The Rolling Stones release first original single in EIGHT years amid lockdown

The Rolling Stones have dropped a new single called Living In A Ghost Town, marking their first original track in eight years.

The legendary group, consisting of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, both 76, Ronnie Wood, 72, and Charlie Watts, 78, surprised fans by releasing the song on Thursday amid the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused the postponement of their No Filter tour.

During an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music, singer Mick and guitarist Keith touched on their upcoming album and the current climate of the music industry, with the lead vocalist admitting: ‘[The song] resonates with the times we’re in now.’

The hitmakers made the announcement separately on social media, sharing: ‘Hi there, we were in the studio recording some new material before the lockdown.

‘There was one song I thought that would resonate with the times we’re living in which is called Living In A Ghost Town, hope you like it!

‘So long story short, we cut this track well over a year ago in LA, for part of a new album, and then s*** hit the fan. Mick and I decided this one really needed to go to work right now. So here you have it, Living in A Ghost Town. Stay safe!’ 

They released their last single, Doom and Gloom, in 2012, four years before dropping their cover album, Blue & Lonesome. 

Their latest track was recorded in Los Angeles and London last year, but the group appropriately decided to share the song earlier than expected due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Detailing the origins of the project, Mick told New Zealand radio DJ Zane, 46: ‘It wasn’t written for now but it was written about being in a place which was full of life, and then now there’s all bereft of life, so to speak. 

‘And when I went back to what I’d written originally lyrically, it was all full of plague terms and things like that. I never actually used that, but it was all there. 

‘It was very close to the times that we’re living through now. But Keith Richards and I both had the idea that we should release it.’

The musician admitted he decided to tweak the lyrics as he believed some messages within the single were ‘a bit too weird a dark’.

‘I don’t know what frame of mind I must’ve been in’, he added. ‘I mean it was semi-humorous, then it got less humorous and I don’t know. Sometimes these things take a long time to write but this, I just wrote it really quickly in like 10 minutes.’

‘We played this song just Keith Richards and myself and a friend of ours, Steve. We routined it together after I’ve done it and we worked some parts out. And then we went and recorded it with a band. 

‘Then last week I redid the vocals for this. And it’s just open to own interpretation to a certain extent of course. But yeah, no, it was a little strange because the original was so much apropos of the times we were living through already. ‘

Artist Keith reassured listeners that there is more music to come as Living In A Ghost Town is just one of the ‘several other tracks’ featured in their forthcoming studio album, their first original collection of singles since A Bigger Bang in 2005. 

On ensuring the LP is ‘greater’ than their others, Mick, who insisted he’s ‘lucky’ to be in a profession in which he can still work, explained: ‘I think one of the problems I personally have with it is that it’s suddenly that you want it to be really good. 

‘So I don’t just want it to be a good album, I want it to be great. You know? Yes, I’m very hard on myself. If I write something or if I write something with Keith Richards or whatever, it’s going to be great. It can’t just be good.’  

The superstar also discussed bouncing back from his successful heart surgery in April 2019, which saw him return to stage in just three months.

He explained: ‘Well first of all, after I had this heart operation, after two weeks I went to get a check-up and I spoke to the doctor to say, “Look, I know you’ve got this tour on, but really you should take the summer off.” 

‘And the guy said to me, “Okay, so you can go on tour now.” I said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Do I have to take it easy?” He said, “No, you do anything you want.” 

‘I thought I was going to get the summer off at this point. I asked, “Is there any restrictions?” He said, “No, there’s no restrictions. Just do what you’d normally do.” So I did. So that made me feel good in a way. So I just did what I did. ‘ 

The Rolling Stones 15-date No Filter summer tour was due to kick off in San Diego, California on May 8 and end in Atlanta, Georgia on July 9.

The belter admitted the future of their performances are still up in the air due to coronavirus.  

Mick said: ‘Postponing tours is really bad and the whole touring thing, we don’t know what’s going to be happening. We don’t know when there’s going to be the next football match. We don’t know when the next tour outside’s going to be. 

‘You would imagine that playing outside would be more healthy than playing inside, one would imagine, but you don’t know. 

‘And people are saying, “Well are you going to be playing in a stadium that’s 40,000 people? You’re going to have 20,000 people in there,” for instance. But this is all in the realm of conjecture.’