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There’s something wonderfully appropriate about The Rolling Stones getting tangled up with Chuck Berry’s Around and Around: before stadiums, controversy, and decades of rock ’n’ roll excess, they were simply young musicians chasing the sound they loved. The song became part of that early education, first appearing in their orbit before returning in 1964 on 12 X 5. Then came an important American TV appearance, where the Stones were still trying to make their mark with U.S. audiences. Not bad for a Chuck Berry cover that began as another piece of rock ’n’ roll homework. Sometimes history really does arrive disguised as a good riff.
But they kept on rocking/ Goin’ round and round…
Written by: Chuck Berry Recorded: Chess Studios, Chicago, USA, June 11 1964
Mick Jagger: vocals Keith Richards: guitar Brian JHones: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Ian Stewart (piano)
More about The Rolling Stones’ take on Around and Around
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
A song born in the spirit of rock ’n’ roll
Chuck Berry’s Around and Aroundwas already a small masterpiece of movement and momentum when he wrote it after a jam session during a final rehearsal before going onstage. In his autobiography Berry recalled that one riff stayed with him, inspiring a song about a dance hall that refused to close on time. He deliberately chose the phrase “’til the moon went down” rather than “’til the early morning,” giving the lyric a more evocative image. Released by Chess Records in March 1958 as the B-side of Johnny B. Goode, the song quickly became one of Berry’s quintessential celebrations of rock ’n’ roll. For the Rolling Stones, however, it was more than another Chuck Berry cover. It was part of their musical DNA—and, fittingly, they would record it at Chess Studios in Chicago.
From the Blue Boys to Chess Studios
Long before the Rolling Stones entered Chess Studios, Around and Around was firmly established in their musical vocabulary. The song had been part of the repertoire of Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys since 1962, when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Dick Taylor, Bob Beckwith, and Allen Etherington were still shaping what would become the Stones’ distinctive identity.
The connection went even deeper. An early recording of Around and Around made by them became the very first recording in the career of the Rolling Stones and was sent to Alexis Korner. Another early performance, involving an ad hoc lineup of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Dick Taylor, and Cyril Davies, took place at the Ealing Jazz Club in London in April 1962.
By 1964, then, the Stones hardly needed to learn Berry’s song. They knew it instinctively. Recording it in Chicago was something else entirely. Chess Studios was the place where Chuck Berry had created many of the records that had inspired them, making the session feel less like a routine recording date and more like a pilgrimage to one of the foundations of rock ’n’ roll.
The Stones put their stamp on Berry
The Rolling Stones recorded Around and Around during their 1964 U.S. tour, with Ron Malo serving as engineer. The track appeared on the UK EP Five by Five and the U.S. album 12 X 5.Andrew Loog Oldham’s liner notes explained that the Chicago sessions included an additional track as a “thank you” to fans.
The arrangement remained remarkably faithful to Chuck Berry, but the Stones injected it with extra muscle. Keith Richards launches the performance with Berry’s unmistakable riff before the rest of the band locks into the groove. His guitar playing echoes the original while retaining the rougher, more aggressive character that was becoming central to the Stones.
Brian Jones provides the rhythmic foundation on his Gretsch, demonstrating why his contribution as a rhythm guitarist deserves far more attention than it sometimes receives. Ian Stewart’s piano gives the recording its boogie-driven lift, while Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts form a remarkably tight rhythm section. Mick Jagger, meanwhile, delivers the lyric with control rather than theatrical excess, adding a hint of attitude to the celebration.
The song builds naturally toward its choruses, where the guitars and piano push the arrangement harder. It is unmistakably Berry, yet unmistakably the Rolling Stones. Chuck Berry was reportedly present at Chess Studios during the session and is said to have remarked, “Swing on, gentlemen, you are sounding most well, if I may say so.” Whether he was referring specifically to Around and Around or another recording remains uncertain, but the image is irresistible: Berry watching the young British band embrace his music in the very studio where he had made history.
From television to the T.A.M.I. Show
The Stones did not leave Around and Around behind after the Chess sessions. The song became an important part of their early public identity, appearing on television and in film. On October 25, 1964, they performed it during their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Only days later, on October 28 and 29, they performed it at the Teen Age Music International (TAMI) Show alongside James Brown, the Supremes, the Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, and Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Opening their TAMI Show performance with Around and Around was almost a statement of intent. The Stones were not merely copying the American rock ’n’ roll tradition—they were presenting themselves as its next generation. Chuck Berry himself was part of the same historic event and reportedly had six songs performed during the course of TAMI. The performance was subsequently preserved in The T.A.M.I. Show concert film, giving the song another important place in the Stones’ early history.
A song that kept coming back
Around and Around proved too useful to remain a relic of the early 1960s. It later appeared on the 1977 live album Love You Live (from the 1977 legendary shows at Toronto’s El Mocambo) demonstrating that the Stones could still return to the raw energy of their formative years.
Decades later, they brought the song back again. In 2012 it was performed at the Prudential Center in Newark and was subsequently released as a bonus track on GRRR Live!.
The song’s importance ultimately goes beyond the number of times the Stones recorded or performed it. Chuck Berry was the songwriter they covered more than any other, and Around and Around sits particularly close to the foundation of their story. It was among the earliest songs they played together, one of their first recordings, a centerpiece of their 1964 breakthrough period, and a track they could still revisit nearly fifty years later.
Other artists, including the Animals, the Grateful Dead, and Moe Tucker, have also recorded the song. But the Rolling Stones’ version carries a special historical weight. They took a Chuck Berry classic, walked into Chess Studios, and effectively showed where they intended to go next. The riff had come from Berry. The attitude was becoming theirs.
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