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When you’re drunk in the alley, baby, with your clothes all torn/ And your late night friends, they leave you in the cold gray dawn…
Also known as: GET A LINE ON YOU Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England, July 23 1970; Rolling Stones Mobile, Nellcote, France, July-Oct.-Nov. 1971; Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA, Dec. 1971-March 1972; RCA Studios, Los Angeles, USA, March 1972 Guest musicians: Billy Preston (piano and organ), Clydie King, Joe Green, Vanetta Fields and Jesse Kirkland (backing vocals), Jimmy Miller (drums) *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012
From Songfacts: Mick Jagger originally wrote the lyrics for Stones guitarist Brian Jones in 1968. The original lyrics were about Jones’ drug addiction which was slowly detaching him from the rest of the band, and the song was called “Get A Line On You,” but it was never released. After Jones’ death, Jagger rewrote some of the lyrics and it was released in 1972 as “Shine A Light.”
Venetta Field (incorrectly credited on the album as “Vanetta”) sang backup on this. She is an R&B singer who also worked with B. B. King, Al Kooper, Billy Preston, Joe Cocker, Pink Floyd, and Blondie Chaplin.
Billy Preston played piano and organ on this track. Preston was a frequent guest musician for both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
Shine A Light is the name of the 2008 Martin Scorsese concert film documenting 2 shows The Rolling Stones played in New York shows in 2006. Buddy Guy, Christina Aguilera and Jack White all appear in the film.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper May 21, 2010, Mick Jagger chose this as his favorite Exile song. He explained: “It was quite an early one from Olympic Studios London, with Billy Preston. Once it was finished, we never played it on stage for years and years. Then it became this favorite after we recorded it for the Stripped album. So ‘Shine A Light’ was this funny thing that started off as something you did once at that time and never went back to.”
From the Rolling Stones – All the Songs, The Story Behind Every Track book: Mick Jagger started to work on this song, which is filled with references to Brian Jones, at the beginning of 1968, when Jones was still a full-fledged member of the band. A smile on your face and a tear right in your eye, Berber jewelry jangling down the street—this figure is Brian. Drunk in the alley, baby, with your clothes all torn is also Brian. “Shine a Light” is actually a song about the long decline of the musician who was the soul of the Stones, a song in which Jagger himself appeals to the powers above for clemency for his former bandmate: May the Good Lord shine a light on you/Warm like the evening sun. This ode to Brian Jones, recorded without Keith Richards and Charlie Watts, is infused with gospel fervor. “When I was very friendly with Billy [Preston] in the ’70s I sometimes used to go to church with him in Los Angeles,” recalls Mick Jagger. “It was an interesting experience because we don’t have a lot of churches like that in England. I hadn’t had a lot of first hand experience of it.”
