“Cherry Oh Baby” is a a cover of Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter Eric Donaldson’s 1971 song. The Rolling Stones recorded the majority of their 1973 album Goats Head Soup in Jamaica (due to becoming tax exiles and Keith Richards’ ongoing legal issues) but this is the most the band got into the island‘s signature genre.

In the book According to the Rolling Stones, drummer Charlie Watts said:

The reggae influence on the songs on Black and Blue came primarily from Keith… Mick was certainly into reggae. I had all those records in France with me when we moved there and when we were recording tracks for Exile on Main St. at Keith’s house. Mick used to have them as well. I’d play him ‘Cherry Oh Baby’ or he’d play one to me. And The Harder They Come was an album Keith listened to a lot.

This was one of the first songs that former Faces and Jeff Beck Group guitarist Ronnie Wood recorded with the Stones. He was named to the band just prior to the release of Black and Blue, and appears on its cover.

Fellow Englishmen UB40 also recorded a version of “Cherry Oh Baby” for their 1983 album Labour of Love.