This song was recorded in 1966 but not released until the summer of 1967. The psychedelic sound fit in perfectly with the summer of love. The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Later on Keith named his first daughter Dandelion but she decided later to use her middle name “Angela” instead…Her mom was the late Anita Pallenberg.
The Stones had some nice psychedelic pop songs in the mid-sixties that you don’t hear as much now. Personally I wished this period would have gone on a little longer. This song made #49 in Rolling Stone magazine rating the top 100 Rolling Stones songs.
Because of their drug bust at Keith’s home Redlands the Stones were not as involved in the summer of love as other bands. The song peaked at #9 in Canada and #14 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.
Keith Richards:“We didn’t have a chance to go through too much flower power because of the bust. We’re outlaws.”
Dandelion
Prince or pauper, beggar man or thing Play the game with ev’ry flower you bring Dandelion don’t tell no lies Dandelion will make you wise Tell me if she laughs or cries Blow away dandelion
One o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock, four o’clock chimes Dandelions don’t care about the time Dandelion don’t tell no lies Dandelion will make you wise Tell me if she laughs or cries Blow away dandelion, blow away dandelion
Tho’ you’re older now its just the same You can play this dandelion game When you’re finished with your childlike prayers Well, you know you should wear it
Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailors lives Rich man, poor man, beautiful, daughters wives Dandelion don’t tell no lies Dandelion will make you wise Tell me if she laughs or cries Blow away dandelion, blow away dandelion
Little girls, and boys come out to play Bring your dandelions to blow away Dandelion don’t tell no lies Dandelion will make you wise Tell me if she laughs or cries Blow away dandelion, blow away dandelion
You’re just a memory of a love That used to mean so much to me
When someone will ask me what my favorite Rolling Stone song is…this is the one I usually say. It rarely if ever changes. It probably wasn’t their best song but I’ve always liked it. Happy Friday to everyone.
The Memory Motel is in Montauk on Long Island. It’s near The Church Estate, which Andy Warhol bought in 1972. Arthur Schneider, who owns the Memory Motel, said that The Stones stayed at Warhol’s estate when they were on tour in 1975-’76.
Since the Memory Motel was the only place in the area with a pool table and a piano, The Stones would occasionally come by and hang out at the bar. The owners at the time were not impressed…they hated The Stones.
With Mick Taylor gone, The Stones were auditioning lead guitarists while recording Black And Blue. Harvey Mandel from Canned Heat played lead on this while session man Wayne Perkins played acoustic, but Ron Wood eventually got the job.
The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, #2 in the UK, and #4 in New Zealand in 1976.
It has a haunting melody and lyrics that stick with you. Some say the Hannah in the song is referring to Carly Simon and some say it’s Annie Leibovitz. Whoever the muse was, they inspired a beautiful song.
From Songfacts
It’s widely speculated that “Hannah Honey” with the curled nose is none other than Carly Simon. Jagger had been romantically linked to Carly around this time, and her physical traits are eerily similar to the song’s descriptions. One theory is that Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” after a one-night-stand with Jagger at The Memory Motel. Simon has never said who that song is about.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards duet on vocals. Richards did not play guitar on the track – a rarity.
Jagger played the acoustic piano, Richards the electric piano, and Billy Preston the synthesizer.
On their live album No Security, Dave Matthews duets with Jagger in place of Richards. Matthews joined The Stones onstage from time to time and also sang this with Jagger on a televised St. Louis concert in 1997
Memory Motel
Hannah honey was a peachy kind of girl Her eyes were hazel And her nose were slightly curved We spent a lonely night at the Memory Motel It’s on the ocean, I guess you know it well It took a starry to steal my breath away Down on the water front Her hair all drenched in spray Hannah baby was a honey of a girl Her eyes were hazel And her teeth were slightly curved She took my guitar and she began to play She sang a song to me Stuck right in my brain You’re just a memory of a love That used to be You’re just a memory of a love That used to mean so much to me She got a mind of her own And she use it well Well she’s one of a kind She’s got a mind She got a mind of her own And she use it mighty fine She drove a pick-up truck Painted green and blue The tires were wearing thin She turned a mile or two When I asked her where she headed for “Back up to Boston I’m singing in a bar” I got to fly today on down to Baton Rouge My nerves are shot already The road ain’t all that smooth Across in Texas is the rose of San Antone I keep on a feeling that’s gnawing in my bones You’re just a memory of a love That used to mean so much to me You’re just a memory girl You’re just a sweet memory And it used to mean so much to me Sha la la la la She got a mind of her own And she use it well Mighty fine, she’s one of a kind On the seventh day my eyes were all a glaze We’ve been ten thousand miles Been in fifteen states Every woman seemed to fade out of my mind I hit the bottle and hit the sack and cried What’s all this laughter on the 22nd floor It’s just some friends of mine And they’re busting down the door Been a lonely night at the Memory Motel
This is obviously the 4th edition of this series. Part 1, Part2, and Part 3 we covered Brian May’s Red Special, Willie Nelson’s Trigger, George Harrison’s Rocky, Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat, Bruce Springsteen’s guitar, and Neil Young’s Old Black guitar.
