The Casio Rhythm Box That Became the Beat of 'Miss You'

In early 1978, the Rolling Stones fled to Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris to cut Some Girls, partly to escape England’s punishing tax laws and partly to prove they could still make a raw, funky record after the bloated Black and Blue. The sessions were famously tight—Keith Richards, fresh off a heroin bust in Toronto, was on probation and had to show up every day or risk extradition. The band worked fast, often cutting songs in a few takes, with engineer Chris Kimsey capturing a lean, live sound.

The most telling accident came from a cheap Casio VL-1 keyboard—a toy, really, that cost about $70. Ronnie Wood had picked one up at a Paris electronics shop, and during a break, Mick Jagger started fooling with the built-in rhythm box. The preset “Rhumba” pattern caught his ear; he had the band play along to the machine’s click, then replaced the drum track with Charlie Watts playing to it. That loop became the backbone of “Miss You,” giving the song its stiff, four-on-the-floor disco pulse. The Casio itself never appears on the final record—it was just a sketchpad—but its cheap rhythm box changed the Stones’ sound for an entire era.