Far Away Eyes

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Far Away Eyes is the sixth track on the Rolling Stones’ 1978 album Some Girls. It was released as the B-side to the single Miss You on June 9, 1978. Recorded in late 1977 at Pathé Marconi in Paris, the song runs 4:24 and was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The Stones bring Bakersfield-style country to the track, with Ronnie Wood on pedal steel guitar and a steady rhythm from Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman; Jagger and Richards also contribute guitar and piano. Lyrically it explores loneliness and the search for love, with verses spoken in a mock Southern accent. Jagger has said the song is about driving alone and listening to the radio while Bakersfield country stations broadcast gospel services; he notes the influence is more about style than a specific artist like Gram Parsons. The band performed it on the 1978 U.S. tour and it appears in live releases such as Some Girls: Live in Texas ’78 and Totally Stripped. The Handsome Family covered the song in 2002, and the official video was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg.