The Spider and the Fly (song)

Infobox Song
Name =The Spider and the Fly


Caption =US-cover of "Out of Our Heads"
Type =
Artist = The Rolling Stones
alt Artist =
Album = Out of Our Heads
Published =
Released = 30 July 1965 (US)
track_no = 11
Recorded = 13 May, 1965, RCA Studios, Hollywood
Genre = Rock
Length = 3:38
Writer = Nanker Phelge
Composer =
Label = London PS429 (stereo), LL3429 (mono)
Producer = Andrew Loog Oldham
Chart position =
Tracks =
prev = Play With Fire
prev_no = 10
next = "One More Try"
next_no = 12
Misc = "The Spider and the Fly" is a song by British rock and roll band the Rolling Stones first released on the US version of their 1965 album "Out of Our Heads". The song also acted as the b-side to the hit-single, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. A low and lumbering blues number, "The Spider and the Fly" was cut by the band during their first tour of the US at Chicago's Chess Records. The lyrics talk of the search for women on a night out;

Singer Mick Jagger said in a 1995 interview with "Rolling Stone", "I wasn't really that mad about it, but when you listen to it on record, it still holds up quite interestingly as a blues song. It's a Jimmy Reed blues with British pop-group words, which is an interesting combination: a song somewhat stuck in a time warp." [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938143/jagger_remembers_continued/5 "Jagger Remembers"] . "Rolling Stone". Dec 14, 1995 (accessed 26 April 2007).]

Of particular note is the early use of the Rolling Stones' "ancient form of weaving" by guitarists Keith Richards and Brian Jones. Jagger performs harmonica on the recording while Jack Nitzsche provides percussion and keyboards.

The Stones have performed "The Spider and the Fly" twice on tour, in both 1965 and 1966 and during their 1995 leg of the Voodoo Lounge Tour. A studio "reworking" of the song was included on their 1995 live album "Stripped" and features the notable and amusing switch of the female subject of the song's age from thirty to fifty - a nod at the Stones' own advancing ages.

A cover was recorded by blues artist John Hammond on his 2003 album "Ready For Love".

Notes