Happy Birthday Keith Richards *Stonesmania- The Rolling Stones Aging Well (Alright, Just Okay) - "Emotional Rescue"

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of The Rolling Stones performing "Emotional Rescue" from their "Emotional Rescue" album.

CD Review

Emotional Rescue, The Rolling Stones, 1980

Hey, in 2009 no one, including this reviewer, NEEDS to comment on the fact that The Rolling Stones, pound for pound, have over forty plus years earned their place as the number one band in the rock `n' roll pantheon. Still, it is interesting to listen once again to the guys when they were at the height of their musical powers (and as high, most of the time, as Georgia pines). This album from the tail end of their most creative period , moreover, unlike let us say Bob Dylan who has produced more creative work for longer, is the "golden era" of the Stone Age. The album, however, is a little uneven in spots reflecting, I think, a certain exhaustion of material that they could call their totally their own unless the time when they owned a big chunk of rock 'n'roll in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The age of a more sedate music (at least technically) was approaching and I think there was some confusion about whether to embrace it or “spoof” it. Frankly, nothing jumps out here but "Dance", "Indian Girl", "She So Cold" and the title track "Emotional Rescue" make this album. I do not think anything here qualifies for their "greatest hits" vault.

THE ROLLING STONES lyrics - Emotional Rescue

(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Is there nothing I can say
Nothing I can do
To change your mind
I'm so in love with you
You're too deep in
You can't get out
You're just a poor girl in a rich man's house
Yeah, baby, I'm crying over you
Don't you know promises were never made to keep?
Just like the night, dissolve in sleep
I'll be your savior, steadfast and true
I'll come to your emotional rescue
I'll come to your emotional rescue
Yeah, the other night, crying
Crying baby, yeah I'm crying
Yeah I'm like a child baby
I'm like a child baby
Child yeah, I'm like a child, like a child
Like a child
You think you're one of a special breed
You think that you're his pet Pekinese
I'll be your savior, steadfast and true
I'll come to your emotional rescue
I'll come to your emotional rescue
I was dreaming last night
Last night I was dreaming
How you'd be mine, but I was crying
Like a child, yeah, I was crying
Crying like a child
You will be mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, all mine
You could be mine, could be mine
Be mine, all mine
I come to you, so silent in the night
So stealthy, so animal quiet
I'll be your savior, steadfast and true
I'll come to your emotional rescue
I'll come to your emotional rescue
Yeah, you should be mine, mine, whew
Yes, you could be mine
Tonight and every night
I will be your knight in shining armour
Coming to your emotional rescue
You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine
You will be mine, you will be mine, all mine
I will be your knight in shining armour
Riding across the desert with a fine Arab charger

Happy Birthday Keith Richards -*Stonesmania- Hot Rocks, Indeed- The Rolling Stones, Once Again

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of The Rolling Stones performing "Street Fighting Man".

CD Review

Hot Rocks 1964-1971, The Rolling Stones, 2CD set, ABKCO Records, 1986

Hey, in 2009 no one, including this reviewer, NEEDS to comment on the fact that The Rolling Stones, pound for pound, have over forty plus years earned their place as the number one band in the rock ‘n’ roll pantheon. Still, it is interesting to listen once again to the guys when they were at the height of their musical powers (and as high, most of the time, as Georgia pines). This period from 1964 to 1971, moreover, unlike let us say Bob Dylan who has produced more creative work for longer, is the ‘golden era” of the Stone Age.

While this CD has the rather definitive selection of “greatest hits’ from this period so there are no bad tracks here the stick outs are “Gimme Shelter”( as always), “Street Fighting Man”, “Sympathy For The Devil”, “Under My Thumb” and “Ruby Tuesday”

Happy Birthday Keith Richards *Stonesmania- The Rolling Stones Aging Well (Alright, Just Okay) - "Tatoo You"

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of The Rolling Stones performing "Start Me Up" from their "Tattoo You" album.

