Releasing their first song in eight years, English rock band The Rolling Stones returns unannounced with "Living in a Ghost Town."
In a post on his Twitter page, the Stones' frontman Mick Jagger shares that they were in the studio recording new material before the lockdown. With their new track, the band members felt it "would resonate through the times that we're living in right now."
The post on the band's official website tags the new single as "Recorded in LA, London and in isolation."
The 4:07 track was initially uploaded to the band's YouTube channel, featuring the cover art. A few hours later, a music video was uploaded showing streets on major cities in the world made empty by the pandemic, shown alternately through full-screen view and fisheye views. The video also includes shots of The Rolling Stones performing their new rock single.
"Life was so beautiful/ Then we all got locked down/ Feel a like ghost/ Living in a ghost town," The Stones singing its timely lyrics, which at parts were accompanied by Jagger's harmonica.
In an interview with Zane Lowe of Beats 1, Jagger said that he and guitarist Keith Richards began working on "Living in a Ghost Town" more than a year ago for their upcoming album with music producer Don Was.
But as The Stones finished the track, with both Jagger and Richards opting to release it, Jagger had to rewrite some parts of the lyrics that "is not gonna work. Some of it was a little bit weird and a bit too dark." He further explained that he was playing his guitar when the idea came along, noting that while some songs take a while to write, "Living in a Ghost Town" was done "really quickly, in like, ten minutes."
Lowe then confirmed if The Rolling Stones were indeed making a new album, pointing out that the last originals album was fifteen years ago. Their 24th American album (22nd in Britain), "A Bigger Bang," was a double-vinyl released in September 2005 and was the last original song album from the English rock band. It was followed by the covers album "Blue & Lonesome" last 2016.
"You know, it's so long ago that you want it to be terrific so, I don't want just want it to be a good album, I want it to be great," the 76-year-old rock icon said.
The New Zealand DJ and Beats 1 host then asked Mick Jagger about the longstanding question: "Beatles or Stones?" Lowe then shared a recent episode of Howard Stern's radio show, guesting Sir Paul McCartney and his take on the decades-long fan debate. A heartily laughing Jagger answered "no competition," before explaining that the Rolling Stones is a concert band in "other decades, and other eras when The Beatles never even did an arena tour." He explained how The Fab Four missed out on tour with a "decent sound system," breaking up "before that (touring) business even started."
Lowe pitched in by crediting The Rolling Stones as inventing "the large-scale touring experience." Jagger also recognized other big acts doing large stadium shows like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
