Why The Rolling Stones were sued over ‘Saint of Me’
The Rolling Stones need no real introduction. An extensive mythos surrounding the band precedes everything they do, and it means that even those unfamiliar with their music are aware of their exploits in some form. It goes without saying, few other bands can boast such an extensive and celebrated back catalogue and an infamous legend.
Musically, the quintet fused the traditional R&B that they were lifelong fans of with contemporary rock ‘n’ roll, producing an energetic form of music that made the band immediately stand out from their peers, augmented by their energy and swagger. Led by their frontman and guitarist, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the band tapped into the rebellious side of rock ‘n’ roll that their heroes Chuck Berry and Little Richard first established, and life was never to be the same again.
Best friends since childhood, it has been Jagger and Richards who have spearheaded the Stones’ successes, with the duo penning the majority of the band’s work, ranging from the countercultural classic ‘Gimme Shelter’ to one of the ultimate rock ballads, ‘Wild Horses’.
Jagger and Richards were the lewd, hellraising alternative to the more vanilla John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles, with the pair exploring more taboo themes than the angelic Liverpool band could ever have imagined. Notably, the duo and their bandmates followed up this musical style with an unflinching penchant for hedonism when off-stage, with insane stories about them numerous, ranging from fist-fights to drug-fuelled capers.
Their career is brimming with numerous interesting junctures, and one of the more fascinating comes from the track ‘Saint of Me’ taken from the 1997 album Bridges to Babylon. A polarising number, the track was written as a tribute to their friend, R&B musician and sex offender Billy Preston, who also appears in the song.
Famously, before Preston’s dark side was revealed, he had worked with Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and The Everly Brothers, and is the only person to have ever recorded with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. A swaggering piece of R&B, the piece is one of the better numbers from the later Rolling Stones period.
Although the song is now controversial because of whom it was written about, the material also entered other choppy waters. Following its release, husband and wife Mark Gaillard and Mary Anderson sued the band claiming that it ripped off a song they wrote in 1979 called ‘Oh Yeah’.
The California songwriters filed a $1 million lawsuit against The Rolling Stones in 2000, claiming that they had stolen both their music and lyrics for ‘Saint of Me’. The musicians claimed that they rewrote ‘Oh Yeah’ and copyrighted it in 1995, per a report in Allstar news. However, it didn’t end there, they alleged that they then recorded it in 1996 with engineer John Bernard who went on to work with The Rolling Stones on Bridges to Babylon. As of publishing, the finer details of the case remain uncertain.