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Rolling Stones songs: Long Long While
Oh baby, baby, won’t you change your mind/ Won’t you change your mind?…
Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, USA, March 7-11 1966
Mick Jagger: vocals, maracas Keith Richards: guitar Brian Jones: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Ian Stewart (organ), Jack Nitzsche (piano, tambourine)
It’s not often that Mick Jagger steps into a character who admits he’s been wrong, and that rarity is precisely what gives Long Long While its emotional charge. Rather than delivering the usual defiant sneer or sly wink, Jagger leans into vulnerability, portraying a man who has finally come to terms with his mistakes—albeit after a painfully slow awakening. There is no hidden agenda here, no manipulative undertone. Instead, the performance feels like an earnest reach toward forgiveness, carried by the trembling urgency of someone who knows he may be too late.
What elevates this confession even further is the soul-inspired delivery: echoes of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Solomon Burke ripple through the phrasing, pushing Jagger into a register of raw, aching sincerity. Released in 1966 as the B-side to Paint It Black, the track quietly revealed a side of the Rolling Stones that didn’t often surface in their early work.
Production and musical direction
The recording of Long Long While took place between March 6 and 9, 1966, during the Aftermath sessions, when the Stones were in a period of rapid stylistic evolution. Producer Dave Hassinger worked to mold the band’s sound into something closer to their American soul and R&B influences, and this track is one of his most persuasive achievements. The song opens with a piano line—likely Jack Nitzsche’s—whose inspiration can be traced directly to Smokey Robinson & The Miracles’ You Really Got a Hold on Me. That nod sets the tone for everything that follows, announcing a shift away from British blues-rock toward something warmer, smoother, and undeniably soulful.
Brian Jones provides gentle arpeggios on his Gibson Hummingbird, while Keith Richards, doubling him on a slightly out-of-tune Guild M-65 Freshman, later cuts in with sharp blues-rock phrases that bring tension and grit to the arrangement. Richards appears to add a second, more distorted rhythm guitar—possibly his Firebird VII—to reinforce the choruses with extra emotional weight. Beneath all this, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts lock into a steady rhythmic pattern, giving the track its heartbeat. A Hammond organ, almost certainly played by Ian Stewart, adds a warm gospel hue that deepens the song’s Otis Redding influence. The coda even features Jagger lightly shaking maracas, a small detail that adds texture while hinting at the band’s growing studio confidence.
Release history and unexpected obscurity
Despite its strengths Long Long While didn’t initially receive the widespread exposure its quality warranted. Released as the B-side to the massively successful Paint It Black, the song was overshadowed by the single’s worldwide dominance. It remained unavailable in the United States until 1972, when it was included on the More Hot Rocks compilation—a collection that gathered stray singles, rarities, and overlooked B-sides. For American listeners discovering it for the first time, the track felt like a small revelation: a soulful ballad that surpassed many early Stones originals typically used as album fillers.
Its omission from Aftermath—and even from the later U.S. compilation Flowers—likely had less to do with its quality and more with its tonal contrast. At the time, Jagger and Richards were experimenting with sharper, more sarcastic songwriting, leaning into rebellious or ironic themes. By comparison, Long Long While carried a softness and sincerity that didn’t quite match the prevailing attitude of the duo’s output. Too gentle to fit comfortably beside songs dripping with bite, it slipped into the margins of the Stones’ catalog despite its emotional depth.
Soul roots and emotional resonance
What ultimately makes Long Long While stand out is its genuine embrace of soul tradition. The Stones had long admired artists like Otis Redding, whom they covered onstage and in the studio, and that admiration is deeply embedded in this track’s DNA. Ian Stewart’s organ and piano lend it a gospel warmth, while Keith Richards’ guitar interjections bring a bluesy tension that keeps the song grounded. Jagger, however, is the centerpiece. He begins the verses in a surprisingly gentle lower register, his tone almost tentative, before the melody leaps upward as he expresses remorse. It’s a rare moment in which Jagger’s bravado gives way to vulnerability, culminating in a brief bridge where his plea becomes more urgent as the tempo lifts ever so slightly.
Far from melodramatic, the performance is marked by restraint and dignity—qualities not often associated with the band’s early swagger. Long Long While has since become a gem for listeners exploring deeper cuts in the Stones’ catalog: a beautifully executed heartbreak ballad that reveals a fleeting but fascinating glimpse of the group’s capacity for emotional subtlety.
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