"OK cool it! This ones for Brian . . . . . . . . "

Brian Jones could play most any instrument and added so many unique and memorable sounds to early Stones’ classics like Under My Thumb, Paint it Black, Ruby Tuesday and many others. Who else do you know, then or now come to that, who could pick up a recorder and play a solo on a hit single[Ruby Tuesday]? Initially a blues purest slide guitarist he could play lead or rhythm guitar, he mastered piano and organ, marimba, harmonica, sitar, wind instruments such as recorder, saxophone, oboe, percussion and numerous others. The enigmatic and mercurial Brian who had started the Rolling Stones, named the band and appointed his co-horts between 62-63 never wrote or finished a complete song but added value to every sound and single, everything he touched.

On this day in music history: March 4, 1967 - “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 1 week. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is the fourth chart topping single for the British rock band. Keith Richards comes up with initial idea for the song, writing it in a Los Angeles hotel room in early 1966 while the band are in the city recording tracks for their current album “Aftermath”. The song about a free spirited woman, is based a groupie Richards knows, and his then girlfriend Linda Keith. Jagger writes most of the lyrics including the songs chorus. The Stones record “Ruby Tuesday” at Olympic Studios in London on November 8, 1966 with additional overdubs recorded on December 3, 1966. Guitarist Brian Jones also plays the recorder on the song, giving it its distinctive “baroque” sound. “Ruby” is originally released as the B-side of “Let’s Spend The Night Together” in January of 1967. When American radio stations feel that the former song is “too suggestive” for airplay, DJ’s flip the single over and play “Ruby Tuesday” instead. Entering the Hot 100 at #78 on January 21, 1967, it speeds to the top of the chart six weeks later. “Ruby Tuesday” is added to US LP pressings of The Rolling Stones’ next album “Between The Buttons” when it is released on February 11, 1967. Over the years, the song is covered numerous times, with recordings by Melanie, Marianne Faithfull, Nazareth, Julian Lennon, The Scorpions, The Corrs, and Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle to name a few. “Ruby Tuesday” is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.