Album: Sticky Fingers (1971)

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• When the wind blows and the rain feels cold
  With a head full of snow
  With a head full of snow
  In the window there's a face you know
  Don't the nights pass slow
  Don't the nights pass slow
  
  The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind
  Just another mad mad day on the road
  I am just living to be lying by your side
  But I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road
  
  Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes
  Gonna warm my bones
  Gonna warm my bones
  I got silence on my radio
  Let the air waves flow
  Let the air waves flow
  
  Oh I'm sleeping under strange strange skies
  Just another mad mad day on the road
  My dreams is fading down the railway line
  I'm just about a moonlight mile down the road
  
  I'm hiding sister and I'm dreaming
  I'm riding down your moonlight mile
  I'm hiding baby and I'm dreaming
  I'm riding down your moonlight mile
  I'm riding down you moonlight mile
  
  Let it go now, come on up babe
  Yeah, let it go now
  Yeah, flow now baby
  Yeah move on now yeah
  
  Yeah, I'm coming home
  'Cause, I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road
  Down the road, down the road Writer/s: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger
  Publisher: Abkco Music Inc.
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 25

• Jason from MontanaI remember listening to this song over and over when my grandma died and wishing I could be there, but I was stationed away in the military at the time. Made me yearn for home.
• Brenda from GoldsboroAll I know is this song had me at “when the wind blows…. The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind.” Talk about poetry! Love! AND!!! The piano in this piece is totally mesmerizing!!!! And the “road” the way he sings it - wow!!! Love! Just the “whole” of it!
• Daniel R from New England I thought moonlight mile was about a friend’s death?
• Deethewriter from Saint Petersburg, Russia FederationTaken from Original Rolling Stone Review [June 10, 1971]: "From "Brown Sugar" we had to wait all the way to here to get a masterpiece. The semi-oriental touch seems to heighten the song's intense expression of desire, which is the purest and most engaging emotion present on the record. The sense of personal commitment and emotional spontaneity immediately liberate Jagger's (double-tracked) singing: it's limitations become irrelevant and he rises to the occasion by turning in his best performance on the album — the only thing that compares with his singing of "Gimme Shelter."
  There is something soulful here, something deeply felt: "I've got silence on the radio, let the airwaves flow, let the airwaves flow." Paul Buckmaster, Elton John's arranger, does the best job with strings I can remember in a long, long time, while Charlie Watts only goes through the motions of loosening up his style, as he comes down hard on the nearly magical line, "Just about a moonlight mile."
  The cut contains that rave-up they never gave us on "Goin Home"; perhaps it is just a filling out of the intensely erotic climax that came towards the end of that song ("Sha-la-la," and all of that). When Jagger finally says "Here we go, now" as Mick Taylor's guitar (Richard is inexplicably absent) falls perfectly into place with a hypnotic chord pattern, it's as if he is taking our hand and is literally going to walk us down his dream road. As the strings push the intensity level constantly upwards and Charlie emphasizes the development with fabulous cymbal crashes, the energy becomes unmistakably erotic — erotic as opposed to merely sexual, erotic in a way that the entire rest of the album is not. The expression of need that dominates so much of the record is transformed from a hostile statement into a plea and a statement of warmth and receptiveness.
  This cut really does sway and when Jagger's voice re-enters, it is with none of the forced attempts at style and control present on the rest of the album, but with the kind of abandon that he seems uniquely capable of. And unique is the best word to describe the cut as a whole: after nine songs that hover around the middle, they finally hit the high note and make a statement that is not just original but that could have only come from them.
  At least it gives me hope for the future."
• Nat from Nyc, NyI interpret the song as a depiction of thier life on the road in the early 70s ... long, lonely and loaded ...
• Matt from Washington, Dc, DcI always imagined it to be about escaping to rural China, just about the only place the Stones were anonymous -- dont the time pass slow, don't the nights pass slow -- sound of strangers sending nothing (speaking Chinese) -- silence on my radio -- let the airwaves flow -- sleeping under strange, strange skies -- dreams (nightmares) fading down the railway line -- I'm hiding baby -- I'm coming home, but I'm just about a moonlight mile down the road.
