Rank!

(Page 3 of 7)

45. “If You Really Want To Be My Friend”

From It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll

LISTEN HERE  

The guest players make the majority of the impact on this slow-builder from It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll. Nicky Hopkins’ piano never gets stale throughout the recording of over 6 minutes, while R&B group Blue Magic provide the Pips-like accompaniment in support of Jagger’s testifying.

The song amounts to Jagger begging to be given trust and space from his woman. That’s a bit of a flimsy conceit on which to build such a long song, but The Stones provide just enough variety in the arrangement to keep it from getting tedious.

Jagger also helps with a soulful performance, and the softer side of the group shines through well here, especially Charlie Watts’ instinctive fills. It’s not a world-beater of a song, but it’s subtly lovely nonetheless.

44. “Soul Survivor”

From Exile on Main St.

LISTEN HERE  

On its own, “Soul Survivor” is definitely middle-of-the-pack Stones. The best part of the song is the building climax, which achieves ironic gospel fervor, considering that the lyrics are pretty dark. After all, Jagger can’t decide whether he’ll be the “Soul Survivor” or whether the song’s unnamed antagonist will be his downfall.

The song’s significance rises when you consider the context. It’s the last song on the majestically unwieldy Exile On Main St., an album that trotted the globe and took a toll on its performers from which they are likely still recovering. Taking that into account, it seems clear to me that Jagger isn’t referring to women or to drugs. He’s referring to rock n’ roll itself and all of the sacrifices it demands.

Even more telling is that it is preceded on the album by “Shine A Light,” Jagger’s eulogy/tribute to Brian Jones that makes it abundantly clear what those sacrifices are. Suddenly the darkly triumphant undertones of “Soul Survivor” come to the surface, and it transcends its otherwise average bearing.

43. “I Just Want To See His Face”

From Exile on Main St.

LISTEN HERE  

When you’re at your lowest point, “you don’t want to walk and talk about Jesus/You just want to see his face.” The Stones were absorbing the gospel influence of Billy Preston when they were in Los Angeles during the peripatetic recording sessions for Exile. Leave it to Mick to turn faith on its ears by demanding some proof.

The song began as a jam session, and those roots are evident in the off-the-cuff feel of the finished product. That’s Keith Richards laying down the piano riff, while Mick Taylor provides the bass and Charlie Watts handles the rumbling beat. Jagger’s vocals are barely audible in what sounds like a demo, but that just adds to the alluring mystery.

Because it’s little more than a fragment, it’s hard to rank this song too far up the ladder. Springing up clandestinely out of the fade-out of “Ventilator Blues,” you can’t deny that “I Just Want To See His Face” still manages to cast a persuasive spell in which you can believe.

42. “Hot Stuff”

From Black and Blue

LISTEN HERE  

Falling somewhere between funk and disco, “Hot Stuff” found the Stones going with gusto to a sound that alienated some of their long-term fans. The cries of sellout that came from all directions when “Miss You” appeared two years later began as whispers when this song kicked off Black And Blue.

The Stones could care less, of course. They really sink their teeth into this, with Bill Wyman getting a chance to step to the foreground with his strutting bass lines and Billy Preston guest-starring on piano with typical excellence. The lead guitarist is Harvey Mandel; he was formerly in Canned Heat and was one of several guitarists who auditioned for the role abandoned by Mick Taylor. Obviously, Ronnie Wood got the call, but Mandel’s work here is nothing to sneeze at.

If the song is nothing but one groove run into the ground, it’s still a damn seductive groove. The Stones add just enough subtle twists and turns to keep it captivating even at better than 5 minutes.

41. “Luxury”

From It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll

LISTEN HERE  

If “Cherry Oh Baby” was the Stones’ full-on dive in the waters of reggae music, then consider this track off It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll them dipping their feet in the kiddie pool. In the process, they created a catchy little ditty. Genesis would rewrite the song with the same groove years later on “Illegal Alien,” scoring a hit but earning few sensitivity points.

Really, the only hint you might get that this is reggae-inspired is the frothy melody and Jagger’s Jamaican patois in the lyrics. The guitars are pure Stones: gritty and low to provide the groove with punchy little solos spicing things up in the breaks.

Even if Jagger may not have sold his accent very well, he at least touches on some social inequities that make the hard-working character he plays in the song even more sympathetic: “Half the world it got nothing/The other half got money to burn.” Keith’s sympathetic harmony provides just the right touch of camaraderie here. If not full-on reggae, “Luxury” certainly captures the agreeably light spirit of the poppier aspects of the genre.

40. “Dancing With Mr. D”

From Goats Head Soup

LISTEN HERE  

The “D” in question stands for Death. Only the stones could make the prospect of dancing with the Grim Reaper sound quite so seductive. Give credit for that to Keith Richards’ insinuating riff, which serves as the framework for the entire song. The Stones would years later rehash this groove on their minor hit “Harlem Shuffle,” but a band who’s been around as long as they have get a pass for a little recycling now and then.

