Come On
by The Rolling Stones

Album: Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (1963)
Charted: 21
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Songfacts®:

  • Running a tight 1:47, "Come On" was The Rolling Stones' first single; it's a remake of a Chuck Berry song from 1961. Berry was a big influence on The Stones, particularly their guitarist, Keith Richards. Before they sharpened their songwriting skills, the group did a lot of covers, and Berry was at the top of their list. Other Chuck Berry songs The Stones recorded include "Around And Around" and "Carol."
  • The Stones performed this song on Thank Your Lucky Stars, a popular English TV show, on July 7, 1963 in their very first TV appearance. The show's producer told the Stones manager he should "Get rid of that vile-looking lead singer with the tire-tread lips." They decided to keep Mick Jagger.
  • This was the first song The Stones recorded professionally. They recorded it on May 10, 1963.
  • The song reached #21 on the UK Singles chart, a solid debut for The Stones. But Mick Jagger isn't impressed. He had this to say about the song in 1971: "I don't think 'Come On' was very good, in fact it was s--t. God knows how it ever got in the charts, it was such a hype. In fact we disliked it so much we didn't do it on any of our gigs."
  • In their review of "Come On," June 8, 1963's Record Mirror referred to The Rolling Stones as, "a bluesy very commercial group that should make the charts in a smallish way."

Comments: 3

  • Guy from Woodinville, WaThe lads may not have liked it, but it's an interesting artifact of the Stones' evolution, since your first single is always about trying to get a commercial hit. In any case, it's a great pop song. Rare to hear Brian Jones singing!!
  • Ian from Lethbridge, CanadaThis song is awesome! Very impressive considering it was their very first song!
  • Chelsea from Nyc, OrA rare appearance of Brian Jones on BU vocals. Andrew Oldham had no idea what "mixing" a song meant when asked how he wanted it to sound after the Stones had recorded it. So he just told the engineer to go ahead. A very "poppy" sounding song for the Stones in their bluesy period that was aimed at the recordbuying market.
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