Sweet Virginia

"Sweet Virginia" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and was the sixth song on the Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile on Main St. The song is a slow country-inspired composition with a saxophone solo. This album was mostly recorded in Villa Nellcôte, France, as well as at Olympic Studios in 1970, with vocal overdubs added in early 1972 at Sunset Sound Studios. The song features a harmonica solo by Jagger and a saxophone solo by Bobby Keys. Drummer Charlie Watts plays a country shuffle rhythm. An alternate version without the backing singers was released on bootlegs. The song was also released as the B-side of the Stones' "Rocks Off" single in Japan. The version of the song that the band re-recorded for Stripped is featured in Martin Scorsese's 1995 film Casino. The original recording is played over the closing credits of Rian Johnson's 2019 film Knives Out. History "Sweet Virginia" is an acoustic song that is thought to be influenced by Gram Parsons and the drug-fueled atmosphere of Nellcôte, where the album was mostly recorded during a series of chaotic recording sessions. The lyrics allude to drug use and pills and low-grade heroin (“drop your reds, drop your greens and blues”, "I hid the speed inside my shoe", and "got to scrape that shit right off your shoes").