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Rolling Stones songs: Sweethearts Together

*Click for MORE ROLLING STONES SONGS 1962-PRESENT

Everyone’s so cynical/ And says that love won’t last/ Think about your future/ Stop living in the past…

Written by: Jagger/Richards
Recorded: Ronnie Wood’s Sandymount Studios, Kildare, Ireland, July 9-Aug. 6 and Sept. 1993; Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 3-Dec. 10 1993 ; Don Was’ Studio and A&M Studios, Los Angeles, USA, Jan. 15-Apr. 1994
Guest musicians: Chuck Leavell (organ), Bernard Fowler & Ivan Neville (backing vocals), Flaco Jiménez (accordion), Max Baca (bass), Luis Jardim (percussion)
*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs, The Story Behind Every Track book:
At the risk of surprising their fans, if not provoking complete and utter incomprehension on their part, the Stones venture on this track into the realm of a particularly exotic strain of pop. Just as disconcertingly, Mick Jagger sings of the benefits of harmonious coupledom. Love is all about sharing troubles and pain with one’s partner; it is about healing one’s wounds; it is two hearts beating as one… and this from the singer of the Stones! The Tex-Mex vibe of “Sweethearts Together” derives from the presence alongside the Stones of the Texan accordionist Flaco Jiménez, of Max Baca (founder of Los Texmaniacs, a leading Tex-Mex group), and of the Portuguese percussionist Luis Jardim.

Flaco Jiménez recalls: “I was on tour playing in San Francisco three months ago while they were recording in Hollywood, and at the gig I get a message in the dressing room from Don Was. I said, ‘Who in the hell is Don Was?’ Then they said he was producing the Stones and they wanted me to go record with them. I almost flipped, man. Wowee, good news. The next day I was in the studio with them— didn’t have time to listen to the song or do homework at all.”

If there is one track that symbolizes the atmosphere of this album and at the same time seals the reconciliation between the Glimmer Twins, “Sweethearts Together” is it. Don Was: “They were standing eyeball-to-eyeball, about 18 inches apart.… They did this incredible Everly Brothers– type harmony all the way through the song. I thought it was very cool, but the people in the control room who had worked with them for 10 or 15 years were like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening!’” And so it was on a Tex-Mex ballad that the miracle occurred…

Similarly, Mick and Keith play the two acoustic guitars together. Keith then switches to electric rhythm guitar with a fairly pronounced vibrato, while Ronnie is on pedal steel guitar and also lap steel, on which he plays some very good solo breaks (2:48). The bass is played by Max Baca and the accordion by Flaco Jiménez, who was surprised to see his employers expressing their satisfaction at his warm-up take. For the closing chorus, the backing vocalists can be heard singing Chihuahua with some emotion…

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