Album: Exile on Main St.
Year: 1972
. . .
“Loving Cup” is one of the oldest songs on Exile On Main St. — they played it at the Hyde Park show in 1969 — having first been attempted during the Let It Bleed sessions, and then ignored until they figured out how to make it work in Keith’s basement.
And that’s just as well, because while “Torn and Frayed” is the song that got me into side two of Exile on Main St., I think I love “Loving Cup” even more, and am here to say that it’s easily Mick Jagger’s greatest love song.
“Loving Cup” opens with an utterly magnificent Nicky Hopkins piano intro, just massive and grand, setting up an opening verse that is nothing but heart, Mick and Keith singing together.
I’m the man on the mountain, come on up
I’m the plowman in the valley with a face full of mud
Yes, I’m fumbling and I know my car don’t start
Yes, I’m stumbling and I know I play a bad guitar
At some point, Keith sneaks in with an acoustic guitar — his interplay with Hopkins is breathtaking here — and then after the verse is over, the full band comes in, with Charlie Watts doing harmonies on the chorus with his drums.
Give me little drink from your loving cup
Just one drink and I’ll fall down drunk
Of course, Mick being Mick, the metaphor of “loving cup,” could also — and probably does — also apply to cunnilingus, which somehow kinda makes it even more romantic. Amirite ladies? In any event, the confluence of love and sex gets even more explicit in the second verse as Charlie sets the beat to lope.
I’m the man who walks the hillside in the sweet summer sun
I’m the man that brings you roses when you ain’t got none
Well I can run and jump and fish, but I won’t fight
You if you want to push and pull with me all night
A couple of times in this second verse, Keith kicks out a cool little riff that we will get back to later on in the song, but for now is just part of of the overall sound, which gets totally switched on the utterly amazing bridge.
Oh, good lord, the bridge on “Loving Cup.”
First there’s a breakdown, Charlie completely disappearing, and at the same time there’s a horn fanfare, as if they were suddenly announcing all of the various ladies in “Lady Jane,” but of course it’s just one lady this time, and as the trumpets continue along with the acoustic guitar, Mick Jagger sings the most romantic lyrics he’s ever written.
I feel so humble with you tonight
Just sitting in front of the fire
Then as Nicky Hopkins comes back in and Charlie Watts starts building on his hi-hat, Mick ups the excitement level.
See your face dancing in the flame
Feel your mouth kissing me again
What a beautiful buzz
What a beautiful buzz
So one thing here: the only person credited with backing vocals is Keith. But I swear to gods that there are multiple vocalists singing here. It could be overdubs — you can definitely hear Keith — or it could be uncredited vocals from the Los Angeles sessions. Either way, it’s ridiculously gorgeous, which is why they continue it.
What a beautiful buzz
What a beautiful buzz
(One more time)
What a beautiful buzz
What a beautiful buzz
With the guitars and piano and horns swirling all around the , it’s totally and completely transcendent, one of the most uplifting moments in any Stones song. It also sets up one final verse and chorus:
Yes, I am nitty gritty and my shirt’s all torn
But I would love to spill the beans with you till dawnGive me little drink from your loving cup
Just one drink and I fall down drunk
There’s a cool bit in that last chorus where Mick elongates “fall downnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn drunk” just as Keith resurrects the riff from the second verse, almost instantly joined by the horn section, and then Mick and Keith start singing “gimme little drink” over and over over over and over while Charlie slams his snare, Nicky Hopkins trills his piano and Bobby Keys & Jim Price make a joyful noise with their horns.
At the fade, they’re still singing it, and they still might be. There’s a outtake from the original Let It Bleed sessions where not only is Mick Taylor all over it on lead guitar where the “gimme little drink” section is almost demented: so demented that when they did a version of “Loving Cup” for the Exile reissue, they actually spliced another ending onto it. Which is too bad, because it’s a completely different spin on the song.
“Loving Cup”
“Loving Cup” on Beat Club
“Loving Cup” with Jack White, NYC 2006
“Loving Cup” from Let It Bleed Sessions