"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the UK and a week later in the US, it topped the charts in both nations.

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while on holiday in Brazil from late December 1968 to early January 1969. Inspired by Brazilian gauchos at the ranch where Jagger and Richards were staying in Matão, São Paulo, the song was originally conceived as an acoustic country song. Richards has said: "[It] was originally written as a real Hank Williams/Jimmie Rogers/1930s country song."

Two versions of the song were recorded by the band: the familiar hit which appeared on the 45 single and their collection of late 1960s singles, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2);and a honky-tonk version entitled "Country Honk" with slightly different lyrics, which appeared on Let it Bleed. The concert rendition of the song featured on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!differs from both the hit version and the country version, with a markedly different guitar introduction and an entirely different second verse.

Thematically, a "honky tonk woman" refers to a dancing girl in a western bar who may work as a prostitute; the setting for the narrative in the first verse of the blues version is Memphis, while "Country Honk" sets the first verse in Jackson.

The band initially recorded the track called "Country Honk", in London in early February 1969. The song was transformed into the familiar electric, riff-based hit single "Honky Tonk Women" sometime in the spring of 1969, prior to Mick Taylor's joining the group. In an interview in the magazine Crawdaddy, Richards credits Taylor for influencing the track: "... the song was originally written as a real Hank Williams/Jimmie Rodgers/1930s country song. And it got turned around to this otherthing by Mick Taylor, who got into a completely different feel, throwing it off the wall another way." However, in 1979 Taylor recalled it this way: "I definitely added something to Honky Tonk Women, but it was more or less complete by the time I arrived and did my overdubs."

The song is distinctive as it opens not with a guitar riff, but with a beat played on a cowbell. The Rolling Stones' producer Jimmy Miller performed the cowbell for the recording.

Ry Cooder has asserted that he originated the song's main guitar riff, and has accused the Rolling Stones of "ripping him off". Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart said of the track: "It's bloody ten times Keith you hear."

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from 23 August 1969. The single was released in the UK the day after the death of founding member Brian Jones. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was the single's B-side. It was later released on the compilation album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)in September.

Concert versions of "Honky Tonk Women" are included on the albums 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!', Love You Liveand Live Licks.

Gram Parsons's version of the song, released on the 1976 rarities compilation Sleepless Nights, features a slightly different set of lyrics and an arrangement that combines elements of both Stones versions.

"Honky Tonk Women" was ranked #116 on the list of s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.

from the album Let It Bleed

"Country Honk" is a country version of "Honky Tonk Women", released five months after on the album Let it Bleed. As noted above the country arrangement was the original concept of "Honky Tonk Women".

According to some sources "Country Honk" was recorded at the Elektra recording studio in Los Angeles. Byron Berline played the fiddle on the track, and has said that Gram Parsons was responsible for him being chosen for the job (Berline had previously recorded with Parson's band). Producer Glyn Johns suggested that Berline should record his part on the sidewalk outside the studio to add ambience to the number. Sam Cutler, the Rolling Stones' tour manager, performed the car horn at the beginning of the track. Nanette Workman performs backing vocals on this version (although the album sleeve credits actress Nanette Newman). Other sources state that "Country Honk" was recorded at Olympic Studios right after "Honky Tonk Women," with only Berline's fiddle part overdubbed at Elektra Studios; this might be supported by the existence of a bootleg recording that does not contain either the fiddle or Mick Taylor's slide guitar. Richards has repeatedly stated that "Country Honk" is how "Honky Tonk Women" was originally written.

1963: "Come On" / "I Want to Be Loved"  ·"Poison Ivy" / "Fortune Teller"  ·"I Wanna Be Your Man" / "Stoned", 1964: "Not Fade Away" / "Little by Little" (UK)  ·"Not Fade Away" / "I Wanna Be Your Man" (US)  ·"It's All Over Now" / "Good Times, Bad Times"  ·"Tell Me" / "I Just Want to Make Love to You"  ·"Time Is on My Side" / "Congratulations"  ·"Little Red Rooster" / "Off the Hook"  ·"Heart of Stone" / "What a Shame", 1965: "What a Shame" / "Heart of Stone"  ·"The Last Time" / "Play with Fire"  ·"Play with Fire" / "The Last Time"  ·"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" / "The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" (US)  ·"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" / "The Spider and the Fly" (UK)  ·"Get Off of My Cloud" / "I'm Free" (US)  ·"Get Off of My Cloud" / "The Singer Not the Song" (UK)  ·"As Tears Go By" / "Gotta Get Away", 1966: "19th Nervous Breakdown" / "As Tears Go By" (UK)  ·"19th Nervous Breakdown" / "Sad Day" (US)  ·"Paint It, Black" / "Stupid Girl" (US)  ·"Paint It, Black" / "Long Long While" (UK)  ·"Mother's Little Helper" / "Lady Jane"  ·"Lady Jane" / "Mother's Little Helper"  ·"Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" / "Who's Driving Your Plane", 1967: "Let's Spend the Night Together" / "Ruby Tuesday"  ·"Ruby Tuesday" / "Let's Spend the Night Together"  ·"We Love You" / "Dandelion"  ·"Dandelion" / "We Love You"  ·"In Another Land" / "The Lantern"  ·"She's a Rainbow" / "2000 Light Years from Home", 1968: "Jumpin' Jack Flash" / "Child of the Moon"  ·"Street Fighting Man" / "No Expectations"  ·, 1969: " Honky Tonk Women " / "You Can't Always Get What You Want"

