Jim Connelly

Certain Songs #2031: The Rolling Stones – “Ruby Tuesday”

February 11, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Between The Buttons
Year: 1967

. . .

On the shortlist of Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, British Invasion Division, “Ruby Tuesday” was yet another quantum leap in ballad-making. It was also written almost entirely by Keith Richards, though it was based upon something Brian Jones came up with, though typically, Jones was cut out of the songwriting credits — just as Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor would be cut out in the future — as the “Jagger/Richards” imprimatur on Stones originals was just the law now.

Certain Songs #2030: The Rolling Stones – “Let’s Spend The Night Together”

February 10, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Between The Buttons (U.S.)
Year: 1967

. . .

It’s clear Ed Sullivan fucking hated the Rolling Stones. After their first appearance, he apologized for having them on and swore that he’d never have them on again. He probably thought he was making a good bet: that there was no way that these shaggy-ass scruffy fucks were going to any kind of career.

Instead, they were on several more times, the final one when they performed “Gimme Shelter” in 1969, the world having changed completely in the intervening five years.

Certain Songs #2029: The Rolling Stones – “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in The Shadow?”

February 9, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Flowers
Year: 1966

. . .

Hoo boy. This is a tough one, because, on one hand, “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow” is a proto-punk thrill ride that features the first use of a horn section on any Rolling Stones single: finally, Keith got his soul horns on a song! On the other hand, it’s one of the great missed opportunities in the entire Stones catalog.

Certain Songs #2028: The Rolling Stones – “Mother’s Little Helper”

February 8, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Flowers
Year: 1966

. . .

OK. So. In the U.K., “Mother’s Little Helper” wasn’t a single, but instead, the lead track of Aftermath. In the U.S., “Paint It Black” was the lead track of Aftermath, as well as a single on both sides of the pond, and “Mother’s Little Helper” didn’t show up on an album until 1967’s weird-ass Flowers compilation. And yes, this will all be on the final.

Certain Songs #2027: The Rolling Stones – “Under My Thumb”

February 7, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Aftermath
Year: 1966

. . .

When I was first thinking about these Rolling Stones posts — sometime in 2017, truth be told — my original conception was to have a section on every post about what was problematic with the song, as they got away with a lot of things in the 60s, 70s & 80s that would be unthinkable in our more evolved era.

Like, of course, “Under My Thumb,” the first truly famous Rolling Stones song that was never released as a single in either the U.S. or the U.K.

Certain Songs #2026: The Rolling Stones – “Lady Jane”

February 6, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Aftermath
Year: 1966

. . .

While most of Aftermath consisted of uptempo rock songs — sometime colored by Brian Jones, and sometimes not — about how Mick’s relationships were going wrong, there were a couple of exceptions. One was “Going Home,” a mid-tempo song about Mick deciding to come home to his baby, which they somehow stretched to 11:35 without ever reaching, er, a climax.

And the other was the drop-dead gorgeous “Lady Jane,” where Mick pretends he’s a courtly man, I guess, and isn’t fucking everything in sight. Or, I guess, not anymore. So, he’s playing a character, whom — of course — has to stave off the amorous affection of other ladies in favor of the titular Lady.

Certain Songs #2025: The Rolling Stones – “Paint It Black”

February 5, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Aftermath (U.S.)
Year: 1966

. . .

Sometimes you can listen to a song for years and years, and never really hear it, until it suddenly catches you by surprise.

That’s what happened to me with “Paint It Black,” a song that had been on the radio when I was a kid, and, of course was the opening track of Aftermath, which I bought in early 1981, and didn’t like as much as I had expected to.

Certain Songs #2024: The Rolling Stones – “19th Nervous Breakdown”

February 4, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1966

. . .

The Rolling Stones started 1966 off in fine form, releasing “19th Nervous Breakdown,” the first single not to be on any of their studio albums since “I Wanna Be Your Man” way back in 1963.

An rollicking thrill-ride of a single, “19th Nervous Breakdown” isn’t just a perfect transition song from their early period to their experimental phase, but it also stands as one of their all-time greatest songs, full stop.

Certain Songs #2023: The Rolling Stones – “As Tears Go By”

February 3, 2021 by Jim Connelly

December’s Children (And Everybody’s)
Year: 1965

. . .

There’s a lot of meta going on with the Rolling Stones recording of “As Tears Go By.”

For one thing, they probably never expected to be recording it, as it was not only one of the first songs they ever wrote in 1964, it really really didn’t fit the “bad boys of British R&B” image that they were cultivating at the time.

So, instead, Andrew Loog Oldham gave it to an aspiring singer who only recorded it because she couldn’t figure out how to sing the song that was going to be her first single. That aspiring singer, of course, was Marianne Faithfull, who took a very baroque version of “As Tears Go By” to number nine on the British charts on the strength of her sympathetic vocals, the nostalgic lyrics, and a pretty fucking killer melody. Probably the fact that she looked like a young Marianne Faithfull didn’t hurt, either.

Certain Songs #2022: The Rolling Stones – “I’m Free”

February 2, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: December’s Children (And Everybody’s)
Year: 1965

. . .

One of the things that the Rolling Stones started doing in 1965 is release singles where the b-side gave as much pleasure as the a-side — sometimes more! — and one of the best examples of that is the U.S. b-side of “Get Off Of My Cloud,” the majestic, shimmering “I’m Free.”

While “I’m Free” does suffer from some of the production gremlins that the A-side — the guitars sound both washed out and over-modulated — it comes across as perhaps the Rolling Stones best foray into folk rock. It also has one hell of a rock star lyric.