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Rolling Stones unreleased: Windmill
Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: Village Recorders, Los Angeles, USA, Jan. 13-15 1973 (Goats Head Soup sessions) *Original version of Come To the Ball(without lyrics)
From Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012:The Stones started rehearsals for the upcoming tour in Los Angeles by using the opportunity to record and work on some Goats Head Soup material such as Dancing with Mr. D,HeartbreakerandStar Star. Windmill may have been a precursor to another outtake called Wind Call, which was recorded in 1974.
The Rolling Stones’ Windmill: A Mysterious Jam from the Goats HeadSoup Era
Tucked away in the vaults of rock history, Windmill remains one of those intriguing Rolling Stones outtakes that never saw the light of day—at least not officially. Recorded during a short but intense session from January 13 to 15, 1973, at Village Recorders in Los Angeles, it came out of the same fertile period that birthed tracks like Dancing with Mr. D, Heartbreaker and Star Star, all destined for the Goats Head Soup album. What’s fascinating is that Windmill was essentially the original version of Come to the Ball, but at that early stage, it had no lyrics—just raw energy and unfinished ideas bouncing between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. While it may not have made the final cut, it speaks to the Stones’ habit of laying down loose ideas that sometimes evolved into something more, and sometimes just drifted off like smoke from a studio amp.
Windmill, Wind Call, and the Echoes of a Jam
According to The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions 1962–2012 book by Stones researcher Martin Elliott, these sessions also served as the band’s warm-up for their upcoming tour. It’s likely Windmill started as a groove-based experiment—one of many that emerged as the Stones explored new material. Some fans and historians even suspect that it also was a precursor to another unreleased outtake, Wind Call, which would appear the following year. Whether it was part of a thematic thread or just a coincidence of titles, Windmill captures a unique moment of creativity for the band. And like many Stones outtakes, it offers a glimpse into how chaotic, spontaneous, and strangely beautiful their creative process could be—even when the tape was never meant to be heard.
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