The Spider and the Fly

Composers: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: May 1965          Recording location: RCA Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Producer: Andrew Oldham          Engineer: Dave Hassinger
Performed onstage: 1965-66, 1995

Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass: Bill Wyman
Electric guitars: Keith Richards (incl. solo) & Brian Jones
Vocal: Mick Jagger
Harmonica: Mick Jagger
 

Sitting, thinking, sinking, drinking
Wondering what I'd do when I'm through tonight
Smoking, moping, maybe just hoping
Some little girl will pass on by
Don't want to be alone but I love my girl at home
I remember what she said

She said: My, my, my, don't tell lies
Keep fidelity in your head
My, my, my, don't tell lies
When you've done your show, go to bed
Don't say "Hi" like a spider to a fly
Jump right ahead and you're dead

Sit up, fed up, low down, go round
Down to the bar at the place I'm at
Sitting, drinking, superficially thinking
About the rinsed-out blonde on my left
And then I said Hi like a spider to a fly
Remembering what my little girl said

She was common, flirty, she looked about 30
I would have run away but I was on my own
She told me later, she's a machine operator
She said she liked the way I held the microphone
I said My, my like a spider to a fly
Jump right ahead in my web
 
 

TrackTalk

(A) lot of things like Spider and the Fly were cut at the end of a session, while some guy was sweeping up.

- Keith Richards, 1971


I really wasn't mad about it, but when you listen to it on record, it still holds up quite interestingly as a blues song. It's a Jimmy Reed blues with British pop-group words, which is an interesting combination: a song somewhat stuck in a time warp.

- Mick Jagger, 1995



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