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Rolling Stones songs: Losing My Touch
Ain’t it funny how things happen/ Just as we think we’ve got it all straight…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Studio Guillaume Tell, Paris, France, May 13-June 8 2002 Guest musicians: Darryl Jones (bass) *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012
As the Forty Licks compilation comes to a close, it’s Keith Richards who takes the reins with Losing My Touch—a gentle, reflective ballad that feels like a personal whisper in the listener’s ear. Written in his Jamaican home with Mick Jagger’s help, the track stands apart as an intimate confession, revealing a vulnerable side of Keith rarely seen. He barely appears on the other three new songs on the compilation, but here, his raw, weathered voice—worn in like an old leather jacket—delivers every word with aching sincerity. Some interpret the lyrics as a farewell from a man who no longer believes in his own magic, a quiet moment of reckoning. With its hushed tone and stripped-back instrumentation, the song echoes the soft jazz-folk textures of Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me, which had just made waves a few months earlier. It’s Keith at his most human, winding down as the night fades.
Blues, Brushes and Pedal Steel Magic
The atmosphere of Losing My Touch owes much to its understated but impeccable arrangement. Charlie Watts sets the tone with delicate brushwork, anchoring the song in a smoky late-night jazz feel. Darryl Jones, formerly with Miles Davis, handles the acoustic bass with a warm, fluid touch that glides through the track. Chuck Leavell’s piano work is a perfect blend of bluesy class and jazzy restraint, dancing lightly beneath Keith’s sparse acoustic guitar phrases. At Keith’s request, Ron Wood adds pedal steel at just the right moment giving the tune a dreamy, melancholy drift. Keith’s brief solo at 2:51 further deepens the emotional pull. Years later, he’d reunite with Norah Jones for a duet on Illusion (on Keith’s solo album Crosseyed Heart) but it’s on Losing My Touch where the seeds of that atmospheric chemistry were first quietly sown.
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