Album: Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert
Year: 1969
. . .
While Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! has traditionally been lauded as one of the great live albums — a dynamite band playing incredible songs, what’s the problem — its charms mostly escaped me. And for one simple reason: The Rolling Stones were a band that figured out how to cut definitive versions of their songs in the studio.
And so while, yeah, it had “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Sympathy For The Devil,” “Live With Me” and “Street Fighting Man,” all of which I have waxed rhapsodic over in the past couple of weeks, if I wanted to hear any of those songs, I’d reach for the studio versions, where the guitars snarled, the vocals were sharp and the extra touches always added more.
That said, when I stuck Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! into my rotation in preparation for writing about the Stones, I realized that I kinda loved the bare-bones, almost punky versions of all of those songs, because of how much I loved all of those songs, though I’m still waiting for the moment I can listen to “Midnight Rambler” with the same reverence the rest of Western Civilization seems to have for it.
And, of course, there’s the clear-cut winner of the whole album, their cover of Robert Johnson’s “Love in Vain,” the only song not recorded at Madison Square Garden, but rather, a day before, in Baltimore. On Let It Bleed, “Love in Vain” was essentially the chill-down room after the hurricane of “Gimme Shelter,” but on Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! it ended up being as powerful as anything on the record.
Well, I followed her to the station
With a suitcase in my hand
Yeah, I followed her to the station
With a suitcase in my hand
Whoa, it’s hard to tell, it’s hard to tell
When all your love’s in vain
That’s, of course, despite the fact that the entire first verse is basically just Keith picking and Mick singing, only to eventually be joined by Charlie and Bill for the second verse.
When the train come in the station
I looked her in the eye
Well, the train come in the station
And I looked her in the eye
Whoa, I felt so sad, so lonesome
That I could not help but cry
Oh, and Mick Taylor — who wasn’t on the the Let It Bleed version — starts adding slide guitar commentary during that second verse. And then, as Mick shouts “cry on, baby” off mic, Taylor launches into a solo that sounds exactly like Robert Johnson’s tears, sad and lovely at the same time, and sets up the final verse, Taylor continuing to play around the vocals.
When the train left the station
It had two lights on behind
Yeah, when the train left the station
It had two lights on behind
Whoa, the blue light was my blues
And the red light was my mind
And then Micks Taylor and Jagger are singing “all my love’s / all my love’s” together, only Taylor is using his guitar to harmonize, before taking flight with yet another great solo.
It’s funny: just as Brian Jones’ last great contribution to the Stones was his slide guitar on a live version of “No Expectations,” so would his replacement make his initial mark with the same instrument. There would be more. Much more.
“Love in Vain (Baltimore 11-26-1969)”
“Love in Vain” Live in Texas, 1972
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