The Worst

Album: Voodoo Lounge (1994)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is one of two tracks sung by Keith Richards on Voodoo Lounge. The other one is "Thru and Thru." Said Keith Richards, June 1994: "(The songs I sing on this album)... they're more or less sort of just a feeling, really. They're little bits of your life that just come back to you, and suddenly you say, Oh, that little situation. Yeah. Now I can finally finish it off, tail it off, because now I can write a song about it. But you don't think about it. It's something that maybe happened maybe 20 years ago, 10 years ago, whatever, just a little incident here or there, or somebody told you something. It's just in a way trying to transmit a certain feeling."
  • The album was recorded in Dublin, Ireland. Said Richards, 1994: "It's funny, but a lot of these songs were written in kitchens. That one I wrote in the kitchen in Barbados, and I thought, That's a pretty melody, but what to do with it, I really didn't know. I guess that's where Ireland comes in, because Ireland has its own traditional music, and it's not country music as such, but it's the roots of it, you know? It's that Irish feel."
  • This features Chuck Leavell on piano and Frankie Gavin on violin. Fiddle player and flute player Frankie Gavin is a member of the well-known traditional Irish folk music group De Danaan. While recording in Dublin in 1993 for Voodoo Lounge, The Stones got him to contribute on "The Worst and New Faces." Gavin also later worked on Keith's Wingless Angels project. In November 2002, Gavin guested onstage with The Stones at their Oakland concert, performing on "Sweet Virginia." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France, for all above

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

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.

Weird Al Yankovic

Weird Al YankovicFact or Fiction

Did Al play on a Beach Boys record? Did he have beef with George Lucas and Coolio? See if you can spot weird but true stories.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne CashSongwriter Interviews

Rosanne talks about the journey that inspired her songs on her album The River & the Thread, including a stop at the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. Televangelists

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. TelevangelistsSong Writing

When televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart took on rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the rockers retaliated. Bono could even be seen mocking the preachers.