Keith Richards – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Rolling Stones – Monkey Man

Yeah, I’m a sack of broken eggs
I always have an unmade bed
Don’t you?

This song is a great album cut. The way I would describe the song? It is the actual sound of sleaze, and that is a compliment. It was used well in Goodfellas, the 1990 movie, in a scene where the gangsters are trafficking cocaine. One of my favorite Stone songs. I always liked the Stones album cuts more than their hits. This is when they had the perfect producer (Jimmy Miller), the perfect guitar player (Keith Richards), and the perfect sound. This is the Stones I love, their golden period.

What makes this song is Keith Richards’ riff, and it is menacing and on the prowl, practically alive in this song, stalking you outside your bedroom window. Only Keith could make a riff sound dangerous, and it builds up through the song. Richards laid down the main riff on a late-night jam, a hypnotic riff, with just enough space for Nicky Hopkins to work in his piano. Hopkins’ playing on this is greatness: melodic and sinister all at once. He reportedly improvised much of it, adding those runs that make the song snarl.

This song was on Let It Bleed, and it was recorded after Brian Jones was fired and before Mick Taylor replaced him. On Monkey Man, Keith Richards played electric and slide electric guitar, Bill Wyman played bass, and producer Jimmy Miller assisted drummer Charlie Watts on tambourine. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote “Monkey Man” as a tribute to Italian pop artist Mario Schifano, whom they met on the set of his movie Umano Non Umano! (Human, Not Human!).

This song is the Let It Bleed track I always come back to when I want to feel the Stones at their most human and feral.

Monkey Man

I’m a fleabit peanut monkey
And all my friends are junkies
That’s not really true

I’m a cold Italian pizza
I could use a lemon squeezer
What you do?

But I’ve been bit and I’ve been tossed around
By every she-rat in this town
Have you babe?

But I am just a monkey man
I’m glad you are a monkey woman too

I was bitten by a boar
I was gouged and I was gored
But I pulled on through

Yeah, I’m a sack of broken eggs
I always have an unmade bed
Don’t you?

Well I hope we’re not too messianic
Or a trifle too satanic
But we love to play the blues

But well I am just a monkey man
I’m glad you are a monkey woman too
Monkey woman too babe

I’m a monkey man
I’m a monkey man
I’m a monkey man
I’m a monkey man
I’m a monkey
I’m a monkey
I’m a monkey
I’m a monkey
Monkey, monkey
Monkey

Monkey
I’m a monkey

Rolling Stones – Rocks Off

The sunshine bores the daylights out of me

This song is a hell of an album opener. I wrote this last weekend, and I was going to post it for Jim’s SLS Sunday great album openers but I didn’t get to post it. This era was probably the pinnacle of the Stones’ career, both in the studio and live.

By the summer of 1971, the band had officially become British tax exiles. Facing crippling tax rates back home, they scattered across Europe, with Keith Richards renting Villa Nellcôte, a grand 19th-century mansion in Villefranche-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera. When I say renting, I mean turning it into a 24-hour rock ‘n’ roll asylum. The basement, humid, airless, and filled with cigarette smoke, became the main recording space. Mobile studio trucks parked outside ran cables through windows and stairwells.

Despite the drug use and long hours, they got it done. It would be hard to replicate this album because of how it was recorded. Many of the songs sound low-fi and make them even dirtier-sounding. The vocals on this song are not steady in volume, but that adds to it. This, to me, is how the Stones should sound. If they are too clean-sounding, it just doesn’t work for me in the studio or live. Mick Taylor’s guitar is a huge reason this album sounds so good as well.

This song opened their great Exile On Main Street album. Part of the charm is the muddiness of the recordings. It was recorded in the middle of heavy drugs, hangers-on, and a band fleeing from the taxes of England. It’s a wonder they got a song out of it, much less an album that some consider their best.

What you hear in those opening moments, Keith’s ragged riff tumbling down the stairs like it’s late for work, completely works. This song is sloppy yet tight and a bit menacing. It was a great opener for this album. It clearly told you what was coming next.

Exile On Main Street peaked at #1 on The Billboard Album Charts, Canada, and the UK in 1972. This was released as a single in Japan only.

Rocks Off

I hear you talking when I’m on the street
Your mouth don’t move but I can hear you speak

What’s the matter with the boy?
He don’t come around no more
Is he checking out for sure?
Is he gonna close the door on me?

And I’m always hearing voices on the street
I want to shout, but I can hardly speak

I was making love last night
To a dancer friend of mine
I can’t seem to stay in step
‘Cause she come ev’ry time that she pirouettes over me

And I only get my rocks off while I’m dreaming
(Only get them off, only get them off, only get them off)
I only get my rocks off while I’m sleeping
(Only get them off, only get them off, only get them off)

I’m zipping through the days at lightning speed
Plug in, flush out and fire the fuckin’ feed

Heading for the overload
Splattered on the nasty road
Kick me like you’ve kicked before
I can’t even feel the pain no more

Feel so hypnotized, can’t describe the scene
It’s all mesmerized all that inside me

The sunshine bores the daylights out of me
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery

Heading for the overload
Splattered on the dirty road
Kick me like you’ve kicked before
I can’t even feel the pain no more

And I only get my rocks off while I’m sleeping
(Only get them off, only get them off, only get them off)
(Only get them off, only get them off, only get them off)

…

Hail! Hail! Rock ‘N’ Roll

This is one of the best rock and roll documentaries that’s out there. A great documentary and probably the best that Chuck has ever sounded. He had a hell of a band behind him, and his songs did the heavy lifting. Pure poetry-driven songs about life with a huge backbeat. The band was incredible… Keith Richards, Robert Cray, the great Johnnie Johnson (Chuck’s original piano player), Steve Jordan, Bobby Keys, Chuck Leavell, and Eric Clapton are guests on a few songs. More than Chuck or the band… It’s a great showcase for those wonderful songs Chuck wrote for all of us.

