downloads (OCC)[30] | 18 |
| Chart (1966) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[31] | 16 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[32] | 1 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[33] | 5 |
| New Zealand (Listener)[34] | 10 |
| Rhodesia (Lyons Maid)[35] | 7 |
| Sweden (Kvällstoppen)[36] | 5 |
| U.S.BillboardEasy Listening[37] | 10 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[38] | 6 |
| USCash Box Top 100[39] | 3 |
| Chart (1966) | Peak Rank |
|---|---|
| USCash Box[40] | 100 |
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