Dreamy Skies

Album: Hackney Diamonds (2023)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Dreamy Skies" is Mick Jagger's yearning country ballad born during the COVID lockdown at his country retreat. He's ditching the spotlight and craving pastoral escape from the city "to a place where no one can call." Jagger's heard the call of the wilderness where it's "just the bark of a fox and the hoot of an owl."

    "It's very un-Mick-like," Keith Richards commented to The Sun. "I was very surprised... this is really nice Mick and out of character for him to write something like that."
  • Though "dreamy skies" doesn't show up in the lyrics, the title serves as a symbol of the serene sanctuary Jagger craves.
  • Richards' slide guitar and Jagger's Nashville twang and bluesy harmonica evoke the Stones' country vibes of such earlier tracks as "Dead Flowers" and "Far Away Eyes."
  • Although Jagger and Richards famously bonded over Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records when they formed the Stones, they were also both into country music.

    "When we did meet, it was a case of, 'Oh, you like country, too,'" said Richards, "so it has always been a part of what we do."
  • The Rolling Stones recorded "Dreamy Skies" for Hackney Diamonds, their first studio album of original material since 2005's A Bigger Bang.
  • Andrew Watt (Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop) produced Hackney Diamonds. Watt was brought in after Paul McCartney suggested the producer to the band.

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