Dead Flowers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Dead Flowers” | |||||
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| Song by The Rolling Stones | |||||
| Album | Sticky Fingers | ||||
| Released | April 23, 1971 | ||||
| Recorded | December 15, 1969 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 4:13 | ||||
| Label | Rolling Stones/Virgin | ||||
| Writer | Jagger/Richards | ||||
| Producer | Jimmy Miller | ||||
| Sticky Fingers track listing | |||||
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"Dead Flowers" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the rock and roll band Rolling Stones off of their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Recording on "Dead Flowers" began on December 15, 1969 at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama.
According to some interpretations, the song is about a man whose girlfriend left him and because of his sadness turns to drugs to make him feel better:
| “ | Well when you're sitting back in your rose pink Cadillac, making bets on Kentucky Derby Day, I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon, and another girl can take my pain away | ” |
"Dead Flowers" is said to refer to heroin. The needle and spoon are also paraphernalia common with heroin use. The song is notable for its use of the Stones' core members each playing their respective instruments, with Ian Stewart on piano and singer Mick Jagger taking up acoustic guitar.
The song appears on Sticky Fingers (1971) and Stripped (1995). The Stones performed the song on September 29, 2006 during their A Bigger Bang Tour at Louisville's famed Churchill Downs, in reference to the previously quoted line from the song. A live cut from their 1994 Voodoo Lounge Tour can be found on the 1995 live album Stripped.
[edit] Cover versions
Cover versions of Dead Flowers have been recorded and released by the following notable artists:
- Guns N' Roses bootleg unplugged album
- GG Allin, on The Troubled Troubador (released in 1996).
- Gilby Clarke, on Pawnshop Guitars (released in 1994).
- Steve Earle, on Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator (released in 1991) and Ain't Ever Satisfied: The Steve Earle Collection (released in 1996).
- The Good Brothers, on The Good Brothers Live (released in 1980).
- Henry McCullough, on Cut (released in 2000).
- The Karl Hendricks Trio, on Buick Electra (released in 1992).
- New Riders of the Purple Sage, on Live Austin, TX 06/13/1975.
- Nine Pound Hammer, on Mulebite Deluxe (released in 2005).
- Poison, on Poison'd (released in 2007).
- The Powder Kegs, on The Seedhouse (released in 2007).
- Michael Stanley, on The Farrago Sessions (released in 2006).
- Townes Van Zandt, on Roadsongs and Abnormal.
One of Townes Van Zandt's versions of the song is included on the soundtrack to the film The Big Lebowski.
