A beautifully delicate song that was based on a Keith Richards riff he called 'Japanese Thing', Moonlight Mile is about the exhaustion of being on the road for too long, and wanting to be home. Mick Jagger plays the acoustic guitar. Mick Taylor on lead. It is mostly a two Micks composition (Jagger and Taylor). Keith wasn't around when the Micks were working on it, so Mick J wasn't so self-conscious and poured out these improvised lyrics. They conjure amazing visions:
The sound of strangers sending nothing to my mind
I'm sleeping under strange strange skies
Made a rag pile of my shiny clothes
I got silence on my radio
It is full of majestic strings, and you can definitely feel a Japanese theme running through it, like a Samurai traveling home after battle. Charlie Watts is amazing, the drums and cymbals are incredible. The beginning is the longing to be home, and the end is finally arriving. The final chord reminds me of the end of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. Beethoven ends on these two chords that are like a big sigh of relief of getting home after a long day in the country, and Moonlight Mile ends on a long chord - getting home and closing the door behind you.
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