Rolling Stones songs: Too Rude
*Click for MORE ROLLING STONES SONGS 1962-PRESENT

Oh little girl/ You never want me/ Tomorrow night you say/ You need my key…

Written by: Lindon Roberts
Recorded: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France, Apr. 8-June 17 1985; RPM Studios, NYC, USA, July 16-Aug. 17 & Sept. 10-Oct. 15 1985; Right Track Studios, NYC, USA, Nov. 15-Dec. 5 1985
Guest musicians: Jimmy Cliff (background vocals), Chuck Leavell (keyboards)
*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

From Songfacts:
The song was originally recorded by the Jamaican reggae star Half Pint with the title of “Winsome.” It was a big hit and his first #1 in his home country. Half Pint heard about the Stones covering his song from percussionist Sydney Wolfe who was at a studio in Holland when Keith Richards chose it. Wolfe relayed the news to Half Pint about the re-titled rock version.

The Jamaican reggae star surmised in The Sunday Gleaner: “He (Richards) used to spend a lot of time in Jamaica. He probably was around when it was popular on the charts.”

Half Pint added: “They did it in a slow tempo way. That tempo was more like a ballad tempo, but you can hear the rock attitude. They had rock with a pop feel.”

He concluded that the song’s reggae origins were not forgotten and the Stones also “did it in a way that you can realize it was a reggae song. It was not far from reggae, but you could hear the difference.”

Keith Richards sang on this with the reggae star Jimmy Cliff, who had a hit years later with “I Can See Clearly Now.” Stones lead singer Mick Jagger wasn’t very involved with the Dirty Work album because he was focused on his solo career.

“Too Rude” was considered for the album title.

From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs book:
Logically enough, it was during a trip to Jamaica that Keith Richards
developed a passion for reggae. He was particularly struck by a song by the
Jamaican musician Half Pint (Lindon Andrew Roberts, to give him his real
name) titled “Winsome,” released as a single in 1983. He decided to record
it during the sessions for Dirty Work and gave the resulting adaptation the
title “Too Rude.” The song tells of a pretty girl who turns the heads of all
the boys, but turns down the one who loves her more than anything, leading
him to predict that she is bound to fall…