The Last Time

It's always been my favorite rock 'n' roll song, now over 40 years old.

I looked for a You Tube version of the original, but all I could come up with was this one-minute version from "Shindig," recorded the same year the Stones wrote it. It's OK 'cause it's not lip-synched; it's just too short.

Actually, "wrote it" isn't quite accurate. The Stones adapted "The Last Time" from an old African Baptist hymn. It had been recorded by the Staples Singers and Five Blind Boys of Alabama, but nobody in those groups wrote it either.

It's one of those "way back" songs -- origins murky. Richard Wright mentions it being sung in the church of his childhood in "Black Boy."

And of course, the intent of the gospel tune is much different than that of the Stones' version, which is an ultimatum to an uncooperative or combative girlfriend. But the two versions sound very similar, with a small sample of the Blind Boys' version on Amazon yielding few lyrics, but a familiar sound:

This may be the last time (be the last time; may be the last time);
Last time we're together (be the last time; may be the last time).

Keith Richards said of this tune, "When you start writing, the first batch of songs is almost always puerile ballads, for some reason - I think they're easier to write. To write a good rock and roll song is one of the hardest things because it has to be stripped down so simple, to that same basic format shared by rock and roll and rhythm and blues and Irish folk songs from thousands of years ago.

"It's a very simple form, and yet you have to find a certain element in there that still lives, that isn't just a rehash. It can REMIND you - and probably will - of something else, but it should still add something new, have a freshness and individuality about it. The rules on it are very strict, you see (laughs).

"I think The Last Time was the first one we actually managed to write with a BEAT, the first non-puerile song. It had a strong Staple Singers influence in that it came out of an old gospel song that we revamped and reworked. And I didn't actually realize until after we'd written it because we'd been listening to this Staple Singers album for 10 months or so. You don't go out of your way to LIFT songs, but what you play is eventually the product of what you've heard before."

You can read all the straight poop on this wonderful old chestnut of a song at the excellent "Songfacts" site.