| "Angie" | |||||||||||||
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| Single by The Rolling Stones | |||||||||||||
| from the album Goats Head Soup | |||||||||||||
| B-side | "Silver Train" | ||||||||||||
| Released | 20 August 1973 | ||||||||||||
| Format | 7" | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | November–December 1972 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||||||||||
| Length | 4:33 | ||||||||||||
| Label | Rolling Stones | ||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Jagger/Richards | ||||||||||||
| Producer | Jimmy Miller | ||||||||||||
| The Rolling Stones singles chronology | |||||||||||||
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"Angie" is a song by rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1973 album Goats Head Soup.
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and recorded in November and December 1972, "Angie" is an acoustic guitar driven ballad which tells of the end of a romance. Rolling Stones-recording regular Nicky Hopkins plays the song's distinctive piano accompaniment. The strings on the piece (as well as "Winter") were arranged by Nicky Harrison. One unusual feature of the original recording is that singer Mick Jagger's vocal guide track (made before the final vocals were performed) is faintly audible throughout the song (an effect sometimes called a "ghost vocal").[1]
Released as a single in August 1973, "Angie" went straight to the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached number five on the UK singles chart. The song was also a #1 hit in both Canada and Australia for five weeks each and topped the charts in many countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
Popular belief has it that the song was about David Bowie's first wife Angela or even about actress Angie Dickinson; but Richards' daughter Dandelion Angela had just been born, and the name is now claimed to have been one of Richards' contributions to the lyrics.[2] The song was indeed written almost entirely both lyrically and musically by Keith Richards but it has also been claimed, in Richards own biography, that the name Angie is a pseudonym for heroin and his attempt while detoxing in Switzerland to once and for all "say good-bye".
The Rolling Stones have frequently performed the song in concert; it was included in set lists on their 1973, 1975 and 1976 tours, and on every tour since their 1982 European tour.[3] Concert renditions have been released on the albums Stripped and Live Licks. Two music videos were shot to promote the song.
In the documentary Protagonist, the former German terrorist Hans-Joachim Klein explains that he adopted the moniker "Angie" during his militant activities in the 1970s in reference to the song.[4] In 2005 the German party CDU used the song for its election campaign for Angela Merkel; the Rolling Stones had not given Merkel permission to use the song.[5]
| Preceded by "Half-Breed" by Cher |
US Billboard Hot 100 number one single 20 October 1973 |
Succeeded by "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight & the Pips |
| Preceded by "Half-Breed" by Cher |
Canadian RPM 100 number-one single 13 October – 10 November 1973 (five weeks) |
Succeeded by "Could You Ever Love Me Again" by Gary & Dave |
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