“Waiting on a Friend” by the Rolling Stones was the second single from their 1981 Tattoo You album. But, it was actually first recorded in late 1972.
The track started life as part of their Goats Head Soup sessions, and according to Rolling Stones data, it remained musically the same throughout its evolution.
In the liner notes to 1993’s compilation album Jump Back, Mick Jagger explained why the song didn’t see the light of day for a decade, “We all liked it at the time but it didn’t have any lyrics, so there we were…The lyric I added is very gentle and loving, about friendships in the band.”
What ‘Waiting on a Friend’ is About
“Waiting on a Friend” shows a more mature, softer side to The Rolling Stones. The track sees serial playboy Mick putting aside women to seek a deeper relationship with friends.
The frontman insists that, “I’m not waiting on a lady. I’m just waiting on a friend”, and he fortifies that message by adding that a “smile relieves a heart that grieves.”
“But I need someone I can cry to. I need someone to protect,” Jagger sings. “Making love and breaking hearts. It is a game for youth.”
Jagger defended the song in a 1983 interview: “Just let me be cynical for a moment. First of all, it’s really not about waiting on a woman friend. It’s just about a friend; it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman. I can see people saying, ‘Oh, we’re all much older now, Mick’s writing this much more compassionate stuff, must be about a real person. But that’s only in their perception of it.”
Released as the second single after “Start Me Up”, “Waiting on a Friend” became a radio hit in the US, where it reached No. 13 on the singles chart in early 1982.