“Happy” was the second single released from Exile on Main Street. The lead vocals are sung by Keith Richards; it continues to be a staple at Rolling Stones concerts, and is considered to be one of Keith Richards' signature tunes.

“Happy” was something I did because I was for one time early for a session. There was Bobby Keys and Jimmy Miller. We had nothing to do and had suddenly picked up the guitar and played this riff. So we cut it and it’s the record, it’s the same. We cut the original track with a baritone sax, a guitar and Jimmy Miller on drums. And the rest of it is built up over that track. It was just an afternoon jam that everybody said, “Wow, yeah, work on it”

We did that in an afternoon, in only four hours, cut and done. At noon it had never existed. At four o'clock it was on tape
- Keith Richards