Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, “All Down the Line” is a straight ahead electric rock song which opens side four of Exile on Main St..

It was the first song to be recorded for Exile On Main St., with Mick originally wanting it to be the first single released; it was eventually released as the B-side to “Happy”, in July 1972.

Originally, an acoustic version of the song was recorded in 1969 as part of the Sticky Fingers album. In this version, Keith uses “Open G” tuning.