"
Connection" is a song by the British
rock and rollRock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
band
The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. It was featured on their 1967 album
Between the Buttons- American release:In the US, the album was released by London Records on February 11, 1967 . "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Ruby Tuesday" were slotted onto the album while "Back Street Girl" and "Please Go Home" were removed ...
. It was written by
Mick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and
Keith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
(but mostly Richards) and featured vocals by both of them and is said to be about the long hours the band spent in airports. The lyrics contain much rhyming based on the word "connection." The lyrics also reflect very heavily the pressures the band was under by 1967:
Coincidentally, the song was written before Jagger, Richards and fellow Rolling Stone
Brian JonesLewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
were arrested by the police for drugs.
Although it was never released as a single, it is a popular live song.
The song itself is built on a very simple featuring a repetitive drum pattern,
Chuck BerryCharles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
-like lead guitar from Richards, and the piano of
Ian StewartIan Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
.
It has been covered by the bands Marble Phrogg (on their highly regarded and sought after sole 1968 self-titled album),
EverclearEverclear is a rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1992 best known for their radio hits spanning more than a decade. For most of its existence, Everclear has consisted of Art Alexakis , Craig Montoya , and Greg Eklund . Eklund replaced original drummer Scott Cuthbert in 1994...
,
MontroseMontrose was a California-based hard rock band. The band originally featured Ronnie Montrose on guitar and future solo artist and former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar...
, and Eddie and the Subtitles (on their 1968 album
Dead Drunks Don't Dance) and also by
Ramblin' Jack ElliottRamblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
on his 1968 debut album
Young BrighamYoung Brigham is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in 1968.-History:Young Brigham was Elliott's first major-label release on the Reprise label. The liner notes were written by his friend Johnny Cash....
.
The song was performed by Richards during his 1988 solo tour and during shows for the Stones' 1995 leg of the
Voodoo Lounge TourThe Voodoo Lounge Tour was a worldwide concert tour by The Rolling Stones to promote their 1994 album Voodoo Lounge. This was their first tour without bassist Bill Wyman; he was replaced by Darryl Jones. The tour grossed $320 million, becoming the highest grossing tour of any artist at that time...
and the 2006
A Bigger Bang TourA Bigger Bang Tour was a worldwide concert tour by The Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album A Bigger Bang...
throughout
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. "Connection" is also featured in the 2008
Martin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
film
Shine a LightShine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting The Rolling Stones' 2006 Beacon Theatre performance on their A Bigger Bang Tour. The Scorsese film also includes archive footage from the band's career and marked the first utilisation by Scorsese of digital...
.