Part 5 will be right after the holidays. Next week I will have a post on a not so famous guitar…one of my guitars with an interesting back story.
Today we will look at two Alpha males of their bands. Plus an odd Bonus!
John Lennon’s Epiphone Casino and Keith Richard’s “Micawber” … + Bonus!
John was best best known for two guitars. His Rickenbacker 325 and this Epiphone Casino.
In 1964 Paul McCartney bought a 1964 Epiphone Casino and he would end up using on songs like Taxman and Paperback writer. In 1966 John Lennon and George Harrison would buy 1965 Casino’s for themselves.
John’s was a double-cutaway semi-hollow f-hole body, P-90 pickups, vintage tuners with small buttons, trapeze tailpiece and originally a sunburst finish. However, after hearing from Donovan Leitch that a guitar would sound better without a heavy finish, he decided to sand the paint off the instrument, leaving it with a natural wood finish.
John played this guitar on the White Album and Abbey Road. He continued to play it many times for the rest of his career.
Lennon was never a “gear” head. He was known as an impatient man and would just plug in and go. Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick said he played around with the famous Rickenbacker at the Double Fantasy recording session but John didn’t play it on that album because it was in such bad shape. Rick said “the set list from Shea Stadium was still scotch-taped to the back of the guitar”…he said it was almost unplayable. It had rusty strings.
This video is about an Epiphone newer Casino model that was released it was inspired by Lennon’s guitar.
Bonus Guitar…John Lennon’s Sardonyx guitar
This is a “Bonus” guitar…the one John Lennon used on the Double Fantasy recordings. One of the oddest guitars I’ve ever seen. It is a Sardonyx guitar made in the seventies. It had built in effects and the rails acted as a guitar stand.
John Lennon bought this guitar from Matt Umanov’s guitar shop in Manhattan’s West Village… which is the shop where Jeff Levin sold many of his guitars through. Ken Schaffer actually sold most of them. Ken sold Jeff’s guitars to Ian Hunter, Howard Leese, Jeff Lynn, Pappy Castro, and a couple bass models to Phil Lynott and Bootsy Collins. It was Ken who sold John Lennon his Sardonyx, directly.
It’s not famous but it was so odd I had to include it.
Ken Schaffer:Months after John bought the guitar, I got a call from John’s personal assistant, who asked me to come to the Dakota. John had been impressed by the electronics I‘d stuffed into the Sardonyx, and asked to retain me to design the kill-all stereo he had in mind for the new apartment in the Dakota. In the small bedroom, which was to be Command Central for the system, hung above and behind the bed, vertically — the Sardonyx! MY Sardonyx! (Tears were welling up) … “Fred – you mean – John is using my guitar as a ($#%$&%*$) WALL ORNAMENT?!” Fred was John’s PA, and fought to settle me down, “No, man – wrong! He loves that guitar so much it hangs over his head when he’s sleeping!” (Tears dried) Whoa! And, in fact, there were pictures of this amazing guitar on the packaging of “Double Fantasy.” It was the guitar he used throughout.
Keith Richards’ Micawber
Micawber is a Butterscotch early fifties Telecaster Blackguard that Keith got around the recording of Exile on Main Street. The guitar was given to him by no other than Eric Clapton as a birthday present.
After the 1972 tour, Keith’s tech at the time, Ted Newman Jones III, replaced the neck pickup with a 50’s Gibson PAF humbucker upside down and the bridge pickup with a pickup out of a Fender lap steel which he chose because it was as close as he could find to the pickups used in a Broadcaster
In the 80’s Keith gave the guitar the nickname “Micawber” after a character in a Charles Dickens novel. Micawber has been Keith’s go-to for any song using Open G tuning.
In the eighties then guitar tech Alan Rogan made more modifications…Sperzel locking tuners and a modified brass bridge in which the low E saddle is removed to accommodate his five-string tuning.
