The Rolling Stones unveiled their new track “Living in a Ghost Town” on Thursday (April 23), and it’s the perfect soundtrack to life in quarantine.
The mid-tempo number written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards finds the veteran rock band grappling with an isolation that hits all too close to home amid the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. “I’m a ghost, livin’ in a ghost town/ You can look for me, but I can’t be found/ You can search for me, I had to go underground/ Life was so beautiful, then we all got locked down/ Feel like a ghost, livin’ in a ghost town,” Jagger sneers over a steady drumbeat and electric guitar line.
“So the Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now,” the frontman said in a statement about the song’s prescient timing. “We’ve worked on it in isolation. And here it is — it’s called ‘Living in Ghost Town.'”
Aside from a live rendition of “She’s a Rainbow” from 2017’s Honk compilation album, the surprise track marks The Rolling Stones’ first proper studio single since their 2016 cover album, Blue and Lonesome, which featured takes on blues classics such as Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra’s 1953 hit “Just Your Fool,” Little Walter’s “Hate to See You Go,” Bukka White’s “Shake ‘Em On Down” and more.
Listen to “Living in a Ghost Town” below.
