Appearing amidst a dark fug on side two of 1971’s Sticky Fingers, Sister Morphine by The Rolling Stones presented a chilling, stark evocation of the grip of narcotic addiction that by this point had wrapped its fingers firmly around the Stones and their extended entourage – not least guitarist Keith Richards.
However, an earlier version of the song had been released two years previously by Mick Jagger’s ex-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull as the B-side to her 1969 single Something Better.
Recorded during the sessions for 1968’s Beggars Banquet – with Charlie Watts on drums, guitarist Ry Cooder, and Phil Spector protégé/Neil Young collaborator Jack Nitzsche on piano – despite the Jagger/Richards credit that appeared on the single’s US release and its subsequent inclusion on Sticky Fingers, Faithfull had written the lyrics.
Although the singer would suffer a near-fatal overdose prior to Sticky Fingers’ release, as she told MOJO in 2021, rather than from personal experience, she drew inspiration for the song from those around her at the time, including her first husband, John Dunbar, and Richards’ partner, Anita Pallenberg. Below, Faithfull recounts writing the song with Jagger and her 25-year battle to receive a credit…
“This is what I remember and it’s quite clear. We were in London and Mick was strumming this tune all the time, a lovely tune but it had no words. And eventually I got sick of hearing it and said, ‘Look, Mick, let me write some…’
“So I wrote this story about a man who’d had an accident. He’s dying, and in terrible pain and all he wants is for the nurse to bring him another shot. It’s definitely a kind of junkie song except that neither Mick nor I knew much about junkies back then, although I knew more, because I already knew [beat poet] Gregory Corso and [Faithfull’s first husband, art dealer] John Dunbar – people who did use narcotics. And I think, partly, if I had to put a real person in it, Sister Morphine might have been Anita [Pallenberg]. Because she had just played Nurse Bullock in [1968 film] Candy.
“I recorded my version in LA in ’68 with Mick and Charlie and Jack Nitzsche, who I adored – he was a monster, really, but I miss him terribly – and it turned out really well. It came out on a single with Something Better, a lovely recording. But Decca were very nervous about Sister Morphine.
“They weren’t very bright at Decca, you know. I mean, there’s actually nothing illegal going on in the song, but there was a backlash against me and the Stones at the time. We had a bad reputation, which today is almost like a badge of honour.
“Was it a surprise when it turned up on Sticky Fingers? Yes – a tremendous shock. And without my credit! I was so angry. I fought and fought until I got the credit back, and I did get it back, but it took at least 20 years. Why did they resist? Well, it’s a team, isn’t it: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards? And it was unheard of to let someone else in. Letting a woman in would have been even more awful!
“With my own experience of addiction, the song became much deeper for me – when I sing it, all my life experience comes rushing up to meet me. Band after band of mine loved playing it, to the extent that if I ever said, ‘I don’t feel like doing Sister Morphine tonight,’ there would be a revolution!
“I guess it was the best song I ever was to write.”
This article originally appeared in MOJO 333.
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