CD Review

Tatoo You, The Rolling Stones, 1981

Hey, in 2009 no one, including this reviewer, NEEDS to comment on the fact that The Rolling Stones, pound for pound, have over forty plus years earned their place as the number one band in the rock `n' roll pantheon. Still, it is interesting to listen once again to the guys when they were at the height of their musical powers (and as high, most of the time, as Georgia pines). This album from the tail end of their most creative period , moreover, unlike let us say Bob Dylan who has produced more creative work for longer, is the "golden era" of the Stone Age. The album, however, is a little uneven in spots reflecting, I think, a certain exhaustion of material that they could call their totally their own unless the time when they owned a big chunk of rock 'n'roll in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The age of a more sedate music (at least technically) was approaching and I think there was some confusion about whether to embrace it or “spoof” it. Still the "Start Me Up' track, a staple of their live concerts and a great way to rev up the 1960s aging children is a Stones "greatest hits" " number, right? "Worried About You" and "No Use In Crying" are stick outs in this CD. I do not think anything else here qualifies for their "greatest hits" vault.

Rolling Stones — Start Me Up lyrics

If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
Ive been running hot
You got me ticking gonna blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
You make a grown man cry
Spread out the oil, the gasoline
I walk smooth, ride in a mean, mean machine
Start it up
If you start it up
Kick on the starter give it all you got, you got, you got
I can't compete with the riders in the other heats
If you rough it up
If you like it you can slide it up, slide it up
Don't make a grown man cry
My eyes dilate, my lips go green
My hands are greasy
Shes a mean, mean machine
Start it up
If start me up
Give it all you got
You got to never, never, never stop
Never, never
Slide it up
You make a grown man cry
Ride like the wind at double speed
Ill take you places that youve never, never seen
Start it up
Love the day when we will never stop, never stop
Never stop, never stop
Tough me up
Never stop, never stop, never stop
You, you, you make a grown man cry
You, you make a dead man cum
You, you make a dead man cum

Happy Birthday Kieth Richards-*Stonesmania-Very Sticky Fingers, Indeed-The Rolling Stones Back In The Days

Click on title to link to YouTube's film clip of The Rolling Stones performing "Sister Morphine"

CD Review

Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones, Virgin Records, 1971

Hey, in 2009 no one, including this reviewer, NEEDS to comment on the fact that The Rolling Stones, pound for pound, have over forty plus years earned their place as the number one band in the rock ‘n’ roll pantheon. Still, it is interesting to listen once again to the guys when they were at the height of their musical powers (and as high, most of the time, as Georgia pines). I would note, looking through the songs on this CD that a few of them are no longer on a Stones concert play list. Sure, “Brown Sugar”, “Wild Horses” and “Sway” are in play. Yet some of the other work is still very powerful, if too drug-related to be “musically correct” today. If you want to hear “Sister Morphine” or “Dead Flowers” I guess you’ll have to dust off the old CD (or download). A nice touch though, reflecting their blues roots, is the cover of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Gotta Move”. I might add that the royalties from that cover helped old Fred with some medical operation that he needed. You’ve gotta move, indeed.

Happy Birthday Keith Richards- In Honor Of The Late Rocker Chuck Berry Who Helped Make It All Possible-*Chuck Berry Is In The House- "Roll Over Beethoven"

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of Chuck Berry Doing "Roll Over Beethoven". Wow.


In Honor Of The Late Rocker Chuck Berry Who Helped Make It All Possible-*Chuck Berry Is In The House- "Roll Over Beethoven"

CD REVIEWS

Chuck Berry Gold, Chuck Berry, Gold Records, 1999

Long ago, in the mists of time, I was listening to my radio when Chuck Berry’s "Johnny B. Goode" came thundering across the airways. I have been a fan ever since and never looked back. As portrayed in the DVD documentary and labor of love by The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards “Hail, Hail Rock and Roll” and this greatest hits CD compilation neither did Chuck Berry. There may be continuing controversy about the roots of rock and rock-whether it derived from rhythm and blues, rock-a-billy, jazzed-up country or all of them- but as the tribute covers by later performers across the musician and racial spectrum that are dotted throughout later rock history- Chuck Berry was at the center of the storm.

That said, not all Chuck Berry CDs are created equal. Partially, as with his live performances, this reflected his constant need for money to pay debts, the government, etc. Many are done haphazardly or are based on less than stellar performances. This Gold CD, as are others in this series ( I would note, for one , Hank Williams), is among the best as it seems that the compilers have gone out of their way to get the best versions available, even of the lesser material that completes this two-disc set. I would say this you need high quality performances on the following if you are to understand why Chuck Berry is a rock legend. “Maybelline”, “Roll over Beethoven”, “Back In The U.S.A.”, “Rock And Roll Music”, “Sweet Little Sixteen”, :Johnny B. Goode”, “Reelin’ and Rockin”, “Little Queenie” and “Memphis”. That is the case here. Take the others as a bonus.



