The lost guitar solo from The Rolling Stones’ song ‘Brown Sugar’
The Rolling Stones’ song ‘Brown Sugar’ is not without controversy. Born out of a different era, to the ears of the 21st century, it has some major pitfalls and has since even been retired by the group. However, removing the problematic elements of the tune, it’s hard not to recognise it as a foundational rock and roll pillar. Few know that the audience was denied a face-melting guitar solo that was removed from the track.
Between 1969 and 1974, The Rolling Stones had a new member. Mick Taylor originally auditioned for the band, thinking he was being brought in as a session musician. He impressed Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, who brought him into the studio to do some overdubbing on ‘Honky Tonk Woman’, ‘Live With Me’ and a few other tracks from the Let It Bleed sessions.
It was a tumultuous period for the band. Founding member Brian Jones was nowhere to be found as his drug addiction and tensions with his bandmates hit a new high. In July of 1969, Jones died, leaving a sad opening in the band that Taylor filled. His live debut with the band was at their infamous Hyde Park concert in tribute to their lost friend.
Taylor is never given his dues in the band. Never fully brought into the fold, he’s too often forgotten or written out of the Stones’ history. But his contributions to albums like Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main St and Goats Head Soup were crucial. In the mid-1970s, he’d save the band again as Richards’ addiction compromised his ability to function and properly play his parts, leaving Taylor to pick up the slack.
However, the Stones themselves play a role in the criminal underestimation of the guitar player as they axed one of his spotlight moments. By the time the Sticky Fingers sessions got underway, Mick Taylor was a tried, tested and true band member. He plays on almost all the tracks, moving between electric and acoustic guitar to expand their sound.
Nowhere do their guitars sound better than on the anthemic opener ‘Brown Sugar’, but Taylor’s role was supposed to be bigger. When the track was originally recorded, in place of the saxophone solo and outro, there was a roaring guitar solo from Taylor. But by the time the record came out, it had been replaced with a saxophone solo from the Plastic Ono Band’s Bobby Keys.
“Originally, ‘Brown Sugar’ had a guitar solo. Mick Taylor put a guitar solo on it,” Keys said. “In fact, some of the very early pressings came out with the guitar solo on it.”
The decision to replace the guitar solo came down to nothing but a spontaneous moment at a party. “There was a birthday party with me and Keith [Richards] and Eric Clapton and George Harrison and Ringo [Starr] and Keith Moon, a whole bunch of other people,” he recalled. “And we started to have a jam session. I don’t remember exactly what the process was now, but we ended up playing ‘Brown Sugar.’ And I just played that solo on it.”
The Stones’ producer Jimmy Miller happened to be in attendance and heard the solo, asking Keys, “‘Can you do that again?’ I said, ‘Hell, I don’t know what I did then, but if I did it once, I can do it again.’”
While Mick Taylor’s guitar solo was cut from the record, some heroic music fans have found those early pressings, sharing the original ‘Brown Sugar’ with Taylor’s solo. Featuring his guitar playing generally sitting higher in the mix, his talent is heard in all its glory.