Claudine

The Rolling Stones' recording sessions at Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris proved to be very inspired and fruitful; all in all more than 50 tracks were recorded, 10 of which made it to the new album, "Some Girls". Ian 'Mac' McLagan continues: "Eventually Keith picked up his Telecaster and started to play. Charlie followed, and then Woody and Bill. I sat down at the Hammond and noodled along with them. It felt good to be playing with them. No, it felt great, and it made me want to play. Simon Kirke was over behind Charlie, smacking the congas, and Stu sat down at the piano.

Mick stood in the middle of the floor at the microphone singing and howling, and I'd forgotten how good his harp playing was. We went through several tunes, a couple I knew from somewhere, and another that sounded somewhat familiar, and then it was all new from then on in. We took a break for a bite to eat later that night, and then went back to the hotel.

I threw my bag in the room, and caught up with Charlie and Woody in Keith's room, who was keen to play me some of the tracks they already had on tape. He put on 'Claudine' and the whole band were in classic form, but Mick's 'live' vocal floored me. At the end of the song he asks the question, 'Am I in my right mind to be locked up with this people?' My answer would be 'Yes!' It was my favourite band playing at their peak".

The exiting, country-and-roll like 'Claudine', with Stu on piano, was a finished take, but it was shelved due to potential legal problems. The track eventually got released on the 2011 "Some Girls" re-release. The song was inspired by the case of Claudine Longet - the ex-wife of sixties crooner Andy Williams, who was convicted of shooting her lover.

Adapted from the following sources:

James Hector, The Complete Guide To The Music Of The Rolling Stones, Omnibus Press, 1995.
Ian McLagan, All The Rage, Pan Books, 2000.