"What may have triggered the idea for the song (and "the clean white sheets stained red") was an incident on the boat to Brazil with Mick, Keith and Anita. Anita was pregnant with Marlon at the time and after a few days at sea she began bleeding badly and she panicked. She called the doctor and he eventually gave her a shot of morphine. I remember that Keith and I were very proud of her in that idiotic junkie way. "Wow! You managed to score a hit of morphine!"
-p. 165/166 of Faithfull: An Autobiography
"What may have triggered the idea for the song (and "the clean white sheets stained red") was an incident on the boat to Brazil with Mick, Keith and Anita. Anita was pregnant with Marlon at the time and after a few days at sea she began bleeding badly and she panicked. She called the doctor and he eventually gave her a shot of morphine. I remember that Keith and I were very proud of her in that idiotic junkie way. "Wow! You managed to score a hit of morphine!" -p. 165/166 of Faithfull: An Autobiography