I have used this 5 string tuning before. You can play a lot of the Stones catalog with that 5- string opening G tuning.
***Thanks to run-sew-read for pointing out this song by Barclay James Harvest called John Lennon’s guitar. It would be about the Epiphone Casino.
From Songfacts….Barclay James Harvest guitarist John Lees wrote this song. On the original recording of “Galadriel,” he played the Gibson Epiphone Casino that Lennon had played during the Beatles’ last ever live performance, in January 1969. This song describes that experience
Good morning everyone… hope you have a great Monday.
I bought the Emotional Rescue single when it was released. I also bought the album and it was a let down to me after the great Some Girls album. The title track is heavily leaning toward disco and I do like it. What attracted me to the song is the superb bass line in the intro.
Ronnie Wood played bass on the song and Bill Wyman played synthesizer. Ronnie is a great bass player. He played bass on Rod Stewart’s Maggie May. The song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100, #9 in the UK, and #1 in Canada.
The Stones played this for the very first time in concert on May 3, 2013, 33 years after they recorded the song. Keith Richards was not a fan of the song and it never made a Stones setlist until the first show of their 50 and Counting tour at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Mick Jagger: ‘We were just doing dance music, you know. It was just a dance music lick I was just playing on the keyboard. Charlie has a really nice groove for that.”
From Songfacts
This alienated many Stones fans who thought it was a sell out to disco, but it was still a Top 10 hit in the US and UK.
Mick Jagger sang much of this in a falsetto, which was the thing to do with disco songs. The Bee Gees did the same thing, but unlike The Stones, were never able to get back the fans they lost to disco.
Bobby Keys’ sax solo and Mick Jagger’s vocals were added almost a year after the rhythm track was recorded.
Jagger wrote this on an electric piano.
The video for this used the same thermal imagery effect as the album cover. It was cutting-edge visual stuff in 1980.
Emotional Rescue
Is there nothing I can say, nothing I can do to change your mind? I’m so in love with you, you’re too deep in, you can’t get out You’re just a poor girl in a rich man’s house Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Yeah, baby, I’m crying over you
Don’t you know promises were never meant to keep? Just like the night, they dissolve off in sleep I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true I’ll come to your emotional rescue I’ll come to your emotional rescue Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh Yeah, the other night, cryin’, cryin’ baby yeah I’m cryin Yeah I’m cryin, I’m your child baby, child, Yeah I’m a child, I’m a child, I’m a child
You think you’re one of a special breed You think that you’re his pet Pekinese I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true I’ll come to your emotional rescue I’ll come to your emotional rescue Ooh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Yeah, I was dreamin’ last night baby Last night I was dreamin’ that you’d be mine But I was cryin’ like a child Yeah I was cryin’, cryin’ like a child Could be mine, mine, mine, mine, mine all mine You could be mine, could be mine, could be mine all mine
I come to you, so silent in the night So stealthy, so animal quiet I’ll be your savior, steadfast and true I’ll come to your emotional rescue I’ll come to your emotional rescue Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Yeah, you should be mine, mine, ooh!
Mmm yes, you could be mine, tonight and every night I will be your knight in shining armor Coming to your emotional rescue You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine
I will be your knight in shining armor Riding across the desert on a fine Arab charger
Remember Build-A-Bear? Well this is the rock edition. I think this post may go under…”looked great on paper but…” but lets give it a try. Have you ever thought about if you could have a pick of any musicians living or dead and bring them together in their prime…what combinations would you come up with?
Who would you pick if you could pick anyone? We have a time machine so don’t worry…Jimi Hendrix is just a trip away. This is a discussion my friends and I have once in a while. I always wondered what a band with Keith Richards and John Lennon together would have sounded like…probably as raw as you could have sounded…a band with Big Star’s Alex Chilton and the Beatles Paul McCartney? It would be interesting.
There are many musicians I have left out…most likely they were here in previous editions that I’ve went through in the past few weeks.
Now… I would want to make at least two or three different bands…a rock, hard rock, and a pop/rock band. Now I could go on and on…Soul, Blues, Funk, Country/Rock, and even Heavy Metal. Who would you pick? What would your “dream” band be? If I had time I would have listed around 10 different kind of bands…but these 3 will do for now.
Rock band.
