Beast of Burden

I'll never be your beast of burden
My back is broad but it's a hurtin
All I want is for you to make love to me

I'll never be your beast of burden
I've walked for miles, my feet are hurtin
All I want is for you to make love to me

Am I hard enough
Am I rough enough
Am I rich enough
I'm not too blind to see

I'll never be your beast of burden
So let's go home and draw the curtains
Music on the radio
Come on baby make sweet love to me

Am I hard enough
Am I rough enough
Am I rich enough
I'm not too blind to see

Oh little sister
Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty girls

You're a pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty girl
Pretty, pretty such a pretty, pretty, pretty girl
Come on baby please, please, please
I'll tell ya

You can put me out on the street
Put me out with no shoes on my feet
But put me out, put me out
Put me out of misery

All your sickness I can suck it up
Throw it all at me I can shrug it off
There's one thing that I don't understand
You keep on telling me I ain't your kind of man

Ain't I rough enough
Oh ain't I tough enough
Ain't I rich enough
In love enough ooh ooh please

I'll never be your beast of burden
I'll never be your beast of burden
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never be

I'll never be your beast of burden
I've walked for miles and my feet are hurtin
All I want is you to make love to me

I don't need no beast of burden
I need no fussing, I need no nursing
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never be




- Released September 1978

- A "beast of burden" is a semi-domesticated animal that labors for the benefit of man, such as oxen or horses.

- The song can be seen as allegorical, with [Keith] Richards saying in 2003, "When I returned to the fold after closing down the laboratory [referring to his drug problems throughout the 1970s], I came back into the studio with Mick [Jagger]... to say, 'Thanks, man, for shouldering the burden' - that's why I wrote "Beast of Burden" for him, I realize in retrospect."

- Ron Wood: "That's another one that just came very naturally in the studio. And I slipped into my part and Keith had his going. It may have appeared as though it was planned. We can pick it up today and it will just naturally slip into the groove again with the guitars weaving in a special way. It's quite amazing really. Ever since Keith and I first started to trade licks, it was a very natural thing that, for some unknown reason, if he's playing up high, I'm down low and the other way around. We cross over very naturally. We call it an ancient form of weaving-- which we still are impressed by it to this day. Unexplainable, wonderful things happen with the guitar weaving. There's no plan." Reference

- Recording on "Beast of Burden" began in October of 1977 and ended in December of that same year. Although written before entering the studio, many of the lyrics were improvised by Jagger to fit with the smooth running guitars of Richards and Wood. Note the rolling, fluid licks traded off by the two. Neither is really playing lead or rhythm; they both slip in and out, one playing high while the other is low. The song is another of the famed Some Girls songs which feature each member of the band playing their respective instruments without any outside performers; both Richards and Wood play acoustic and electric guitars, with Wood performing the solo. Reference

- The song would later be covered by Bette Midler whose video for the song had Mick Jagger as a guest star. Midler's version modified several lines of lyric, for example changing "Pretty, pretty, girls" to "my little sister is a pretty, pretty girl." It would be on her album No Frills
released in 1983.