The instrumental credits are typically off-the-wall. Mick Taylor played bass on the track as well as the wailing slide guitar fills. Billy Preston is on the track but cedes the piano role to Nicky Hopkins and contributes on the clavinet instead. A few percussionists are also credited, but all of that is secondary to the main riff, which sounds like Keith may have been inspired by one of John Fogerty’s swamp classics from his CCR days.

The song wants to be a little more shocking than it actually is, but it’s a gritty gem nonetheless and a good way to start off Goats Head Soup, even if the remainder of that album then veered away to a more mellow sound.

39. “Sway”

From Sticky Fingers

LISTEN HERE  

A moody, interesting track off Sticky Fingers, “Sway” is one of the Stones tracks which Mick Taylor claims to have had a large hand in writing. I can see that, as most of Taylor’s contributions throughout his tenure with them really deepen the group’s core sound. There is no doubt that he handles the brilliant solo at song’s end, which sails high above Charlie Watts’ sharp snares and finds the spaces in between the creeping string section.

Richards doesn’t play guitar on the track, although he does provide backing vocals, joining Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend to make quite the chorus. They back Jagger’s excellent vocal. The lyrics here are some of Mick’s most intriguing, as he makes no bones about his tunnel-vision in the face of hard times: “Ain’t flinging tears out on the dusty ground/For all my friends out on the burial ground.”

The “demon life,” he suggests, can’t be taken too seriously, or else it will eat you alive. At least, that is, until the final verse, when he finds himself surprised by his affection for a woman. It’s a fascinating glimpse at Mick past all the bravado and posturing, and it gives “Sway” an unexpected depth.

38. “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”

From Some Girls

LISTEN HERE  

Although this is the lesser known of the group’s two Temptations’ covers, the boys do a fine job with this one as well. Then again, the song is such impeccable source material that the band could have turned it into an electro-thrash rave-up (if such a thing exists) and it still would have likely emerged golden.

Perhaps realizing that slowing the pace down too much would expose the fact that their vocals aren’t in the same league as the Temps (and, really, how many people are in that elite league?), the Stones play the song as a mid-tempo rock song, with Charlie Watts’ steady beat even kicking into double-time during the instrumental passages.

Jagger plays fast and loose with the melody toward the song’s end, allowing him to emote the song more than sing it, and that’s when the song becomes their own. Give the group credit for both excellent taste and the chops to deliver the material winningly.

37. “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)”

From Goats Head Soup

LISTEN HERE  

You don’t tend to think of The Rolling Stones as a band that specializes in social commentary. If anything, they’re the band for which pundits reserve social commentary. But they make an earnest stab at it on “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker),” even if it clearly isn’t in their wheelhouse.

By providing two snapshots of youth senselessly wasted, Jagger tries to spotlight the apathy that is almost as heinous as the crimes themselves. But the two incidents are a little bit too random to pull together into a cohesive statement.

Luckily, the musical backdrop provides all of the fury that the lyrics want to conjure. The horns, arranged by longtime Stones sideman Jim Price, swirl with bluster around the crunching wah-wah of Mick Taylor. By the end, when Jagger is screaming “Oh yeah!” over the entire maelstrom, including the catchy backing vocals, it becomes clear that those exclamatory cries evoker injustice better than the lyrics ever could.

36. “Coming Down Again”

From Goats Head Soup

LISTEN HERE  

He’s known of course for his guitar-playing, his debauchery, and his indestructibility. But, at heart, Keith Richards is a great soul man.

Dotted all over the Stones catalog, especially in later years, are wounded-heart ballads sung in the key of Keith. The albums from the late-80’s on have been spotty affairs, but slow songs from Richards usually stand out in a good way. “Slipping Away” has always been a particular favorite of mine, and “The Worst” is far from it, actually. Seek ‘em out online, and thank me later.

In a lot of ways, “Coming Down Again,” found on Goats Head Soup, is the forerunner of those songs. You know that when Keith sings, he’s going to hit as many wonky notes as clean ones, but that’s part of the charm. The point is that he conveys the anguish inherent in the song without fail, aided by slyly ingratiating melodies like this one.

What is he coming down from? Take your pick: Life on the road, a bad relationship, drugs. Some of the lyrics seem to reference his wife Anita being the ex of his bandmate and friend Brian Jones, which caused a huge schism between the pair. At other times he changes the perspective to focus suddenly on a girl in the song, tossing off a killer line like nothing (“She was dying to survive.”) It’s all a part of the idiosyncratic brilliance of Keith Richards’ songwriting, a skill he only gets to flash occasionally. He always leaves us wanting more, and he always plays it from the soul.

Go to Page 4 (Songs 35-26) >>

Comments (6)