"This Place Is Empty" is a song from

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

' 2005 album '' A Bigger Bang''. It is the first of two songs on the album sung by

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

, the other being "

Infamy Infamy, in common usage, is the notoriety gained from a negative incident or reputation (as opposed to fame). The word stems from the Latin ''infamia'', antonym of ''fama'' (in the sense of "good reputation"). Roman law In Roman law, it took ...

". In promotional video on the Rolling Stones official website, Richards stated the song started one evening in his Connecticut home when his wife was out without him. He said he was sitting on a couch with the guitar and the song sparked. The final version is a bittersweet ballad where Richards pines for his familiar face: It was formally recorded in

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

's estate in France. The song is notable for its clear piano opening and raspy vocal imprint. Largely an acoustic song, Richards performs guitar with Jagger performing slide guitar. Richards also performs bass and piano for the recording. Jagger played drums on the original recording, but Charlie Watts' drumming was later added. The song was played on certain dates of the 2006

A Bigger Bang Tour A Bigger Bang was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album '' A Bigger Bang''. At the time, it was the highest grossing tour of all time, earning $558,255,52 ...

set list, often alongside " Happy". "This Place Is Empty" has been covered by Belgian singer Gilles Snowcat on his album ''You've Been Unboxing Gilles Snowcat'' in 2020.

References

{{Reflist The Rolling Stones songs 2005 songs Songs written by Jagger–Richards Song recordings produced by Don Was