The Rolling Stones: All Number 1 Songs Ranked Worst To Best
10. The Last Time
UK #1, US #9, 1965
As we move through this rankdown, it will soon become apparent that many of the Stones' biggest hits deal with impending separation, as opposed to breakups of the past. The treading between assuredness and uncertainty over the end of a relationship is a complex and relatable theme that the band often captured well, but at times their emotion didn't quite live up to the topic.
The Last Time is one such moment. It was the first original composition that the band released in the UK, and while it set the tone for many of their later releases, Jagger was still warming up to the part, so the anger and sadness that the lyrics convey are only tangentially tapped into on his vocal performance. A case could be made that the song harnesses that blasé feeling when you reach a point in a relationship where you can't be bothered to care anymore. But the point we make is that there are simply much better Stones number ones.
Fun Fact: The Andrew Oldham Orchestra recorded an instrumental version of The Last Time, which was sampled by one of the most notorious #2 hits in UK chart history, The Verve's Bitter Sweet Symphony.