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Original title: Sometimes I Wonder Why Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: RSM Studios, Rotterdam, Holland, Jan. 22-Feb. 9 1975; EMI Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France, June 10-Oct. 14 1979 *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2012
Mick Jagger: vocals, electric piano Keith Richards: rhythm guitar, backing vocals Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Wayne Perkins (lead guitar), OIllie Brown (percussion, unconfirmed)
Some Rolling Stones songs arrive with instant fame. Others take the long road and become hidden treasures. Worried About You belongs to that second category—a slow-burning gem that began in the Black and Blue sessions before finally finding its place on Tattoo You in 1981.
What makes the track so compelling is its unusual mood. Mick Jagger trades swagger for vulnerability, delivering a striking falsetto performance full of doubt, desire, and emotional tension. Backed by Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, and a brilliant Wayne Perkins guitar solo, the song blends soul, rock, and melancholy in a way few Stones tracks ever did.
There’s also a fascinating backstory behind it: recorded across Rotterdam, Montreux, and New York, first played live at Toronto’s El Mocambo Club in 1977, then revived decades later on tour. Worried About You proves the Rolling Stones could still surprise fans with depth, style, and unexpected emotion.
More about Worried About You by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
Falsetto, Funk, and Frustration: The Soul Behind Worried About You
By the time Tattoo You arrived in 1981 Worried About You already carried years of unfinished history inside it. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song began life during the Black and Blue era around 1975–1976, when the Rolling Stones were experimenting, rebuilding, and searching for a new guitarist after Mick Taylor’s exit. Rather than sounding like a leftover, the track emerged as something intimate and quietly distinctive. Its slow-burning mood, reflective lyrics, and vulnerable vocal approach revealed a side of Jagger rarely placed at center stage. Instead of swagger, there is uncertainty. Instead of triumph, there is emotional drift. That contrast gives the song its lasting pull. Though often overshadowed by bigger hits on Tattoo You, Worried About You remains one of the album’s most revealing moments, where polished release meets restless mid-70s origins and personal tension becomes music.
Anxiety Behind The Voice
At its core Worried About You is a relationship song shaped by doubt rather than romance. Mick Jagger uses an expressive falsetto to portray a narrator caught between longing and frustration, trying to understand a love affair defined more by its lows than its highs. The character sounds worn down, searching for direction while promising himself he will eventually move on.
That emotional uncertainty is what makes the song stand apart in the Stones catalog. Jagger was often associated with confidence, attitude, and command, yet here he leans into insecurity. The performance feels restless and exposed, as if the singer is thinking aloud while the band keeps moving behind him. When he finally drops back into his sharper natural voice later in the track, the shift feels dramatic, almost like someone regaining balance after emotional turbulence.
The lyrics never need grand declarations. Their power comes from hesitation, worry, and the sense that answers remain out of reach. That mood gives the song a melancholy sophistication many casual listeners miss.
Crafted Across Continents
The making of Worried About You stretched across several locations and years. Initial sessions linked to Black and Blue took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. Additional overdubs followed in Montreux, Switzerland, while vocals were completed in New York City in 1981 before the song’s eventual release on Tattoo You.
Musically, the arrangement is subtle but rich. The opening electric piano, played by Mick Jagger, is widely believed to be a Wurlitzer colored by phasing, possibly through a Leslie speaker. Billy Preston reportedly contributed keyboard parts during the Rotterdam sessions, though little of that presence survives in the final mix. Bill Wyman adds a strong, highly audible bass line that anchors the song, while Charlie Watts keeps the pulse crisp and controlled through his hi-hat work. In close listening moments—especially near the opening minute—Charlie’s snare can be heard vibrating sympathetically against Bill’s bass notes, a small studio detail that adds texture.
Keith Richards supplies funky rhythm guitar shaded with phasing and short delay, helping create the track’s floating atmosphere. A tambourine, likely played by Ollie E. Brown, adds finishing sparkle without crowding the mix.
Keith Richards (1981): “Worried About You was originally done for Black and Blue“
Wayne Perkins and The Guitar Story
One of the most memorable elements of Worried About You is the elegant guitar solo, performed by Wayne Perkins. During the Black and Blue period, Perkins was among the serious contenders to replace Mick Taylor as the Stones’ lead guitarist (actually the most serious before Ronnie Wood), and his appearance here captures why he was so highly regarded. His phrasing is fluid, melodic, and emotionally tuned to the song rather than flashy for its own sake.
The solo has often been compared in spirit to Mick Taylor’s lyrical style, which makes it an intriguing bridge between eras. It also stands as a reminder that the Stones’ search for a new lineup in the mid-70s produced excellent music even amid uncertainty.
There is an ironic footnote to this history. In the promotional video filmed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg in June 1981, Ron Wood—who ultimately secured the guitarist role—mimes Perkins’ original lead part. Similar visual substitutions happened in videos for Waiting on a Friend and Hot Stuff, where parts played by Mick Taylor and Harvey Mandel were represented onscreen by later band members. The result is a fascinating example of how Rolling Stones history was sometimes rewritten in plain sight.
From El Mocambo to World Tours
Four years before fans heard the studio version on Tattoo You, the Rolling Stones tested Worried About You live at the famous El Mocambo Club in Toronto during the two shows on March 4 and 5, 1977. That meant audiences experienced the song more than four years before its official release, a classic Stones move in which unfinished material evolved onstage before reaching vinyl.
The track later returned during the 2002–2003 Licks Tour, with one performance preserved on the 2004 live album Live Licks. It resurfaced again during the 2006 leg of the A Bigger Bang Tour and in 2013 on the 50 & Counting… Tour. During these concerts, Mick Jagger handled keyboard parts alongside Chuck Leavell, bringing the song’s signature piano texture back into performance.
Though never among the band’s most famous staples, Worried About You aged remarkably well in concert. Its mix of tenderness, groove, and tension gave later-era setlists something deeper than nostalgia. What began as an unfinished 1970s studio piece became, over time, one of the most quietly rewarding songs in the Rolling Stones catalog.
Mick Jagger (2016): “I like that song, ’cause I like doing it onstage. I’ve rehearsed it for this tour actually – haven’t done it yet. What I do like about it? It’s kind of… funky. It has a nice groove to it. It’s quite emotive. I’m not saying the lyrics should win any prizes but it has quite a direct feel, especially with all the falsetto. It kind of works. I’m not saying it works in a stadium, but in an area or somewhere smaller.”
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