This is a reworked version Robert Johnson's blues classic. Prolific in the 1930s, Johnson was one of Keith Richards' inspirations.
The Stones recorded this with more of a country feel than the original blues version, which was more dreary and depressing.
Keith Richards: "For a time we thought the songs that were on that first album were the only recordings Robert Johnson had made, and then suddenly around '67 or '68 up comes this second bootleg collection that included 'Love in Vain.' 'Love in Vain' was such a beautiful song. Mick and I both loved it, and at the time I was working and playing around with Gram Parsons, and I started searching around for a different way to present it, because if we were going to record it there was no point in trying to copy the Robert Johnson style or ways and styles. We took it a little bit more country, a little bit more formalized, and Mick felt comfortable with that."
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