Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass: Keith Richards
Acoustic guitars: Keith Richards
Electric guitars: Keith Richards & Brian Jones
Lead vocal: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Piano(s): Keith Richards & Ian Stewart
Tambourine: Jack Nitzsche
Horns: (unspecified musicians)
 

Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow?
Have you had another, baby, standing in the shadow?
I'm glad I opened your eyes
The have-nots would have tried to freeze you in ice

Have you seen your brother, baby, standing in the shadow?
Have you had another, baby, standing in the shadow?
Well I was just passing the time
I'm all alone but won't you give all your sympathy to mine?

Tell me a story about how you adore me
And we live in the shadow and we see through the shadow
And we live through the shadow and we tear for the shadow
And we hate in the shadow and we love in your shadowy life

I said Have you seen your lover, baby, standing in the shadow?
Has he had another, baby, standing in the shadow?
Just where have you been all your life?
Talking about all the people who would try anything twice, oh

Have you seen your mother, baby, standing in the shadow?
Have she had another, baby, standing in the shadow?
Well you take your choice at this time
The brave old world or the slide to the depths of decline
 
 
 

TrackTalk

We tried trombones, saxes and nearly all permutations of brass before arriving at the trumpets. Everything but the trumpets dragged.

I liked the track, I hated the mix. Mainly because there was a fantastic mix of the thing, which was just right. But because they were in a rush and they needed to edit it down for the Ed Sullivan Show - 'cause we were booked to play our latest single which was gonna be Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow? - the mix was rushed and the essential qualities of it, for me, disappeared. Because... just because of the lack of time, you know...

It needed another couple weeks. The rhythm section is almost lost completely.

Keith always felt that the incorrectly mixed version was released as the single. The rhythm section is buried in the mix and it failed to create as much excitement as we all felt it should have done. Although we took longer to record and mix this single than any of our previous releases, Keith always felt it needed more - this was the beginning of the future!

I get the ideas for the words by sitting down and following a train of thought - one thing just leads to another. This is simply about a boy and his bird. Some songs I write are just for a laugh. Others are extensions of ideas. This is a mixture of both. You must listen to it and place your own interpretation on the lyric. There is no attempt to present a controversial Mother theme. Mother is a word that is cropping up in a lot of numbers.

I'm not going to burst into tears if this doesn't go to number one. At least it is the best we could do and I am satisfied that we have given our best.

Have You Seen Your Mother? was like the ultimate freakout. We came to a full stop after that. I just couldn't make it with that anymore; what more could we say? We couldn't possibly have kept it up like that. You just drain out totally. Because it's just the end of a certain period and we just had to stop. Because we'd done it, you know, there was nothing more we could do. And we just had to wait until we'd organized ourselves, and, you know, things have changed a little.

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