News The last Rolling Stones song to feature Ian Stewart
Every piece of the puzzle with The Rolling Stones tends to come back to the partnership between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Although every member of the group was essential to bringing a groove to every one of their classics, it wasn’t until Jagger and Richards decided to start writing together that they began to cultivate their signature sound. While both men may have been pivotal in maintaining the sonic identity of The Stones, Ian Stewart was the figure hidden in the background most of the time.
Before Richards and Jagger had even been brought into the fold, Stewart was known for bringing the band together with founding guitarist Brian Jones. Manning the keyboards on a handful of their first songs, Stewart had a more refined palette than his contemporaries, wanting to play the kind of blues with an affinity for proper music like jazz.
While that mentality resonated with Charlie Watts when he was asked to join on drums, Jagger and Richards had other plans when they started pulling from artists like Chuck Berry and Little Richard. For all of the great music that the band made under the rock banner, Stewart occasionally found himself out of step with the rest of the group, never really clicking with how they looked onstage.
As the band started seeing their first major successes off songs like ‘Satisfaction’, Stewart graciously bowed out, electing to watch from the sidelines and lend a hand to the group whenever they entered the studio. While many would consider Stewart missing out on the chance of a lifetime, he would eventually have credits on some of the most celebrated tunes in rock.
Outside of The Stones, Stewart would work with everyone from Led Zeppelin on the song ‘Rock and Roll’ to performing with George Thorogood for his essential blues romp, ‘Bad to the Bone’. Even though Stewart would reprise his role behind the keys during various Stones sessions and the occasional live show, the band were knocked out when he passed away from a heart attack in 1985.
Being well into work on their 1980s album Dirty Work, the band would immortalise him towards the end of the record. After the slow sounds of Richards’s ‘Sleep Tonight’ lull the listener to sleep, Stewart’s keyboards can be heard softly tinkling away in the background as if to remind everyone about the long-lost member of The Stones.
While Stewart may never have gotten the opportunity to become as big as his old mates, his contemporaries eventually recognised him as well. During The Stones’ induction into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Stewart would be inducted along with his bandmates for his immense contribution to their sound. Stewart may have always lingered in the background of The Stones’ story, but without his presence in the early days, the world may have lost out on one of the most enduring rock outfits in the world.