John Lennon – Rhythm Guitar/vocals
Keith Richards – Rhythm guitar/vocals
Duane Allman – Lead guitar
John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) – Bass
Charlie Watts – Drums
Leon Russell – Keyboards
Rod Stewart (early seventies version) – Lead Vocals
Hard Rock Band
Jimi Hendrix – Lead guitar and vocals
Eric Clapton – Lead guitar and vocals
John Entwistle – Bass
Keith Moon – Drums
Steve Marriott (Small Faces and Humble Pie) – Lead Vocals
This song will chill you out on this Sunday. No Expectations was on the 1968 album Beggars Banquet. The song is a favorite of mine on the album. This one and Prodigal Son is a throwback to some of their older blues influences. The feeling and the emotion of this song is fantastic.
Brian Jones was on the album and made one of his last contributions with slide on this song. The following year Brian would die in a swimming pool at his home.
This is one of the great Stones album tracks.
Mick Jagger: “That’s Brian playing steel guitar. We were sitting around in a circle on the floor, singing and playing, recording with open mikes. That was the last time I remember Brian really being totally involved in something that was really worth doing. He was there with everyone else. It’s funny how you remember – but that was the last moment I remember him doing that, because he had just lost interest in everything.”
From Songfacts
When Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones died in 1969, this song took on new meaning, as lyrics like “Our love is like our music, it’s here and then it’s gone” made it a fitting elegy. Jones’ slide guitar on the song was one of his last meaningful contributions to the group; after years of drug addiction and squabbles with the band, he was fired from the group in June 1969 and died less than a month later.
The Stones performed this on Rock and Roll Circus, a British TV special The Stones taped in 1968, but never aired. Brian Jones played this with a passion he was clearly losing as drugs took over his life. Rock and Roll Circus was released on video in 1995.
Nicky Hopkins, who also played with The Who and The Beatles, played piano on this.
Lenny Kravitz opened several shows for The Rolling Stones in 1994, and was invited onstage to jam with them at a Cleveland show. Kravitz helped out Mick Jagger in 2001, co-writing, performing on, and producing his song “God Gave Me Everything.”
This song was featured in the 1978 ant-war film Coming Home, with Jane Fonda and John Voight
No Expectations
Take me to the station And put me on a train I’ve got no expectations To pass through here again
Once I was a rich man and Now I am so poor But never in my sweet short life Have I felt like this before
You heart is like a diamond You throw your pearls at swine And as I watch you leaving me You pack my peace of mind
Our love was like the water That splashes on a stone Our love is like our music It’s here, and then it’s gone
So take me to the airport And put me on a plane I’ve got no expectations To pass through here again
This song is for Song Lyric Sunday for Jim Adams’s blog. This week’s prompt…Smart/Stupid. Hope everyone had a good safe Halloween.
Not a feel good song by the Rolling Stones. The song was on their album Afterman released in 1966. This was the B side to the great song Paint It Black. The Stones are known for a good amount of misogyny in their songs…this one and Under My Thumb are no exceptions.
Aftermath peaked at #2 in the Billboard Album Charts and #1 in the UK in 1966.
Stupid Girl was recorded at Los Angeles’ RCA Studios on 6–9 March 1966.
Mick Jagger: “It’s much nastier than Under My Thumb. Obviously, I was having a bit of trouble. I wasn’t in a good relationship. Or I was in too many bad relationships. I had so many girlfriends at that point. None of them seemed to care they weren’t pleasing me very much. I was obviously in with the wrong group”
Keith Richards: “Songs like “Under My Thumb” and “Stupid Girl” were all a spin-off from our environment – hotels, and too many dumb chicks. Not all dumb, not by any means, but that’s how one got.”
Stupid Girls
I’m not talking about the kind of clothes she wears Look at that stupid girl I’m not talking about the way she combs her hair Look at that stupid girl
The way she powders her nose Her vanity shows and it shows She’s the worst thing in this world Well, look at that stupid girl
I’m not talking about the way she digs for gold Look at that stupid girl Well, I’m talking about the way she grabs and holds Look at that stupid girl
The way she talks about someone else That she don’t even know herself She’s the sickest thing in this world Well, look at that stupid girl
Well, I’m sick and tired And I really have my doubts I’ve tried and tried But it never really works out
Like a lady in waiting to a virgin queen Look at that stupid girl She bitches ’bout things that she’s never seen Look at that stupid girl
It doesn’t matter if she dyes her hair Or the color of the shoes she wears She’s the worst thing in this world Well, look at that stupid girl
Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up Shut up, shut up, shut up
Like a lady in waiting to a virgin queen Look at that stupid girl She bitches ’bout things that she’s never seen Look at that stupid girl
She purrs like a pussycat Then she turns ’round and hisses back She’s the sickest thing in this world Look at that stupid girl
Don’t you think it’s sometimes wise not to grow up?
