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Rolling Stones songs: Coming Down Again
I was caught, oh, taken for a ride/ She was showing no surprise…
Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: Dynamic Sounds Studios, Kingston, Jamaica, Nov.-25.Dec. 21, 1972; Island Recording Studios, London, June 1973 Guest musicians: Nicky Hopkins (piano), Bobby Keys (saxophone)
More about Coming Down Again by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
The True Story Behind Coming Down Again
Many Rolling Stones fans have long assumed that Coming Down Again was Keith Richards’ confession about taking Anita Pallenberg from Brian Jones. Yet Richards himself set the record straight in his autobiography Life (2010). ”Of Coming Down Again, I said not long ago that I wouldn’t have written it without heroin. I don’t know if it was about dope. It was just a mournful song – and you look for that melancholy in yourself. I’m obviously looking for great grooves, great riffs, rock and roll, but there’s the other side of the coin that still wants to go where ‘As Tears Go By’ came from…
…And by then I’d worked a lot in the country field, especially with Gram Parsons, and that high-lonesome melancholy has a certain pull on the heartstrings. You want to see if you can tug ’em a little harder. Some people think Coming Down Again is about me stealing Anita, but by then that’s all water under the fucking bridge.”
Although eight years earlier he had said: “I wonder about the songs I’ve written: I really like the ones I did when I was on heroin. I wouldn’t have written Coming Down Again without that. I’m this millionaire rock star, but I’m in the gutter with these other sniveling people. It kept me in touch with the street, at the lowest level.”
Coming Down Again: Keith Richards’ Poignant Masterpiece
Keith takes the lead on Coming Down Again, delivering a delicate, country-tinged ballad with sensitivity and introspection. Singing the haunting line “where are all my friends?”, he layers his vocals with Mick Taylor’s harmonies, creating a subtle dialogue that resonates throughout the track. Keith’s rhythm guitar, enriched by wah-wah pedal and Leslie speaker effects, swirls gently alongside Taylor’s bass, adding depth and texture. Charlie Watts keeps the rhythm steady on drums, while Bobby Keys’ two interlocking saxophone solos and Jim Horn’s harmonizing flutes weave a lush, melancholic tapestry. Yet at the heart of the song is Nicky Hopkins, whose instinctive piano playing elevates the track’s lyricism and emotional weight, perfectly complementing Richards’ reflective lyrics. Synth touches and understated instrumentation further highlight the song’s intimacy, making Coming Down Again a masterclass in balancing melancholy, subtle virtuosity, and heartfelt storytelling.
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