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Rolling Stones songs: So Divine (Aladdin Story)
You think your love is all I crave/ Well I’ve got better things to do than be your slave…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England, June 16-30 and July 14-276 1970; Overdubs at One East Studio, New York City and The Village & Mix This!, Los Angeles, USA, fall 2009
Mick Jagger: vocals Keith Richards: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie watts: drums Guest musicians: Bobby Keys (sax), Jim Price (vibes)
Hidden inside the 2010 reissue of Exile on Main St., So Divine (Aladdin Story) feels like a secret finally brought into the light. It’s not just another archival extra—it’s a mood piece that expands the myth of the album. From the first notes, the track pulls you into a hazy, almost mystical atmosphere that hints at adventure without spelling everything out.
There’s a subtle musical link to Paint It Black, especially in the dark, Eastern-tinged melody and hypnotic rhythm. Instead of explosive drama, the song leans into shadow and suggestion, creating a slow-burn spell that lingers long after it ends. It’s immersive, textured, and quietly powerful.
Despite the nod to One Thousand and One Nights, the lyrics don’t retell Aladdin. Instead, they capture the spirit of fantasy and intrigue—proof that sometimes atmosphere tells the best story.
More about So Divine (Aladdin Story) by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
So Divine (Aladdin Story): A Spell Recast in Sound
When Exile on Main St.was revisited in 2010, the reissue didn’t just polish a legend—it revealed hidden corridors within it. Among those rediscovered passages stood So Divine (Aladdin Story), a track that feels less like an outtake and more like a secret whispered between eras. Its atmosphere is dreamy and elusive, suspended somewhere between desert twilight and candlelit myth. Rather than retelling a familiar fable, the song channels the spirit of magical storytelling itself, conjuring an exotic aura that invites the listener into a realm where mystery rules and logic loosens its grip. The title alone suggests adventure, but the music delivers something subtler: a hypnotic journey shaped by shadow, suggestion, and the quiet pull of the unknown.
A rediscovered doorway in Exile on Main St.
The 2010 reissue of Exile on Main St. reframed the album not simply as a relic of its time, but as a living archive. Within that context So Divine (Aladdin Story)emerges as an unexpected doorway—one that opens sideways rather than forward. It does not attempt to compete with the grit and swagger traditionally associated with the album’s mythology. Instead, it adds dimension, expanding the emotional landscape into something more ethereal.
What makes the track fascinating is how naturally it fits while simultaneously feeling apart from the familiar canon. It deepens the sense that Exile on Main St. was never just about rawness; it also held space for atmosphere and suggestion. The reissue allowed this subtle current to surface. Rather than sounding unfinished or peripheral, the song feels intentional in its mystique, like a missing chapter that finally found its binding.
Mick Jagger (2010): “I did one overdub with Keith, playing on So Divine. He played a bit of guitar-dub on that, but his parts were all done already, you know, they were already there.”
Eastern echoes and the Paint It Black shadow
Musically, the song’s strongest echo reaches back to Paint It Black. The resemblance is not a matter of imitation but of shared DNA. Both tracks lean into a dark, Eastern-influenced melodic framework that creates an immersive emotional tension. In So Divine (Aladdin Story), that influence unfolds through haunting guitar textures and a rhythm that pulses with understated insistence.
The result is a soundscape that feels hypnotic rather than aggressive. Where Paint It Black strikes with urgency, this later composition drifts in with a quieter intensity. The melody coils around itself, producing a shadowy atmosphere that feels spellbinding without raising its voice. That subtlety enhances the track’s allure. It is less a declaration and more an incantation, drawing the listener inward through repetition and tonal color.
This musical direction reinforces the song’s aura of distance—geographically, emotionally, imaginatively. The Eastern tonal hints are not decorative flourishes; they are structural elements that anchor the track’s identity. They help construct the sense of stepping beyond the everyday and into a space shaped by imagination.
A title that conjures One Thousand and One Nights
Despite its evocative name, So Divine (Aladdin Story)does not directly narrate the tale of Aladdin from One Thousand and One Nights. There are no explicit references to lamps, genies, or sultans. Yet the title operates as a portal. It signals a world of fantasy and adventure without mapping it out in literal detail.
That choice is significant. By avoiding direct retelling, the song preserves ambiguity. Instead of illustrating a specific storyline, it evokes the broader tradition of mythic storytelling. The listener is invited to project their own imagery onto the music. The connection toOne Thousand and One Nights becomes atmospheric rather than narrative—an emotional coloring rather than a script.
This indirect approach enhances the mystique. The absence of literal references allows the mood to take precedence. The song suggests rather than explains, aligning itself with the timeless quality of stories passed down through imagination rather than documentation.
Atmosphere as narrative
Ultimately, the true narrative of So Divine (Aladdin Story) is its ambiance. The track captures themes of intrigue and mysticism not through plot but through tone. Its dreamy textures and hypnotic pulse create a sense of suspended reality, where the boundaries between past and present, myth and memory, begin to blur.
What lingers is not a storyline but a feeling—a sensation of having traveled somewhere slightly out of reach. The exotic undertone implied by the title merges seamlessly with the music’s shadowy elegance. The experience becomes immersive, almost cinematic, without ever becoming literal.
In the broader frame of Exile on Main St. this song adds depth to the album’s legacy. It demonstrates that alongside grit and swagger, there was always room for enchantment. So Divine (Aladdin Story) stands as proof that mystery can be as powerful as momentum, and that sometimes the most compelling journeys are the ones guided by atmosphere rather than map.
Mick Jagger (2010): “There are lot of Exile outtakes around, but not with the current vocals on them, because they didn’t exist. We tried to use tracks that hadn’t been so heavily bootlegged. I did find one of the tracks, Aladdin Story – that was actually recorded note-for-note by some other band (Note: the band was Death in Vegas). I was really surprised to find this outtake – someone got the bootleg and they just recorded it”
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