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Rolling Stones songs: Little T & A
She’s my little rock’n’roll/ My tits and ass with soul, baby…
Keith Richards: vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass Mick Jagger: backing vocals Charlie Watts: drums Ron Wood: lead guitar, rhythm guitar Guest musicians: Ian Stewart (piano)
Little T & A is one of those Rolling Stones songs that doesn’t bother asking permission. Buried in plain sight on Tattoo You (1981), it charges in on a Keith Richards riff that feels instantly familiar and unapologetically crude, announcing its intentions within seconds. This is the Stones at their most instinctive, letting groove and attitude do the heavy lifting.
Sung by Richards himself, the track captures a worldview shaped by fleeting encounters, late nights, and the kind of trouble you only recognize once you’re already in it. There’s humor here, but also tension—pleasure rubbing up against chaos, freedom flirting with consequences. It’s rock ’n’ roll stripped of romance and polish, told from the inside rather than the sidelines.
More than a deep cut Little T & A became a live statement and a personal calling card for Richards. Decades on, its raw energy still defines the Stones’ swagger at full throttle.
More about Little T & A by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
A riff, a grin, and a night that doesn’t last
Little T & A stands as one of the clearest snapshots of Keith Richards’ worldview at the dawn of the 1980s: impulsive, unapologetic, and powered by rock ’n’ roll instinct rather than reflection. Released as the fourth track on Tattoo You in 1981, the song feels deliberately blunt, wearing its intentions on its sleeve. Richards doesn’t romanticize the experience he’s describing; he frames it as a series of charged moments that burn bright and disappear just as quickly.
That outlook is embedded in the music itself—tight, punchy, and grounded in a groove that refuses to overthink its purpose. The song’s DNA comes from earlier sessions, but its final form sounds immediate and alive, as if captured mid-stride. Little T & A isn’t about memory or regret; it’s about momentum, about nights that don’t last long enough to turn into stories.
The hook that never says its name
One of the song’s most telling moves is its refusal to sing the title outright. Instead, Richards centers the track on the line “she’s my little rock & roll,” letting implication replace explanation. That choice keeps the song from tipping into novelty and anchors it firmly in attitude rather than punchline. The chorus repeats its core idea like a mantra, pushing the groove forward instead of pausing to underline meaning. It’s a classic Richards instinct: trust the feel, let the listener catch up later. The lyrics sketch an illicit encounter that’s already sliding toward chaos, hinting at the kind of trouble that comes from stumbling into situations without knowing the rules. Richards later explained that side of the song as well—the nights that don’t just end quietly, but veer into unexpected consequences. That tension between pleasure and fallout gives the track its bite.
Keith Richards (1981): “Well, that song’s just about every good time I’ve had with somebody I’d met for a night or two and never seen again. And also about the shit that sometimes goes down when you just sort of bump into people unknowingly, and not knowing the scene you’re walking in on, you know? You pick up a chick and end up spending the night in the ‘tank’, you know?”
From leftover riff to spotlight moment
Although Little T & A finally emerged on Tattoo You, its roots stretch back to the Emotional Rescue sessions. Like much of that album, the song was pulled from earlier recordings and shaped into something cohesive years later. Engineer Chris Kimsey, working alongside Mick Jagger, helped unearth and refine these tracks, while Bob Clearmountain’s mixing stitched together material recorded across different studios and continents. His work gives Little T & A a guitar sound that feels both retro and sharp, nodding to rockabilly textures while sitting comfortably in the early ’80s. The band toys with breaks and variations on the central riff, briefly dismantling it before snapping it back into place. That push-and-pull gives the song a loose, danceable energy, reinforcing the sense that it’s built for motion rather than contemplation.
Keith Richards: “I could have fucked around with (the mix) for ages. The final mix brought back a bit of the naïveté of the earlier sessions, otherwise it would have been too slick. It’s nice and dumb, which is what it’s supposed to be.”
Keith steps forward
Vocally Little T & A belongs entirely to Keith Richards. His delivery is rough-edged but relaxed, as if he’s narrating events rather than performing them. That tone suits a song that makes no attempt to dress itself up. Richards doesn’t moralize about the situations he describes; he simply reports them, with a shrug and a grin. The track’s placement on Tattoo You also highlights his presence within the band at that moment, offering a counterweight to Jagger’s more polished vocal style. Beyond the album, the song took on a second life as the B-side to Waiting on a Friend, further cementing its role as a statement of Richards’ musical identity. It’s not a hidden experiment—it’s a declaration.
A song shaped by tension
Onstage Little T & A became more than just another album cut. During the American Tour of 1981 and the European Tour of 1982, it was a regular fixture, giving Richards a focal point in the set. In a period marked by creative strain between Jagger and Richards, the song functioned as a quiet assertion of territory. Richards owned the moment completely, often performing it without Jagger beside him. That dynamic wasn’t subtle, but it added to the song’s impact. The tension translated into authority, reinforcing the sense that this was Richards speaking directly, without mediation. Performances from that era were captured in the concert film Let’s Spend the Night Together, preserving the song as part of the Stones’ live identity, not just a studio creation.
Why it still hits
Little T & A has resurfaced repeatedly over the years, proof that its appeal isn’t locked to a single moment. Richards brought it back during the 2006 leg of the A Bigger Bang Tour, albeit sparingly, and a later performance found its way onto the Shine a Light soundtrack. He also kept the song alive outside the Stones, playing it occasionally with the X-Pensive Winos during the Talk Is Cheap era. Each revival underscores the same truth: the song works because it never pretends to be anything else. It’s a big, dumb rock ’n’ roll song about sex, danger, and impulse, carried by a groove that’s instantly recognizable as Richards’. By embracing that simplicity, Little T & A remains one of the purest expressions of the Rolling Stones’ swagger—direct, unpolished, and still unapologetically alive.
Keith Richards (1982): “The guitar sound is our equivalent of that rockabilly thing. I think you’ll find that comes from using a lot of analog delay on Ron’s guitar or my guitar or both of them, and I dampen it. That’ll give you that ticka-tacka-ticka. I always use that green MXR analog delay. I’m told it’s quite out of date now and old-fashioned, but Ig ot it free and I forgot that time marches on and they make better ones or so they say. I don’t know. I’ve worked very well with those MXR things, and they’ve been very reliable”
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