Black Limousine

1981 song by The Rolling Stones

"Black Limousine"

Song by the Rolling Stones
from the album  Tattoo You
Released| 24 August 1981
Recorded| January–March 1978, April–June 1981
Genre| Blues rock, hard rock
Length| 3:31
Label| Rolling Stones/Virgin
Songwriter(s)| Jagger–Richards, Ronnie Wood
Producer(s)| The Glimmer Twins
Tattoo You track listing

11 tracks

Side one

1. "Start Me Up"
2. "Hang Fire"
3. "Slave"
4. "Little T&A"
5. "Black Limousine"
6. "Neighbours"

Side two

1.   2. "Worried About You"
3. "Tops"
4. "Heaven"
5. "No Use in Crying"
6. "Waiting on a Friend"

"Black Limousine" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones featured on their 1981 album Tattoo You.

## The song[edit]

"Black Limousine" is one of two songs on Tattoo You credited to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. "Black Limousine" is a hard blues number (described as "fast mid-tempo blues of no specific nature"[1] by Jagger) which heavily hearkens back to the Rolling Stones' earliest recordings from their ABCKO/London albums. Using a heavy bellow, Jagger delivers his lines and spells out the growing rifts in an aging romance:

> We used to shine, shine, shine, shine, Say what a pair, say what a team/We used to ride, ride, ride, ride, In a long black limousine/Those dreams are gone baby, Locked away and never seen/Well now look at your face now baby, Look at you and look at me.

On the lyrics, Richards said in 1981, "That song does have a more generous view of relationships with women... I guess, because the women in our lives at the moment have made a change in our attitudes toward it. I guess because everything that comes out from the Stones is just as it comes out... That's how we used to feel about it, and that's how we feel about it now. This is purely a guess... but it seems logical that the people you're with are the ones who are gonna influence you most, whether you intend it or not. Mick might intend to sit down and write a real Stones song - you know, 'Blechhh! You cruddy piece of shit, you dirty old scrub box!' But obviously, that's not the way he's feeling now. It's not the way I'm feeling now."[1]

On the music, Wood said in 2003, "'Black Limousine' came about from a slide guitar riff that was inspired in part by some Hop Wilson licks from a record that I once owned... And there was another guy called Big Moose, who I've never heard of before or since... He was an old slide guitar guy who had one particular lick that he would bring in every now and again. I thought, 'That's really good, I'm going to apply that' - and so subconsciously I wrote the whole song around that one little lick, building on it, resolving it and taking it round again... That was something that clicked musically straight away with the guitars and drums and Mick, and then we immediately got into sparring about the lyrics for it, since it was obviously crying out for some words... Mick's got his own style and that's why I let him interpret it in his own way..."[2]

## Recording and aftermath[edit]

Recording began in January and ran through March 1978 during the band's sessions at Paris' Pathé Marconi Studios for the album Some Girls. The song re-emerged during the Tattoo You sessions in late 1980. With Jagger on vocals and shrieking harmonica, Richards and Wood performing the song's electric guitars, with Wood providing the solo. Ian Stewart performs the song's piano. Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman perform the song's drums and bass, respectively.[1]

On his rare credit, Wood continued, saying, "I fought until I was blue in the face to get the credit, going on and on: 'I wrote that, I wrote that.' One of the lessons I had to learn was that if you want to get a credit, it has to happen there and then in the studio, as you're recording it."[3]

"Black Limousine" was performed heavily by the band during their American Tour 1981/European Tour 1982, and was included in the concert film Let's Spend the Night Together. The song was also performed during the 1995 leg of the Voodoo Lounge Tour.[1] A recording was featured as a bonus track on the Japanese release of 1995's Stripped, as well as being the b-side to the album's lead single "Like a Rolling Stone".

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "Black Limousine". timeisonourside.com. Retrieved 2006-08-06.
2. ^ Jagger, Mick; Richards, Keith; Watts, Charlie; Wood, Ronnie (2003). According to the Rolling Stones. Chronicle Books. p. 221. ISBN 0811840603.
3. ^ Jagger, Richards, Watts, Wood 2003 p. 221-22

## External links[edit]

* Complete official lyrics

* v
* t
* e

The Rolling Stones

* Mick Jagger
* Keith Richards
* Ronnie Wood

* Brian Jones
* Ian Stewart
* Bill Wyman
* Charlie Watts
* Mick Taylor
* Dick Taylor
* Ricky Fenson
* Tony Chapman
* Carlo Little

Video releases|

* Let's Spend the Night Together (1983)
* Video Rewind (1984)
* Stones at the Max (1992)
* Sympathy for the Devil (1994)
* Voodoo Lounge Live (1995)
* The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (1996)
* Bridges to Babylon Tour '97–98 (1998)
* Four Flicks (2003)
* Toronto Rocks (2004)
* A Bigger Bang: Special Edition (2005)
* The Biggest Bang (2007)
* T.A.M.I. Show (2010)
* Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones (2010)
* Some Girls: Live in Texas '78 (2011)
* Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones Live At The Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981 (2012)
* Sweet Summer Sun: Live in Hyde Park (2013)
* Hampton Coliseum (Live 1981) (2014)
* L.A. Friday (2014)
* Live at the Tokyo Dome (2015)
* Live at Leeds (2015)
* Totally Stripped (2016)
* Havana Moon (2016)
* Voodoo Lounge Uncut (2018)
* Steel Wheels Live (2020)

