Written by singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, "Tell Me" is a pop ballad. In a song review for AllMusic, critic Richie Unterberger commented, "It should be pointed out... that the Rolling Stones, even in 1964, were more versatile and open toward non-blues-rooted music than is often acknowledged by critics." The Rolling Stones' two previous singles bear out this observation: one had been the Lennon–McCartney-penned "I Wanna Be Your Man" ; another was Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away". Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone magazine: " is very different from doing those R&B covers or Marvin Gaye covers and all that. There's a definite feel about it. It's a very pop song, as opposed to all the blues songs and the Motown covers, which everyone did at the time." The song's lyrics are a glimpse of a failed relationship and the singer's attempt to win back the girl's love: Unterberger notes, "When began to write songs, they were usually not derived from the blues, but were often surprisingly fey, slow, Mersey-type pop numbers... 'Tell Me' was quite acoustic-based, with a sad, almost dispirited air. After quiet lines about the end of the love affair, the tempo and melody both brighten".
Recording and release
"Tell Me" was recorded in London in January and February 1964; versions both with and without Ian Stewart's piano were cut. Jagger said: "Keith was playing 12-string and singing harmonies into the same microphone as the 12-string. We recorded it in this tiny studio in the West End of London called Regent Sound, which was a demo studio. I think the whole of that album was recorded in there." Richards said in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, "'Tell Me'... was a dub. Half those records were dubs on that first album, that Mick and I and Charlie and I'd put a bass on or maybe Bill was there and he'd put a bass on. 'Let's put it down while we remember it,' and the next thing we know is, 'Oh look, track 8 is that dub we did a couple months ago.' That's how little control we had." Early pressings of the UK release of the debut album mistakenly included the piano-less version of "Tell Me" ; all subsequent releases have featured the version with piano. The full-length recording of this piano version, which appeared on the standard UK LP after the mistake was corrected, has an abrupt ending before the performance of the song finishes. Most other LP and CD versions of the UK debut albumas well as the Stones' debut US album, originally subtitled but later officially called England's Newest Hit Makerscontain an edited version of this recording, which fades out at around 3:48. In June 1964 "Tell Me" was released as a single and peaked at number 24 for two weeks, lasting on the BillboardHot 100 for a total of 10 weeks. The B-side was a cover of the Willie Dixon song "I Just Wanna Make Love to You". The "Tell Me" single was re-released on various Rolling Stones compilation albums, including Big Hits , More Hot Rocks , 30 Greatest Hits, and . Over the years, the 3:48 edit has replaced the 2:47 single edit on such compilations; for example, the 1989 edition of Singles Collection: The London Years has the single edit, while the 2002 edition has the longer version.