Back In The USA Lyrics

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today,
We touched ground on an international runway
Jet propelled back home, from over seas to the USA

New-York, Los Angeles, oh, how I yearned for you
Detroit, Chicago, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge
Let alone just to be at my home back in ol?St-Lou.

Did I miss the skyscrapers, did I miss the long freeway?
From the coast of California to the shores of Delaware Bay
You can bet your life I did, till?I got back to the USA

Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner caf?
Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day
Yeah, and a jukebox jumping the records like in the USA

Well, I'm so glad I'm livin?in the USA.
Yes. I'm so glad I'm livin?in the USA.
Anything you want, we got it right here in the USA


It Hurts Me Too Lyrics

(by elmore james)

You said you was hurting, almost lost your mind,
And the man you love, he hurts you all the time.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

You love him more when you should love him less.
I pick up behind him and take his mess.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

He love another woman and I love you,
But you love him and stick to him like glue.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

Now you better leave him; he better put you down.
Oh, I won’t stand to see you pushed around.
When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me, too.

Johnny B. Goode Lyrics

Deep down in Louisiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens,
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny B. Goode,
Who never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play a guitar just like a ringin' a bell.

(Chorus)
Go Go
Go Johnny Go Go (x4)
Johnny B. Goode

He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack,
Oh sit beneath a tree by the railroad track
Oh the engineers would see him sittin in the shade,
Strummin with the rhythm that the drivers made,
Oh n' people passin' by they would stop and say
'Oh my but that little country boy could play'

(Chorus)

His mother told him 'some day you will be a man,
And you will be the leader of a big ol' band
Many people comin' from miles around,
To hear you play your music when the sun go down,
Maybe some day your name will be in lights sayin
'Johnny B. Goode' tonight

(Chorus)

Little Queenie Lyrics

I got lumps in my throat
When I saw her comin' down the aisle
I got the wiggles in my knees
When she looked at me and sweetly smiled
There she is again
Standin' over by the record machine
Lookin' like a model
On the cover of a magazine
She's too cute
To be a minute over seventeen
Meanwhile I was thinkin'
She's in the mood
No need to break it
I got a chance, I oughta take it
If she抣l dance we can make it
C'mon queenie let's shake it

Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie

Tell me who's the queen standin?over by the record machine
Lookin?like a model
On the cover of a magazine
She's too cute
To be a minute over seventeen

Meanwhile, I was still thinkin?br> If it's a slow song
We'll omit it
If it's a rocker, then we'll get it
If it's good, she'll admit it
C'mon queenie, let's get with it

Go, go, go, little queenie
Go go, go, go, little queenie
Go go, go, go, little queenie?

Maybellene Lyrics

Maybelline, why can't you be true
Oh Maybelline , why can't you be true
You done started doin' the things you used to do

As I was motorvaton over the hill
I saw Maybelline in a Coup de Ville
A Cadillac arollin' on the open road
Nothin' will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin' about ninetyfive
She's bumper to bumper, rollin' side to side

Maybelline, why can't you be true
Oh Maybelline , why can't you be true
You done started back doin' the things you used to do

The Cadillac pulled up to a hundred and four
The Ford got hot and wouldn't do no more
It done got cloudy and started to rain
I tooted my horn for the passin' lane
The rainwater blowin' all under my hood
I know that I was doin' my motor good

Maybelline, why can't you be true
Oh Maybelline, why can't you be true
You done started back doin' the things you used to do

Oh Maybelline, why can't you be true
Oh Maybelline, why can't you be true
You done started back doin' the things you used to do

The motor cooled down the heat went down
And that's when I heard that highway sound
The Cadillac sittin' like a ton of lead
A hundred and ten a half a mile ahead The Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' still
And I caught Maybelline at the top of the hill

Maybelline, why can't you be true
Oh Maybelline, why can't you be true
You done started back doin' the things you used to do

Rock'n'Roll Music Lyrics

Just let me hear some of that rock'n'roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock - roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

I have no kick against modern jazz
Unless they try to play it too darn fast
And change the beauty of the melody
Until it sounds just like a symphony
That's why I go for that rock'n'roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock - roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

