Certain Songs

Certain Songs #2051: The Rolling Stones – “Let It Bleed”

March 6, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Bleed
Year: 1969

. . .

Here’s a little trivia for you: Let it Bleed was the first time the Rolling Stones named an album after one of the songs on that album, something all of their major British Invasion peers had already done, and a thing they only ever did three times afterwards (and not at all in the last 40 years), so the assumption at the Certain Songs Home Office is that “Let it Bleed” must have been truly special, while others thought that they were stealing from The Beatles, whose Let It Be album had already been recorded, though it’s possible they’d heard the song “Let it Be” and decided to top it.

Of course, neither is probably the truth: they probably just like “Let it Bleed” as a title for the darkest batch of songs they’d yet recorded, and of course, the then-abandoned Beatles project was originally called “Get Back,” anyways.

Certain Songs #2050: The Rolling Stones – “Live With Me”

March 5, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Bleed
Year: 1969

. . .

Time to pour one out for Bobby Keys, a sharp-witted, fun-loving Texas-born saxophonist who became one of Keith’s best friends at least partially since they shared the exact same birthday, right down to the year. While Keys would be integral to the next few Stones records — eventually either being tossed for filling a bathtub with Dom Perignon or voluntarily leaving their orbit to deal with his inevitable smack addiction — on Let It Bleed, he only had a cameo.

But, as we’ll see, it was a pretty fucking great cameo.

Certain Songs #2049: The Rolling Stones – “Gimme Shelter”

March 4, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Let It Bleed
Year: 1969

. . .

Objectively the greatest rock ‘n’ roll song ever recorded, “Gimme Shelter” is an apocalyptic maelstrom never ever gets old, no matter how many times you listen to it. And while it had roots in a rather mundane situation, it also somehow ended up symbolizing one of the greatest apocalyptic maelstroms in rock history, Altamont.

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

March 3, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Single, 1969

. . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.