Edit 1 for headphones. An edit, spruced up with trimmings. Some may say too much bass, true, but I would like some more!
Recorded May, 1968. Released on "Beggars Banquet" in 1968.
Vocals: Mick Jagger. Acoustic guitar: Keith Richards. Mandolin: Dave Mason. Violin/fiddle: Rik Grech. Congas: Rocky Dijon. Bass: Bill Wyman. Charlie Watts: tabla.
FACTORY GIRL
(Jagger/Richards)
Waiting for a girl who's got curlers in her hair
Waiting for a girl she has no money anywhere
We get buses everywhere
Waiting for a factory girl
Waiting for a girl and her knees are much too fat
Waiting for a girl who wears scarves instead of hats
Her zipper's broken down the back
Waiting for a factory girl
Waiting for a girl and she gets me into fights
Waiting for a girl we get drunk on Friday night
She's a sight for sore eyes
Waiting for a factory girl
Waiting for a girl and she's got stains all down her dress
Waiting for a girl and my feet are getting wet
She ain't come out yet
Waiting for a factory girl
®© UMG
(All rights reserved by the copyright owners. This nonprofit fan-made video is solely to promote awareness and interest in the artists and the music.)
www.songfacts.com says:
This is a song about poverty. It was Mick Jagger's first attempt at a serious song with meaning.
Dave Mason, who played the acoustic guitar for the Jimi Hendrix Experience and sang background on songs such as "Crosstown Traffic" and "Fire," agreed to play mandolin on this song. (thanks, Stephanie - Denver, CO, for above 2)
Ric Grech was brought in to play fiddle on this. Grech was a violinist and bass player who was a member of the band Family in the '60s and went on to play in Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. He also played on Gram Parsons' solo albums in the '70s, and he appears on Ron Wood and Ronnie Lane's 1976 Mahoney's Last Stand project.
Drummer Charlie Watts: "On Factory Girl, I was doing something you shouldn't do, which is playing the tabla with sticks instead of trying to get that sound using your hand, which Indian tabla players do, though it's an extremely difficult technique and painful if you're not trained."
Guitarist Keith Richards: "To me Factory Girl felt something like Molly Malone, an Irish jig; one of those ancient Celtic things that emerge from time to time, or an Appalachian song. In those days I would just come up and play something, sitting around the room. I still do that today." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 3)