100 Years Ago has a good melody and it changes it’s focus in the last three-quarters of the way through…a good song with an interesting outro. It’s an album cut and you never hear much on the radio. It’s worth a listen. If you see them in concert and want to hear this song…don’t hold your breath.
It was only played on the first two performances of European Tour of 1973, and has not been performed live since. Come on guys! Play it again…it’s not like the world can’t do without another version of Satisfaction.
I took an instant liking to this song. It starts with a little country influence and then ends with a funky free for all. I have the new version of Goats Head Soup and this one cleaned up really well.
The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, The UK, and Canada in 1973.
The Stones recorded this at Kingston’s Dynamic Sound Studios in November and December, 1972. Jagger performs lead vocals and is accompanied by Mick Taylor on backing. Taylor performs the song’s guitars while Keith Richards and Charlie Watts perform bass and drums, respectively. Nicky Hopkins provides piano while Billy Preston performs clavinet.
“100 Years Ago”
Went out walkin’ through the wood the other day And the world was a carpet laid before me The buds were bursting and the air smelled sweet and strange And it seemed about a hundred years ago Mary and I, we would sit upon a gate Just gazin’ at some dragon in the sky What tender days, we had no secrets hid away Well, it seemed about a hundred years ago Now all my friends are wearing worried smiles Living out a dream of what they was Don’t you think it’s sometimes wise not to grow up? Wend out walkin’ through the wood the other day Can’t you see the furrows in my forehead? What tender days, we had no secrets hid away Now it seems about a hundred years ago Now if you see me drinkin’ bad red wine Don’t worry ’bout this man that you love Don’t you think it’s sometimes wise not to grow up? You’re gonna kiss and say good-bye, yeah, I warn you You’re gonna kiss and say good-bye, yeah, I warn you You’re gonna kiss and say good-bye, oh Lord, I warn you And please excuse me while I hide away Call me lazy bones Ain’t got no time to waste away Lazy bones ain’t got no time to waste away Don’t you think it’s just about time to hide away? Yeah, yeah!
A great “Keith” song on the great Stone’s album Some Girls released in 1978. Some of the lyrics make me laugh because of how honest they are. Maybe one of the best lines in Rock “I wasn’t looking too good but I was feeling real well”… It doesn’t get much more straightforward than that.
Some of the others are not so fun such as “Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine, Well here’s another goodbye to another good friend.” In the world Keith was living in, it rang true. I’ve read that this line was about Keith’s good friend Gram Parsons who had died of a heroin overdose in 1973.
Richards recorded the song in five days without sleeping in March of 1978, a year after he was busted for heroin in Canada.
This and Happy are my favorite Keith Richards songs with the Stones. You Got the Silver is up there also. This is a Jagger/Richards song but Keith wrote most if not all of this one.
Great raw Rock and Roll song.
Keith Richards:“For sheer longevity – for long distance – there is no track that I know of like ‘Before They Make Me Run.’ That song, which I sang on that record, was a cry from the heart. But it burned up the personnel like no other. I was in the studio, without leaving, for five days… I had an engineer called Dave Jordan and I had another engineer, and one of them would flop under the desk and have a few hours’ kip and I’d put the other one in and keep going. We all had black eyes by the time it was finished… That’s probably the longest I’ve done. There have been others that were close – ‘Can’t Be Seen’ was one – but ‘Before They Make Me Run’ was the marathon.”
From Songfacts
This is about the rock and roll lifestyle that got Keith Richards in trouble. The song was recorded while he was out on bail after getting caught with heroin and arrested for drug trafficking in Toronto in 1977. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of heroin possession, and sentenced to probation.
Richards sang lead and did the majority of the work on this song. With Keith’s drug charges pending, Mick Jagger took a lot of control on the album, but this song was pretty much all Keith.
The original title was “Rotten Roll.”
Richard’s vocals were double-tracked to make them stand out.
A member of The Byrds, Parsons died in 1973 at age 26 after taking an overdose of alcohol and morphine. His corpse was stolen and burned in the Mojave Desert.
An engineer named Dave Jordan helped mix this song. He went on to work with groups like The Specials and The Pogues.
