How Al Green's Falsetto Reshaped Mick Jagger's Vocals on Black and Blue

By 1975, Mick Jagger had spent a decade perfecting a greasy, arrogant snarl. But on Black and Blue (1976), he started singing like he wanted to seduce you instead of mock you. The shift was partly a response to muscle fatigue from the It’s Only Rock ’n Roll tour, but more so to the soul singers he was devouring—especially Al Green, whose breathy, elastic falsetto on songs like “Let’s Stay Together” and “Love and Happiness” offered a different kind of power.

The most vivid proof is “Fool to Cry.” Jagger leans into a creamy, near-vulnerable head voice on the chorus, a sound he’d never attempted before