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The Rolling Stones had already fallen hard for American blues, but What a Shame shows just how deep that obsession went. Recorded at Chicago’s Chess Studios in 1964, the Jagger-Richards composition sounds like the young Stones stepping into the shadows of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf—and deciding they were quite comfortable there. There is nothing particularly cheerful about the song, either, which probably wasn’t the point. Mick Jagger later connected its gloomy mood to a very specific Chicago atmosphere, while Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Ian Stewart turn the track into a wonderfully murky blues workout. Released behind Heart of Stone, it also quietly marked a first for the songwriting team.
What a shame/ You all heard what I said…
Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: Chess Studios, Chicago, USA, Nov. 8 1964
Mick Jagger: vocals, harmonica Keith Richards: guitar Brian Jones: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Ian Stewart (piano)
More about What a Shame by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
What A Shame: The Stones Go Deep Into The Blues
What a Shame captures the Rolling Stones at a moment when their devotion to American blues is becoming impossible to hide. Although written by Jagger-Richards, one of their earliest attempts to move beyond ballads, the song sounds steeped in the world of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Its gloomy lyrics—“What a shame / Nothing seems to be going right” and the ominous possibility of waking up “and find your poor self dead”—fit naturally into that tradition. Recording the track at Chess Studios in Chicago only intensifies the atmosphere. Mick Jagger has already begun identifying strongly with Sonny Boy Williamson II, while the rest of the group absorbs lessons from its blues mentors. Ian Stewart, especially, plays with the authority of someone who might have grown up in a juke joint somewhere between Memphis and New Orleans. Yet Jagger later explains in Melody Maker, on November 28, 1964, that the song’s sadness reflects Chicago itself: “Sunday in Chicago is like Sunday in Scotland—dead.”
A Chess Studios Atmosphere
The location matters because What a Shame does not merely imitate Chicago blues from a safe distance; it is recorded inside one of the genre’s great temples. That environment seems to push the Stones further into the music they have been studying so intensely. The result is an electric blues performance that feels instinctive rather than academic, with Jagger’s vocal delivery carrying much of the song’s bleak character.
The track also reveals how quickly the young Stones are turning borrowed influences into their own working language. They are still learning, certainly, but they are no longer simply reproducing records they admire. What a Shame becomes an early experiment in writing within the blues tradition while testing how far Jagger and Richards can bend that tradition toward an original composition.
A Band Finding Its Sound
The instrumental arrangement gives the song much of its bite. Keith Richards opens with blues-oriented picking on his Les Paul, while Brian Jones adds slide guitar on his Vox “Teardrop.” Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman establish an infectious groove underneath the performance, while Ian Stewart contributes superb piano, although much of it is unfortunately mixed down.
Jones ultimately provides the track’s most striking instrumental moment with a brilliant harmonica solo, most likely overdubbed. Beneath it, Wyman plays an unusually shaped bass line that adds another layer of character. Together, these details make the recording feel considerably richer than its relatively straightforward songwriting might suggest.
From Heart Of Stone to the Charts
What a Shame appears as the B-side of Heart of Stone, which reaches number 19 in the United States on February 20, 1965. The release also carries an important distinction in the Stones’ development: it marks the first time both sides of a 45 are credited to Jagger-Richards.
As a composition, however, the song remains more convincing as a performance than as a breakthrough in songwriting. Its structure and lyrical darkness remain close to established blues standards, and the writing does not yet distinguish itself dramatically from those models. But that limitation is also part of its historical interest. Jagger and Richards are learning how to write Stones songs without abandoning the music that initially inspires them.
A Curious Afterlife
The story does not end with the 1965 single. In 1966, the group Love releases its eponymous album, featuring a song called Can’t Explain, whose lyrics are based on those of What a Shame. That connection gives the Stones’ early blues experiment an unexpected afterlife.
For all its debts to Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, What a Shame therefore occupies an interesting place in the Stones’ evolution. It is not yet a fully distinctive Jagger-Richards composition, but it shows the pair beginning to write inside the blues rather than merely perform it—and that distinction becomes increasingly important as the decade progresses.
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