The Last Time (song)

This article is about the Rolling Stones song. For other songs with the same title, see The Last Time (disambiguation).

"The Last Time"
Single by The Rolling Stones
from the album Out of Our Heads
B-side	"Play with Fire"
Released	26 February 1965 (UK) 13 March 1965 (US)
Format	7"
Recorded	11-12 January 1965 RCA Studios, Hollywood
Genre	Rock
Length	3:41
Label	Decca F12104 (UK) London 45-LON 9741 (USA)
Writer(s)	Jagger/Richards
Producer	Andrew Loog Oldham
The Rolling Stones singles chronology
"Heart of Stone" (1964) "The Last Time" (1965) "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965)
Music sample "The Last Time"

"The Last Time" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones. This was The Rolling Stones' first British single written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It was the band's third UK single to reach #1, spending four straight weeks at the top on most of the numerous UK music charts (there was no one UK chart at the time considered to be an absolute and definitive authority) in March and early April 1965. "The Last Time" was recorded at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California in January 1965. On his website, Jimmy Page lists this song as one on which he plays. The Last Time was mixed in true stereo, but only bootleggers have a poor quality version, and the stereo version is noticeably shorter than the mono counterpart.

Footage still exists of a number of performances of this song by the Rolling Stones in 1965: from the popular BBC-TV music show Top of the Pops, the 1965 New Musical Express Poll Winners Concert and American TV shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig! and The Hollywood Palace. The footage establishes that the distinctive guitar riff was played by Brian Jones while the chords and guitar solo were played by Keith Richards.

A fan favourite and popular song in the Stones' canon, it was regularly performed in concert during the band's 1965, 1966 and 1967 tours. It was then left off their concert setlists until 1997-98, when it was dusted off for the Bridges to Babylon Tour.

Although the song is credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Richards has mentioned that it was based on a traditional gospel song called "This May Be The Last Time", recorded by The Staple Singers in 1955.

Cover versions

In 1967, The Who rush-recorded a version of this song and "Under My Thumb" to show support for Jagger and Richards, who had been sentenced to prison terms on drug charges.

In 1997, former Rolling Stones business manager Allen Klein, whose company ABKCO Records owns the rights to all Rolling Stones material from the 1960s, sued English rock band The Verve for using a sample of The Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of "The Last Time" in their hit song "Bitter Sweet Symphony". The Verve had obtained a licence to use the sample, but Klein successfully argued that the band used more than the licence covered. The Verve were required to relinquish their royalties to ABKCO and the songwriting credit was changed to Jagger/Richards. This led to Andrew Loog Oldham, who owns the copyright on the orchestral rendition that was sampled, also suing The Verve.

Australian singer John Farnham covered the song in 2002, as the lead single and title track of his 2002 album, The Last Time.

The same hook was sampled in several other subsequent recordings by other artists, most notably in "Number 1" by Tinchy Stryder featuring N-Dubz, which reached number one in the UK singles chart in the week of its official release on 20 April 2009.

References

Preceded by "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones

UK number one single 18 March 1965 (3 weeks)

Succeeded by "Concrete and Clay" by Unit 4 + 2

The Who version

"The Last Time"
Single by The Who
B-side	Under My Thumb
Released	30 June 1967
Format	Vinyl record
Recorded	28 June 1967 De Lane Lea Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	3:02
Label	Track
Writer(s)	Jagger/Richards
Producer	Kit Lambert
The Who singles chronology
"Pictures of Lily" (1967) "The Last Time" (1967) "I Can See for Miles" (1967)

In 1967, after the imprisonment of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, on drugs charges, The Who recorded covers of "The Last Time" and "Under My Thumb" as a single. The intention was to help Jagger and Richards make bail, but by the time the single was made available, they had been released. The songs were rush recorded and the record appeared in shops in only one week. As John Entwistle was away on his honeymoon he authorised the Who to do the record without him and bass parts were overdubbed by Pete Townshend. The UK only release reached #44 on the singles chart.