Song of the Day 4/26: The Rolling Stones, “Living in a Ghost Town”

I’m impressed that the coronavirus has prompted so many musicians to write songs to address the new reality. The latest to drop is this one from the Rolling Stones, which soared to No. 1 on iTunes within a day of its release — the band’s first No. 1 song in 40 years. The tune predates the pandemic, but Mick Jagger altered some of the lyrics to update it for the moment. “Some of it was a bit weird and a bit too dark, so I slightly rewrote it. I didn’t have to rewrite very much, to be honest.”

“We cut this track well over a year ago in L.A. for part of a new album, an ongoing thing,” said Keith Richards. “I had said to Don [Was] about a month or so ago, ‘Hey, this is a time for the ghost town track.’ And then Mick called me and said the same thing and that great minds think alike.”