We Love You
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "We Love You" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by The Rolling Stones | ||
| Released | 1967 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | 1967 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4 min 35 s | |
| Label | Decca/ABKCO | |
| Producer(s) | Andrew Loog Oldham | |
| Chart positions | ||
| The Rolling Stones singles chronology | ||
| "Ruby Tuesday" (1967) |
"We Love You" (1967) |
"Dandelion" (1967) |
We Love You is a rock song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, first released as Decca single F12654 in the UK by The Rolling Stones on August 18, 1967, with a B-side of "Dandelion." It went top ten in Britain, peaking at #8, but only made it to #50 in the United States. This single and its flipside would be the final Stones recordings receiving a production credit for band manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
Written in the aftermath of the drugs arrests faced by Jagger and Richards at the Redlands country home of the latter in Sussex that year, the single opens with the sounds of entry into jail, and a cell door clanging shut. The draconian nature of the sentences handed down to the two Stones relative to the charges prompted a stern editorial by The Times in protest. The songs's lyric, seemingly an echo of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" broadcast from earlier in the summer, on closer examination espouses a strong anti-establishment posture, proclaiming "we don't care if you hound we and lock the doors around we" and "you will never win we, your uniforms don't fit we." The band produced an accompanying promotional film for the single, such shorts at this time not yet called videos, re-enacting the 1895 indecency trial of Oscar Wilde. Firmly connecting the past scandal with the present circumstance, the film had Jagger and Richards, along with Marianne Faithfull, respectively portraying Wilde, the Marquess of Queensbury, and Lord Alfred Douglas. Stones guitarist, Brian Jones also appears heavily under the influence of drugs in the video (taken from stock footage of rehearsals).
As a recording, the song became the band's first full-blown excursion into psychedelia, although elements of that style had existed in the band's records since 1966. It boasted an involved production, with Watts' drums to the fore, using phasing, distortion, and tape effects, including a snippet of the flipside song as a tag at the end of the record. Brian Jones contributed Mellotron, and John Lennon with Paul McCartney sang backing vocals.
The single was not added to the 2002 reissue of Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) by ABKCO, even though its b-side "Dandelion" is present; it is available on three other compilations, More Hot Rocks, the Decca singles collection and "Rolled Gold". The remastered version of this track released on the More Hot Rocks collection omits the snippet of Dandelion, but instead we are treated to the sound of an engineer stopping tape!
