The Verse From “Honky Tonk Women” That Was Too Explicit for Radio (But The Rolling Stones Still Played It Live)

The Rolling Stones have never really been known for “toning it down.” Though, some of their songs have been historically censored for radio rotation. That being said, on one particularly interesting occasion, The Stones released a song that boasted a secret third verse that was only heard in a select few live performances.

Videos by American Songwriter

The tune in question is the non-album song “Honky Tonk Women”. The song was released in 1969, and a version referred to as “Country Honk” was later released on Let It Bleed. However, there’s another version of this song that has been more or less lost to time, and it’s a rare version that includes something called the “Paris verse.”

It’s raunchy, to say the least. 

“Honky Tonk Women” is a song about jumping from woman to woman in typical Rolling Stones fashion. The narrator has a dalliance with a woman from Memphis, and then a “divorcee in New York City” who “blew [his] nose and then she blew [his] mind.”

After that last verse, the chorus comes in again, and that’s the end of the song. Or is it?

The Secret Lyrics of “Honky Tonk Women” by The Rolling Stones

Apparently, The Stones penned a third verse that was cut ahead of the song’s original release. The third verse has only been performed a handful of times. And there’s quite a bit of lore behind it.

The secret third verse is as follows:

Strollin’ on the boulevards of Paris

Naked as the day that I will die

The sailors, they’re so charming there in Paris

But I just don’t seem to sail you off my mind.

Singing about what appears to be a homoerotic escapade in Paris was apparently a bit too risqué for 1969.

Sadly, I was unable to find audio or visual evidence of this secret “third verse” being performed live. However, judging by bits of history and first-hand experiences scattered across the internet, I’m inclined to believe that The Stones really did whip out the famed “Paris verse” on a few occasions in the 1970s for their live sets.

“Honky Tonk Women” might be on the risqué side, but it’s a great example of what music was like back in the day. You could get one version of a song on vinyl or the radio, and a totally different experience of that same song by chance through attending a live performance that you’ll never experience again. In the age of smartphones and constant documentation of concerts, this kind of experience has unfortunately been lost to time. Either way… at least we have Paris, I guess.

Photo by Reg Burkett/Express/Getty Images