"Waiting on a Friend" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album Tattoo You.

[citation needed] In the liner notes to 1993's compilation album Jump Back, Mick Jagger said, "We all liked it at the time but it didn't have any lyrics, so there we were...

"[2]Additional percussion, comprising claves, cabasa, güiro and conga, by Michael Carabello, was added during overdub sessions in April and June 1981, as well as acoustic guitar by Jagger.

Matching the song's lyrics, Jagger is seen waiting for Keith Richards in the doorway of an apartment block, with Peter Tosh sitting on the steps.

The building, at 96–98 St. Mark's Place in Manhattan, is notable for having also appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

[4] Jagger sings the song to Richards and the video concludes with the band setting up for a gig at the back of the bar, largely ignored by the other patrons.

Billboard called it a "ballad that has a subtle honky tonk feeling" and a "tasty contrast" to the Rolling Stones' previous single "Start Me Up".

[6] Record World said that "Jagger's magnetíc vocal, Sonny Rollins sax phrases and the hypnotic chorus make this one of the Stones most enticing pieces in recent memory.