It’s hard to imagine any great song by The Rolling Stones without Mick Jagger up front. Even though the band may have had phenomenal musicians at their disposal, Jagger’s trademark snarl whenever he sang tracks like ‘Satisfaction’ became one of the founding sounds of rock and roll, leading the way for the British Invasion in the 1960s. Although Jagger can take pride in preserving his voice, some songs don’t fit within his natural tone.
Compared to the other artists to emerge out of the 1960s blues scene, though, Jagger was by far one of the most versatile vocalists. While the Stones may have taken more than a few cues from The Beatles whenever they went into the studio, Jagger took the idea of innovating his sound to heart, continually adopting a different persona whenever he stepped up to the microphone.
Even though Jagger could play blues until the day he died, there was always more to explore outside of the standard I-IV-V chord progression. Throughout their prime, the band were known to flirt with any kind of music they thought would suit them, either bringing in choirs for ballads like ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ or indulging in psychedelic rock across albums like Their Satanic Majesties Request.
Of all the genres the band dabbled in, though, Keith Richards was always fascinated with the idea of country music. While known for his love of blues players like Robert Johnson, ‘Keef’ was just as interested in the old sounds of artists like Hank Williams, featuring the delicate touch on the slide guitar to convey every aching emotion in one’s heart.
Throughout the band’s formative years, it wasn’t out of the question for the group to perform a country song now and again, either making humorous songs like ‘Dear Doctor’ or reworking old blues songs into twang-fueled laments like ‘Love In Vain’. Despite the massive melodrama behind every song, Jagger never felt comfortable delivering his signature twang to the public.
When asked about his vocal inflexions, Jagger said that he would have preferred if Richards had sung all of the group’s country songs, saying, “The actual music is played completely straight, but it’s me who’s not going legit with the whole thing, because I think I’m a blues singer, not a country singer – I think it’s more suited to Keith’s voice than mine.”
While Jagger may have been critical of what his voice was capable of, that kind of tongue-in-cheek approach to country music makes every Stones ballad work, like the sophomoric tones coming out of tracks like ‘Far Away Eyes’ or ‘Dead Flowers’. Even when Richards takes the reins away from Jagger for a second on songs like ‘Happy’, it just reinforces the power of Jagger’s voice, showing fans both the light and the dark sides of the group’s vocal strengths.
Although Jagger might be able to mould himself into any kind of singer that he fancies, he still thinks that his roots lie in the sounds of blues music rather than country, explaining, “The harmonic thing is very different from the blues. It doesn’t bend notes in the same way, so I suppose it’s very English, really. Even though it’s been very Americanized, it feels very close to me, to my roots, so to speak.”
