40 Year Itch : Mick Taylor Leaves The Stones

Mick Jagger promised him a credit on "Moonlight Mile" and a couple of other things but never have it to him. He saw Keith a couple of years ago and Keith was crying and saying "Oh, we really owe you, man. We really owe you". But nothing came of it. I think Ronnie Wood said, "Well, Mick Taylor neurally really was a Rolling Stone." And he was right.  He wasn't. I think Mick always felt he had sold his soul for rock'n'roll. And didn't get paid nearly enough in exchange. But then you never do, do you?"

-A "Stones Insider" quoted in Exile On Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones by Robert Greenfield.

Between 1969 and 1974 The Rolling Stones made and released Let It Bleed, Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St. and Goats Head Soup, and Mick Taylor played on all of them. He got one writing credit, for "Ventilator Blues" on Exile which he shared with Jagger. On December 12, 1974, at a party in London, Taylor told Jagger he was leaving the Stones. “To ask if I regret leaving The Rolling Stones is to ask the wrong question”,  Taylor has said. “The hard one to answer is, do I regret joining them?”

Mick Taylor's 6 Best Moments on Rolling Stones records:

1. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", Sticky Fingers.



 Sure, the song stars with a classic open chord riff from Richards but at about 4:40 in, Taylor takes the song --and his Gibson ES-345 --in a smooth direction reminiscent of Carlos Santana.

2. "All Down the Line" on Exile on Main St.



Mick Taylor on slide guitar, played with a  bottle on his finger, punctuates every Jagger line and takes a mind blowing single at the 2:10 mark.

3."Winter" on Goats Head Soup and 4."Moonlight Mile" on Sticky Fingers



Taylor should probably have received a co-writing credit for both tunes with Jagger. Richards wasn't even at the studio the day they knocked out "Winter". Taylor can be heard on slide guitar and then with a piercing lead on "Winter". It was Taylor's idea to add the string section on "Moonlight Mile".

4. "Stop Breakin' Down" on Exile on Main St.



Producer Andy Johns says this is his favorite song on the legendary double album. Jagger was playing rhythm guitar and Taylor those bluesy solos.

6. "Sway", Sticky Fingers



  Taylor plays the bottle neck guitar on this song which he always claimed to have written with Jagger. The last minute is all Taylor too.