Songfacts®:

• A remake of the Motown classic, this was a hit for The Temptations in 1966. A heavily processed Keith Richards guitar riff sets this version apart from the original. The Stones covered another Temptations song, "Just My Imagination," in 1978.
• The Stones originally planned to record Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" as the only cover song on It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, but they bumped it for this.
• In this interview with Paul McCartney, McCartney takes credit for introducing Mick Jagger to this song: "There were two songs I turned Mick onto that the Stones have done. One was She Said Yeah and the other was Ain't Too Proud To Beg. Mick would deny it - 'Wot? Never saw him, never met him' - but I distinctly remember having him up into a little music room and playing it to him. He loved it and he went and did it. We've messed around with the track a little bit, but it is sort of like my memory of the original."
• That's Billy Preston on the piano this time, Preston being the one that played the funkier tunes. There is no doubt that the piano asserts itself here, an integral piece that brings the song together as more than the sum of its parts. Jagger was also in top form here. As much air play as this song gets, it's surprising that it only made it to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The Rolling Stones performed this song live for the first time in nearly a decade and a half during a November 15, 2021 show at Ford Field, Detroit. "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" hadn't been a part of their set list since they rocked London's O2 Arena in 2017. "Ever since we were really young, we always loved Motown," Jagger told the audience. "We can't come to Detroit and not do a Motown number, right?"