Nanker Phelge


Nanker Phelge was a collective pseudonym used between 1963 and 1965 for several Rolling Stones group compositions. According to manager Andrew Loog Oldham the 'Nanker Phelge' credit was mostly used for tracks where the origin lay in blues standards from the 1950s they heard when visiting the Chess studios in Chicago. It also enabled Oldham to benefit from writing credits.
Stones bassist Bill Wyman explained the origins of the name in his 2002 book, Rolling with the Stones:
Thus anything credited to Nanker Phelge refers to a Mick Jagger/Brian Jones/Keith Richards/Charlie Watts/Bill Wyman/Andrew Loog Oldham collaborative composition. The ASCAP files for the very earliest Nanker Phelge compositions also list early Rolling Stones member Ian Stewart as a co-author covered by the pseudonym.
The name resurfaced in the late 1960s on the labels of the original vinyl pressings of Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed. Manufacture of both albums was credited to Nanker Phelge, which was then acknowledged as an ABKCO company.

Songs credited to Nanker Phelge