This documentary starts off in 1986 with Chuck Berry reminiscing about the Cosmopolitan Club, where he played in the earlier days. The film centers around Chuck Berry’s 60th birthday and Keith Richards assembling an All-Star Band to support Chuck in concert. Chuck had been touring since the 60s by traveling from town to town and playing with any pickup band he found. All he brought was his guitar. He would get paid with cash in a paper bag in many places. That was his motivation more than playing with a good band. Chuck could be very sloppy playing live, but he did keep that great feel.

Chuck could also be difficult, to say the least. Keith was determined that Chuck was going to be backed by a great band for this concert… Chuck was Keith’s idol, but Chuck seemed to want to give Keith as much trouble as possible. Richards says in the documentary that Chuck was the only man who hit him that he didn’t hit back. During the rehearsals for the song “Carol”, you can feel the tension in the air between the two.

Seeing Keith’s reaction to Chuck at times is worth the price of admission, and I’m glad Keith was persistent and patient and got this done. It’s great footage of Chuck playing his classics. The concert at the Fox Theatre ended up a success. Chuck sounded great, and so did the band. I will be forever grateful they did this show, and we get to see Chuck Berry at his best.

During the documentary, there are some great comments by Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Lee Lewis, Willie Dixon, and more. Some of the artists that came on and sang were Etta James, Linda Ronstadt, and Julian Lennon. Chuck was a complicated man, but he was a poet as well. I can’t recommend this documentary enough. If you are a music fan you should like it. Chuck Berry may have influenced Rock and Roll more than anyone else.

My favorite story is from Bruce Springsteen. Bruce and the E Street Band volunteered to back up Chuck Berry for a show in the early seventies. Being Chuck’s temporary pickup band must have been nerve-wracking for musicians. Chuck didn’t tell them what songs he was playing or what key…this is Bruce’s quote “About five minutes before the show was timed to start, the back door opens and he comes in. He’s by himself. He’s got a guitar case, and that was it, I said ‘Chuck, what songs are we going to do?’ He says, ‘Well, we’re going to do some Chuck Berry songs.’ That was all he said!”

Below is the video. it’s not extremely clear but watchable.

Rolling Stones – Going To A Go-Go

Tattoo You was released in 1981 and they did a massive tour that didn’t come near Nashville. Back then no big band like The Who or Stones would come here. Vanderbilt was the only place big enough and they went through a period where they didn’t allow concerts. In 1972 they did come to Nashville to the Municipal Auditorium and Stevie Wonder opened up for them. I still tell my sister…you could have seen Stevie Wonder and The Stones but you picked the Osmonds and David Cassidy! It doesn’t phase her.

In 1982 they released this single off of their live album Still Life. It was a good album and entry to point to a lot of people…the problem was the live album I knew was Get Your Ya Ya’s Out…which ranks among the best live albums ever. I did like the album though and bought two singles from it before I got the album. I think it has the definitive version of Time Is On My Side and this song…Going To A Go-Go. It was a feel-good live album and the joke was going around on how incredibly old they were…hmmm if only we knew!

This was the last tour you could actually see JUST The Stones and not a stage full of other musicians. They always carried a keyboard player which is cool but after this, they carried backup singers and a huge entourage of players on stage. I never liked that…I would rather hear Keith’s thin backup vocals than professional singers.

I remember watching Friday Night Videos and seeing a clip of Keith Richards clubbing a guy over the head with his guitar. The guy deserved it…remember this was 1981, a year after their good friend John Lennon was murdered. Intruders on stage were not welcomed. Here is a small clip of it.

Going to a Go-Go peaked at #25 on the Billboard 100, #4 in Canada, #24 in New Zealand, and #26 in the UK in 1982. Jagger and Richards didn’t write this one. It was written by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, and Marvin Tarplin. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles released in the song in 1965 and it peaked at #11 on the Billboard 100.

The two singles from the album were Time Is On My Side and Going to a Go Go. Time Is On My Side hit the top 10.

Going To A Go Go

Going to a go go, everybody
Going to a go go, c’mon now
Going to a go go, everybody
Going to a go go, c’mon now

Well there’s a brand new place I found
People coming from miles around
They come from everywhere
If you drop in there
You see everyone in town

Going to a go go, everybody
Going to a go go, c’mon now
Don’t you wanna go
And that’s alright tell me

Going to a go go, everybody
Going to a go go

It doesn’t matter if you’re black
It doesn’t matter if you’re white
Take a dollar fifty
A six pack of beer
And we goin’ dance all night

Going to a go go, everybody
Going to a go go, c’mon now
Don’t you wanna go
And that’s alright, tell me

…

Rolling Stones – Time Waits For No One

You could blindfold me and I could tell you if Mick Taylor was playing with The Stones live. He had his own unique sound because of the Les Paul he played. He made those songs in the classic Stones period go.

Many people think that Mick Taylor went uncredited on this and many songs. The melody doesn’t sound like a Keith melody but in any case, Jagger/Richards get credited with this one. They rarely if ever play it live.

The solo in this song is great by Mick Taylor. It reminds me a little of Carlos Santana. He quit shortly after this album was released and it was the end of the classic Stones era. They would never sound the same again after this. The song was on It’s Only Rock and Roll which was a good album but not up to the level of the five preceding albums. A big reason was because of the absence of producer Jimmy Miller.

So why did Mick Taylor leave the band? I’ve read different things from him and others. Taylor felt underappreciated and frustrated that he didn’t receive proper credit for his contributions to the band’s music. He claimed to have co-written several songs, such as Sway and Moonlight Mile but Jagger and Richards would not give a songwriting credit to him. I do believe that because Brian Jones and Ronnie Wood also had the same problem.

