Mick Jagger confirms Vietnam War and the ‘images on TV’ were a ‘heavy influence’ on Let it Bleed

A “heavy influence” for the all-time great album Let It Bleed can be found in war footage of the Vietnam War, Mick Jagger says.

The veteran frontman says disturbing “images on TV” formed the core of a “very rough, very violent era” and the songs to come from it. The Rolling Stones’ influence in the United States had grown through the 1960s and hit a considerable peak around the release of Let It Bleed. Jagger, speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine founder Jann Wenner, has since confirmed the album was a reaction to the horrors of the American invasion of Vietnam. Asked by Wenner for his influences during this “ugly” period, Jagger says the “real nasty war” was a huge reason for the darker tone of Let It Bleed, and songs like Midnight Rambler highlight it.

Jagger told Wenner: “Well, it’s a very rough, very violent era. The Vietnam War. Violence on the screens, pillage and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. The thing about Vietnam was that it wasn’t like World War II, and it wasn’t like Korea, and it wasn’t like the Gulf War.

“It was a real nasty war, and people didn’t like it. People objected, and people didn’t want to fight it. The people that were there weren’t doing well. There were these things used that were always used before, but no one knew about them – like napalm.” Wenner would then ask Jagger to clarify if it was the Vietnam War itself which had impacted the record.

Jagger replied: “I think so. Even though I was living in America only part time, I was influenced. All those images were on television. Plus, the spill out onto campuses.” The horrors of the Vietnam War are a stark contrast to the “beautiful, sunny place” Midnight Rambler was written.

Guitarist Keith Richards and Jagger would write the song on a hill town, Positano, and the irony of writing such a dark song in a beautiful place is not lost on the veteran frontman. He added: “That’s a song Keith and I really wrote together.

“We were on a holiday in Italy. In this very beautiful hill town, Positano, for a few nights. Why we should write such a dark song in this beautiful, sunny place, I really don’t know. We wrote everything there – the tempo changes, everything. And I’m playing the harmonica in these little cafes, and there’s Keith with the guitar.”

Jagger would later tell Wenner he considers Let It Be to be among his favourite records from The Rolling Stones. He said: “I think it’s a good record. I’d put it as one of my favourites.”

Of another hit song to feature on the album, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Jagger said he wrote most of it on an acoustic guitar. He shared: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want was something I just played on the acoustic guitar — one of those bedroom songs.”