General

In less than an hour’s span I unintentionally came across two songs revealing the resentment toward the Rolling Stones’ for what happened at Altamont [and they’re both written by Mcs! (not Micks!)]:

1.) I happen to be perusing for an annotated version of the lyrics to Don McLean’s “American Pie”[yeah, whatever] and the Mick and The Stones references are less than benign:

So come on: jack be nimble, jack be quick!
Jack flash sat on a candlestick
Cause fire is the devil’s only friend.
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage.
No angel born in hell
Could break that satan’s spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite,
I saw satan laughing with delight
The day the music died

2.) I also accidentally downloaded a song by Gene McDaniels called “Jagger the Dagger” (I was looking for “Chip Chip”). What I found was a good taste of the resentment that the African American Community had toward Mick Jagger (and The Rolling Stones) for the death Meredith Hunter at Altamont.

Mark French writes up the album and provides a download on Uppity Music.

The song is hard to lyrically decipher [hence the poor transcription], however the intent is clear:

Jagger doin’ the devil dance
Just a victim of circumstance
Jagger wheelin'[?] the Rolling Stone
He and the devil, now he’s all alone
Jagger lived in the world of one
Now he’s learning the devil’s style
Jagger played a heavy game
He’s free from guilt and he’s free from shame
… Jagger doin’ the devil dance…

[tags]rolling stones, altamont, eugene, mcdaniels, don, mclean, american pie[/tags]

Something I never knew: Tattoo You (1981), the only standout album of the Rolling Stones’ past 27 30 years, was actually just a dumping ground for outtakes. The reason I like it so much becomes clearer when you make the connections to the original sessions and musicians (namely Hopkins and Taylor) they came from.

“Tops” and “Waiting on a Friend” were cut in late 1972 during the Goats Head Soup sessions (thus featuring Mick Taylor, not Ron Wood, on guitar; Taylor later demanded and received a share of the album’s royalties).

“Slave” and “Worried About You” were recorded in 1975 during the Black and Blue sessions in Rotterdam. They feature Billy Preston on keyboards and Ollie Brown on percussion. Wayne Perkins plays the lead guitar on “Worried About You”.

“Start Me Up” was originally written as a reggae number called “Never Stop” during the 1975 Black and Blue sessions. “Start Me Up” was left unreleased at the time because Keith Richards had expressed concern that he might have inadvertently taken its main riff from another song he had heard (something that was later to happen with “Anybody Seen My Baby” on Bridges to Babylon).

“Hang Fire”, “Little T&A”, “Black Limousine”, and “No Use In Crying” all came from the Emotional Rescue sessions in 1979.

“Neighbours” and “Heaven” were the only new recordings (from April to June 1981), although the band began a version of “Neighbours” during work on Emotional Rescue.

“Heaven” has an unusual lineup, consisting of only Charlie Watts on drums, Bill Wyman on synthesizer and bass, Mick Jagger on guitar, and producer Chris Kimsey on piano. Some sources also claim that Wyman plays guitar on the track.

Some of the older tracks were overdubbed and mixed during the 1979 Emotional Rescue sessions or in 1981 as Tattoo You was being compiled.