Nanker Phelge

Nanker Phelge (a.k.a. Nanker/Phelge) was a collective pseudonym used between 1963 and 1965 for several Rolling Stones group compositions. Stones bassist Bill Wyman explained the origins of the name in his 2002 book, Rolling with the Stones: When the Stones cut "Stoned" – or "Stones", according to early misprinted pressings – as the B-side to "I Wanna Be Your Man", Brian [Jones] suggested crediting it to Nanker/Phelge. The entire band would share writing royalties. Phelge came from Edith Grove flatmate Jimmy Phelge, while a Nanker was a revolting face that band members, Brian in particular, would pull. Group manager Andrew Loog Oldham has a somewhat different explanation, as he states in his book Stoned, that Nanker Phelge was the idea of manager Allen Klein to let Oldham share parts of the royalties. Thus anything credited to Nanker Phelge refers to a Mick Jagger/Brian Jones/Keith Richards/Charlie Watts/Bill Wyman/Andrew Oldham collaborative composition. The ASCAP files for the very earliest Nanker Phelge compositions also list early Rolling Stones member Ian Stewart (also known as "the sixth Stone") 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 (ABKCO was manufacturing the records that still bore the London and Decca labels).