Neighbours

Album: Tattoo You (1981)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is a tale of neighbors from hell inspired by real events in the life of Keith Richards. He was always getting complaints for playing his music too loud, and was evicted from his New York apartment in 1981.
  • The Rolling Stones kept the British spelling of the title, rendering it "Neighbours" on the Tattoo You track list, even in America.
  • Jazz great Sonny Rollins played the sax solo. He also appears on the tracks "Slave" and "Waiting On A Friend."
  • Tattoo You was put together using outtakes of songs from earlier albums. They started working on "Neighbours" in 1979, hoping to use it on their 1980 album Emotional Rescue.
  • "Neighbours" wasn't released as a single, but it did get a music video. The Tattoo You album was released around the same time MTV went on the air in 1981, and The Rolling Stones had a huge presence on the network that year. They enlisted Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who had been making promotional films with them since the '60s, to direct the videos for the album. "Start Me Up" and "Hang Fire" just show the band performing in a studio, but "Neighbours" had a ready-made concept, showing Mick Jagger screaming out a window and shots of private moments in various apartments. It's an idea lifted from the Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window.

Comments: 7

  • Hank Hill from Arlen, TxI thought the song was about the Stones having sec with all their neighbors. Do unto neighbours as you do to yourself.
  • Michael from Delafield, WiKevin, the song about being lazy is "Hang Fire". I love this verse:

    "You know marrying money is a full time job
    I don't need the aggravation
    I'm a lazy slob
    I hang fire, I hang fire
    Hang fire, put it on the wire "

    Great!
  • M from Psl, FlA rolling stone gathers no moss!
  • Danny from Your Town, IaI think one of the earlier ones Mick wrote about Keith would be "Let It Loose."
  • Kevin from Reading , PaI always thought this song was the Stones being lazy, just not trying too hard. It's kind of an obnoxious song, with Mick yelling "neighbors" over and over against a beating snare drum. Not one of the album's highlights.
  • Steve from Culver City, CaHaving been written in 1981, I doubt if it was the "first" song Jagger wrote about Keith Richards. How about "Let it Bleed" or "Dead Flowers"?
  • Johnny from Los Angeles, CaFirst song Mick wrote about Keith? Really?
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul Station

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul StationSongwriter Interviews

Paul Stanley on his soul music project, the Kiss songs with the biggest soul influence, and the non-make-up era of the band.

80s Music Quiz 1

80s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.

Keith Reid of Procol Harum

Keith Reid of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

As Procol Harum's lyricist, Keith wrote the words to "A Whiter Shade Of Pale." We delve into that song and find out how you can form a band when you don't sing or play an instrument.

Bible Lyrics

Bible LyricsMusic Quiz

Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.