Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it appears on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers as the fourth track of side two.
The lyrics to the song are notably dark, and feature the line, "I'll be in my basement room, with a needle and a spoon", a reference to injecting heroin.
"Dead Flowers" was written during the period when the Stones were stepping into country music territory, when Richards's friendship with Gram Parsons was influencing his songwriting.
Jagger commented in 2003: The 'Country' songs we recorded later, like "Dead Flowers" on Sticky Fingers or "Far Away Eyes" on Some Girls, are slightly different (than our earlier ones).
Personnel adapted from Sticky Fingers liner notes[4] The Rolling Stones Additional Performer The song has been widely covered.