Tell Me (You're Coming Back)
Encyclopedia
"Tell Me" is a song by English rock and roll
band The Rolling Stones
, featured on their 1964 self-titled album
(US title: England's Newest Hit Makers). It was later released as single A-side in the USA only, becoming the first Jagger/Richards
song that the band released as a single A-side, and their first record to enter the US Top 40. The single reached #24 in the US and #1 in Sweden. It was not released as a single in the UK.
and guitarist Keith Richards
, "Tell Me" is a pop
ballad
. Richie Unterberger
said in his review of the song, "It should be pointed out ... that the Rolling Stones, even in 1964, were more versatile and open toward non-blues
-rooted music than is often acknowledged by critics." The Rolling Stones' two previous singles bear out this observation: one had been the Lennon/McCartney
-penned "I Wanna Be Your Man
" (later recorded by The Beatles
as well); another was Buddy Holly
's "Not Fade Away
".
Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone
magazine: "['Tell Me'] is very different from doing those R&B covers or Marvin Gaye
covers and all that. There's a definite feel about it. It's a very pop song, as opposed to all the blues songs and the Motown
covers, which everyone did at the time."
The song's lyrics are a glimpse of a failed relationship and the singer's attempt to win back the girl's love:
Regarding the lyrics, Unterberger says, "When [Jagger and Richards] began to write songs, they were usually not derived from the blues, but were often surprisingly fey, slow, Mersey
-type pop numbers... 'Tell Me' was quite acoustic-based, with a sad, almost dispirited air. After quiet lines about the end of the love affair, the tempo and melody both brighten..."
in February 1964; versions both with and without Ian Stewart
's piano were cut. Jagger said: "Keith was playing 12-string and singing harmonies into the same microphone as the 12-string. We recorded it in this tiny studio in the West End of London called Regent Sound, which was a demo studio. I think the whole of that album was recorded in there."
Richards said in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, "'Tell Me'... was a dub. Half those records were dubs on that first album, that Mick and I and Charlie and I'd put a bass on or maybe Bill was there and he'd put a bass on. 'Let's put it down while we remember it,' and the next thing we know is, 'Oh look, track 8 is that dub we did a couple months ago.' That's how little control we had."
Early pressings of the UK release of the debut album mistakenly included the piano-less version of "Tell Me"; all subsequent releases have featured the version with piano.
In June 1964 "Tell Me" was released as a single in the USA only. It peaked at # 24 for two weeks, and lasting in the Billboard Hot 100 for a total of 10 weeks. The B-side was a cover of the Willie Dixon
song "I Just Wanna Make Love to You". The Rolling Stones performed the song in concert in 1964 and 1965.
"Tell Me" has been re-released on the compilations Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
, More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)
and Singles Collection: The London Years
.
The song was used in Martin Scorsese
´s film Mean Streets
(1973).
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
band The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, featured on their 1964 self-titled album
The Rolling Stones (album)
-Personnel:The Rolling Stones*Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica, percussion*Keith Richards – guitar, backing vocals*Brian Jones – guitar, harmonica, percussion, backing vocals*Charlie Watts – drums, percussion...
(US title: England's Newest Hit Makers). It was later released as single A-side in the USA only, becoming the first Jagger/Richards
Jagger/Richards
The songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, known as Jagger/Richards , is a musical collaboration whose output has produced the majority of the catalogue of The Rolling Stones....
song that the band released as a single A-side, and their first record to enter the US Top 40. The single reached #24 in the US and #1 in Sweden. It was not released as a single in the UK.
The song
Written by singer Mick JaggerMick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and guitarist Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
, "Tell Me" is a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
. Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
said in his review of the song, "It should be pointed out ... that the Rolling Stones, even in 1964, were more versatile and open toward non-blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-rooted music than is often acknowledged by critics." The Rolling Stones' two previous singles bear out this observation: one had been the Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...
-penned "I Wanna Be Your Man
I Wanna Be Your Man
"I Wanna Be Your Man" is a Lennon–McCartney-penned song that was recorded separately by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones' version was released a few weeks earlier...
" (later recorded by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
as well); another was Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
's "Not Fade Away
Not Fade Away (song)
"Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly and Norman Petty and first recorded by Holly's band The Crickets in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957...
".
Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine: "['Tell Me'] is very different from doing those R&B covers or Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
covers and all that. There's a definite feel about it. It's a very pop song, as opposed to all the blues songs and the Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
covers, which everyone did at the time."
The song's lyrics are a glimpse of a failed relationship and the singer's attempt to win back the girl's love:
Regarding the lyrics, Unterberger says, "When [Jagger and Richards] began to write songs, they were usually not derived from the blues, but were often surprisingly fey, slow, Mersey
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
-type pop numbers... 'Tell Me' was quite acoustic-based, with a sad, almost dispirited air. After quiet lines about the end of the love affair, the tempo and melody both brighten..."
Recording and release
"Tell Me" was recorded in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in February 1964; versions both with and without Ian Stewart
Ian Stewart (musician)
Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
's piano were cut. Jagger said: "Keith was playing 12-string and singing harmonies into the same microphone as the 12-string. We recorded it in this tiny studio in the West End of London called Regent Sound, which was a demo studio. I think the whole of that album was recorded in there."
Richards said in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, "'Tell Me'... was a dub. Half those records were dubs on that first album, that Mick and I and Charlie and I'd put a bass on or maybe Bill was there and he'd put a bass on. 'Let's put it down while we remember it,' and the next thing we know is, 'Oh look, track 8 is that dub we did a couple months ago.' That's how little control we had."
Early pressings of the UK release of the debut album mistakenly included the piano-less version of "Tell Me"; all subsequent releases have featured the version with piano.
In June 1964 "Tell Me" was released as a single in the USA only. It peaked at # 24 for two weeks, and lasting in the Billboard Hot 100 for a total of 10 weeks. The B-side was a cover of the Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
song "I Just Wanna Make Love to You". The Rolling Stones performed the song in concert in 1964 and 1965.
"Tell Me" has been re-released on the compilations Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
Big Hits is the first official compilation album by The Rolling Stones, released on 28 March 1966, on London Records in the US and on 4 November 1966, by Decca Records in the UK. The two releases featured different cover art and track listing...
, More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)
More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)
More Hot Rocks is the second compilation album of Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein...
and Singles Collection: The London Years
Singles Collection: The London Years
Singles Collection: The London Years is a compilation album of Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein....
.
The song was used in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
´s film Mean Streets
Mean Streets
Mean Streets is a 1973 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973...
(1973).
Other versions
- It was covered in 1966 by The Grass RootsThe Grass RootsThe Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
on their first album Where Were You When I Needed YouWhere Were You When I Needed YouWhere Were You When I Needed You was the first album released by The Grass Roots. Most of the album is performed by the duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, although some of the album features a San Francisco band, including lead singer Willie "Bill" Fulton...
. - Cassell Webb recorded a version for her 1990 album Convesations at Dawn. It was also released as a single.
Personnel
- Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
: vocals - Brian JonesBrian JonesLewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
: Lead guitar, tambourine, backing vocals - Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
: 12 string acoustic guitar, backing vocals - Ian StewartIan Stewart (musician)Ian Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
: piano - Charlie WattsCharlie WattsCharles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
: drums - Bill WymanBill WymanBill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
: bass, backing vocals