| Till the Next Goodbye | |
| Artist: | The Rolling Stones |
| Album: | It's Only Rock 'n Roll |
| Released: | 18 October 1974 |
| Recorded: | November 1973, January / May 1974 |
| Genre: | Roots rock, blues rock, country rock |
| Length: | 4:37 |
| Label: | Rolling Stones/Virgin |
| Producer: | The Glimmer Twins |
"Till the Next Goodbye" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, featured on its 1974 album It's Only Rock 'n Roll.[1] [2]
Credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards recording on "Till the Next Goodbye" began at Munich's Musicland Studios in November 1973. The song is a traditional ballad from the Stones' middle period, with slight country music influences. It opens with an acoustic guitar which leads into Jagger's performance. The lyrics deal with the "illicit meetings between two lovers";
The song's chorus is notable as the title is elongated into the phrase "Till the next time we say goodbye."
Recording continued at Jagger's home in Newbury with the use of the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and finished at Island Recording Studios in London. Jagger, Richards and Mick Taylor each perform acoustic guitar for the piece. Richards also contributes electric slide guitar to the recording. Nicky Hopkins performs the song's piano. Bill Wyman performs bass while Charlie Watts performs drums.[3]
An overlooked song from the Stones canon of work, "Till the Next Goodbye" has never been performed live by the Stones and was not included on any compilation albums until the release of the Heartbreak EP in early 2021.
The song was rehearsed on 11 February 2014 in Paris, in preparation for the Rolling Stones 14 On Fire Asia Pacific Tour, which started in Abu Dhabi on 21 February 2014. In attendance was special guest Mick Taylor.
In his review of the song, Bill Janovitz says, "In the mid-'70s, a 42nd Street movie theater would have been a place of questionable repute and not a very romantic rendezvous. The lyric is unexpectedly complex; the point of view, Jagger as narrator, speaks to the mistress apologetically and with a guilty conscience... In one line on the bridge, Jagger manages to convey empathy, culpability, and frustration: 'I can't go on like this/Can you? Can you?' On paper it seems clear, the narrator is asking out of the relationship (paraphrasing): 'I can't do this, can you?' But the way Jagger sings it, it sounds like he's asking, 'You can't do this anymore, can you?' He's conveying a different meaning altogether, almost as if he is playing both parts in one line."[4]
In a period review, Rolling Stone
In a retrospective review, Vulture
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon's book The Rolling Stones All the Songs,[9] except where noted:
The Rolling Stones
Additional musicians and production
Studio locations