Lost in The Rolling Stones’ mid-1960s archive there’s a song called “English Summer.” Entire legends have grown up around it, collectors dream of some day hearing it, researchers dream of pinning it down. The best recollections of historians, musicians and observers alike insist that it was recorded at Olympic Studios in November 1966, potentially to become the Stones’ next single.
But the “Let’s Spend the Night Together”/“Ruby Tuesday” coupling stepped in instead, and “English Summer” was left to languish in the vault, not even considered worth completing for the band’s next album. It was then allegedly handed on to Marianne Faithfull, who is said to have recorded a version the following May, alongside a version of The Beatles’ then still unreleased “With a Little Help From My Friends.”
It’s not, however, a gift that she recalled when asked about it a few years ago. Quite simply, “English Summer” vanished as quickly as its seasonal namesake usually does, and maybe that’s just as well. It could never have been as great as the legend insists it must be and, although the title resonates like no other, that’s just hindsight talking. Yes, the band were heading towards their most tumultuous summer yet; yes, the music scene in general was swinging into its most turbulent. But, sitting in the studio one cold, damp November evening, the Stones could not have known any of that. Could they?
Besides, there’s another reason why the Stones have never released “English Summer.” Because they’ve never needed to. From the opening twang of “Mother’s Little Helper” to the closing clang of “We Love You” 18 months later, they had already said everything on the semi-mythological subject of Swinging London at its sun-drenched peak that ever needed to be said.
British rock and roll in 1966 was very much a hybrid animal. True, the British Invasion had conquered the world, and colloquial English accents were now as familiar to Americans as their
