Mick Jagger and Carly Simon's lost duet 'Fragile' finally uncovered


Tobias Schwarz

The Associated Press
Published Aug. 22, 2018

A lost Mick Jagger duet with Carly Simon has been found more than 45 years after it was first recorded.

The song, apparently never heard in public, appears to have been recorded in 1972 and was found recently on a tape owned by Rolling Stones collector Matt Lee.

Believed to be named "Fragile," at least according to Rolling Stones fan websites, the song is a slow love ballad that has Jagger and Simon seemingly sitting together at a piano and singing.

Simon spoke about the lost duet in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine about two years ago, saying the tape of the recording had been lost for decades.

"We had this little back and forth at the piano for about an hour," Simon says in the Rolling Stone interview, published Nov. 29, 2016, according to the magazine's website. She also sang a line of the song from memory, "Funny, funny, funny, funny, funny, How love can make you cry."

That matches with Lee's recording, except Jagger and Simon appear to sing "change" instead of "cry." Jagger does most of the singing, with Simon adding some harmonies.

When the song ends, a female voice believed to be Simon's gasps: "Good song."

Simon and Jagger worked together in 1972 when the Rolling Stones frontman supposedly sang backup vocals on Simon's hit "You're So Vain." For many years, it was thought that Jagger was the subject of that song, but Simon has denied that.

Lee, an entrepreneur from London, declined to say where the tape of the song came from. But he said Wednesday that he sent a digital copy of the song to Rolling Stone magazine because they promised to give it to Simon.

"I'm not doing it for the money," Lee said. "I'm a collector. My motive for sending it to Rolling Stone was to pass it to Carly."

Representatives from the Rolling Stones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While the song will be new to most listeners, it is not completely unknown to hardcore Stones fans. But it's not exactly easy to find, either.

A snippet of the song, with its passage of Jagger repeatedly singing, "It's funny, funny, funny," is briefly heard in a scene in the publicly unreleased documentary about the 1972 Rolling Stones tour of America. The name of the film is obscene in itself, stemming from the obscene name of an obscene song the band recorded a few years earlier to fulfill a recording contract they didn't want to actually fulfill.

In cleaner terms, and as a hint to the name of the tour movie, that song is often referred to as "Schoolboy Blues."

The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

The Rolling Stones, who wrapped up a tour of Britain and Europe in July, have said they are working on a new studio album. A short video clip of Jagger playing a guitar was posted on his Instagram account over the weekend.

[www.usatoday.com]

Matt Lee, he's the man!

Great story. Raising a glass to you Matt!

is this the thing we hear in CS Blues?- it's funny..... funny... funny

According to the AP story, yes.

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hbwriter
is this the thing we hear in CS Blues?- it's funny..... funny... funny

Acc. to the super-reliable Herr Zentgraf this would be the 1st version with a solo Mick on piano.
The version dug out by Matt would have been recorded in Sept.72 in London :
[www.nzentgraf.de]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-08-22 22:42 by dcba.

Wow... Matt that's incredible!

Will the rest of us ever get to hear it?

Matt!

Thanks for posting, bye bye johnny. This is a great find! Congratulations, Matt!

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schillid
Will the rest of us ever get to hear it?

Sometime between "not now" and "never"?

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bye bye johnny
The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

[www.youtube.com]

Drew

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drewmaster

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bye bye johnny
The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

[www.youtube.com]

Drew

Sounds alot like a Beatles song.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

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Hairball

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drewmaster

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bye bye johnny
The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

[www.youtube.com]

Drew

Sounds alot like a Beatles song.

Yup. I can see why they buried it.

Drew

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drewmaster

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Hairball

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drewmaster

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bye bye johnny
The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

[www.youtube.com]

Drew

Sounds alot like a Beatles song.

Yup. I can see why they buried it.

Drew

*I thought it was just me

Matt Lee so suave and in the Daily Mail!

