The Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards called America “a bit of a disappointment at the moment” in a recent interview.
After being asked if The Rolling Stones’ new song, “Ringing Hollow,” is an anti-Trump track, Richards told Sunday Times that the lyrics are about having “a nostalgic love affair with America, and [it being] a bit of a disappointment at the moment.”
The British-born guitarist — who has lived in Connecticut for four decades — refrained from specifying whether or not the band’s new song alludes to President Donald Trump.
“Ringing Hollow” will be found on The Rolling Stones’ upcoming album, “Foreign Tongues” — which reportedly has themes involving U.S. political and social tension — set for release on Friday.
Last month, in a separate interview, the band’s frontman, Mick Jagger, told MOJO that “Ringing Hollow” is “about America as an idea.”
“The American Dream is intact for some people, and I’m sure we can find some wonderful immigrant stories that happened in the last 12 months, but we read about the decline of the American Empire,” Jagger claimed.
The 82-year-old rocker went on to say that “the money spent on an election is absurd,” before asking, “Is it indicative of this administration, or is it something has been happening a long time?”
“In any case, it’s not the same place as it was,” he added.
While The Rolling Stones members didn’t outright attack President Trump this time around, they have previously tried to stop him from playing their music at his rallies.
In 2016, after Trump was officially named the Republican party’s presidential nominee and celebrated by playing the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” during the RNC convention, the band took to social media to demand he “cease all use immediately.”
Trump responded by defying their command and playing the song at the end of his 75-minute speech to Republican party members in Cleveland that July.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.