Recording: It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll by The Rolling Stones

David Bowie paid a visit to Ronnie Wood’s house, The Wick in Richmond, London, on 5 December 1973.

Wood was recording a solo album, I’ve Got My Own Album To Do, at his home studio with Mick Jagger. Also working on it were bass guitarist Willie Weeks and drummer Andy Newmark, both of whom would later play on Young Americans.

On this day Bowie jammed with Wood, Jagger, and Faces drummer Kenney Jones. They recorded ‘It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)’, which eventually became a Rolling Stones single and the title track of their 1974 album.

It’s Mick’s song and he’d cut it with Bowie as a dub. Mick had gotten this idea and they started to rock on it. It was damn good. Shit, Mick, what are you doing it with Bowie for? Come on, we’ve got to steal that motherfucker back. And we did, without too much difficulty. Just the title by itself was so beautifully simple, even if it hadn’t been a great song in its own right. I mean, come on.

Bowie vocals were buried deep in the mix of the final version.