It was 59 years ago Sunday (April 16th, 1964) that the Rolling Stones released their self-titled debut album. The collection, which was based around the Stones' stage act at the time, featured covers of Bobby Troup's “Route 66,” Willie Dixon's “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” Jimmy Reed's “Honest I Do,” Bo Diddley's “Mona (I Need You Baby),” Chuck Berry's “Carol,” and Marvin Gaye's “Can I Get A Witness,” among others.
The album featured the first Stones-released Mick Jagger–Keith Richards original “Tell Me (You're Coming Back),” along with the group's co-write with Phil Spector — “Little By Little” — which like all of the Stones' early group collaborations was credited to the pseudonym Nanker Phelge.
Keith Richards was quoted talking about the album in Victor Bockris' Keith Richards: The Biography: “A first album can be incredible. All that energy . . . unbelievable! It's almost sad in a way, because you know it can only be a once-ever experience . . . I still listen to that album, the enthusiasm there is obvious I think . . . We had all these numbers we had been playing for ages and at that point they were just ready to be (gotten) down in the studio.”