“Waiting on a Friend” is a song by the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album Tattoo You. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and released as the album’s second single, it reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US.
The song is noted for its dreamy qualities brought on by the soft guitars, smooth rhythm, and Jagger’s lilting refrain of “doo-doo-doo.” Veteran Stones collaborator Nicky Hopkins performs the track’s running piano. The Stones hired jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins to perform the solo on this song, as well as two other songs on the album. On his contribution to the track, Jagger said in 1985:
“I had a lot of trepidation about working with Sonny Rollins. This guy’s a giant of the saxophone. Charlie said, ‘He’s never going to want to play on a Rolling Stones record!’ I said, ‘Yes he is going to want to.’ And he did and he was wonderful. I said, ‘Would you like me to stay out there in the studio?’ He said, ‘Yeah, you tell me where you want me to play and DANCE the part out.’ So I did that. And that’s very important: communication in hand, dance, whatever. You don’t have to do a whole ballet, but sometimes that movement of the shoulder tells the guy to kick in on the beat.”
The video, shot on July 2, 1981, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg (who also directed their 1968 special The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus), became very popular on MTV. Matching the song’s lyrics, Jagger is seen waiting for Keith Richards in the doorway of an apartment block, with Peter Tosh sitting on the steps. The building, at 96–98 St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan, is notable for having also appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 album Physical Graffiti. The two then walk down the street and enter the St. Mark’s Bar & Grill where the other three band members are already drinking. Ronnie Wood appears in the video, although he was not a musician on the original recording. Jagger sings the song to Richards and the video concludes with the band setting up for a gig at the back of the bar, largely ignored by the other patrons.
