Credit: Far Out / Bent Rej
Thu 30 July 2026 21:03, UK
When you’re a band with a catalogue as rich as The Rolling Stones, not every song is going to get the appreciation that it may deserve.
In the early 1970s, when The Stones were on a run of classic album after classic album, they had top-tier tracks that could have been singles coming out of their ear. Nevertheless, there wasn’t room on the radio for each to live the life of ‘Wild Horses’, or even be played live.
Before their albums had room to breathe, The Stones were already back in the studio, and looking ahead to their next record, which meant that some were laid to rest at the wayside.
Few underappreciated gems in their arsenal epitomise this more than ‘Loving Cup’, which also offers a fascinating insight into how the band works as a unit. The first appearance that the track ever made was at the band’s 1969 free concert at Hyde Park, which doubled as a memorial to late guitarist Brian Jones, who had tragically died just two days before. At that point, the song was titled ‘Gimme a Little Drink’.
Following that performance, it was put on the shelf. Then, three years later, ‘Loving Cup’ was finally officially recorded on 1972’s Exile on Main St. As a piano-focused gospel track led by sessions ace Nicky Hopkins, ‘Loving Cup’ was transformed from a folky country track to a soul masterpiece. As the closing track to the album’s second side, ‘Loving Cup’ is a heartfelt ode to love and carnal knowledge, something that the Stones were experts at.
Credit: Far Out / Alamy
Nevertheless, while it’s an important part of a seminal album, it never became a live staple. Early concerts on the band’s subsequent 1972 American tour would occasionally feature the track, but after the fourth show on the tour, ‘Loving Cup’ was dropped from setlists. The middle section of these shows instead featured a softer acoustic/ballad section that included ‘Love In Vain’, ‘Sweet Virginia’ and ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. Therefore, the inclusion of ‘Loving Cup’ was deemed unnecessary, and it was thrown in the wastebasket.
The Stones didn’t do this because they hated ‘Loving Cup’; Mick Jagger simply believed that audiences didn’t respond well to the song and never would. They had more than enough songs that would send their crowds into ecstasy, and ultimately, he views himself as an entertainer whose purpose on-stage is to send fans home with a giant smile.
It would take another 30 years for ‘Loving Cup’ to return to the band’s live repertoire, having been revived for the 2002 Forty Licks tour. The track was revived at the insistence of pianist and musical director Chuck Levell, who had to convince Jagger that the song was worth going back to.
“On the Forty Licks tour, when we were preparing the set list for a show in Yokohama, Chuck Leavell suggested we play ‘Loving Cup’, the ballad from Exile On Main St,” Jagger recalled in 2003.
He took some convincing, admitting, “I didn’t want to play the tune and I said, ‘Chuck, this is going to die a death in Yokohama. I can’t even remember the bloody song, and no one likes it. I’ve done it loads of times in America, it doesn’t go down that well, it’s a very difficult song to sing, and I’m fed up with it!’ Chuck went,’ Stick in the mud!’ So I gave in and put it in the setlist.”
Much to his surprise, it went down a storm, gleefully sharing, “Lo and behold, we went out, started the song and they all began applauding… Which just proves how, over time, some of these songs acquire a certain existence, or value, that they never had when they first came out. People will say, ‘What a wonderful song that was,’ when it was virtually ignored at the time it was released.”
While ‘Loving Cup’ never became a staple, it was played semi-frequently in the 2000s, before they again retired it from their sets. However, if they ever do tour again, like any other track from Exile on Main St, it would be greeted like the classic that it is if it were dusted off, which is a testament to the lasting cultural impact of the album.
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