1971: "Brown Sugar" / "Bitch" / "Let It Rock" (live) (UK)  ·"Brown Sugar" / "Bitch" (US)  ·"Wild Horses" / "Sway"  ·"Street Fighting Man" / "Surprise, Surprise", 1972: "Tumbling Dice" / "Sweet Black Angel"  ·"Happy" / "All Down the Line", 1973: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" / "Sad Day"  ·"Angie" / "Silver Train"  ·"Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" / "Dancing with Mr. D", 1974: "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" / "Through the Lonely Nights"  ·"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" / "Dance Little Sister", 1975: "I Don't Know Why" / "Try a Little Harder"  ·"Out of Time" / "Jiving Sister Fanny", 1976: "Fool to Cry" / "Crazy Mama"  ·"Hot Stuff" / "Fool to Cry"

1978: "Miss You" / "Far Away Eyes"  ·"Beast of Burden" / "When the Whip Comes Down"  ·"Respectable" / "When the Whip Comes Down"  ·"Shattered" / "Everything Is Turning to Gold", 1980: "Emotional Rescue" / "Down in the Hole"  ·"She's So Cold" / "Send It to Me", 1981: "If I Was a Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)" / "If I Was a Dancer (Dance Pt. 2)"  ·"Start Me Up" / "No Use In Crying"  ·"Waiting on a Friend" / "Little T&A"  ·"Little T&A" / "Waiting on a Friend", 1982: "Hang Fire" / "Neighbours"  ·"Going to a Go-Go" (live) / "Beast of Burden" (live)  ·"Time Is on My Side" (live) / "Twenty Flight Rock" (live), 1983: "Undercover of the Night" / "All the Way Down", 1984: "She Was Hot" / "Think I'm Going Mad"  ·"Think I'm Going Mad" / "She Was Hot"  ·"Too Tough" / "Miss You"  ·"Brown Sugar" / "Bitch"  ·"Too Much Blood" / "Too Much Blood", 1986: "Harlem Shuffle" / "Had It With You"  ·"Winning Ugly" / "Winning Ugly"  ·"One Hit (To the Body)" / "Fight", 1989: "Mixed Emotions" / "Fancy Man Blues"  ·"Sad Sad Sad" / "Sad Sad Sad"  ·"Rock and a Hard Place" / "Cook Cook Blues", 1990: "Almost Hear You Sigh" / "Break the Spell" (US)  ·"Almost Hear You Sigh" / "Wish I'd Never Met You" (UK)  ·"Paint It, Black" / "Long Long While"  ·"Terrifying" / "Wish I'd Never Met You", 1991: "Highwire" / "2000 Light Years from Home" (live)  ·"Ruby Tuesday" (live) / "Play with Fire" (live)  ·"Sex Drive" / "Sex Drive"

1994: "Love Is Strong" / "The Storm"  ·"Love Is Strong" / "So Young"  ·"You Got Me Rocking" / "Jump On Top of Me"  ·"Out of Tears" / "I'm Gonna Drive" / "So Young"  ·"Out of Tears" / "I'm Gonna Drive" / "Sparks Will Fly", 1995: "Sparks Will Fly" / "Sparks Will Fly"  ·"I Go Wild" / (remixes)  ·"Like a Rolling Stone" (live) / "Black Limousine" / "All Down the Line", 1996: "Wild Horses" (live) / "Live with Me" (live) / "Tumbling Dice" (live), 1997: "Anybody Seen My Baby?" / (remixes)  ·"Flip the Switch" / "Flip the Switch", 1998: "Saint of Me" / "Gimme Shelter" / "Anyway You Look At It"  ·"Out of Control" / (remixes)  ·"Gimme Shelter" (live) / "Gimme Shelter" (live), 2002: "Don't Stop" / "Miss You" (remix), 2003: "Sympathy for the Devil" (remix) / (remixes), 2005: "Streets of Love" / "Rough Justice"  ·"Oh No Not You Again" / "Oh No Not You Again"  ·"Rain Fall Down" / (remixes), 2006: "Biggest Mistake" / "Dance Pt. 1" (live) / "Before They Make Me Run", 2007: "Paint It, Black" / "Paint It, Black"