"Sister Morphine" is a song written by Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Faithfull released the original version of the song as the B-side to her Decca Records single "Something Better" on 21 February 1969. A different version was released two years later by the Rolling Stones for their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.Jagger produced the track.

The song, recorded in July 1968, is about a man who is in a car accident and dies in hospital while asking for morphine. Mick Jagger wrote the music for the song during a stay in Rome in 1968. Marianne Faithfull wrote the lyrics. Faithfull was not a drug addict when she wrote the lyrics, but she became addicted in 1971, around the same time the Rolling Stones version was released.

In the UK, Marianne's single was withdrawn by Decca due to the song's drug reference, after some 500 copies had been released. In other countries the single continued to be released. In some territories such as the Netherlands, Italy, and Japan, "Sister Morphine" appeared on the A-side. Additionally, the French, US, and Dutch editions of the single featured alternate versions of both sides to the UK " version.

Faithfull's version features herself on vocals, Jagger on acoustic guitar, Ry Cooder on slide guitar and bass, Jack Nitzsche on piano and organ, and Charlie Watts on drums. The Rolling Stones', recorded between March 22 and 31, 1969, features Jagger on vocals, Richards on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, Ry Cooder on slide guitar, Jack Nitzsche on piano, Bill Wyman on bass, and Watts back on drums.

Faithfull recorded the song again in 1979, during sessions for her album Broken English. The version was later released as a 7" and 12" single along with "Broken English",5 and would appear as a bonus track on the second disc of the 2013 deluxe edition of the Broken English album. The song remained a concert staple of hers and appeared on the live albums Blazing Away in 1990 and No Exit in 2016.

The original UK " single, released by Decca, credited Marianne as a co-writer, but when the single was released in the US on London Records, her name was omitted, as was the Sticky Fingers credit. Following a legal battle, Faithfull retained her co-writing rights, recognized for Virgin Records' 1994 reissue of the Rolling Stones' album catalog from Sticky Fingers to Steel Wheels.

свернуть