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drewmaster

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bye bye johnny
The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

[www.youtube.com]

Drew

This almost sounds like a left over from Metamorphosis? Why does the news article say Mick supposedly sang on You're So Vain? I thought it was pretty common knowledge. Is Matt a member on here?

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DGA35

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drewmaster

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bye bye johnny
The new finding comes two years after another previously unheard Rolling Stones song was uncovered. That song, "No One Loves You More Than Me," is believed to have been recorded in 1964 and was found in 2016. The tape of that song was reportedly sold at auction.

[www.youtube.com]

Drew

This almost sounds like a left over from Metamorphosis? Why does the news article say Mick supposedly sang on You're So Vain? I thought it was pretty common knowledge. Is Matt a member on here?

*Yes, he is the keenest RS collector, see this thread for pics and info
[iorr.org]

Matt is certainly The Man!

--
Captain Corella
60 Years a Fan

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CaptainCorella
Matt is certainly The Man!

No Comment

i wanna hold your HAANNNNND....

like it anyway; ty for posting.
love to hear 'fragile' this'll do!!

This is strange..I offered the "Your So Vain" sessions to Carly Simon back in the
80's.. She said she had the masters back in L.A. (I believe).. The recordings are
very good there is a lot of talking between Carly and Mick on tape.. Another song Mick does was "Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven" The session is mostly Mick & Carly
at the piano. I can't believe she or her people would have lost these recording.
Maybe one day Carly (with Jagger's permission) would release them as bonus tracks
on a rarities CD...

First of all, congradulations to Matt.
On top of that, his finding confirms what I've been thinking about the sessions where a RS is guested: what we know is just the top of an iceberg and hundreds of hours of un-heard tapes must exist.
Generally speaking, I don't believe that this happened with the Andrew Oldham Orchestra as he was always tight in money for tapes and costs of personnel.
Still, I can't believe that we know all what Chris Farlowe recorded with MJ or that important side-men of the RS family like John Paul Jones did not give a hand
in more recordings we still don't know. Again: it's not uncommon that new versions appear when an album is re-processed in sight of a re-issue (like whan Line Records managed the catalogue of Immediate).
And what about Marianne Faithfull's records? Should we believe that 'Sister Morphine' was not pre-produced, while the creative process was going on?
Some of this music arrived to the acetate stage (like in case of 'Memo From Turner'), some remained on tapes (like a stage appearance MJ did in Mustique with a local band)
I live in Italy and this cuts me off, but English or America music detectives can come across these jewels, from time to time.
I totally agree with Matt: it's not a matter of money, it's a matter of preservation and restoration of a unique creative experience in human history.
You can't find another body of work 55-year long in art history, even in fine arts or literature, but this is never underlined, at any level. Now, I stop as this topic - to which I'm very sensitive - would carry me too far and I'd become a little bit boring...
Congradulations, Matt,
LUca



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-08-23 09:50 by 1963luca0.

Yes, apparently "Matt" is da man...

...but where da frig is da tape of da song?

Frankly, I'd much rather hear the sessions that VideoJames has posted about above.

We already know the "It's Funny" tune from the 1972 unreleased tour movie --

...sounds like an unfinished idea.

Just a tune with a hook.

Where's da song?

-



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2018-08-23 12:23 by dcba.

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stonehearted
Yes, apparently "Matt" is da man...

...but where da frig is da tape of da song?

Frankly, I'd much rather hear the sessions that VideoJames has posted about above.

We already know the "It's Funny" tune from the 1972 unreleased tour movie --

...sounds like an unfinished idea.

Just a tune with a hook.

Where's da song?

a da da, a dada!
Are you a Bourvil's grandchild!

Dada was a rolling stone ...

Great find, Matt, congratulations !!

Satisfied since 1976

[twitter.com]

This is great news and all, but unless we, the general public, get to hear it... So what?

Matt Lee,
You probably think this thread is about you