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Some Rolling Stones songs arrive with a Jagger-Richards songwriting credit and an obvious air of ownership. Down Home Girl is a different beast. The band found this earthy piece of Southern soul almost by accident, then took it into RCA Studios in Hollywood and gave it that wonderfully grubby Stones treatment. Mick Jagger sounds playful and gritty, Keith Richards and the band lock into the rootsy groove, and Jack Nitzsche’s piano adds another layer of character. Originally written by Jerry Leiber and Arthur Butler and first recorded by Alvin Robinson, the song already had a history. The Stones simply decided to make it theirs.
And every time you move like that/ I gotta go to Sunday mass…
Written by: Leiber/Butler Recorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Nov. 2 1964
Mick Jagger: vocals, harmonica Keith Richards: guitar Brian Jones: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Jack Nitzsche (piano)
More about The Rolling Stones’ take on Down Home Girl
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
The Rolling Stones Find Their Groove with Down Home Girl
Down Home Girl is one of those early Rolling Stones cover versions that sounds almost too effortless for the amount of character packed into it. Written by Jerry Leiber and Arthur Butler, the song gives the band plenty of room to turn a relatively obscure number into something distinctly their own. Leiber, who worked with Mike Stoller on major hits for Elvis Presley, The Drifters and The Coasters, was already a giant of American songwriting. Butler, a singer with the Impressions alongside Curtis Mayfield, was also an established songwriter. The phrase “down home” refers to qualities associated with the rural Southern states, while the song’s “natural girl” comes from, deep in the South. She may smell of turnip greens, but her sensuality leaves the men praying and heading to Sunday mass.
Finding the Song
Alvin Robinson records the first version of Down Home Girl only a few months before the Stones cut theirs. Keith Richards later recalls that the song comes into the group’s hands almost by accident. Keith and Andrew Loog Oldham walk into the Brill Building, the legendary Tin Pan Alley center of American songwriting, hoping to meet Jerry Leiber. Leiber refuses to see them, but someone recognizes the Stones and brings them inside anyway. A selection of songs is played for them, and Down Home Girl is the one they leave with. No elaborate scouting mission, no dramatic revelation—just a failed meeting that unexpectedly produces a future Stones album track.
Building the Sound
The Rolling Stones reshape the song by giving it a groove that sits intriguingly between Motown and the blues. Brian Jones opens with a memorable guitar introduction on his “Teardrop” before settling into a reverberant rhythm part. Keith Richards takes the lead guitar role on his Les Paul, adding an insistent three-note lick at the end of every other line, replacing the trumpet figure heard on Alvin Robinson’s original. The arrangement feels economical but never bare, with each musician adding a small piece of tension and texture.
The Studio Lineup
Bill Wyman experiments with a Fender 6-string bass he picks up in the studio, producing an unusually bright sound. He later explains that the instrument “gives a fantastic treble effect.” The piano is another departure from the Stones’ usual setup:Ian Stewartdoes not play it. Instead, Jack Nitzsche handles the part at the group’s request. At the time, Nitzsche is a valued Phil Spector collaborator and an important figure behind the celebrated “wall of sound.” Mick Jagger delivers the vocal with plenty of attitude and also appears to be responsible for the harmonica, giving the recording another distinctive layer.
An Underestimated Track
Down Home Girl emerges as one of the most commercial-sounding songs from the Stones’ early period, yet it remains surprisingly underestimated. Its combination of blues feeling, soul-inflected rhythm and sharp instrumental details makes it an unusually polished performance, and one that could arguably have worked as a single. The song appears on The Rolling Stones No. 2 in the UK and on The Rolling Stones, Now!in the US. For Stones addicts, there is also an intriguing later connection: Bobbie Gentry’s Ode to Billie Joe, released in 1967, invites speculation about whether she may have heard something in Down Home Girl worth remembering.
Bill Wyman (1965): “One thing that’s quite interesting is that I play six string bass on Down Home Girl and Pain In My Heart. It gives a fantastic treble effect.”
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