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.
I’m free to do what I want any old time
I’m free to do what I want any old timeSo love me, hold me
Love me, hold me
But I’m free any old time to get what I want
I’m going to choose to believe that they chose “I’m Free” to be the physical flip side of “Get Off of My Cloud” because they wanted to contrast a song about being trapped by stardom with the exact opposite. And they both feel like exaggerations. Or to be more accurate: the A-side is a fever dream and the b-side is a fantasy.
I’m free to sing my song, though it gets out of time
I’m free to sing my song, though it gets out of timeSo love me, hold me
Love me, hold me
But I’m free any old time to get what I want
Yeah
There’s a lot going on musically with “I’m Free:” check out how the guitars — probably both played by Keith — wind around each other, a glorious knot of spidery sound that’s supported by what is probably Brian on organ. In the middle, just after a quiet yet defiant “yeah” from Mick, Keith takes a guitar solo that a lot of people think is shite, but I think is absolutely lovely and adds an extra dimension to the song. As does his falsetto backing vocals.
Then there’s also the stop-time part in the middle of each verse: as Mick and Keith sing “love me, hold me” (which was, er, borrowed from “Eight Days A Week”), Charlie Watts and tambourinist James Alexander do a rat-a-tat-tat-tat stop-time, which not only unexpectedly breaks the song up, but adds even more grandeur to it. Also, after Keith’s guitar solo, there’s a bit where somebody — I think Charlie — comes in wrong. And they left it in. I love it when they leave the mistakes in.
I’m free to choose whom I please any old time
I’m free to please whom I choose any old timeSo hold me, love me
Love me, hold me
I’m free any old time to get what I want, yes I am
“I’m Free” is one of those Stones songs that has resonated down through the years — obviously the braggadocio of the lyrics is always going to appeal to each new generation of young people, and one of the more successful Stones covers was the jumped-up dancey version done by the Soup Dragons way back in 1990, which I’m guessing that younger generations assume is the original.
“I’m Free”
“I’m Free” live in Hyde Park, 1969
“I’m Free” live in 2006
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