The Rolling Stones on Thursday released new music for the first time in years, a song called “Living in a Ghost Town” that the band likened to life during the coronavirus pandemic.
Unmistakably a Stones tune, the song was released with a music video composed largely of footage showing several large cities essentially abandoned amid the global health crisis.
The track is the first Stones original made available since the band included two new songs on a compilation released in 2012; the group released an album of old blues songs in 2016.
“So the Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now,” singer Mick Jagger said in a statement.
The Stones began recording the song last year and finished it “in isolation,” said Mr. Jagger.
“It wasn’t written for now,” Mr. Jagger, 76, added in an interview shared by the Stones on social media. “It was written about being in a place which was full of life and then now is all, you know, bereft of life, so to speak.”
“Life was so beautiful, then we all got locked down,” he sings in the song. “Feel like a ghost living in a ghost town.”
The accompanying music video shows empty streets in cities such as London and Los Angeles along with black and white footage of the Stones in the recording studio.
Stones guitarist Keith Richards said in a video shared by the band on Twitter that the group began recording the song over a year ago while in the studio in L.A. putting together material for a future album.
“And then s–t hit the fan, and Mick and I decided that this one really needed to go to work right now. And so here you have it,” Mr. Richards, 76, said in the video. “Stay safe.”
The song was made available on digital streaming service and on vinyl record and CD.
Formed by Mr. Jagger and Mr. Richards in 1962, the Stones had been scheduled to tour North America starting in May prior to postponing the concerts last month because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Virtually all other acts have similarly stopped touring in light of public health officials urging people against gathering in large groups in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the contagious and potentially caused by the coronavirus. New dates for the Stones tour have not yet been announced.
The group has still managed to remain active and participated in a benefit held last week in response to the pandemic. Along with guitarist Ronnie Woods and drummer Charlie Watts, Mr. Jagger and Mr. Richards performed the group’s 1969 classic “You Can’t Always Get Whaat You Want” during Global Citizen’s “Together at Home” concert, albeit with each bandmate playing their part from a different location.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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