His health and well-being were also factors in his decision to leave. The intense touring schedule and the pressures of being in The Stones took a toll on him. Besides pot…he said he didn’t take drugs when he joined the band but like others before and after him…he slowly started to do harder drugs while with the band. When he quit the band it took him a while to get off of heroin.

The song is a favorite among many Stones fans I know and it should be more well known.

Time Waits For No One

Yes, star-crossed in pleasure, the stream flows on byYes, as we’re sated in leisure, we watch it fly, yes

And time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for meAnd time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me

Time can tear down a building or destroy a woman’s faceHours are like diamonds, don’t let them waste

Time waits for no one, no favors has heTime waits for no one, and he won’t wait for me

Men, they build towers to their passingYes, to their fame everlastingHere he comes, chopping and reapingHear him laugh at their cheating

And time waits for no man, and it won’t wait for meYes, time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for thee

Drink in your summer, gather your cornThe dreams of the nighttime will vanish by dawn

And time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for meAnd time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for meNo, no, no, not for me, no, not for me

…

Rolling Stones – Fool To Cry

This song was on the forgotten Black and Blue album. My all-time favorite Stones song is on that album…Memory Motel.

This album was made when the best guitarist the Stones ever had…left them. That’s no knock on Keith, Brian, or soon-to-be Ronnie Wood at this time…Mick Taylor was just that good. He was on 4 of the 5 classic albums they are mostly known for. Another significant person left before Taylor did…Jimmy Miller produced the albums Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile On Main Street, and Goats Head Soup. He was the most important producer they worked with. He gave them a sound that they did not have before.

Ronnie Wood is not the guitar player in this song. They were auditioning guitar players on this album. The three guitar players were Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel, and Ronnie Wood. Wayne Perkins, a super-session player, was the lead guitar player on this song. He didn’t get the job because he was from Alabama. Keith said that was hard to get over because they wanted the Stones to remain an English band. Wayne Perkins was probably the best guitar player they auditioned…but Ronnie Wood looked the part and fit in.

The album was not as well received but still peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1976.

Fool To Cry peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, #6 in the UK, and #38 in New Zealand.

Mick Jagger has said of this song: This dates from the period when I had a young child, my daughter Jade, around a lot, calling me daddy and all that. It’s another of our heartmelting ballads, a bit long and waffly at the end maybe, but I like it.

Keith Richards: “I was just glad somebody in the band could sing that falsetto. I got a pretty good falsetto myself. But when you got a singer and he can hit those notes, baby go for it. And Mick was always fascinated with the falsetto Soul singers like Aaron Neville. That’s crafty stuff, you know what I mean? But he’d been listening to so many people. It’s kinda like what goes in, will come out. You’ll just hear a phrase or a piece of music. And one way or another it’s part of your experience. And a lot of the time it comes out what you do without even realizing it. I don’t really like to think about these things too much. It’s more to do with feeling than intellectualizing about it.”

Keith Richards: Ronnie wasn’t necessarily a shoo-in as our new guitarist, despite our closeness at the time. He was still, for one thing, a member of the Faces. We tried other players before him–Wayne Perkins, Harvey Mandel. Both great players, both of them are on Black and Blue. Ronnie turned up as the last one, and it was really a toss-up. We liked Perkins a lot. He was a lovely player, same style, which wouldn’t have ricocheted against what Mick Taylor was doing, very melodic, very well-played stuff. Then Ronnie said he had problems with the Faces. So it came down to Wayne and Ronnie. Ronnie’s an all-rounder. He can play loads of things and different styles, and I’d just been playing with him for some weeks, so the chips fell there. It wasn’t so much the playing, when it came down to it. It came down to the fact that Ronnie was English! Well, it is an English band, although you might not think that now. And we all felt we should retain the nationality of the band at the time. Because when you get on the road, and it’s “Have you heard this one?,” you’ve all got the same backgrounds. Because of being London-born, Ronnie and I already had a built-in closeness, a kind of code, and we could be cool together under stress, like two squaddies. Ronnie was damn good glue for the band. He was a breath of fresh air. We knew he’d got his chops, we knew he could play, but a big decider was his incredible enthusiasm and ability to get along with everybody. Mick Taylor was always a bit morose. You’ll not see Mick Taylor lying on the floor, holding his stomach, cracking up with laughter for anything. Whereas Ronnie would have his legs in the air.

Fool To Cry

When I come home baby
And I’ve been working all night long
I put my daughter on my knee, and she says
Daddy what’s wrong?
She whispers in my ear so sweet
You know what she says, she says
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why

Daddy you’re a fool
You know, I got a woman (daddy you’re a fool)
And she lives in the poor part of town
And I go see her sometimes
And we make love, so fine
I put my head on her shoulder
She says, tell me all your troubles
You know what she says?
She says, ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why

Daddy you’re a fool to cry
Yeah, she says
Oh, Daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why

She says, ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry
Ooh, daddy you’re a fool to cry

Even my friends say to me sometimes
And make out like I don’t understand them
You know what they say?
They say, ooh daddy you’re a fool to cry
You’re a fool to cry
And it makes me wonder why, ah

I’m a fool baby, ah ya
I’m a certified fool, ah yeah
Gotta tell ya, baby
I’m a fool baby, ah yeah
Whoo
Certified fool for ya, mama, ya, yeah, come on, yeah
I’m a fool, yeah

George Jones – The Race Is On

I first heard this song through Jason and the Scorchers giving it a high-octane slant. On my Car Songs post the other day Lisa recommended this one and instead of waiting to include it in part 3…I thought I would write a post on it.

When I think of George Jones I think of the voice. I would be lying if I didn’t also say that I think of the lawnmower story and some of the stories that I heard from some session musicians. My guitar tech had many come in his shop and they would tell stories about the country stars. They always spoke highly of George Jones, adding he was down-to-earth and a good guy. He could be a lot of fun and wild…and match his rock counterparts.