• Tom from Antelope, CaI'll tell ya what this song is about... It's about aliens!!!! Think about it... Moonlight : when do people get abducted - Nighttime! So far from home - On the alien spaceship! Just another man like me - Aliens are LIKE humans!! Head full of snow - what do aliens like to do - Coke!! See! Can ya dig it? I knew that you could.
• Sam from Hipsville, CaWas interesting to note that the working title was "the japanese thing"..hence the very oriental sounding intro. Great song!
• Chuck from Concord, NhThis Stones song completely slipped by my radar initially. Then it was used brilliantly in an episode of The Sopranos, and since then it's on my favorites list. Another great Stones song, Thru and Thru, was also used in The Sopranos series.
• Ashley from Quincy, Ili love this song it's so pretty it used to make me cry cause i love them so much and they will never know that.
• George from Little Rock, ArThis song is obviously about cocaine and all of the craziest that come with it. There are too many tongue in cheek reference to drugs for it to be about anything else. I think that this is one of the stones best songs...it never gets old to me.
• Mark from Chicago, IlTowards the end M.J. sings "I'm pining sister and I'm dreaming", not "hiding". To "pine" means to yearn intensely, fits better don't you think?
• Craig from Melbourne, AustraliaQuite simply, a perfect song. From go to woe, this is pure brilliance. The perfect end to the perfect album. Sticky Fingers is (mostly) an album that revels and celebrates decadence and addiction. Songs like I got the blues, Sister Morphine and this marvellous song, are the results of that lifestyle. That theme is carried over into Exile on Main ST.
• John from Wilmington, NcA head full of snow is an obvious reference to doing cocaine.
• Lazarus from Washington, DcGoat's Head Soup continues to be a totally underrated album. Mick Taylor poured his heart and soul into that album, and it was mostly he and Mick Jaggar working together in the studio for that one. Where was Kieth? Who cares. IMHO, that poor excuse for a vampire has been resting on his laurels for far too long.
• John from Cleveland, OhWith all do respect to yduR of Knoxville, any idiot with half a nut and half a brain could say any rock song with ambiguous lyrics (especially a Stones song) could be interpreted as being about drugs. A "head full of snow" could, and most likely does, refer to the static on a TV set. For my money, XX from Whakatane had it right. It's about the feeling one experiences during a long tour: constant travel to a variety of places, surrounded by masses of people, yet feeling lost and hopeless because you're away from the people that matter most. So you have to keep telling them (and yourself as well) that the distance isn't THAT long, only a "moonlight mile"
• Dan from Simi Valley, CaThis song was used brilliantly in the final scene of the season six finale of the HBO series The Sopranos
• Krysten from Odessa, TxThis song is just beautiful...it really elicits emotions perfectly. One of my favorites from the Stones, and definitely underrated.
• Johnny from Los Angeles, CaWhat a really great underrated song. One of the stone's best.
• Rory from Victoria, CanadaI absolutely love this song, It might be my favourite Rolling Stones song of all time. I always had Sympathy for the Devil as my number one but after hearing this more and more...I'm less sure.And as for the meaning I think its a little of the "cocaine song" and little of the "away from your family song". I think the intent was to show how the person is miles away from their family in body AND mind.
• Anthony from Coventry, United StatesPaul Buckmaster did the strings on this track and Keith Richards did not play on this track.
  Ant.Cov.UK
• Chris from Chicago, IlActually Mick Jagger is the main acoustic guitar on this in Open G tuning.
  Mick Taylor plays the other parts.
  No Keith.
• Ydur from Knoxville, TnThis is an obvious cocaine song; moonlight miles are lines of cocaine done on a mirror at night, usually during a lengthy session. Jagger also says early in the song "with a head full of snow".
  
  It's about using drugs as an escape from emotional pain. The music is beautiful, but if you listen to the lyrics closely, you will hear a heartbreaking story; this is common in much of the Stone's work.
  
  Also, to quote Dave Marsh, Charlie Watts drumming and Paul Buckminister's string arrangement on this are landmarks of Rock and Roll.
  
  
• Xx from Whakatane, Hong KongThis gem is about not wanting to be on the road, moonlight miles away from who you really want to be with. It starts out slow and gentle and hits a cinematic climax with "Yeah, I'm coming home/'Cause I'm just about a moonlight mile on down the road/Down the road, down the road, yeah" and ends with tinkling, Oriental-style guitar(Keith Richards' playing on this song).
  
  The best Rolling Stones song ever.
• Jo-c from Lima, PeruActually, Mick Jagger played an acoustic guitar for this song, so Mick Taylor didn't do all the guitar work.

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