The Rolling Stones Songs - Love In Vain Lyrics

The Rolling Stones - Love In Vain

The Rolling Stones - Love In Vain Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Let It Bleed
Released: 1969

Love In Vain Lyrics

Well I followed her, to the station
With a suitcase in my hand
Yeah, I followed her to the station
With a suitcase in my hand

Whoa, it's hard to tell, it's hard to tell
When all your love's in vain

When the train, come in the station
I looked her in the eye
Well the train come in the station
And I looked her in the eye

Whoa, I felt so sad so lonesome
That I could not help but cry

When the train left the station
It had two lights on behind
Yeah, when the train left the station
It had two lights on behind

Whoa, the blue light was my baby
And the red light was my mind

All my love was in vain

All my love's in vain

Writer/s: ROBERT JOHNSON
Publisher: THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Love In Vain Song Chart

This is a reworked version Robert Johnson's Blues classic. Prolific in the 1930s, Johnson was one of Keith Richard's inspirations.

The Stones recorded this with more of a Country feel than the original Blues version, which was more dreary and depressing.

Keith Richards: "For a time we thought the songs that were on that first album were the only recordings Robert Johnson had made, and then suddenly around '67 or '68 up comes this second bootleg collection that included Love in Vain. Love in Vain was such a beautiful song. Mick and I both loved it, and at the time I was working and playing around with Gram Parsons, and I started searching around for a different way to present it, because if we were going to record it there was no point in trying to copy the Robert Johnson style or ways and styles. We took it a little bit more country, a little bit more formalized, and Mick felt comfortable with that."

Mick Jagger: "We changed the arrangement quite a lot from Robert Johnson's. We put in extra chords that aren't there on the Robert Johnson version. Made it more country. And that's another strange song, because it's very poignant. Robert Johnson was a wonderful lyric writer, and his songs are quite often about love, but they're desolate." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2)

With Brian Jones unavailable due to drug problems, Ry Cooder was brought in to play mandolin.

The Stones' record label at the time, ABKCO Music, lost the rights to this in 2000 when a court ruled that this, along with "Stop Breakin' Down," were the property of Robert Johnson's estate. The Stones thought the copyright on the song had expired.

Eric Clapton recorded this for his 2004 album Me and Mr. Johnson. Clapton is a big fan of Robert Johnson. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The Stones performed this song at the 2007 Isle of Wight festival with Paolo Nutini, who was just 20 years old at the time and enjoying breakthrough success from his debut album These Streets. The band rehearsed it with Nutini in a Travelodge hotel room before the show, leaving quite an impression on the young Scottish singer.