Angie

"Angie" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, featured on their 1973 album Goats Head Soup. It also served as the lead single on the album, released on 20 August 1973. Background The song is credited, as most Rolling Stones songs are, to both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. "Angie" was recorded in November and December 1972 and is an acoustic guitar-driven ballad characterizing the end of a romance. The song's distinctive piano accompaniment, written by Richards, was played on the album by Nicky Hopkins, a Rolling Stones recording-session regular. The strings on the piece (as well as on another song, "Winter") were arranged by Nicky Harrison. An unusual feature of the original recording is that singer Mick Jagger's vocal guide track (made before the final vocals were performed) is faintly audible throughout the song (an effect sometimes called a "ghost vocal"). Cash Box said that "Jagger is at his best—slurring words by the dozens to ring out the feeling of every important line." Record World called it a "tender ballad" on which "Mick Jagger's vocal is moving and sensuous." Released as a single in August 1973, "Angie" went straight to the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 5 on the UK singles chart. The song was also a No. 1 hit in both Canada and Australia for five weeks each and topped the charts in many countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Because of the song's length, some radio stations made edits to shorten it to 3 minutes, omitting the longer coda and the second instrumental section of the song.