Before They Make Me Run
Worked the bars and sideshows along the twilight zone Only a crowd can make you feel so alone And it really hit home Booze and pills and powders, you can choose your medicine Well here’s another goodbye to another good friend
After all is said and done Gotta move while it’s still fun Let me walk before they make me run After all is said and done I gotta move, it’s still fun I’m gonna walk before they make me run
Watched my taillights fading, there ain’t a dry eye in the house They’re laughing and singing Started dancing and drinking as I left town Gonna find my way to heaven, ’cause I did my time in hell, oh yeah I wasn’t looking too good but I was feeling real well
Oh after all is said and done I gotta move I had my fun Let us walk before they make us run
After all is said and done I did alright, I had my fun But I will walk before they’ll make me I will walk before they’ll make me (run) I will walk before they’ll make me (run) I will walk before they’ll make me run
So if it’s all been said and done I gotta move I had my fun Let me walk before they make me run
So let me walk before they make me run I want to walk before they’ll make me run
This was recorded during an all-night session at Keith Richards’ rented villa in the South of France. The band rented houses in the area and used Keith’s basement as a studio.
This song was on Exile On Main Street and it’s an incredibly driven song. It comes right at you and never slows down.
Understanding lyrics in Rolling Stones songs has always been a challenge but Mick’s voice is lower than usual in this one. The song contains some obscenities and sexual references, but they are very hard to understand.
But no worries… just sit back and enjoy the ride and this song takes you on one. It also contains references to President Nixon and his wife Pat, but they are almost impossible to understand.
Exile on Main street peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, Canada, and the UK in 1972.
It’s Sunday…just turn this up to full blast and enjoy it.
From Songfacts
The “Butter Queen” is a reference to a famous groupie known as “Barbara the Butter Queen.” Her real name was Barbara Cope, and she would do her thing when bands came through Dallas. She was very proficient, and had a killer gimmick: she would use a stick of butter when servicing the rock stars and crew. The butter supposedly made her activity smell like movie theater popcorn.
This song was particularly inspirational to Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. He told Rolling Stone magazine: “When I went to my first rehab, at a place called Hazelden, I brought Exile on Main St. on cassette. I remember waking up the first morning there and realizing I hadn’t been sober once for the past 12 or 15 years, from LSD to heroin and cocaine and acid. The only way I could get a buzz at that point was to listen to ‘Rip This Joint.'”
Rip This Joint
Mama says yes, Papa says no Make up your mind ’cause I gotta go We’re gonna raise hell at the Union Hall Drive myself right over the wall
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul Round and round and round we go Roll this joint, gonna get down low Start my starter, gonna stop the show (Yeah)
Whoa, yeah! Mister President, Mister Immigration Man Let me in, sweetie to your fair land I’m Tampa bound and Memphis too Short Fat Fanny is on the loose Dig that sound on the radio Then slip it right across into Buffalo Dick and Pat in ole DC Well they’re gonna hold some shit for me
Ying yang, you’re my thing Oh, now, baby, won’t you hear me sing Flip Flop, fit to drop Come on baby, won’t you let it rock?
Oh yeah! Oh yeah! From San Jose down to Santa Fe Kiss me quick, baby, won’tcha make my day New Orleans with the Dixie Dean To Dallas, Texas with the Butter Queen
Rip this joint, gonna rip yours too Some brand new steps and some weight to lose Gonna roll this joint, gonna get down low Round and round and round we’ll go Wham, Bham, Birmingham, Alabam’ don’t give a damn Little Rock and I’m fit to top Ah, let it rock
This song is a great album cut. It was used well in Goodfellas, the 1990 movie in a scene where the gangsters are trafficking cocaine. One of my favorite Stone songs.
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!).
From Songfacts
The lyrics don’t seem to make much sense, but they are probably about heroin or a bad acid trip. You can certainly draw this conclusion from the opening lines:
I’m a fleabit peanut monkey
And all my friends are junkies
Nicky Hopkins was featured on piano. He and Ian Stewart made significant contributions to The Stones on keyboards, but were never credited with being official members of the group. Hopkins and Stewart both toured with the band as well.
Most of the album was recorded after the death of Brian Jones but before his replacement, Mick Taylor, joined the band. >>
The Stones performed this on their 1994-1995 Voodoo Lounge tour.
This song was used in the 1990 movie Goodfellas in a scene where the gangsters are trafficking cocaine. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese, who directed the 2008 Rolling Stones documentary Shine a Light.
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
This song is why I first bought this album. I heard it and it’s country/blues/rock style stayed with me. The song sounds low down, dirty, and sleazy…that only the Stones can deliver.
