Composers: Mick
Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: October & December 1970 & February 1971
Recording locations: Rolling
Stones Mobile Unit, Mick Jagger's home, Newbury
& Olympic Sound Studios,
London, England
Producer: Jimmy
Miller
Chief engineers:
Glyn
Johns & Andy Johns
Performed onstage: 2005-07, 2013, 2015
Line-up:
Drums: Charlie
Watts
Bass: Bill
Wyman
Rhythm electric guitar: Mick
Jagger
Lead electric guitar: Mick
Taylor
Lead vocal: Mick
Jagger
Background vocals: Mick
Jagger, Keith Richards, Pete
Townshend, Ronnie Lane &
Billy Nicholls
Piano: Nicky
Hopkins
Strings: (unknown
musicians)
TrackTalk
(Y)ou... need two guitars (to play that song) , 'cause you need one guitar in open tuning to play the dah-dum-dah-da. In fact it was Mick Jagger that played rhythm guitar on that track.
I added my solo to Sway, but it's
very much Mick's song. I don't think Keith's on it. It had a great,
loose feel. Mick played rhythm guitar on that. He's a great rhythm
player. My theory is he has a natural feel and that's also why he's
such a great dancer.
On Sway I used the Les Paul; Keith doesn't play on that track. Mick Jagger's playing rhythm guitar... (I played the slide part and the solo) at the same time. I put the slide on my little finger so it would still leave the other 3 fingers free to play like they would regularly, and I switched from one to the other. That was played in regular tuning.
(On Sway Mick plays electric guitar).
Yeah... Well, like I say, acoustically he's got a nice touch. It doesn't
translate electrically. It's not his thing. It's not everybody's cup of
tea... I'd never let him play electric if I could help it. He's like Bob
Dylan, same thing. They thrash away at it. No sense of electric at all.
Usually I turn him down.
(W)e didn't always get there at the same time.
If we felt like playing, we would. That's why on Sway the backing
track was done with just Charlie, Mick, and me.
It's just me and Mick and Bill and Charlie. Keith was not there or we did it before he arrived in the studio. It was done at Olympic. I had this tune and knocked it out really quickly. It was good to touch to add strings. They were booked for Moonlight Mile but we chucked them on this, as well. It added a little bit more texture... We probably cut this track just a couple of times.
(A)s far as the (Stones songs) I played on, I like Sway and Moonlight Mile...