I took my loved one over 'cross the tracks
So she could her my man a - whalin' sax
I must admit they have a rockin' band
Man they were goin' like a hurricane
That's why I go for that rock'n'roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock - roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

Way down South they gave a jubilee
Them country folks they had a jamboree
They're drinkin' home - brew from a wooden cup
The folks dancin' got all shook up
And started playin' that rock'n'roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock - roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

Don't care to hear 'em play the tango
I'm in no mood to dig a mambo
It's way too early for the congo
So keep a - rockin' that piano
So I can hear some of that rock'n'roll music
any old way you choose it
It's got a backbeat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock - roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

Sweet Little Rock'n'Roller Lyrics

Yeah, nine years old and sweet as she can be
All dressed up like a downtown Christmas tree
Dancin?and hummin?a rock&roll melody
She抯 the daughter of a well-respected man
Who taught her to judge and understand
Since she became a rock& roll music fan

Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller
Her daddy don抰 have to scold her
Her partner can抰 hardly hold her
Her partner can抰 hardly hold her
She never gets any older
Sweet little rock抧抮oller

Should have seen her eyes when the band began to play
And the famous singer sang and bowed away
When the star performed she screamed and yelled "Hooray!"

Ten thousand eyes were watchin?him leave the floor
Five thousand tongues were screamin?揗ore and More!?br> And about fifteen hundred people waitin?outside the door

Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller
Sweet little rock'n'roller


Roll Over Beethoven Lyrics

Well, I'm-a write a little letter,
I'm gonna mail it to my local DJ
Yeah, It's a jumpin little record
I want my jockey to play
Roll Over Beethoven, I gotta hear it again today

You know, my temperature's risin'
and the jukebox blowin a fuse
My heart's beatin' rhythm
and my soul keeps on singin' the blues
Roll Over Beethoven, tell Tschaikowsky the news

I got the rockin' pneumonia,
I need a shot of rhythm and blues
I caught the rollin' arthiritis
sittin' down at a rhythm review
Roll Over Beethoven rockin' in two by two

Well, if you feel it 'n like it
go get your lover, then reel and rock it
Roll it over then move on up just
a trifle further then reel and rock with
one another.
Roll Over Beethoven dig these rhythm and blues

Well, early in the mornin' I'm a givin' you a warnin'
don't you step on my blue suede shoes
Hey diddle diddle, I am playin' my fiddle,
ain't got nothin' to lose
Roll Over Beethoven and tell Tschaikowsky the news

You know she wiggles like a glow worm,
dance like a spinnin' top
She got a crazy partner,
you oughta see 'em reel and rock
Long as she got a dime the music won't never stop

Roll Over Beethoven,
Roll Over Beethoven,
Roll Over Beethoven,
Roll Over Beethoven,
Roll Over Beethoven and dig these rhythm and blues

Happy Birthday Keith Richards- *Stonesmania- The Rolling Stones- When The Earth Was Young- "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out"

A link to YouTube's film clip of The Rolling Stones performing "Midnight Rambler" from their "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out" album.

CD Review

Get Your Ya-Ya's Out, The Rolling Stones, 1970

Hey, in 2009 no one, including this reviewer, NEEDS to comment on the fact that The Rolling Stones, pound for pound, have over forty plus years earned their place as the number one band in the rock `n' roll pantheon. Still, it is interesting to listen once again to the guys when they were at the height of their musical powers (and as high, most of the time, as Georgia pines). This album from the tail end of their most creative period , moreover, unlike let us say Bob Dylan who has produced more creative work for longer, is the "golden era" of the Stone Age. The album, however, is a little uneven in spots reflecting, I think, a certain exhaustion of material that they could call their totally their own unless the time when they owned a big chunk of rock 'n'roll in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This album reflects their previous three years or so of great work and some fine cover of Chuck Berry, an early Hall of Fame rocker, who influenced their style. Needless to say there are plenty of "greatest hits" here, theirs or someone else's. "Jumping Jack Flash", Street Fighting Man", Sympathy For The Devil" and Midnight Rambler". Well, yes those qualify. "Carol" and "Little Queenie". Ditto.