Keith Richards’ fingers began to bleed as he played acoustic guitar for hours while Mick Jagger worked with an engineer on the drum track. The title came from Keith’s desire to record his track. At least that’s the story the Mick and Keith tells. The phrase “Let It Bleed” is an intravenous drug user slang for successfully finding a vein. The syringe plunger is pulled back and if blood appears, it is called letting it bleed.
This was recorded around the same time as The Beatles Let It Be, but the similar titles were just a supposed coincidence.
The Stones recorded this after the death of Brian Jones but before Mick Taylor joined the band as his replacement. As a result, Keith Richards played both acoustic and slide electric guitar, and Bill Wyman played bass and autoharp.
The song wasn’t a single but the album (also named Let It Bleed) peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Chart in 1969.
From Songfacts
This was the first Stones song to also be the album title.
Ian Stewart, often considered “The sixth Stone,” played the piano. This was his only appearance on Let It Bleed.
There are many references to sex and drugs in the lyrics to this track – an example of the Stones writing about what they knew.
Autoharp is a string instrument with a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when pressed, mute all but the desired chord. An autoharp is not really a harp – it’s a zither.
The English TV cook and author Delia Smith baked the cake on the album sleeve before she became famous. She got the gig through being a friend of the photographer, Don McAllester. In 1971, two years after the release of Let It Bleed, Delia Smith’s first cookery book, How To Cheat at Cooking, was launched and by the end of the decade she’d become the UK’s best known TV cook.
Let It Bleed
Well, we all need someone we can lean on And if you want it, you can lean on me Yeah, we all need someone we can lean on And if you want it, you can lean on me
She said, my breasts, they will always be open Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me And there will always be a space in my parking lot When you need a little coke and sympathy
Yeah we all need someone we can dream on And if you want it baby, you can dream on me Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on Yeah and if you want to, you can cream on me
I was dreaming of a steel guitar engagement When you drunk my health in scented jasmine tea But you knifed me in my dirty filthy basement With that jaded, faded, junky nurse oh what pleasant company, ha
Though, we all need someone we can feel on Yeah and if you want it, you can feel on me, hey Take my arm, take my leg Oh baby don’t you take my head Hoo
Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on Yeah but if you want it, well you can bleed on me Yeah, we all need someone we can bleed on Yeah yeah and if you want it baby why don’t ya You can bleed on me All over, hoo
Ah, get it on rider, hoo Get it on rider Get it on rider You can bleed all over me, yeah Get it on rider, hoo Get it on rider, yeah You can cream all over, you can come all over me, ah Get it on rider ey Let it out rider Let it out rider You can come all over me
Yeah when you call my name, I salivate like a Pavlov dog…One of the raunchiest riffs around. Combine that with the lyrics and you have a great little rock song. This is the Stones at the top of their game.
This song was the B side to Brown Sugar. Not a bad deal for your money. It’s another great song off of the Sticky Fingers LP. Here is a review of Sticky Fingers at Aphoristic’s site.
Below Andy Johns talks about the importance of Keith Richards…no matter if he was tardy a few times.
Andy Johns engineer: When we were doing “Bitch,” Keith was very late. Jagger and Mick Taylor had been playing the song without him and it didn’t sound very good. I walked out of the kitchen and he was sitting on the floor with no shoes, eating a bowl of cereal. Suddenly he said, Oi, Andy! Give me that guitar. I handed him his clear Dan Armstrong Plexiglass guitar, he put it on, kicked the song up in tempo, and just put the vibe right on it. Instantly, it went from being this laconic mess into a real groove. And I thought, Wow. THAT’S what he does
Bitch was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, “Bitch” was recorded during October 1970 at London’s Olympic Studios, and at Stargroves utilizing the Rolling Stones Mobile studio.
From Songfacts
Love is the “bitch,” not any specific woman. Mick Jagger had many relationships he could base this on, including his breakup with Marianne Faithfull. He broke up with her after she tried to commit suicide while they were in Australia in late 1969 (Mick was filming Ned Kelly). As soon as Marianne recovered, Mick dumped her.
The Stones recorded this song, and many others on the album, at the Stargroves estate in Hampshire, England, using their mobile recording unit manned by engineer Andy Johns.
Despite (or maybe because of) the rather provocative title, this became one of the more popular Rolling Stones songs, often appearing in their setlists. It wasn’t released as a single but got plenty of play on rock radio.
In 1974, Elton John broke the “bitch” barrier on pop radio with “The Bitch Is Back,” which went to #4 in the US.
