"A Rolling Stone" is a 1980 single by

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n singer

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

Background

The song was recorded for Jones' 1980 album ''

Warm Leatherette "Warm Leatherette" is a song by Daniel Miller's project the Normal, released in 1978. The Normal original Overview The lyrics of "Warm Leatherette" reference J. G. Ballard's controversial 1973 novel ''Crash'', which had heavily influenced Dani ...

'', her first post-disco album, and was released as the first single from the album in the UK. It did not garner much attention and was quickly followed by "

Love Is the Drug "Love Is the Drug" is a 1975 song from English rock band Roxy Music's fifth studio album ''Siren'', released as a single in September 1975. Co-written by Bryan Ferry and Andy Mackay, the song originated as a slower, dreamier track until the b ...

" and "

Private Life Private Life may refer to: *life in the private sphere The private sphere is the complement or opposite to the public sphere. The private sphere is a certain sector of societal life in which an individual enjoys a degree of authority, unhampered by ...

". Unlike the majority of the material on ''Warm Leatherette'', the song was not a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

but a new composition co-written by Jones herself,

Deniece Williams Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler; June 3, 1951) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs " Free", " Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two ''Bill ...

and Fritz Baskett. In the lyrics Jones complains to her lover about something missing in their relationship, which is affection. The 7" single featured an edited version of "Sinning", the opening track from the previous disco album ''

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

'' as the B-side. The 12" single included an extended remix of "A Rolling Stone", which was only released in the UK and remained unreleased on CD until it was included on the 2016 Remastered edition of ''

''.

Track listing

*7" single :A. "A Rolling Stone" – 3:31 :B. "Sinning" – 4:08 *12" single :A. "A Rolling Stone" – 5:39 :B. "Sinning" – 5:05

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolling Stone, A 1980 singles Grace Jones songs Songs written by Grace Jones 1980 songs Island Records singles Song recordings produced by Alex Sadkin