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Certain Songs #2088: The Rolling Stones – “Claudine”

April 18, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls (Deluxe Edition)
Year: 1978

. . .

One of the ironies surrounding the controversy surrounding the song “Some Girls” was that the Stones had actively tried to avoid controversy by not including one of the greatest songs from the Some Girls sessions, a raunchy rockabilly romp called “Claudine.”

In 1976, the singer/actress Claudine Longet shot and killed her boyfriend, the Olympian skier Spider Sabich, but got off with 30 days — to be served on weekends — and a fine due to sloppy police work and the judge believing her story that it was accidental — he was showing her how it worked. This proto case of Responsible Gun Ownership was a huge deal at the time, and inspired Mick Jagger to write the utterly unsparing “Claudine.”

Certain Songs #2087: The Rolling Stones – “Shattered”

April 17, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

As I mentioned before, Some Girls is such an embarrassment of riches that I very easily could have found something to write about two more songs that I’m almost missing: Keith’s poignant acknowledgement of his fucked-up-ness, “Before They Make Me Run” and his acknowledgement that Mick had been running the show, “Beast of Burden,” which followed “Miss You” into the top ten.

But, of course, as iconic as those two songs are, I would argue that they aren’t nearly as iconic as the final song on Some Girls, the immortal “Shattered,” which takes one last hilarious look at New York City.

Certain Songs #2086: The Rolling Stones – “Respectable”

April 16, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

So here’s a thing: Some Girls is the only album where I considered writing something about every single song. I wasn’t ever going to do that, of course, because that’s too much, even for me, but I pretty much could. I mean “Lies” is an energetic capper to perhaps the greatest single album side the Stones ever released, and over the years, I’ve come around to “Far Away Eyes” because the chorus is so gorgeous, counteracting my dislike of Mick’s faux-cornpone affect on the verses. (And should note that “thank you Lord, thank you Jesus” was a catchphrase for awhile, at least in my head.)

That said, please tell the affiliates that I’m skipping these songs “Respectable” is a weird song. Not the music — which is basically Punk Berry — or the satirical lyrics, but rather the structure of the song itself.

Certain Songs #2085: The Rolling Stones – “Some Girls”

April 15, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

“Some Girls” is a slow groove, more of a jam with lyrics than an actual song, with Ron Wood and Keith Richard trying out some watery liquid guitar tones while Sugar Blue is back on the harmonica, and Bill Wyman eschews his bass for a synth. And, apparently, it was edited down from a 23-minute jam, as you do.

It’s also yet another provocation by Mick Jagger, who basically lists some of the things he finds wrong with some of the women he’s fucked. So he starts off with all of things they give him: money, clothes, jewelry, diamonds and heart attacks. Oh, and apparently — in a break from the theme of things he’s gotten, which bugs the OCD part of me — he also complains “Some girls I give all my bread to / I don’t ever want it back.”

Certain Songs #2084: The Rolling Stones – “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

April 14, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

You come at the Temptations, you best not miss.

The Stones had covered the Temptations twice before: doing a too-slavish version of “My Girl” in the mid-1960s that ended up on Flowers, and a pretty good cover of “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” on It’s Only Rock And Roll.. Neither was even remotely a patch on the original though, and theoretically doing “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” had the highest degree of difficulty of all.

Certain Songs #2083: The Rolling Stones – “When The Whip Comes Down”

April 13, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

Some Girls came out when I was 15 years old. That’s the absolutely perfect age for Some Girls to come out. At that point, my main exposure to the Rolling Stones was all of the their 70s singles and the copy of Hot Rocks that Craig from across the street had.

And so, while I wasn’t fully versed on every single one of their songs, I could tell that the rock songs on Some Girls were some of the most intense rock songs they’d ever done. How could I tell that? Because they were clearly some of the most intense rock songs I’d ever heard, especially “When The Whip Comes Down,” a filthy piece of guitar-driven fuckery.

Certain Songs #2082: The Rolling Stones – “Miss You (Special Disco Version)”

April 12, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Some Girls
Year: 1978

. . .

Alright, some housekeeping first. Currently, there are four variations of the original recording of “Miss You” out in the wild: 1) the original 7-inch single, clocking in at 3:35; 2) the lead-off track of Some Girls, clocking in at 4:48; 3) the “Dance Version” that can be found on 2005’s Rarities 1971-2003 and finally, 4) the “Special Disco Version,” which was released as a 12″ 33 1/3 single and clocks in at 8:36.

For the purposes of this post, when I discuss “Miss You” as a single, as a cultural phenomenon, or even as the lead-off track of Some Girls, I’m dealing with it in the abstract, could be any of these versions. But when I get to describing “Miss You” as an actual song, I’m going to be dealing with the “Special Disco Version,” because that’s the one I listen to. My blog, my rules.

Certain Songs #2081: The Rolling Stones – “Fool To Cry”

April 10, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black and Blue
Year: 1976

. . .

Look, I know that it’s utterly indefensible that I don’t really like “Angie,” but I love the equally cloying “Fool To Cry.” But here we are, I guess: at the beginning of their decadent period, the Stones rockers became quite rote, and the slow ones seemed to take center stage. I’m sure it all has to do with the depths of Keith’s heroin addiction, which on one hand didn’t stop them from releasing albums at a faster pace than say, The Who, but on the other hand meant that Mick was firmly in control, proving that the Stones needed both at full capacity.

Certain Songs #2080: The Rolling Stones – “Memory Motel”

April 9, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black and Blue
Year: 1976

. . .

Black and Blue is a very divisive Rolling Stones album. Given that it’s only eight songs, they cover a lot of ground: rock, funk, reggae, soul, even jazzy blues. Not all of it is great: both “Melody” and “Cherry Oh Baby” are utter misfires and that’s 25% of the record right there. But “Hot Stuff” and “Hey Negrita” groove convincingly, “Crazy Mama” and “Hate of Fate” are better riff rockers than anything on the previous two records, and both of the soul ballads are up there with their greatest slow ones.

That said, I’m guessing that if you don’t love all 7:09 of “Memory Motel,” then you probably don’t like Black and Blue, but I’ve always been fascinated by it, which shocks me as much of anybody.

Certain Songs #2079: The Rolling Stones – “Hand of Fate”

April 8, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black and Blue
Year: 1976

. . .

I could have sworn that “Hand of Fate” was a single, because I absolutely remember hearing it all the time on the radio back in 1976, but while I guess it’s possible that KYNO played it, I probably heard it on Rock 96 FM, which was an important bridge for me from the AM to the FM worlds for a couple of years there. It’s definitely one of those songs I knew backwards and forwards long before I purchased any Stones albums.

Before we get into all of that, we should probably level-set. A lot was going on in the world of the Rolling Stones. For one thing, Mick Taylor gave his notice at the end of 1974, so when the Black and Blue sessions started in Munich, they were framed as almost auditions. Which must have been weird to Ron Wood, who played on the 1975 U.S. tour that happened in between the sessions, making the final choice seemingly inevitable, even if some of the auditions continued to happen in Montreux, after the tour.