NEW YORK — The Rolling Stones have unveiled a new song the band thinks is perfect for these coronavirus times.
The legendary band released the four-minute slow-burning bluesy and harmonica-driven ” Living in a Ghost Town ” on Thursday.
FILE – This April 4, 2016 file photo shows members of The Rolling Stones, from left, Charlie Watts, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at the Rolling Stones Exhibitionism preview in London. The Rolling Stones will join Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Billie Eilish for the upcoming TV special aimed at fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Advocacy organization Global Citizen announced Friday that the Stones will appear Saturday on “One World: Together At Home,” a two-hour televised event that will air at 8 p.m. Eastern simultaneously on ABC, NBC, CBS, iHeartMedia and Bell Media networks. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
“I’m a ghost/Living in a ghost town/You can look for me/But I can’t be found,” sings frontman Mick Jagger, who wrote it with guitarist Keith Richards.
Jagger explained that the song was one they were working on long before the global lockdown and the band decided to revisit it in isolation, thinking it “would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now.” Richards added: “Mick and I decided this one really needed to go to work right now.”
The lyrics do certainly sound timely: “I’m going nowhere/Shut up all alone/So much time to lose/Just staring at my phone.”
The Stones’ recently joined forces remotely to perform “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” for the “One World: Together At Home,” concert.
Other musicians who have recorded coronavirus-related songs include Twenty One Pilots, who released a new standalone single, “Level of Concern.”