The Rolling Stones’ new album includes a rock’n’roll tribute to the late Amy Winehouse, in the form of a cover of her hit single “You Know I’m No Good”.
The legendary band famously performed with Winehouse at the Isle of Wight festival in 2007 – their first UK festival appearance in over 30 years – singing the Temptations song “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”.
Ahead of the release of Foreign Tongues, due for release on 10 July, the Stones opened up about their fondness for the late star and their sadness over her death, aged 27, in 2011.
“She would go, ‘Oh Ronnie, what am I going to do?’” guitarist Ronnie Wood told The Sunday Times. “I said, ‘Look, everyone knows you’ve got vodka in the water bottle. Get it together and get on stage.’ But if you could get her up there and she stayed there, it’d be great.”
Wood added: “I’m sad because she didn’t do her full span. It was like saying goodbye to Billie Holiday again.”
Meanwhile, Keith Richards expressed regret at not getting to know Winehouse more, after their Isle of Wight performance.
“I was always sort of, ‘Well, I’m bound to meet her down the road,’” he said. “You expect things to happen, and unfortunately no. But that’s what records are for. I’m just very glad and honoured to have played with her at least once.”
“You Know I’m No Good” was written by Winehouse and featured on her second and final album, Back to Black, released in 2006. The song narrates Winehouse’s guilt at being unfaithful to her partner; on the Stones’ version, Jagger switches the lyrics slightly so he’s singing from a male perspective.
Doubt is still swirling over whether the Stones will tour again, apparently amid Richards’ reluctance to commit to another gruelling run.
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However, the Sunday Times interview reported that each band member expressed hope of getting back to it in 2027, while admitting to finding the current void “rather strange”.
“My body’s going, ‘What are you doing,’” Jagger said over the fact that, for once, he’s not training for live shows. He had earlier said during a TV appearance in the US that he would love to tour the new album, and that he hoped the band might be back on the road next year.
The Stones remain one of the world’s most popular live acts, with their most recent North America tour grossing almost a quarter of a billion dollars and selling 880,000 tickets.
They last toured in the summer of 2024 to promote Hackney Diamonds, their first album of original material in almost two decades and their first since the 2021 death of drummer Charlie Watts.
Foreign Tongues is out on Friday 10 July.