Midnight Rambler Lyrics
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Everybody got to go
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
The one that shut the kitchen door
He don't give a hoot of warning
Wrapped up in a black cat cloak
He don't go in the light of the morning
He split the time the cock'rel crows

Talkin' about the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before
Talkin' about the midnight gambler
Did you see him jump the garden wall
Sighin' down the wind so sadly
Listen and you'll hear him moan
Talkin' about the midnight gambler
Everybody got to go

Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Well, honey, it's no rock 'n' roll show
Well, I'm talkin' about the midnight gambler
Yeah, everybody got to go

Well did ya hear about the midnight gambler?
Well honey its no rock-in' roll show
Well I'm talking about the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before

Oh don't do that, oh don't do that, oh don't do that
Don't you do that, don't you do that (repeat)
Oh don't do that, oh don't do that


Well you heard about the Boston...
It's not one of those
Well, talkin' 'bout the midnight...sh...
The one that closed the bedroom door
I'm called the hit-and-run raper in anger
The knife-sharpened tippie-toe...
Or just the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler
You know, the one you never seen before

So if you ever meet the midnight rambler
Coming down your marble hall
Well he's pouncing like proud black panther
Well, you can say I, I told you so
Well, don't you listen for the midnight rambler
Play it easy, as you go
I'm gonna smash down all your plate glass windows
Put a fist, put a fist through your steel-plated door

Did you hear about the midnight rambler
He'll leave his footprints up and down your hall
And did you hear about the midnight gambler
And did you see me make my midnight call

And if you ever catch the midnight rambler
I'll steal your mistress from under your nose
I'll go easy with your cold fanged anger
I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby
And it hurts!

*Walk On The Wild Side- Part Two-The Music Of The Late Lou Reed

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Lou Reed performing his rock classic, Walk On The Wild Side.

DVD Review

Lou Reed: Spanish Fly: Live In Spain, Lou Reed and various musicians, Sister Ray Enterprises, 2004

I have run through a virtual litany of who was who in the folk world of the 1960s, a fair amount about the cutting edge rockers of that time, and certainly plenty about those who formed the edges of those music experiences. What I have not done, grievously not done, is to mention the work of the “edge city”, gravelly-voiced (now, anyway) singer/songwriter, Lou Reed, either as solo performer, or with the Velvet Underground, that created much good rock music back in the days. For those who are looking for points of reference since then I noticed that Reed did an excellent cover of Bob Dylan’s Foot Of Pride at Dylan's 30th anniversary celebration; did a very nice job on the Harry Smith tribute DVD in the late 1990s, and blew everybody away in Wim Wenders segment of the Martin Scorsese‘s PBS 2003 blues series (where he even smiled, doing, I think, a Blind Willie Johnson song). I will, in any case, atone here.

This DVD features Lou and a great back-up band, including an old-fashioned real bassist , playing a lot of his material from the Underground days and as a soloist in a live concert in Spain. Now let’s face it, after all these years the voice has lost some of its timber and is a little harsh (a la Dylan) but the guitar riffs are still there. And see, old Lou makes up for the weaker voice by rearranging those old classics (and having great-voiced sideman, Fernando Saunders, do harmonies) like Venus In Furs, Sweet Jane, The Blue Mask, Perfect Day, and, of course, Walk On The Wild Side. Good advise,for young and old. Doo do doo do doo do do doo.

**************

Lou Reed- Walk On The Wild Side Lyrics

Holly came from Miami, F.L.A.
Hitch-hiked her way across the USA
Plucked her eyebrows on the way
Shaved her legs and then he was a she
She says, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
Hey honey
Take a walk on the wild side

Candy came from out on the Island
In the backroom she was everybody's darlin'
But she never lost her head
Even when she was giving head
She says, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
I Said, Hey baby
Take a walk on the wild side
And the coloured girls go
Doo do doo do doo do do doo..

Little Joe never once gave it away
Everybody had to pay and pay
A hustle here and a hustle there
New York City's the place where they say,
Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side
I said, Hey Joe
Take a walk on the wild side

Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets
Lookin' for soul food and a place to eat
Went to the Apollo
You should've seen em go go go
They said, Hey shuga Take a walk on the wild side
I Said, Hey babe
Take a walk on the wild side
All right, huh

Jackie is just speeding away
Thought she was James Dean for a day
Then I guess she had to crash
Valium would have helped that bash
Said, Hey babe,
Take a walk on the wild side
I said, Hey honey,
Take a walk on the wild side
And the coloured girls say,
Doo do doo do doo do do doo

*From The Muisc Archives-Les Paul Is Gone- The Great Granddaddy Of Electric Guitar Music

Click on title to link to Les Paul article from Comcast.

