How Keith Richards' Riffs Write the Lyrics: Brown Sugar and Honky Tonk Women

Keith Richards has said he finds a guitar riff first, then lets the rhythm and feel suggest the words. That’s why so many Rolling Stones songs sound like the music is telling the story before Jagger opens his mouth. The riff isn’t just a hook — it’s the seed of the whole song.

Take “Brown Sugar.” That slinky, open-G tuning riff feels like a slow, sleazy strut. Richards dropped the low E string and played a five-string pattern that practically forces a lazy, drawling vocal melody. Jagger’s lyrics about slavery and sugar plantations came after the riff locked in that groove. The music already had that Dixieland-meets-delta-blues weight; the words just filled the space.

“Honky Tonk Women” is even more direct. Richards wrote that sharp, almost cowbell-like riff on guitar while jamming at a ranch in Brazil. The rhythm is so percussive and staccato that it suggested a barroom narrative — a man running into a wild woman from the honky tonk scene. Jagger’s melody follows the riff’s jagged contours note for note. The riff basically sings the title’s rhythm before any lyric arrives.