Sleep Tonight

"Sleep Tonight" appeared on The Rolling Stones' 1986 album Dirty Work. It is the second song on the ten-track album where lead vocals are performed by Keith Richards, "Too Rude" being the first. This was the first time two songs sung by Richards appeared on a Rolling Stones album; since Dirty Work all their studio albums have included at least two tracks featuring Richards' lead vocals.

Richards wrote the song (credited as a Jagger/Richards composition) on piano in the Paris recording studio's control room.^{[citation needed]} Ronnie Wood liked the developing song and they recorded it together unaccompanied.^{[citation needed]} Backing vocals and strings were added later. Wood played drums, since Charlie Watts wasn't present for the session, and Watts later said "he could not have done better."^[1]

Richards has stated that his singing during the Dirty Work sessions "thickened up" his voice: Since Jagger was absent from the studio much of the time, Richards provided guide vocals for many tracks and learned new microphone techniques.^[2]^[3] His sturdy but smokey vocal presence on "Sleep Tonight" foreshadows the strong and emotive singing on his solo records and later Rolling Stones tracks.

[edit] The song

"Sleep Tonight" is a piano driven ballad, with a restrained string arrangement. Richards sings with an almost gospel tempo as the heavy drum beat marches out the confusion and uncertainty of a loved one possibly lost. Many fans and critics interpreted the lyrics as reflecting mournfulness over the state of the Rolling Stones at the time.^{[citation needed]}

“

I wish you baby, all the best, If you turn out like all the rest;

This darkness baby, it's chilling me - Stars stare down in sympathy.

”

The song shows a maturing musician and songwriter, and is a bridge between the younger Richards "outlaw" songs, and the more soulful ballads he became known for on later Rolling Stones records like "Slipping Away", "Thru and Thru", "How Can I Stop" and "Losing My Touch".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notes

^ Elliott, Martin (2002). The Rolling Stones: Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002. Cherry Red Books, pg. 319. ISBN 1-901447-04-9.
^ DeCurtis, Anthony. (1988). "Keith Richards: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. No. 536. 6 October 1988
^ Bosso, Joseph. "Keith! Tunings, Teles and the Cosmic Shuffle: The Rolling Stone Goes Solo". Guitar World. v. 9, no.11. December 1988.