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.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2043: The Rolling Stones – “Street Fighting Man”