It has often been said that he had the purest country voice ever. Frank Sinatra called Jones “The second-best singer in America.” When Keith Richards (who is a huge Jones fan) heard this, he asked…who’s the first Frank?

Don Rollins, a Nashville songwriter, wrote The Race Is On with a cool twist, comparing the end of a romantic relationship to a horse race.

The song was a huge hit in Country Music. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1964.

Keith Richards on recording a duet with George Jones: There was another wonderful expedition to record a duet with George Jones at the Bradley Barn sessions, “Say It’s Not You,” a song that Gram Parsons had turned me on to. George was a great guy to work with, especially when he had the hairdo going. Incredible singer. There’s a quote from Frank Sinatra, who says, “Second-best singer in this country is George Jones.” Who’s the first, Frank? We were waiting and waiting for George, for a couple of hours, I think. By then I’m behind the bar making drinks, not remembering that George is supposed to be on the wagon and not knowing why he was so late. I’ve been late many times and so no big deal. And when he turns up, the pompadour hairdo is perfect. It’s such a fascinating thing. You can’t take your eyes off it. And in a fifty-mile-an-hour wind it would still have been perfect. I found out later that he’d been driving around because he was a bit nervous about working with me. He’d been doing some reading up and was uncertain of meeting me.

George Jones on Keith Richards: “I’ll be honest with you: I love Keith Richards more than anything as a person. He’s a character – just fun to be around.”

Dolly Parton: Anyone who knows or cares anything about real country music will agree that George Jones is the voice of it.

The Race Is On

I feel tears wellin’ upCold and deep insideLike my heart’s sprung a big breakAnd a stab of loneliness sharp and painfulThat I may never shakeNow, you might say that I was takin’ it hardSince you wrote me off with a callBut don’t you wager that I’ll hide the sorrowWhen I may break right down and bawl

Now the race is onAnd here comes pride up the backstretchHeartaches are goin’ to the insideMy tears are holdin’ backThey’re tryin’ not to fallMy heart’s out of the runnin’True love’s scratched for another’s sakeThe race is on and it looks like heartacheAnd the winner loses all

One day I ventured in loveNever once suspectin’What the final result would beHow I lived in fear of wakin’ up each mornin’And findin’ that you’re gone from meThere’s ache and pain in my heartFor today was the one I hated to faceSomebody new came up to win herAnd I came out in second place

…

Max Picks …songs from 1988

1988

Three albums shaped this year for me. One was by The Traveling Wilburys, U2, and the other was by Keith Richards..

Traveling Wilburys – Handle With Care

This was the hit that kicked the Wilburys project off the ground. George Harrison and Jeff Lynne started the ball rolling… Initially an informal grouping with Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, they got together at Bob Dylan’s Santa Monica, California studio to quickly record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison’s song This Is Love. This was the song they came up with, which the record company immediately realized was too good to be released as a single B side. They also recorded “You Got It” at the session, which helped convince them to record an album together.

The title Handle With Care came when George Harrison saw the phrase on the side of a cardboard box in the studio.

Tom Petty on Bob Dylan: “There’s nobody I’ve ever met who knows more about the craft of how to put a song together than he does. I learned so much from just watching him work. He has an artist’s mind and can find in a line the keyword and think how to embellish it to bring the line out. I had never written more words than I needed, but he tended to write lots and lots of verses, then he’ll say, this verse is better than that, or this line. Slowly this great picture emerges. He was very good in The Traveling Wilbury’s: when somebody had a line, he could make it a lot better in big ways.”

Steve Earl – Copperhead Road

Brilliant song by Steve Earle. I became a fan of Steve Earle when I heard “I Ain’t Never Satisfied” off of the Exit 0 album. Copperhead Road was an actual road near Mountain City, Tennessee. It has since been renamed Copperhead Hollow Road, owing to the theft of road signs bearing the song’s name.

What is interesting is Earle tells a story of three generations, of three different eras, and shows how they intersect all in one song. Earle himself called the album the world’s first blend of heavy metal and bluegrass.

U2 – Angel Of Harlem

This song has an old feel and a lot of power. It was on the Rattle and Hum album. I’ve talked to many U2 fans who don’t like the album a lot but it is my favorite album the band did. It broke a little from their previous albums. The Edge backed off the reverb and delay some on this album. They traded their “new wave” sound for Americana and I loved it. Rattle and Hum is very rootsy and raw. For me and I’m sure I’m in the minority…this song was one of the best singles of the 80s. I could hear Van Morrison doing this. This song is what made me go back and listen to the rest of their catalog. This album is not The Joshua Tree Part II…they go down a different path like great bands do.

The “Angel of Harlem” is Billie Holiday, a Jazz singer who moved to Harlem as a teenager in 1928. She played a variety of nightclubs and became famous for her spectacular voice and ability to move her audience to tears. She dealt with racism, drug problems, and bad relationships for most of her life, and her sadness was often revealed in her songs. She died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1959 at age 44.

Angel of Harlem was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis.

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car

When I heard this song it sounded so different than other songs at the time. It’s a well-written song lyrically and musically that has a folk feel to it. It could have been a hit in any era… the lyrics got my attention. While they’re standing in the welfare lines / crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation / wasting time in the unemployment lines / sitting around waiting for a promotion.

The song remains one of my favorites from that era. I always thought this song was an instant classic. It could have been released in 1973.

A still unknown Tracy Chapman was booked to appear down the bill at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert at Wembley Stadium on June 11, 1987. She had no reason to think her appearance would be the catalyst for a career breakthrough. After performing several songs from her self-titled debut during the afternoon, Chapman thought she’d done her bit and could relax and enjoy the rest of the concert.

