How Billy Preston’s Piano Turned ‘Shine a Light’ Into the Soul of Exile on Main St.

The story starts with a completely different song. The Rolling Stones had been working on a track called “Get a Line On You” at Keith Richards’ rented French villa, Nellcôte, in the summer of 1971. But the basement recording setup was a wreck—drum sound bled into everything, wires tangled around wine bottles, and the band was often too strung out to finish anything. That original demo sat unfinished until Billy Preston showed up.

Preston had been invited by Mick Jagger after they met at a London party. He walked into the sweaty, weed-hazed Nellcôte basement, sat down at a beaten-up upright piano, and instantly reshaped the loose jam into a gospel-flecked ballad. Jagger rewrote the lyrics on the spot, turning the song into a prayer-like tribute to a fallen friend. Preston’s piano part became the spine—those rolling, churchy chords gave the track its aching lift. Without him, “Shine a Light” would have stayed a mumble in a beach-house outtake.