The Only Original Song on the Rolling Stones’ 1964 Debut Album, Credited to Nanker Phelge

The Rolling Stones’ 1964 debut album, The Rolling Stones, is famously a collection of covers – with one exception. The only original track is the instrumental “Now I’ve Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene),” credited to the band’s collective pseudonym Nanker Phelge.

The song is a loose, slightly bluesy jam built around a simple riff. The subtitle references Phil Spector and Gene Pitney, two American producers who were friends of the band and were present during the recording session. It’s a quiet footnote to an album that otherwise leaned on Chicago blues and R&B.