That would not be the case… later in the evening, Stevie Wonder was delayed when the computer discs for his performance went missing, and Chapman was ushered back onto the stage again. In front of a huge prime-time audience, she performed “Fast Car” alone with her acoustic guitar. Afterward, the song raced up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Keith Richards – Take It So Hard

When I heard this song with the opening riff coming from that 5-string G turning that he is known for I loved it. I bought the album Talk is Cheap which some reviews half-jokingly called the best Rolling Stones album in years (It WAS!). The song got plenty of play on rock stations at the time. It peaked at #3 in the Mainstream Rock Tracks. The album was recorded in a period when Mick and Keith were feuding with each other about the direction of the Stones. They were not recording or playing live. “You Don’t Move Me Anymore” off of the album points right at Mick.

Personally, I’ve always liked Keith’s voice. Happy, Salt of the Earth, You Got the Silver, and Before They Make Me Run rank among my favorite Stones songs. This song would fit on any Stones album.

Mick Jagger – Memo From Turner

This song should have been a Rolling Stones song but it was on the soundtrack of a movie Jagger did in 1969. It’s my absolute favorite thing Jagger ever released under his name only. The slide guitar in this song is just downright nasty. Ry Cooder did the honors in this song.

Mick Jagger starred in this movie called Performance in 1970. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel so I’ll paste the plot from IMDB:

Chas is an East London thug who works for gangster Harry Flowers and his associates (although they don’t use the word gangster to describe themselves). Chas is generally sadistic in his nature and thus revels in his work. But his sadistic nature also pervades his personal life. As such, he will work on his own personal agenda outside of the work for Harry. It is in this vein that an encounter with Joey Maddocks, a man with whom Chas has a history, leads to Chas needing to hide out from Harry and his associates. Ultimately Chas feels he needs to clandestinely leave the country. In the meantime, he, based solely on a private conversation he overhears between strangers, manages to take refuge in the basement of a Notting Hill flat owned by a man named Turner, who lives there with two female companions named Pherber and Lucy. Chas considers their lifestyle bohemian and one of free love, which is outside of his mentality. Turner is an ex-rock musician who has lost his “demon” and thus his desire to be a performer. As Chas makes arrangements for his departure out of England, he gets caught up in Turner’s lifestyle, Turner who is working on his own agenda in spending time with Chas.

I saw this movie in the 1980s…it’s a good movie. It’s not Mary Poppins by any stretch of the imagination so you will be seeing an R-rated movie that can border on X. They had to cut a few scenes to make it an R back then. Jagger does a great job in it…it’s been said more than playing himself in this film… he was playing his ex-bandmate Brian Jones.

The song was credited to Jagger/Richards and on some takes only Jagger. There were 3 versions of the song. The first take was from Mick with some of the band Traffic backing him but it wasn’t officially released. The 2nd version was a version of it by The Stones with Ry Cooder on slide. The third version was recorded in 1970 featuring Mick Jagger, Ry Cooder on slide guitar, Russ Titelman (guitar), Randy Newman (piano), Jerry Scheff (bass), and Gene Parsons on drums. That is the one that everyone knows.

Keith Richards didn’t want anything to do with it. He was not happy with the love scenes between his actress girlfriend Anita Pallenberg and Mick Jagger. Keith held a lot of resentment over that for a long time and let Mick know in his 2010 book Life. He ripped Jagger pretty well over it and it took them a few years to start talking again.

This is a very dirty and grimy song…it would have been a perfect fit on Exile On Mainstreet or Sticky Fingers. Any Goodfellas fans out there might remember it in that movie.

The song peaked at #32 on the UK Charts in 1970.

Memo From Turner

Didn’t I see you down in San Antone on a hot and dusty night?
We were eating eggs in Sammy’s when the black man there drew his knife
Didn’ you drown that Jew in Rampton when he washed his sleeveless shirt
With that Spanish-speaking gentlemen, the one we all called “Kurt.”

Come now, gentleman, there must be some mistake
How forgetful I’m becoming, now you fixed your business straight

I remember you in Hemlock Road in nineteen fifty-six
You’re a faggy little leather boy with a smaller piece of stick
You’re a lashing, smashing hunk of man
Your sweat shines sweet and strong
Your organ’s working perfectly, but there’s a part that’s not screwed on

Weren’t you at the Coke convention back in nineteen sixty-five
You’re the misbred, grey executive that I’ve seen heavily advertised
You’re the great, gray man whose daughter licks policemen’s buttons clean
You’re the man who squats behind the man who works the soft machine

Come now, gentleman, your love is all I crave
You’ll still be in the circus when I’m laughing, laughing in my grave

When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plastic on
So be wary please my gentle friends of all the skins you breed
They have a nasty habit that is they bite the hands that feed

So remember who you say you are and keep your noses clean
Boys will be boys and play with toys so be strong with your beast
Oh Rosie dear, don’t you think it’s queer, so stop me if you please
The baby is dead, my lady said, “You gentlemen, why you all work for me?”

Keith Richards – Take It So Hard

When my Max Picks come up for 88…this will probably be in it. That year we had Keith Richards release Talk Is Cheap and a few weeks later The Traveling Wilburys released their debut album. The year before that George Harrison released his Cloud 9 album. I started to listen to mainstream radio a little more because of those three albums.

When I heard this song with the opening riff coming from that 5-string G turning that he is known for… it was love. I bought the album Talk is Cheap which some reviews half-jokingly called the best Rolling Stones album in years. The song got plenty of play on rock stations at the time. It peaked at #3 in the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

The album was recorded when Mick and Keith were feuding about the direction of the Stones. The Stones were not recording or playing live. “You Don’t Move Me Anymore” off the album points right at Mick.

