As Tears Go By

"As Tears Go By" was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in 1964 and is the ninth track off of the Rolling Stones fifth studio release...December's Children (And Everybody's). The LP peaked at No. 4 in the US while "As Tears Go By" made it to the No. 6 spot on the Billboard 100. The original title for the song was "As Time Goes By." It was changed to avoid confusion with the song from the movie Casablanca.

The composition of "As Tears Go By" came when Richards and Jagger were asked by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to write a song that was not centered around sex and drug use. The sad story told in "As Tears Go By" is what they came up with. The lyrics in the song tell us of an individual who is sitting and watching children play during "the evening of the day". When first hearing the song one would get the impression that this individual is elderly but we have to remember that Richards and Jagger were about 21 years old when they wrote this. Perhaps the melancholy message in the song is the belief that one is watching children play realizing that he is no longer a child. Lines like..."Smiling faces I can see,But not for me" and "All I hear is the sound,Of rain falling on the ground" are constant reminders of the sad tone set forth. "As Tears Go By" can be viewed as an a Rolling Stone antidote of some sort. A simple song in which Jagger sang and Richards played acoustic guitar over a string arrangement. No other Stones performed on the song. Although "As Tears Go By" did not fit their raucous image, it did established the Stones as a band that could pull off the occasional ballad. The song was performed live on tour for the first time in 2005 on the Stones "A Bigger Bang" tour. This version of "As Tears Go By" can be found on the 2008 live release...Shine a Light.

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