The Rolling Stones Songs - Waiting On A Friend Lyrics

The Rolling Stones - Waiting On A Friend

The Rolling Stones - Waiting On A Friend Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Tattoo You
Released: 1981

Waiting On A Friend Lyrics

Watching girls go passing by it ain't the latest thing
I'm just standing in a doorway
I'm just trying to make some sense
Out of these girls passing by, the tales they tell of men
I'm not waiting on a lady, I'm just Waiting On A Friend

A smile relieves a heart that grieves, remember what I said
I'm not waiting on a lady, I'm just waiting on a friend
I'm just waiting on a friend, just waiting on a friend
I'm just waiting on a friend, I'm just waiting on a friend
I'm just waiting on a friend

Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah
Don't need a whore, don't need no booze, don't need a virgin priest
But I need some one I can cry to
I need someone to protect

Ooh, making love and breaking hearts, it is a game for youth
But I'm not waiting on a lady
I'm just waiting on a friend
I'm just waiting on a friend, just waiting on a friend
Waiting on a friend, I'm just waiting on a friend
I'm just waiting on a friend, waiting on a friend

Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, yeah

Writer/s: Jagger, Mick / Richards, Keith
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, SONY ATV MUSIC PUB LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Waiting On A Friend Song Chart

This is a rare mature reflection from The Stones, as Mick Jagger sings about the values of friendship as opposed to women. Then again, it might be about drugs. Keith Richards was a heroin user at the time, and the song could be a euphemism for waiting on the "connection" - the man with the drugs. Should Keith (or in this case, Mick, as he is singing in the video) get questioned by the police, his response would be, "I'm just waiting on a friend." (thanks, Russell - High Desert, CA)

Originally Recorded in 1972 at the sessions for their album Goats Head Soup, this didn't make the cut but was repackaged and released on Tattoo You nine years later. Released as a single, it did very well in America thanks to the advent of MTV; the network launched in 1981 and was thrilled to have a new video by a rock band of The Stones' stature.

There are no musician credits on Tattoo You, but it is clear that Mick Taylor contributed on guitar, which he was not compensated for. Taylor fell into obscurity after leaving The Stones in 1974.

Think this is about waiting for a woman? Think again. Mick Jagger said in 1983: "Just let me be cynical for a moment. First of all, it's really NOT about waiting on a woman friend. It's just about a FRIEND; it doesn't matter if it's a man or a woman. I can see people saying, Oh, we're all much older now, Mick's writing this much more compassionate stuff, must be about a real person. But that's only in their perception of it." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The Stones hired Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins to play on the Tattoo You album. He played on this as well as the tracks "Slave" and "Neighbors." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The video ran constantly on MTV. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who did their Rock and Roll Circus special in 1968, it featured Jagger and Richards meeting on a New York City street, then going to a local bar to join the rest of The Stones. Reggae legend Peter Tosh is the Rasta sitting on the stoop with Mick Jagger. (thanks, Eli - Albuquerque, NM)

This also features Nicky Hopkins on piano, Jimmy Miller on percussion and Kasper Winding on tambourine. Winding was a Danish session drummer who played on the Tattoo You sessions. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)