Personally, I’ve always liked Keith Richards voice. Happy, Salt of the Earth, You Got the Silver, Before They Make Me Run rank among my favorite Stones songs. This song would fit on any Stones album.

The band Keith put together was great.
Keith Richards: lead and background vocal, guitar
Waddy Wachtel: guitar
Steve Jordan: drums (he is now drummer for the Stones)
Charley Drayton: background vocal, bass
Ivan Neville: piano and keyboards

Waddy Wachtel: We went up to Canada and did the whole of the first record, Talk Is Cheap, there. I think the second track we cut was “Take It So Hard,” which is a magnificent composition. And I just thought, I get to play on this? Let’s go. And we played it a few times. I guess you could call it rehearsing. And there’s one take that is just a great pass. It’s just ridiculously good. It was the second tune of the night, and it was this killer fucking take of our strongest tune. I went back to the house going, we’ve conquered Everest already? These other mountains we can climb easily if we’ve got the big one down. And Keith didn’t want to believe it; he was going, I don’t want these guys thinking they’re that good. He made us do a retake. I don’t know why. The take was shouting, hey, dude, I’m the take. I think Keith just did it to make sure people stayed in focus. But it never sounded as good as that first take. When you’ve got it, you’ve got it. When we were putting the sequence of the album together, I insisted “Big Enough” should be the first song. Because the first time you hear Keith sing on that, that first line is amazing, his voice sounds so beautiful. He delivers it effortlessly. I said, people when they hear this, they’re not going to believe it’s fucking Keith Richards singing. And then we’ll hit ’em with “Take It So Hard.”

Keith Richards: Steve and I thought we ought to make a record and started to put together the core of the X-Pensive Winos–so named later on when I noticed a bottle of Chateau Lafite introduced as light refreshment in the studio. Well, nothing was too good for this amazing band of brothers. Steve asked me who I wanted to play with, and first up, on guitar I said Waddy Wachtel. And Steve said, you took the words, brother. I had known Waddy since the ’70s and I’d always wanted to play with him, one of the most tasteful, simpatico players I know. And he’s completely musical. Understanding of it, empathetic, nothing ever needing to be explained. He’s also got the most uncanny ultrasonic ear, still tuned high after years of bandstands. He was playing with Linda Ronstadt and he was playing with Stevie Nicks– chick bands–but I knew my man wanted to rock. So I called him and said simply, “I’m putting a band together, and you’re in it.” Steve agreed that Charley Drayton should be the bass player, and I think it was just a general consensus that Ivan Neville, from Aaron Neville’s family from New Orleans, should be the piano player. There was no audition process whatsoever.

Take It So Hard

Giving up lovin’, easy to do
People so pitiful they never come through
Honey, honey, honey, I ain’t that way
(You want a little bit) once in a while, come on and get a bit
You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah) you shouldn’t take it (yeah)
You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)

Take a look around you, tell me, what do you see?
People with little bits try, tryin’ to smile
Most of what you’ve gotten is free (yeah)
(Yeah) you shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)

You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah) you shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)
You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)

Yank it up baby or go get yourself a new name
You want a little bit once in a while, yeah you got a taste for it
You shouldn’t take it (yeah) you shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)
(Yeah)

You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)
You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)
You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)
You shouldn’t take it so hard (yeah)

Rolling Stones – Shine A Light

This song was on the Exile On Main Street album. The original lyrics were started in 1968 about Brian Jones while he was still a member. It was about his drug habits and decline as a musician and human. After Brian died, Mick rewrote some of the lyrics and we got this gospel-sounding song with the help of Billy Preston and Leon Russell. Leon and Mick Jagger recorded an early version of this song called “(Can’t Seem To) Get a Line on You.”

Keith Richards and Charlie Watts are not on this song. Mick Taylor has claimed to play guitar and bass. Bill Wyman later said that he played bass on the song, not Taylor but Taylor did play guitar. The producer Jimmy Miller played drums on this track with Billy Preston on piano and organ. Clydie King, Joe Greene, Venetta Fields, and Jesse Kirkland sang back up.

Allen Klein owned all of the rights to Stones’ songs written before 1970. Somehow he fooled Mick and Keith into signing all of their rights away to their sixties catalog. Klein got wind of five songs on this album that were written in the 60s and yes…he sued them and got a share of the profits on this album. The songs were Sweet Virginia, Loving Cup, All Down the Line, Shine a Light, and Stop Breaking Down. Although this song is credited to Jagger-Richards…Leon Russell is said to have co-written it with Mick.

The song gave its name to a 2008 Martin Scorsese film chronicling the Stones’ Beacon Theatre performances on the latter tour, and the 2006 performance is included on the soundtrack album. Mick Jagger has named this his favorite song on Exile on Main Street.

Mick Jagger: “When I was very friendly with Billy
Preston in the ’70s I sometimes used to go to church with him in Los
Angeles, it was an interesting experience because we
don’t have a lot of churches like that in England. I hadn’t had a lot of firsthand experience of it.”

Mick Jagger: “It was quite an early one from Olympic Studios London, with Billy Preston. Once it was finished, we never played it on stage for years and years. Then it became this favorite after we recorded it for the Stripped album. So ‘Shine A Light’ was this funny thing that started off as something you did once at that time and never went back to.”

(Can’t Seem To) Get a Line on You with Jagger and Russell in 1969.

