Keith Richards and Mick Jagger differ on who or what this song is about. Richards wrote the song, and claims it is about nobody in particular and that he chose the name randomly. For Jagger, the song is about his own breakup.
Either way, it’s clearly a breakup song. Packed full of heartrending strings, led a brilliant yet melancholy guitar riff, and exhibiting some impressively anguished vocals from Jagger, this is a well written and convincingly sombre post-love tune.
There are moments in the song which display a more upbeat edge, reminiscing on good times. The jaunty piano helps to keep things from getting too dark too.
The song was released in 1973 on Goats Head Soup, and as a single went to number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart, as well as a number of other charts around the world. Funnily enough, the song only reached number 5 in the band’s native U.K.