Don’t call it a quarantune. The Rolling Stones released a new song, “Living in a Ghost Town,” today, and they insist it predated our current pandemic times. “It wasn’t written for now, but it was just one of those odd things,” Mick Jagger told Zane Lowe on Apple Music. “It was written about being in a place which was full of life but is now bereft of life, so to speak.” Sure sounds familiar! “Life was so beautiful, then we all got locked down,” Jagger sings. Talking to Lowe, Jagger and bandmate Keith Richards explained that they fast-tracked the song’s release about a month ago when they saw its relevance to the world’s social distancing. Or, as Richards tells it in a statement, “So, let’s cut a long story short. We cut this track well over a year ago in L.A. for part of a new album, an ongoing thing, and then shit hit the fan Mick and I decided this one really needed to go to work right now and so here you have it, ‘Living in a Ghost Town.’ Stay safe!”
Last month, the Stones postponed their summer “No Filter” tour, giving them more time at home in the near future. Recently, it gave them the time to perform on the stacked “One World: Together at Home” TV special, curated by Lady Gaga. And like many folks in quarantine, Richards just adopted a pet: a three-month-old French bulldog, who he thinks he’ll name Honey. “She’s really sort of enlivened the household,” he told Lowe. Like Keith Richards, she’s probably just happy to be anywhere.