Shine A Light

Saw you stretched out in Room ten oh nine
With a smile on your face and a tear right in your eye
Whoa, come see to get a line on you, my sweet honey love
Berber jewelry jangling down the street
Making bloodshot eyes at every woman that you meet
Could not seem to get high on you, my sweet honey love

May the good Lord shine a light on you
Make every song (you sing) your favorite tune
May the good Lord shine a light on you
Warm like the evening sun

When you’re drunk in the elevator, with your clothes all torn
When your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn
Just seen too many flies on you, I just can’t brush them off

Angels beating all their wings in time
With smiles on their faces and a gleam right in their eyes
Whoa, thought I heard one sigh for you
Come on up, come on up, now, come on up now

May the good Lord shine a light on you, yeah
Make every song you sing your favorite tune
May the good Lord shine a light on you, yeah
Warm like the evening sun

Come on up now, come on up now, come on up now, come on up, come on

May the good Lord shine a light on you
Make every song you sing your favorite tune
May the good Lord shine a light on you
Warm like the evening sun, yeah, yeah

Chuck Berry – Let It Rock

Pick up you belongings boys and scatter about
We’ve got an off-schedule train comin’ two miles out

Great title for Mr. Chuck Berry. My only complaint about this song is it’s way too short. He borrowed liberally from Johnny B. Good but that is alright…hell it’s his song to borrow from. Just think how many artists have taken this riff, especially the rhythm track, and used it over and over again. The Rolling Stones, Animals, and Beatles owe a large part of their success to this man.

Speaking of the Rolling Stones…they recorded this song live as a B-side in the UK for the single Brown Sugar. It was recorded live in March 1971 at the University of Leeds in England. Right around the time when The Who recorded possibly the best rock live album ever…Live At Leeds. The Stones do a good job on this song…it’s in their wheelhouse completely.

This song is not about teenagers. Chuck wrote this from the perspective of a railroad worker in Alabama. The phrase “Let It Rock” won’t be found in the lyrics. Supposedly the train that is coming is Rock and Roll.

The musicians on this album are Johnnie Johnson on piano, Willie Dixon on double bass, and Fred Below on drums. Johnnie Johnson was one of the best boogie-woogie piano players around at the time.

Johnnie Johnson never got his due for these wonderful riffs that he helped Chuck create. When Keith Richards wanted him to play in Hail Hail Rock and Roll in the mid-80s…he was driving a bus in Saint Louis. Chuck gave his OK and Johnnie was in the band. After he appeared in the movie he worked for the rest of his life as a musician.

This song has been covered by The Connection, The Grateful Dead, Rockpile, The Rolling Stones, Motörhead, Jerry Garcia, Hasil Adkins, Skyhooks, The Yardbirds, Widespread Panic, The MC5, Bob Seger, the Stray Cats, George Thorogood, The Head Cat, Shadows of Knight, John Oates, The Georgia Satellites, and Jeff Lynne to name a few.

The song peaked at #18 on the Billboard R&B Charts and #64 on the Billboard 100 Charts in 1959.

Have a great day and Let It Rock!

Let It Rock

In the heat of the day down in Mobile Alabama
Working on the railroad with the steel driving hammer
I gotta get some money to buy some brand new shoes
Tryin’ to find somebody to take away these blues
“She don’t love me” hear them singing in the sun
Payday’s coming and my work is all done

Well, in the evening when the sun is sinking low
All day I been waiting for the whistle to blow
Sitting in a tee pee built right on the tracks
Rolling them bones until the foreman comes back
Pick up you belongings boys and scatter about
We’ve got an off-schedule train comin’ two miles out

Everybody’s scrambling, running around
Picking up their money, tearing the tee pee down
Foreman wants to panic, ’bout to go insane
Trying to get the workers out the way of the train
Engineer blows the whistle loud and long
Can’t stop the train, have to let it roll on

Books I Would Recommend …Part 1

I thought I would go through my book collection (hardbacks, paperbacks, and audio) and see which ones I really like. I’m more of a non-fiction reader and I love biographies. I also like documentaries which I will do later on. There are some fiction books I’ve read that I will list later on. I thought I would do a few at a time.

1: Harpo Marx – Harpo Speaks – This is my top autobiography of all time. I have read it at least 8-9 times. When I fly, Harpo goes with me on every flight. Harpo was born in the latter half of the 19th century and his life is one of the most incredible stories I’ve read about. This guy adopted enough kids to fill up every window in his house. He would often wake his kids up just to play if he came home late. If rock bands tell sad stories of them just starting and how hard it was…you should read what the Marx Brothers went through. This book goes to 1964 when he passed away. The link on Harpo Speaks goes to my review of it. It was the first book post I did that actually got interest.

2: Beatles – Tune In – The absolute best biography on The Beatles and it only goes to 1962 and it’s well over 1000 pages. Mark Lewisohn wrote it and is planning to write a part two and then a part three. The criticism of this book is there are too many details…” who needs to know the color of George Harrison’s first car?” Well me that’s who! No, I have read at least 15 or more books on them and I learned a lot from this book. Lewisohn interviewed a lot of early fans who saw them in the Cavern and Hamburg. He uncovers events that no one knew before. He also backs things up so it’s the best by far on the Beatles.

Most books on the Beatles I don’t get through because all they are doing is repeating the well-known history…not this one. I’m impatiently waiting the Part II.

3: Keith Richards – Life – This book started a trend among older rock stars. Keith is upfront about his past and doesn’t hide much if anything. He is straightforward and you learn a lot about what was going on when the Stone’s golden years were happening. You would NEVER get a book like this with Mick Jagger. I’ve ranked this 3rd…but the following 2 could have easily switched places with this one but Keith is the one that started it. The format he used was soon used again by Gregg Allman, Robbie Robertson, and Bill Kreutzmann.

4: Gregg Allman – My Cross To Bear – It felt like Gregg was on a back porch telling you his story. I was an Allman Brothers fan but became a huge one after this book. I started to dive into their music and I saw how great they were. He goes through the Duane years, Cher, the narc incident, and up to the modern Allman Brothers. Even if you are not a huge fan…check this out.

