How the Rolling Stones Handled Lyrics for Early Blues Covers Like 'Little Red Rooster'

For their early blues covers, the Stones usually stuck close to the original lyrics, treating them almost as sacred texts. On “Little Red Rooster”, they used Willie Dixon’s words almost verbatim from Howlin’ Wolf’s 1961 recording—changing nothing except maybe a line break or two to match Mick Jagger’s phrasing. They weren’t rewriting, they were re-performing.

That said, the band sometimes acted as folk archivists, mixing verses from different recorded versions of a song. For example, on “I’m a King Bee” from their first album, Jagger sang a line that came from Slim Harpo’s take, but also added a bit from another Muddy Waters tune. The goal wasn’t to improve the blues—it was to channel it. Jagger and Richards believed the original lyrics carried the emotional weight, so they rarely added their own words unless a line didn’t translate well for a white British audience.

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