 

*The Genesis Of The World's "Greatest Rock Band"- The Rolling Stones

Click On Title To Link To YouTube's Film Clip Of The Rolling Stones Doing "Street Fighting Man".

DVD REVIEW

The Rolling Stones: Under Review, 1967-69, The Rolling Stones and various artists, 2007

Recently, in reviewing Jean Luc- Godard’s 1968 “Sympathy For The Devil”, an experimental film documentary montage that featured the creation of one of The Rolling Stone’s most well-known songs of that title noted that while I was more than happy to see The Stones creative process on that work I did not need to spend an hour and one half to do so. This had to do more with Luc-Godard’s pretensions and propaganda needs that with any problems with the creative process of The Rolling Stones. Here, in the film documentary under review, we are treated to an infinitely more noteworthy and worthwhile introduction to The Stones’ creative process at its height and their place in the cultural, or rather counter-cultural history of the 1960’s. Without the Luc-Godard hubris.

One should note the time frame of this exposition, 1967-69, that is important both for the period of Stones creative outburst and their connection with the various cultural events that defined the late 1960’s. A little time is spent by the “talking heads” British music critics, who also covered The Stones up close during this period and that drive the narrative of this film, on the early Stones and their efforts like “Satisfaction” and “Ruby Tuesday” as they attempted to compete song for song with the Beatles. However, the bulk of the time is spent discussing the latter period when The Stones went off to explore their own musical capacities. This period includes their efforts on “ Their Satanic Majesties” (an album that, while it has some historical value as acid rock, is virtually unlistenable, at least to this reviewer these days), “Between The Buttons” (a transitional album) and then on to the classic ‘Beggar’s Banquet”. “Beggar’s Banquet” is arguably the equivalent in the Stones discographic pantheon of Elvis Presley’s 1956 “Elvis” to his.

Along the way we get also get a look at the troubled relationship between the eccentric Brian Jones and the other Stones, his death spiral, and the eventual emergence of the Jagger/Richards songwriting partnership that has lasted until this day. We also get some fulsome analysis of individual songs like “Jumping Jack Flash”, the seminal “Gimme Shelter” and the above-mentioned “Sympathy For The Devil”. Various interesting arguments are made along the way for the role of music in the evolving counter-cultural/drug milieu of the time and whether and if that would be the revolution.

A lot of the argument centers on the meaning of “Street Fighting Man” as a personal statement by Jagger. We long ago learned- the hard way- that music, of itself, would not bring the revolution (here the fatal Altamont concert of 1969 kind of drives that point home) and that Mike was not going to lead, if he ever had such an intention, that revolution (“Gimme Shelter” is kind of his concession on that point). What is left then? Well, there is always that subjective question- Are The Stones the world’s greatest rock band? Pound for pound in those days I would argue that Jim Morrison and The Doors, on any given on night, could claim that title. But for the long haul, The Stones, hands down. View this well-done documentary to find out why.

"Street Fighting Man"

Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
cause summers here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
Tell me what can a poor boy do
cept for sing for a rock n roll band
cause in this sleepy l.a. town
Theres just no place for a street fighting man

A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man

Do you think the time is right for a palace revolution
Where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well then what can a poor boy
cept for sing for a rock n roll band
cause in this sleepy l.a. town
Theres just no place for a street fighting man

A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man

Well what else can a poor boy do?
Well what else can a poor boy do?
Well what else can a poor boy do?
Well what else can a poor boy do?

Hey my name is called disturbance
Ill shout and scream, Ill kill the king, Ill rail at all his servants
Well what can a poor boy do
For sing for a rock n roll band
In this sleepy l.a. town
Theres just no place for
For a street fighting man

A street fighting man
For a street fighting man
A street fighting man
For a street fighting man
A street fighting man
For a street fighting man
A street fighting man
For a street fighting man

A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man
A street fighting man


"Sympathy for The Devil"

Please allow me to introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
Ive been around for a long, long year
Stole many a mans soul and faith

And I was round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank
Held a generals rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made

I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me

Let me please introduce myself
Im a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But whats confusing you
Is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me lucifer
cause Im in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or Ill lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But whats puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!

