How Giving 'I Wanna Be Your Man' to the Rolling Stones Brought Two Bands Together

The most interesting part of this story isn’t just that the Beatles gave a song to the Rolling Stones—it’s that they didn’t particularly want it themselves. “I Wanna Be Your Man” had been kicking around as a rough Lennon-McCartney idea, and it only landed on the Beatles’ own With the Beatles album because Ringo needed a vocal spot. The Stones, meanwhile, were still looking for their first proper hit in late 1963 after a couple of failed singles.

John and Paul ran into the Stones at a club one night—probably the Crawdaddy in Richmond—and after a chat, they offered the half-finished tune on the spot. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards later said the Beatles sang it to them right there, and within minutes the Stones had a raw, bluesy arrangement that sounded nothing like the cheerful version Ringo would later record. The song became the Stones’ third single and their first top-20 hit in the UK.

That exchange did more than give the Stones a break