Documentaries|

* Charlie Is My Darling (1966)
* The Stones in the Park (1969)
* Gimme Shelter (1970)
* Cocksucker Blues (1972)
* 25×5: the Continuing Adventures of the Rolling Stones (1989)
* Stripped (1995)
* Shine a Light (2008)
* Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (2009)
* Stones in Exile (2010)
* Crossfire Hurricane (2012)
* Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America (2017)
* Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg

Tours|

* British Tour 1963
* 1964 tours
* 1965 tours
* 1966 tours
* European Tour 1967
* American Tour 1969
* European Tour 1970
* UK Tour 1971
* American Tour 1972
* Pacific Tour 1973
* European Tour 1973
* Tour of the Americas '75
* Tour of Europe '76
* US Tour 1978
* American Tour 1981
* Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour
* Voodoo Lounge Tour
* Bridges to Babylon Tour
* No Security Tour
* Licks Tour
* A Bigger Bang Tour
* 50 & Counting
* 14 On Fire
* Zip Code
* América Latina Olé
* No Filter Tour
* Sixty
* Hackney Diamonds Tour

Associated places|

* Redlands
* Stargroves
* Nellcôte
* The Wick
* Downe House
* The Mick Jagger Centre
* Stones Fan Museum

Related articles|

* Discography
* Songs
* Awards and nominations
* Concert tours
* Jagger–Richards
* Nanker/Phelge
* Rolling Stones Records
* Promotone
* Altamont Free Concert
* The Rolling Stones' Redlands bust
* Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
* The Rolling Stones: An Illustrated Record
* Andrew Loog Oldham
* Eric Easton
* Allen Klein
* Nicky Hopkins
* John Pasche
* Instruments played
* Stone Country: Country Artists Perform the Songs of the Rolling Stones
* Tongue and lips logo
* The Stone Age: Sixty Years of the Rolling Stones

* Category

* v
* t
* e

The Rolling Stones singles

Decca (UK) and
London (US)
singles|

* "Come On"
* "I Wanna Be Your Man" / "Stoned"
* "Not Fade Away" / "Little by Little"
* "It's All Over Now"
* "Tell Me" / "I Just Want to Make Love to You"
* "Time Is on My Side"
* "Little Red Rooster"
* "Heart of Stone"
* "The Last Time" / "Play with Fire"
* "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" / "The Spider and the Fly"
* "Get Off of My Cloud" / "I'm Free"
* "As Tears Go By"
* "19th Nervous Breakdown" / "As Tears Go By"
* "Paint It Black" / "Stupid Girl"
* "Mother's Little Helper" / "Lady Jane"
* "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?"
* "Let's Spend the Night Together" / "Ruby Tuesday"
* "We Love You" / "Dandelion"
* "In Another Land" / "The Lantern"
* "She's a Rainbow" / "2000 Light Years from Home"
* "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
* "Street Fighting Man" / "No Expectations"
* "Honky Tonk Women" / "You Can't Always Get What You Want"

Rolling Stones
Records/Atlantic
singles|

* "Brown Sugar" / "Bitch" / "Let It Rock"
* "Wild Horses" / "Sway"
* "Tumbling Dice" / "Sweet Black Angel"
* "Happy" / "All Down the Line"
* "Angie" / "Silver Train"
* "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" / "Dancing with Mr. D."
* "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)"
* "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" / "Dance Little Sister"
* "Fool to Cry"
* "Hot Stuff"

Rolling Stones
Records singles|

* "Miss You" / "Far Away Eyes"
* "Beast of Burden" / "When the Whip Comes Down"
* "Respectable" / "When the Whip Comes Down"
* "Shattered"
* "Emotional Rescue"
* "She's So Cold" / "Send It to Me"
* "Start Me Up"
* "Waiting on a Friend" / "Little T&A"
* "Hang Fire" / "Neighbours"
* "Going to a Go-Go" (live) / "Beast of Burden" (live)
* "Time Is on My Side" (live) / "Twenty Flight Rock" (live)
* "Undercover of the Night"
* "She Was Hot"
* "Too Much Blood"
* "Harlem Shuffle"
* "One Hit (To the Body)"
* "Mixed Emotions"
* "Rock and a Hard Place"
* "Almost Hear You Sigh"
* "Highwire" / "2000 Light Years from Home" (live)
* "Ruby Tuesday" (live) / "Play with Fire" (live)
* "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (live) / "Tumbling Dice" (live)

Virgin singles|

* "Love Is Strong"
* "You Got Me Rocking"
* "Out of Tears"
* "I Go Wild"
* "Like a Rolling Stone" (live) / "Black Limousine" / "All Down the Line"
* "Wild Horses" (live) / "Live with Me" (live) / "Tumbling Dice" (live)
* "Anybody Seen My Baby?"
* "Saint of Me" / "Gimme Shelter" (live)
* "Out of Control"
* "Don't Stop" / "Miss You" (remix)
* "Streets of Love" / "Rough Justice"
* "Rain Fall Down"
* "Biggest Mistake" / "Before They Make Me Run" (live)
* "Laugh, I Nearly Died"

Universal singles|

* "Plundered My Soul" / "All Down the Line"
* "No Spare Parts" / "Before They Make Me Run"
* "Doom and Gloom"
* "One More Shot"
* "Just Your Fool"
* "Living in a Ghost Town"
* "Scarlet"

ABKCO singles|

* "I Don't Know Why" / "Try a Little Harder"
* "Out of Time" / "Jiving Sister Fanny"

Others|

* "Let It Bleed" / "You Got the Silver" (Japan)
* "Rocks Off" / "Sweet Virginia" (Japan)
* "Star Star" / "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" (France, Germany)
* "Angry"
* "Sweet Sounds of Heaven"

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template