Loving Cup

A "Loving Cup" is a kind of trophy. It's one of those big ones that's shaped like a heart with handles on the sides, and it usually given out for big wins at sporting events. This ballad uses the cup to represent a loving relationship.

Exile on Main St. has grown to be appreciated with time, and this is an example of a song that become more popular later on. In a 2003 interview, Mick Jagger explained: "On the Forty Licks tour, when we were preparing the set list for a show in Yokohama, Chuck Leavell suggested we play 'Loving Cup,' the ballad from Exile on Main St. I didn't want to play the tune and I said, Chuck, this is going to die a death in Yokohama. I can't even remember the bloody song, and no one likes it. I've done it loads of times in America, it doesn't go down that well, it's a very difficult song to sing, and I'm fed up with it! Chuck went, Stick in the mud! so I gave in and put it in the set-list. Lo and behold, we went out, started the song and they all began applauding... Which just proves how, over time, some of these songs acquire a certain existence, or value, that they never had when they first came out. People will say, What a wonderful song that was, when it was virtually ignored at the time it was released."

The Stones performed this song with Jack White in Martin Scorsese's 2008 film Shine a Light.