The two bands which showed a great resemblance in the 60’s were The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. And in the early days, John and Paul often wrote and gave songs to their friends. And in trials and tribulations back in 63′ the Rolling Stones were on their back foot with no material for other records.
That summer, Stones released a cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Come On’ which was successful to some extent. That’s when John and Paul gave them the song ‘I Wanna Be Your Man‘.
Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham arranged a meeting of the two groups. According to Rolling Stone, Oldham, “had almost literally bumped into Lennon and McCartney as they stepped out of a cab.” That’s when Oldham took the pair down to a club where the Stones were rehearsing.
The major hit for The Rolling Stones came with the same song. It was originally written by the Beatles duo. They offered Rolling Stones the track they had started to work on. There they played a rough version and the Stones said they would love to record and have it. Bill Janovitz writes in Rocks Off: 50 Tracks that Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones.
“He invited them to the studio where the Stones were rehearsing and, right then and there, the two finished off what had been a McCartney sketch of an idea, handing it to the Stones for their single.”
Talking about the song, originally McCartney had penned the song, and Lennon, later on, took over and finished the track. It was all done when Macca was talking to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the corner of the room.
It is said that Stones wanted new material back then as they had no inspiration for new records. And after meeting The Beatles they handed over the song. Back then Mick and Keith were not a songwriter. The song was given in around September 1963, and by November they had released it as their new single. The song also peaked at No.12 on the UK charts and was a massive success.
Later on, Lennon also commented on the song. He said, “Paul and I went off in the corner of the room and finished the song off while they were all still sitting there talking,” John said in 1980. “We came back, and that’s how Mick and Keith got inspired to write… because, ‘Jesus, look at that. They just went in the corner and wrote it and came back!'”
He also added that it was not a big deal. They were among the rival bands, but still, he said that “The only two versions of the song were Ringo and the Rolling Stones — it shows how much importance we put on them. We weren’t going to give them anything great, right?”
The Stone’s version was successful commercially. This song came with a growing sense of animus and emerged with its development sessions. Back in 2016 McCartney also discussed the song and said, “We were friends with them, and I just thought ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ would be good for them. I knew they did Bo Diddley stuff. And they made a good job of it.”
Listen to ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ by the Rolling Stones and Ringo Starr both.
