Prodigal Son

Composer: Robert Wilkins     Original performer: Rev. Robert Wilkins (c. 1930)
Recording date: May-June 1968        Recording location: Olympic Sound Studios, London
Producers: Jimmy Miller        Chief engineers: Eddie Kramer & Glyn Johns
Performed onstage: 1969-71, 1979

Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Acoustic guitar: Keith Richards
Vocal: Mick Jagger
Shout (end): Keith Richards
Harmonica: Brian Jones
 

Well a poor boy took his father's bread and started down the road
Took all he had and started down the road
Went out of his world, where God only knows
And that'll be the way to get along

Well poor boy spent all he had, famine come in the land
Spent all he had and famine come in the land
"I believe I'll go and hire me to some man"
And that'll be the way I'll get along

Well the man said "I'll give you a job for to feed my swine
I'll give you a job for to feed my swine"
Boy stood there, hung his head and cried
Cause that is no way to get along

Said "I believe I'll ride, believe I'll go back home
Believe I'll ride, believe I'll go back home
Or down the road as far as I can go"
And that'll be the way to get along

Well, father said "See my son coming home to me"
Father ran and fell down on his knees
He said "Sing and praise, Lord have mercy on me"
Mercy

Oh the poor boy stood there, hung his head and cried
Poor boy stood and hung his head and cried
Said "Father, will you look on me as a child?"
Yeah

Well the father said to the eldest son "Kill the fattest calf, call the family round
Kill that calf and call the family round
My son was lost but now he is found
Cause that's the way for us to get along"

Hey
 
 

TrackTalk

I very rarely play slide on records. There's always a better slide player in the band than me. I did use slide on things, mostly on acoustic stuff like You Gotta Move and Prodigal Son, stuff like that, open-D or open-E.

- Keith Richards, 1989


There was a kind of country and blues roots feel to tracks like Prodigal Son. You just let certain parts of you out when you wanted to. When we first started out we wanted to be a blues band and then we became more pop-oriented - because we wanted to be popular and to get played on the radio - and then we started to become more of an eclectic band.

- Mick Jagger, 2003



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