Tell me baby, whats my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, whats my name
I tell you one time, youre to blame

Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who

Oh, yeah
Whats me name
Tell me, baby, whats my name
Tell me, sweetie, whats my name

Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Ooo, who, who
Oh, yeah


Gimme Shelter
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way

War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

Rape, murder!
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

The floods is threat'ning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away

It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away

I tell you love, sister, it's just a kiss away

It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away


"Backstreet Girl"


I don't want you to be high
I don't want you to be down
Don't want to tell you no lie
Just want you to be around

Please come right up to my ears
You will be able to hear what I say

Don't want you out in my world
Just you be my backstreet girl

Please don't be part of my life
Please keep yourself to yourself
Please don't you bother my wife
That way you won't get no hell

Don't try to ride on my horse
You're rather common and coarse anyway

Don't want you out in my world
Just you be my backstreet girl

Please don't you call me at home
Please don't come knocking at night
Please never ring on the phone
Your manners are never quite right

Please take the favors I grant
Curtsy and look nonchalant, just for me

Don't want you part of my world
Just you be my backstreet girl

*Once Again-The Never-Ending Review Tour-Coming Of Age, Period- Oldies But Goodies

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Bo Diddley performing his classic Bo Diddley.

CD Review

Oldies But Goodies, Volume Ten, Original Sound Record Co., 1986

I have been doing a series of commentaries elsewhere on another site on my coming of political age in the early 1960s, but here when I am writing about musical influences I am just speaking of my coming of age, period, which was not necessarily the same thing. No question that those of us who came of age in the 1950s are truly children of rock and roll. We were there, whether we appreciated it or not at the time, when the first, sputtering, musical moves away from ballady Broadway show tunes and rhymey Tin Pan Alley pieces hit the radio airwaves. (If you do not know what a radio is then ask your parents or, ouch, grandparents, please.) And, most importantly, we were there when the music moved away from any and all music that your parents might have approved of, or maybe, even liked, or, hopefully, at least left you alone to play in peace up in your room when rock and roll hit post- World War II America teenagers like, well, like an atomic bomb.

Not all of the material put forth was good, nor was all of it destined to be playable fifty or sixty years later on some “greatest hits” compilation but some of songs had enough chordal energy, lyrical sense, and sheer danceability to make any Jack or Jill jump then, or now. And, here is the good part, especially for painfully shy guys like me, or those who, like me as well, had two left feet on the dance floor. You didn’t need to dance toe to toe, close to close, with that certain she (or he for shes). Just be alive…uh, hip to the music. Otherwise you might become the dreaded wallflower. But that fear, the fear of fears that haunted many a teenage dream then, is a story for another day. Let’s just leave it at this for now. Ah, to be very, very young then was very heaven.

So what still sounds good on this CD compilation to a current AARPer, and perhaps to some of his fellows who comprise the demographic that such a 1950s-oriented compilation “speaks” to. Of course, the late Bo Diddley’s monster guitar riffs on Bo Diddley (and about ten other of his mad man songs from this period). Naturally, in a period of classic rock numbers, Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven (and about twenty of his songs from this period). And also naturally Fats Domino’s My Blue Heaven (ditto).


But what about the now, seeming mandatory to ask, inevitable end of the night high school dance song (or maybe even middle school) that seems to be included in each CD compilation? The song that you, maybe, waited around all night for just to prove that you were not a wallflower, and more importantly, had the moxie to, mumbly-voiced, parched-throated, sweaty-handed, asked a girl to dance (women can relate their own experiences, probably similar). Here the classic Jerry Butler and Betty Everett Let It Be Me fills the bill. Hey, I did like this one, especially the harmonies, and moreover that certain she (the same certain she of the Volume Six and Eight reviews. Does this mean we are going “steady”?) said yes and this was what you waited for and made it all worthwhile. And, yes, I know, this is one of the slow ones that you had to dance close on. And just hope, hope to high heaven, that you didn’t destroy your partner’s shoes and feet. Well, one learns a few social skills in this world if for no other reason that to “impress” that certain she (or he for shes) mentioned above. I did, didn’t you?

