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Most debut singles are carefully engineered to impress everyone. The Rolling Stones had a different idea: sneak their real musical DNA onto the B-side. While Come On grabbed the headlines, I Want to Be Loved quietly revealed where the band’s loyalties truly lay—in the smoky clubs of Chicago rather than the polished world of early-’60s pop. Covering a Willie Dixon song made famous by Muddy Waters wasn’t exactly the obvious commercial move, but playing it safe was never high on the Stones’ to-do list. Sometimes the most revealing track isn’t the hit everyone remembers—it’s the one hiding on the flip side.
The touch of your hand drives me insane/ But baby, I want to be loved…
Written by: Willie Dixon Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, May 10 1963
Mick Jagger: vocals Keith Richards: guitar Brian Jones: harmonica Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums
More about The Rolling Stones’ take on I Want To Be Loved
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
A blues statement hiding behind a pop single
Choosing Come On as the A-side of their debut single may have suggested that The Rolling Stones were willing to flirt with a more commercial sound, but the flip side quickly erased any doubts about where their hearts truly belonged.I Want to Be Loved was no lightweight pop tune. Written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1955, it represented everything the young London band admired about Chicago electric blues and the legendary Chess Records catalog. That connection ran even deeper considering the group’s own name came from Muddy’s song Rollin’ Stone. Rather than simply covering a favorite blues number, the Stones were making a statement about their musical identity, paying tribute to the artists who had shaped their ambitions long before they began writing songs of their own.
From Muddy Waters to the Rolling Stones
When Muddy Waters released I Want to Be Loved-, backed with My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble), the song became another showcase for the songwriting of Willie Dixon, whose influence on post-war blues would prove immeasurable. Eight years later, the Stones transformed the track into a noticeably faster performance while preserving its essential spirit. By the time they entered the studio, the song had already become a regular feature of their live performances around London clubs.
An earlier version had also been recorded during a session at IBC Studios, where Glyn Johns served as both producer and engineer. Although that take reportedly stayed closer to Waters’ original arrangement, the later recording displayed greater confidence and reflected how much the band had evolved through constant live performances.
Capturing their natural sound
If Come On revealed a band still searching for its recording identity, I Want to Be Loved sounded far more comfortable. The performance allowed each member to settle naturally into familiar territory. Mick Jagger’s vocal retained an unmistakable youthful quality, sounding less forceful than it would only a few years later, yet already displaying the phrasing and blues inflections that would soon become trademarks.
Instrumentally, the recording was firmly rooted in Chicago blues. Brian Jones delivered one of his strongest early harmonica performances, applying generous reverb while drawing clear inspiration from Big Walter Horton. Behind him, Charlie Watts, playing his Sonor Chicago Star drum kit, anchored the song with a crisp, highly prominent snare sound. Bill Wyman’s bass and Keith Richards’ rhythm guitar completed the foundation, although Richards can be heard pushing the tempo slightly during the harmonica break, adding a touch of spontaneity rather than distracting from the performance.
The piano nobody heard
Although Ian Stewart participated in the recording session, listeners would never know it from the finished single. According to engineer Roger Savage, producer Andrew Loog Oldham instructed him to mute Stewart’s piano microphone because he did not fit the image Oldham envisioned for the band.
Savage later recalled that when the group gathered in the control room to hear the playback, Stewart’s piano had completely disappeared from the mix. Surprisingly, none of the musicians raised the issue. The moment became one of the earliest examples of Oldham shaping not only the Stones’ sound but also their public image, decisions that would continue influencing the band’s recordings throughout the 1960s.
Recording history and later releases
Evidence suggests that the session on May 10, 1963, may also have produced versions of Dust My Blues together with either Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’sLove Potion No. 9 or Willie Dixon’sPretty Thing, although documentation remains incomplete and none of them ever showed up in bootlegs.
Over the yearsI Want to Be Loved has appeared on several important Rolling Stones releases, including Singles Collection: The London Years and GRRR! (Super Deluxe), where I Want to Be Loved (version 2) was included. More than six decades after it was recorded, the song remains one of the clearest demonstrations that, despite any commercial ambitions surrounding their debut single, the band’s musical foundation rested firmly on the blues traditions established by Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and the remarkable legacy of Chess Records.
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