Tina Rolling with the Stones

The Rolling Stones are currently on fire, touring Asia and Australia with their ’14 On Fire’ tour, which will be continued in Europe in the Spring. Appearing on Europe’s biggest festivals, the rockers indeed prove that age is just a number (are you taking notes, Roger Davies?). Tina is no stranger to the Stones; they are in a love relationship that started in 1966, when Ike and Tina opened on the Stones’ UK tour, and continued all through Tina’s comeback. It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll – but we like it: here are 7 times that Tina covered the Stones.

1. Out Of Time

This is a rather obscure Rolling Stones track from 1966 that appeared on their Aftermath album. It was never a big hit for the Stones themselves, but rather made famous in several cover versions, for example Chris Farlowe’s (who?) version which reached number one in the UK singles charts. Tina picked it up during her pre-comeback solo tours, and performed it live as the encore to her shows in 1983 and 1984.

2. Let’s Spend The Night Together

A double shot of Stones covers appeared on Tina Turner’s solo album Acid Queen in 1975. Tina was still under Ike’s reign back then. This album is actually a hidden gem, with the A-side filled with funky covers of rock’s royalty (The Who, The Stones, Led Zeppelin), while the B-side features four rhythm and blues compositions by Ike Turner. Let’s Spend The Night Together was deemed ‘too sexy’ for the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1967, when Mick Jagger was forced to change the lyrics to ‘let’s spend some time together’. 8 years and a sexual revolution later, Tina however changed the innuendo of the song from ‘slightly suggestive’ to ‘in your face HOT’.

3. Under My Thumb

From the same ‘Acid Queen’ album stems Ms Turner’s version of Under My Thumb. The composition is radically different from the Stones original. In Ike & Tina’s world, it becomes a dark, smouldering blues-track. Unfortunately, Tina never attempted this song live – we can only dream how it would sound.

4. Honky Tonk Woman

This is probably Tina’s most famous Stones cover. Ike & Tina mastered it when touring with the Stones in 1969 on their American tour. They then added it to their own repertoire. It became a live-staple during their live shows and Tina continued to perform the song regularly after her divorce from Ike. In 1981, Tina joined Mick & Co on stage in New Jersey for a duet. Give me, give me, a honky tonk man!

5. Jumping Jack Flash

Tina looks certainly like she was born in a crossfire hurricane, when she performed Jumping Jack Flash live during her shows in the early 1980’s, and then again on her 50th Anniversary Tour in 2008/2009. The song was part of the so-called ‘Stones Medley”, paired up with the next song – It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll.

6. It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll

Alright, where’s Tina?! This is without a doubt Tina’s most ‘high profile’ cover of a Stones song, as she performed it in duet with Mick Jagger during Live Aid in 1985. The performance was one of the highlights of the event. The night’s most memorable moment was when Mick decided to rip off Tina’s skirt halfway through the song. Miss T carried on as if nothing happened – it’s only rock ‘n’ roll, and she likes it!

7. Brown Sugar

Tina not only dueted with Mick on this song, she was also present at the conception of the song. According to the rock and roll history books, Mick Jagger wrote the song for one of Ike & Tina’s ‘Ikettes’, Claudia Lennear, with whom he had an affair during the Stones 1969 tour (Ike & Tina were opening). An experience to be remembered: Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good? Tina and Mick shared the stage for this song in Tokyo during Jagger’s solo tour in 1988.