“Ruby Tuesday” was supposed to be the B-side of the single. The A-side was “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” A lot of radio stations in this country felt very nervous about playing a song with those kind of sexual lyrics. So, they started flipping the record over and playing the B-side which was “Ruby Tuesday.” It became the hit and “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” while being heard in a few venues, didn’t even crack the Top 40 (unless you want to call it a two-sided hit).

In January of 1967, the Stones were scheduled to play the Ed Sullivan Show in America. They intended to sing “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” but Sullivan would have none of it. He insisted they change the lyrics to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together.” Ever the bad boys of British rock, The Rolling Stones, particularly Mick Jagger did not want to do that. So, they compromised. When they sang the song live, Jagger just mumbled when he got to that line. Mick says that Sullivan would have taken them off the air if he had sang the original lyrics. So, everyone was happy.

Keith Richards wrote “Ruby Tuesday” in a hotel room in early 1966. The song is said to named after a groupie who hung around the group in 1966. No one knows her name (except that it was probably Ruby.) There are others who claim that “Ruby Tuesday” was named after Linda Keith who was Keith Richards girlfriend during this time.

“Ruby Tuesday” has been ranked number 310 on Rolling Stones Magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is also the inspiration for the restaurant chain with the same name. It was included on the album Between the Buttons in America only. That was the Rolling Stones’ seventh American album.

“Ruby Tuesday” entered the American pop charts on February 4, 1967 and spent one week at number one.

In this video, the note below it says that this is the rehearsal for the Ed Sullivan Show, so I don’t know if this is what the public heard or not. However, you can listen to both songs.