Like what you see? Help keep it going! This site runs on the support of readers like you. Your donation helps cover costs and keeps fresh Rolling Stones content coming your way every day. Thank you!

Rolling Stones unreleased: Who’s Shagging Who

*Click for MORE STONES UNRELEASED TRACKS

Not every lost track is meant to shine—some exist to reveal what was really happening behind the scenes. Who’s Shagging Who captures The Rolling Stones in mid-chaos, during the fractured Dirty Work sessions of 1985. More sketch than song, it offers a rare glimpse into a band navigating tension, distance, and creative drift. With Mick Jagger and Keith Richards pulling in different directions, what emerges isn’t polished—it’s real. And that’s the hook: sometimes the unfinished moments tell the most honest stories.

Written by: Jagger/Richards
Recorded: EMI Pathé-Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Apr. 8-June 17 1985 (Dirty Work sessions)

From Martin Elliott’s book The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2012:
Definitely an improvised outtake with studio chat. It’s hardly worth a mention.

Shaggin’ with The Stones

Chaos, tension, and fragments of creativity often reveal more about a band than their polished releases—and Who’s Shagging Who is a perfect example of The Rolling Stones at their most unfiltered. Recorded during the turbulent Dirty Work sessions in Paris in 1985, the track feels less like a finished song and more like a snapshot of a band in motion, caught between friction and instinct. With Mick Jagger and Keith Richards often at odds, and members drifting in and out of sessions, the creative atmosphere was anything but stable.

Yet, within that instability, something raw emerges—studio chatter, loose structure, and a sense that the band is searching rather than arriving. It’s not about perfection; it’s about process. Even dismissed as a minor outtake in studio logs, the track carries a strange appeal, offering listeners a rare glimpse into the Stones’ creative undercurrent during one of their most fractured eras.

Dirty Work and the fracture behind the sound

By the time Dirty Work arrived in 1986, the cracks within the band were no longer hidden. Recording sessions at EMI Pathé-Marconi Studios unfolded under strained relationships, with key members like Ronnie Wood, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman not always present. The absence of unity forced reliance on guest musicians, including Jimmy Page and Bobby Womack, while keyboardists Ivan Neville and Chuck Leavell helped shape the album’s sound.

Amid this instability, Dirty Work still produced standout tracks like Harlem Shuffle and One Hit (To the Body), proving the band’s resilience. Yet it remained a record defined as much by conflict as by music—so much so that no supporting tour followed. Within this context, Who’s Shagging Who makes perfect sense: not as a fully realized song, but as a fleeting, almost accidental document of a band navigating tension, fragmentation, and the stubborn persistence of creativity.

Like what you see? Help keep it going! This site runs on the support of readers like you. Your donation helps cover costs and keeps fresh Rolling Stones content coming your way every day. Thank you!

COPYRIGHT © ROLLING STONES DATA
ALL INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE IS COPYRIGHT OF ROLLING STONES DATA. ALL CONTENT BY MARCELO SONAGLIONI.
ALL SETLISTS AND TICKET STUBS TAKEN FROM THE COMPLETE WORKS OF THE ROLLING STONES. 
WHEN USING INFORMATION FROM ROLLING STONES DATA (ONLINE OR PRINTED) PLEASE REFER TO ITS SOURCE DETAILING THE WEBSITE NAME. THANK YOU.