| "Take It or Leave It" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by the Searchers | ||||
| B-side | "Don't Hide It Away" | |||
| Released | 8 April 1966 | |||
| Recorded | 1966 | |||
| Studio | Pye Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Label | Pye | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Tony Hatch | |||
| The Searchers singles chronology | ||||
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"Take It or Leave It" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It was initially given away by them to the Searchers, a band with declining chart success, in hopes of making them popular again. Pye Records released the single on 8 April 1966 and it peaked at number 31 on the Record Retailer chart in May of that year. Though it was more popular in mainland Europe, the single was their penultimate song to chart. It received mixed reviews in the British Press.
Jagger and Richards recorded the song with their own group, the Rolling Stones, in 1965, for their fourth studio album Aftermath (1966). Written at demand from their manager Andrew Loog Oldham, the song features several key characteristics of their music from this time, including a memorable tune and (arguably) misogynistic lyrics. It was one of the band's earlier and few ventures into folk rock, something that was present on several Aftermath tracks. Decca Records included "Take It or Leave It" on the album, which was released on 15 April 1966. In the US, the song was first issued on the compilation album Flowers, released on 25 June 1967 by London Records.