One night when Bill Wyman arrived at the studio for a Satanic Majesties recording session, engineer Glyn Johns informed him that the rest of the band hadn’t shown up and enquired as to whether he had anything that he might want to record. This gave birth to, In Another Land, the only song the Stones ever recorded with Bill Wyman on lead vocals and perhaps surprisingly the first single from Satanic Majesties, reaching No.87 on the US chart.

The vocal effect is the striking element on the song, fed through a vibrato, the psychedelics were in place. The other striking element is the cast – the song includes Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane from The Small Faces on backing vocals, Marriott also plays 12 string guitar. Brian Jones remains glued to the mellotron and the ever present Nicky Hopkins on harpsichord.

The idea behind song, that was also written by Bill Wyman, was that you awake from a dream and find yourself in another dream. The snoring at the end of the track is Wyman asleep, secretly recorded by Jagger and  Richards as a joke (album only). The spirit of Pink Floyd grows even closer as soon as it’s not Jagger singing the lead.

I wish bands could try to diversify their sound more, like The Beatles did, that same trick over and over again sold as focus, seems to neglect the need to expand, experiment and at least the Stones saw that this new scene warranted investigation. They tried it, decided it wasn’t for them and headed back towards their own brand of Rock ‘n’ Roll – then they discovered Disco.

In another land where the breeze and the
Trees and flowers were blue
I stood and held your hand
And the grass grew high and the feathers floated by

I stood and held your hand
And nobody else’s hand will ever do
Nobody else will do

Then I awoke
Was this some kind of joke?
Much to my surprise
I opened my eyes

We walked across the sand and the sea and
The sky and the castles were blue
I stood and held your hand
And the spray flew high and the feathers floated by

I stood and held your hand
And nobody else’s hand will ever do
Nobody else will do

Then I awoke
Was this some kind of joke?
Much to my surprise
When I opened my eyes

We heard the trumpets blow and the sky
Turned red when I accidentally said
That I didn’t know how I came to be here
Not fast asleep in bed

I stood and held your hand
And nobody else’s hand will ever do
Nobody else’s hand

Then I awoke
Was this some kind of joke?
I opened my eyes
Much to my surprise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Another_Land

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Their_Satanic_Majesties_Request

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Hopkins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Marriott

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Lane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Faces