Along with “Under My Thumb,” this didn’t help the Stones’ image with women’s groups.
The album cover was designed by Andy Warhol. It was a close-up photo of a man in a pair of jeans complete with an actual zipper. The zipper caused problems in shipment because it scratched the record. They figured out that if they opened the zipper before shipment, it did minimal damage.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Keith Richards said: “It comes off pretty smooth, but it’s quite tricky. There’s an interesting bridge you have to watch out for. Otherwise, it’s a straightforward rock and soul that we love. It’s Charlie Watts’ meat and potatoes.”
This features Bobby Keys on sax and Jim Price on trumpet. They provided horns on albums and tours for The Stones in the early ’70s.
The Goo Goo Dolls covered this in 1997 on the compilation album No Alternative.
The album title Sticky Fingers refers to the aptitude of a person who is likely to steal. It went well with the lawless image The Stones put forward.
Bitch
Feeling so tired, can’t understand it Just had a fortnight’s sleep I’m feeling so tired, I’m so distracted Ain’t touched a thing all week
I’m feeling drunk, juiced up and sloppy Ain’t touched a drink all night I’m feeling hungry, can’t see the reason Just ate a horse meat pie
Yeah when you call my name I salivate like a Pavlov dog Yeah when you lay me out My heart is beating louder than a big bass drum, alright
Yeah, you got to mix it child You got to fix it must be love It’s a bitch, yeah You got to mix it child You got to fix it but love It’s a bitch, alright
Sometimes I’m sexy, move like a stud Like kicking the stall all night Sometimes I’m so shy, got to be worked on Don’t have no bark or bite, alright
Yeah when you call my name I salivate like a Pavlov dog Yeah when you lay me out My heart is bumpin’ louder than a big bass drum, alright
I said hey, yeah I feel alright now Got to be a Hey, I feel alright now Hey hey hey Hey hey yeah Hey hey hey Hey hey yeah Hey hey hey Hey hey yeah Hey hey hey Hey hey yeah Hey hey hey
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 the great album Beggars Banquet. I had this album and it remains one of my favorite albums by the Stones. There is not a bad song on the LP. This one and Prodigal Son I always liked. Beggars Banquet peaked at #5 on the Billboard album charts in 1969.
Keith and Mick Jagger both sing on this with the Los Angeles Watts Street Gospel Choir singing background…Nicky Hopkins is on piano.
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.”
From Songfacts
This was one of Keith Richards’ first lead vocal performances for The Stones (his first was on “Something Happened To Me Yesterday” from Between The Buttons).
The Stones played this on Rock and Roll Circus, a British TV special The Stones taped in 1968 but never aired because they were upstaged by other acts on the show. A series of musical acts and circus performances, it was released on video in 1995.
The Stones performed this in Atlantic City in 1989 with Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin of Guns N’ Roses on vocals.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards performed this at the 2001 “Concert For New York,” which honored the rescue workers, cops, and firefighters in New York City after the World Trade Center disaster.
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
Here are some of my favorite guitarists. Being fast is not something I care about… I’ve always liked guitarists who play with feel more than finger tapping.
Roger McGuinn, Byrds – He will not rip off lightning licks but he plays the Rickenbacker 12 string like no one else. I like the tone and his understated style.
Neil Young – This may seem like an odd choice but when Neil plays the electric guitar…anything that can happen will. He plays by feel and feedback and God bless him for that.
Brian May, Queen– You can hum his solos. One of the most melodic lead guitar players I’ve ever heard.
Pete Townsend, Who – The king of the power chord. Pete does not have blinding speed but every note he plays is for a purpose.
Keith Richards, Stones – The Human Riff… When Keith found G tuning the Stones sound changed forever and it may have been the key to their longevity.
George Harrison, Beatles – After the Beatles, he reinvented himself into a great slide guitar player. Guitar players are still trying to find that tone. He had a great touch and taste in whatever he played.
Buddy Guy – For electric blues and the tone he gets Buddy Guy is the man. Below is a picture of Buddy at the Festival Express playing a great version of Money.
Jimi Hendrix – Like Keith Moon…many musicians have tried to copy him but none have. It is controlled chaos but I like it.
Chuck Berry – Rock and roll owes a lot to him…he has been copied more than anyone.
Scotty Moore, Elvis – The guitar player backing Elvis on his great 50s hits. Keith Richards said of Moore… Everyone else wanted to be Elvis, I wanted to be Scotty.
Also
Robert Johnson, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Peter Green, Lindsey Buckingham, BB King, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Page
