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Certain Songs #2048: The Rolling Stones – “Honky Tonk Women”

March 3, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Single, 1969

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One of the the biggest singles that the Rolling Stones ever released, “Honky Tonk Women” is also a record of firsts. Not only is it the first recording that the Stones made with Mick Taylor, it’s also the first song that features Keith’s five-string open G tuning, which — lhe stole from Ry Cooder and totally made his own. Oh, and it’s the first Stones song to properly integrate a horn section in with the band.

They’d had horns before, of course, but usually as decoration or for novelty’s sake. The horn section that came in with Mick Taylor’s guitar solo felt as integrated into the sound as the Memphis Horns did on any great Stax song you could name.

Certain Songs #2047: The Rolling Stones – “No Expectations (Rock and Roll Circus 12-1968)”

March 2, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
Year: 1968

. . .

Conceived by Mick Jagger & filmmaker Michael Lindsay Hogg as a way to promote Beggars Banquet, the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was just a legend for nearly three decades. While it was recorded on December 11, 1968, it wasn’t released until 1996, despite the fact that it had performances by Jethro Tull (who mimed “Song For Jeffrey” with fill-in guitarist Tony Iommi,) The Who and a supergroup consisting of John Lennon, Mitch Mitchell, Eric Clapton & Keith Richards doing “Yer Blues.”

The first time I ever heard of it, of course, was the first time I saw The Kids Are Alright, in a theater in Fresno in 1979, thrilling to not just Keith Richards — decked out in a top hat and an eyepatch — introing them with “dig The Who,” which led into utterly incendiary performance of “A Quick One While He’s Away.” I’ll get to that when I get to The Who in, say, 2024, but in the meantime, the story went that the Stones didn’t want to release it in 1969 because they were basically blown off the stage by The Who.

Certain Songs #2046: The Rolling Stones – “Blood Red Wine”

February 28, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Missing Years
Year: 1968

. . .

In June of 1994, we drove to Las Vegas for Sherilyn’s 21st birthday. For most people that particular June weekend lives on in memory because it started with the O.J Simpson Bronco chase and subsequent arrest. And while I remember watching bits and pieces of it, especially at the restaurant where we had dinner, I remember that weekend because it was when I bought my most favorite Rolling Stones bootleg, The Missing Years.

I don’t remember how I found out, but that Saturday, there was a huge record swap — at oh I dunno, let’s say the Las Vegas Convention Center — which meant that there were bootlegs!

Certain Songs #2045: The Rolling Stones – “Salt of The Earth”

February 27, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Beggars Banquet
Year: 1968

. . .

The final song on Beggars Banquet was the most successful attempt yet for the Rolling Stones to end one of their records with a big production, as “Salt of The Earth” starts quietly and ends up as a gospel-fueled rave-up, kinda of a warm-up for their next album closer.

It starts off, though with that instantly identifiable acoustic guitar strum by Keith Richards, who gets a fantasticly haunting and dark sound from it, and then like he’s the only one who happened to be in the studio, he sings the first verse, another milestone in Stones history.

Certain Songs #2044: The Rolling Stones – “Stray Cat Blues”

February 26, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Beggars Banquet
Year: 1968

. . .

Welp. This is no good. You know how some twitter bios claim that “retweets are not endorsements”?? Well this is like that. There is absolutely nothing redeemable about the sleazy, strutting “Stray Cat Blues,” the lyrics of which are one of Mick Jagger’s greatest provocations, and would probably get him arrested today. Or at least cancelled.

Opening with an “ahhhhh” and an evil laugh, “Stray Cat Blues” jumps instantly into its reprehensible subject.

Certain Songs #2043: The Rolling Stones – “Street Fighting Man”

February 25, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Beggars Banquet
Year: 1968

. . .

“Street Fighting Man” just might be my favorite Rolling Stones song, and one of the Rolling Stones most unique studio productions. Like “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” an overloaded Phillips cassette recorder was integral to the basic track, but on “Street Fighting Man” it was even more elaborate.

In this case, Keith, Mick and Charlie all gathered around the cassette recorder, like teenagers recording their garage band. Keith was on acoustic, Mick on maracas and Charlie . . . Charlie was playing a 1930s toy drum kit. Then, Jimmy Miller stuck a professional studio microphone in front of the cassette speaker and that became a single track over which they dubbed a shit-ton of other instruments: Charlie added a second drum part, Keith added bass and a bunch more acoustic guitars, and Brian added sitar and tambura that whirled in and around the final mix. And that was just the beginning.

Certain Songs #2042: The Rolling Stones – “Jigsaw Puzzle”

February 24, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Beggars Banquet
Year: 1968

. . .

Cognitive dissonance defined: “Jigsaw Puzzle” is simultaneously the greatest song the Rolling Stones ever recorded and the fourth-best song on Beggars Banquet.

Maybe, but one thing is absolutely certain: the drum sound that Glyn Johns & Eddie Kramer get for Charlie Watts is complete and utter dynamite, maybe the greatest drum sound I’ve ever heard in my life. The snare is primal and visceral, and the toms sound like fireworks trailing off into the night.

Certain Songs #2041: The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For The Devil”

February 23, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Beggars Banquet
Year: 1968

. . .

Delayed for a few months due to record company nervousness over the original cover art — that graffiti-covered bathroom wall — Beggars Banquet came out a full year after Their Satanic Majesties Request, the first time people had waited that long for a new Rolling Stones album.

Needless to say, it was well worth the wait: Beggars Banquet was a quantum leap in record-making, both a retrenchment in their R&B and country roots as well as a departure from what they’d previously done with those roots.

Certain Songs #2040: The Rolling Stones – “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”

February 22, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Single, 1968

. . .

“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” isn’t just on the shortlist of my all-time favorite Rolling Stone songs; as far as I’m concerned, it’s on the shortlist of the greatest songs in rock ‘n’ roll history. If aliens came down and asked me to provide an example of this “rock and roll” that I’ve been on about for my entire life, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” immediately jumps to the head of the line.

I’ve listened to it hundreds — maybe even thousands — of times in my life, and it never not once fails to thrill me with its primeval visceral power and utterly relentless drive.

Certain Songs #2039: The Rolling Stones – “Child of The Moon”

February 20, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Singles Collection – The London Years
Year: 1968

. . .

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Normally, when I write about both sides of a single, I write about the A side first, but I’m switching it up here, because “Child of The Moon” was really the last song from the Rolling Stones experimental period to get recorded, while the song it’s the b-side of — motherfucking “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” y’all – is really the kickoff of that period where they well and truly became the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.