"Far Away Eyes" is the sixth track from rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 band The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

's 1978 album Some Girls

Some Girls

Some Girls is the 14th British and 16th American studio album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1978 on Rolling Stones Records, catalogue COC 39108...

.

Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger

Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....

 and Keith Richards

Keith Richards

Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...

 collaborated extensively on writing the song, which was recorded in late 1977. A bootleg version with Richards singing exists. The Stones, longtime country music fans, incorporated many aspects of Bakersfield-style country music

Bakersfield sound

The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. The many hit singles were largely produced by Capitol Records country music head, Ken Nelson. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string...

 into this song. These included in particular Ronnie Wood's use of a pedal steel guitar

Pedal steel guitar

The pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...

 for a solo and highlights, an instrument used on other songs from the album like "Shattered

Shattered (song)

"Shattered" is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1978 album Some Girls. The song is seen as a reflection of American lifestyles and life in 1970s-era New York City, but also influences from the English punk rock movement can be heard. It also foreshadowed the upcoming rap movement as Mick...

" and "When the Whip Comes Down

When the Whip Comes Down (song)

"When the Whip Comes Down" is a song by rock and roll band The Rolling Stones from their 1978 album Some Girls."When the Whip Comes Down" was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, although Jagger handled the song's lyrics...

". Also of note is the plodding rhythm of Charlie Watts

Charlie Watts

Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...

 and Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...

. Richards performed acoustic and electric guitars as well as sharing piano duties with Jagger.

In the lyrics, the lowliness of life and the possibilities in finding love are dealt with:
The verses of the song are half sung, half spoken, with Jagger using a parodic Southern American English

Southern American English

Southern American English is a group of dialects of the English language spoken throughout the Southern region of the United States, from Southern and Eastern Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky to the Gulf Coast, and from the Atlantic coast to most of Texas and Oklahoma.The Southern dialects make...

 accent:
In a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

magazine, Jagger said, "You know, when you drive through Bakersfield on a Sunday morning or Sunday evening - I did that about six months ago - all the country music radio stations start broadcasting black gospel services live from L.A. And that's what the song refers to. But the song's really about driving alone, listening to the radio." On influences, Jagger stated "I wouldn't say this song was influenced specifically by Gram (Parsons)

Gram Parsons

Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. Parsons is best known for his work within the country genre; he also mixed blues, folk, and rock to create what he called "Cosmic American Music"...

. That idea of country music played slightly tongue-in-cheek - Gram had that in 'Drugstore Truck Drivin' Man', and we have that sardonic quality, too." Asked by the interviewer if the girl in the song was a real one, Jagger replied, "Yeah, she's real, she's a real girl."

The Rolling Stones have performed "Far Away Eyes" sporadically since its introduction to their canon of work, most recently on the A Bigger Bang Tour

A Bigger Bang Tour

A Bigger Bang Tour was a worldwide concert tour by The Rolling Stones which took place between August 2005 and August 2007, in support of their album A Bigger Bang...

 in 2006. A captured performance appears on the 2008 live album Shine a Light.