**************
Bo Diddley Lyrics

(Ellas McDaniel) 1955

Bo Diddley bought his babe a diamond ring,
If that diamond ring don't shine,
He gonna take it to a private eye,
If that private eye can't see
He'd better not take the ring from me.

Bo Diddley caught a nanny goat,
To make his pretty baby a Sunday coat,
Bo Diddley caught a bear cat,
To make his pretty baby a Sunday hat.

Mojo come to my house, ya black cat bone,
Take my baby away from home,
Ugly ole mojo, where ya bin,
Up your house, and gone again.

Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley have you heard?
My pretty baby said she wasn't for it.

*The Never-Ending Review Tour-Coming Of Age, Period- Oldies But Goodies

Click on the headline to link to a YouTube film clip of Gene Chandler performing his classic Duke Of Earl

CD Review

Oldies But Goodies, Volume Six, Original Sound Record Co., 1986

I have been doing a series of commentaries elsewhere on another site on my coming of political age in the early 1960s, but here when I am writing about musical influences I am just speaking of my coming of age, period, which was not necessarily the same thing. No question that those of us who came of age in the 1950s are truly children of rock and roll. We were there, whether we appreciated it or not at the time, when the first, sputtering, musical moves away from ballady Broadway show tunes and rhymey Tin Pan Alley pieces hit the radio airwaves. (If you do not know what a radio is then ask your parents or, ouch, grandparents, please.) And, most importantly, we were there when the music moved away from any and all music that your parents might have approved of, or maybe, even liked, or, hopefully, at least left you alone to play in peace up in your room when rock and roll hit post- World War II America teenagers like, well, like an atomic bomb.

Not all of the material put forth was good, nor was all of it destined to be playable fifty or sixty years later on some “greatest hits” compilation but some of songs had enough chordal energy, lyrical sense, and sheer danceability to make any Jack or Jill jump then, or now. And, here is the good part, especially for painfully shy guys like me, or those who, like me as well, had two left feet on the dance floor. You didn’t need to dance toe to toe, close to close, with that certain she (or he for shes). Just be alive…uh, hip to the music. Otherwise you might become the dreaded wallflower. But that fear, the fear of fears that haunted many a teenage dream then, is a story for another day. Let’s just leave it at this for now. Ah, to be very, very young then was very heaven.

So what still sounds good on this CD compilation to a current AARPer, and perhaps to some of his fellows who comprise the demographic that such a 1950s-oriented compilation “speaks” to. Of course, Jerry Lee Lewis’s Breathless (and about twenty other of his songs from this period). The Isley Brothers’ classic Twist And Shout. Dion and The Belmonts Teenager In Love (the battle cry of our, and every, generation). Naturally, in a period of classic doo wop numbers, Gene Chandler’s Duke Of Earl.


But what about the now, seeming mandatory to ask, inevitable end of the night high school dance song (or maybe even middle school) that seems to be included in each CD compilation? The song that you, maybe, waited around all night for just to prove that you were not a wallflower, and more importantly, had the moxie to, mumbly-voiced, parched-throated, sweaty-handed, asked a girl to dance (women can relate their own experiences, probably similar). Here the classic Little Caesar’s Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me Of You fills the bill. Hey, I didn’t even like the song that much, or the singing, but that certain she (a different certain she than in earlier reviews, oh fickle youth) said yes and this was what you waited for so don’t be so choosey. And, yes, I know, this is one of the slow ones that you had to dance close on. And just hope, hope to high heaven that you didn’t destroy your partner’s shoes and feet. Well, one learns a few social skills in this world if for no other reason that to “impress” that certain she (or he for shes) mentioned above. I did, didn’t you?

************

Duke Of Earl Lyrics-Gene Chandler

Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl

Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl
Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl

As I walk through this world
Nothing can stop the Duke of Earl
And-a you, you are my girl
And no one can hurt you, oh no

Yes-a, I, oh I'm gonna love you, oh oh
Come on let me hold you darlin'
'Cause I'm the Duke of Earl
So hey yea yea yeah

And when I hold you
You'll be my Duchess, Duchess of Earl
We'll walk through my dukedom
And a paradise we will share

Yes-a, I, oh I'm gonna love you, oh oh
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I'm the Duke of Earl
So hey yeah yeah yeah

Well, I, oh I'm gonna love you, oh oh
Nothing can stop me now
'Cause I'm the Duke of Earl
So hey yeah yeah yeah