5: Robbie Robertson – Testimony – Same as Keith and Gregg…a wonderful book about The Band. I had no clue what they went through before they toured with Dylan. They were as tight as any band could be musically and physically. Robbie is very even-handed about his relationship with Levon Helm…he doesn’t rip him and generally treats him with respect. You also learn more about Bob Dylan than I ever knew about his personality. Robbie is also such a cool guy and very down to earth.

6: Bill Kreutzmann – Deal – OK, you want Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll? You have it here with the Grateful Dead’s drummer. It’s not a complete bio of the Dead but he tells stories that I never heard before. Of all the bands I read about…The Dead probably had more fun than any other. They did have their arguments and Garcia wasn’t always a hippie guy that went along with everything. I did learn more about the Dead’s dynamics from this book than any other.

Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Women

Of all the Rolling Stones songs I have posted…B sides and album cuts…I’m astonished that I haven’t posted this one. This is one of the Stones’ best 60s singles. It’s B side was You Can’t Always Get What You Want. I consider Jumping Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women, and Brown Sugar their best rock singles. A case could be made for Satisfaction and Start Me Up as well.

When the Stones finished this recording on June 8, 1969…they drove to Brian Jones’s house to fire him. By this time he was trying to get himself clean of drugs and actually was getting better. He also had an arrest on his record that would stop the Stones from touring at the time. He started to record demos on his own and other people have said that it sounded like Creedence Clearwater Revival and that style. He would die on July 3, 1969, from drowning in his pool under a lot of controversy that still is questioned to this day. The song was released on July 4, 1969

This song was also the track that introduced Stones fans to guitarist Mick Taylor. The former member of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers was brought in to replace founding member Brian Jones. Taylor, only 20 at the time, provided the glue for the song, helping the transition from verse to chorus. Guitarist Ry Cooder also was an inspiration for the song.

The song started on a trip that Richards and Mick Jagger took to Brazil. Inspired by the cowboys working the ranch where they were vacationing, the two started knocking together a Hank Williams/Jimmie Rodgers-inspired tune, with Jagger using the countrified tone of the music as inspiration for his lyrical ode to the working women of the Old West. That version you can hear in Country Honk on the Let It Bleed album. Honky Tonk Women was released as a non-album single.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, in the UK, in New Zealand, and #2 in Canada in 1969.

Keith Richards: ‘Honky Tonk Women’ started in Brazil. Mick and I, Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg who was pregnant with my son at the time. Which didn’t stop us going off to the Mato Grasso and living on this ranch. It’s all cowboys. It’s all horses and spurs. And Mick and I were sitting on the porch of this ranch house and I started to play, basically fooling around with an old Hank Williams idea. ‘Cause we really thought we were like real cowboys. Honky tonk women. And we were sitting in the middle of nowhere with all these horses, in a place where if you flush the john all these black frogs would fly out. It was great. The chicks loved it. Anyway, it started out a real country honk put on, a hokey thing. And then couple of months later we were writing songs and recording. And somehow by some metamorphosis it suddenly went into this little swampy, black thing, a Blues thing. Really, I can’t give you a credible reason of how it turned around from that to that. Except there’s not really a lot of difference between white country music and black country music. It’s just a matter of nuance and style. I think it has to do with the fact that we were playing a lot around with open tunings at the time. So we were trying songs out just to see if they could be played in open tuning. And that one just sunk in.”

Honky Tonk Women

I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
‘Cause I just can’t seem to drink you off my mind

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

I laid a divorcée in New York City
I had to put up some kind of a fight
The lady then she covered me with roses
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

Rolling Stones – Salt Of The Earth

Let’s drink to the hard-working people
Let’s drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

This song is on my favorite Rolling Stones album, Beggars Banquet. There is not a bad song on the LP. This one and Prodigal Son I always liked. The album peaked at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts, #3 in the UK, and #3 in Canada in 1969.

I played this album to death. As with most Stones albums, you get what you get…rock, blues, and a little country thrown in the mix. I got this album when I was 12 and it opened my eyes wide to the Stones…much more than a collection of their hits would ever do.

This album is not considered up there with Sticky Fingers or Exile On Main Street but I have the strongest connection to it. I’ve always related Beggars Banquet to the White Album. They were both released in 1968 and were raw and honest. No studio trickery to either…a big departure from the psychedelic era of 1967 for both bands. I think the Stones and Beatles also owe a nod to The Band’s rootsy music (Music From Big Pink) which was influencing everyone around this time.

I learned that a greatest hits package from The Beatles and Rolling Stones was NOT enough. Those two bands taught me to buy albums and not just rely on the “hits” which even at that time were worn out. You never got the really good songs that lay hidden like this one. The two well-known songs off of the album were great like Sympathy for the Devil and Street Fighting Man but I liked some of the others just as much. Now with certain artists…yes, a Greatest Hits package is fine but not with the Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and a few more.

I don’t think Jimmy Miller gets enough credit for their sound. That is not a knock against the Stones but the Miller-produced albums are special. He produced them during their 5 album stretch golden period. Keith and Mick Jagger both sing on this with the Los Angeles Watts Street Gospel Choir singing background…Nicky Hopkins is on piano. It was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.

The title refers to the working class…they are “The salt of the Earth.” Jagger later said: “The song is total cynicism. I’m saying those people haven’t any power and they never will have.”

Speaking of albums. My friend Paul has a massive site with album reviews called The Punk Panther Music Reviews. I can almost promise you he will have what you are looking for.

Also, Graham has a wide selection of albums that he reviewed…it’s called Aphoristic Album Reviews. When I want to see album reviews I go to those two sites. I hardly ever do album reviews because frankly, I’m not that good at it but I still try once in a while.

Salt Of The Earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and
Black and white
They don’t look real to me
In fact, they look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don’t look real to me
Or don’t they look so strange

Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth

Let’s drink to the hard working people
Let’s drink to the salt of the earth
Let’s drink to the two thousand million
Let’s think of the humble of birth