The Rolling Stones got what they needed with the deep, dark sheltering swoon of this rambling steel guitar engagement. The band began working on new material in November of 1968 before their previous album 'Beggar's Banquet' was even released. The sessions took place with producer Jimmy Miller at Olympic Studios in London and featured Mick Jagger on lead vocals (except "You Got the Silver"); harmonica on "Gimme Shelter" and "Midnight Rambler"; Keith Richards on guitars on all tracks; bass guitar on "Live with Me"; backing vocals on "Gimme Shelter", "Country Honk" and "Monkey Man"; lead vocals on "You Got the Silver"; Brian Jones on congas on "Midnight Rambler"and autoharp on "You Got the Silver"; Mick Taylor on slide guitar on "Country Honk" and guitars on "Live with Me"; Bill Wyman on bass guitar (except "Country Honk" and "Live with Me"), autoharp on "Let It Bleed", and vibes on "Monkey Man"; Charlie Watts on drums (except "You Can't Always Get What You Want"); with Ian Stewart playing piano on "Let It Bleed"; Nicky Hopkins playing piano on "Gimme Shelter", "Live with Me", "You Got the Silver" and "Monkey Man" and organ on "You Got the Silver"; Byron Berline on fiddle on "Country Honk"; "Merry" Mary Clayton on vocals on "Gimme Shelter"; Ry Cooder on mandolin on "Love in Vain" and slide guitar on "Let It Bleed"; Bobby Keys on tenor saxophone on "Live with Me"; Jimmy Miller on percussion on "Gimme Shelter", drums on "You Can't Always Get What You Want", and tambourine on "Monkey Man"; Leon Russell on piano and horn arrangement on "Live with Me"; Jack Nitzsche on choral arrangements on "You Can't Always Get What You Want"; Al Kooper on piano and French horn and organ on "You Can't Always Get What You Want"; Nanette Workman on backing vocals on "Country Honk" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want"; Doris Troy and Madeline Bell on backing vocals on "You Can't Always Get What You Want"; Rocky Dijon on percussion on "You Can't Always Get What You Want"; and The London Bach Choir providing vocals on "You Can't Always Get What You Want". The sculpture on the album cover was designed by Robert Brownjohn based on the working title 'Automatic Changer'.
It was during the recording of 'Let It Bleed' that tensions with founder Brian Jones became too much for the rest of the band. Jones would announce his departure in a press release on June 9, 1969: "I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting. We no longer communicate musically. The Stones' music is not to my taste any more. The work of Mick and Keith had progressed at a tangent, at least to my way of thinking. I have a desire to play my own brand of music rather than that of others no matter how I appreciate their musical concepts. We had a friendly meeting and agreed that an amicable termination, temporary or permanent was the only answer. The only solution was to go our separate ways but we shall remain friends." Jones would be found at the bottom of his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm on July 3, 1969. It was ruled "death by misadventure." The Rolling Stones performed a free concert with Jones' replacement Mick Taylor at Hyde Park two days later and dedicated the show to Brian.
Jagger recalls the darkness of the time: "Well, it’s a very rough, very violent era. The Vietnam War. Violence on the screens, pillage and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. The thing about Vietnam was that it wasn’t like World War II, and it wasn’t like Korea, and it wasn’t like the Gulf War. It was a real nasty war, and people didn’t like it. People objected, and people didn’t want to fight it. The people that were there weren’t doing well. There were these things used that were always used before, but no one knew about them – like napalm...Even though I was living in America only part time, I was influenced. All those images were on television. Plus, the spill out onto campuses."
Richards expressed at the time: "I think it will be the best album we've ever done. It will have some of the things which we did at the Hyde Park concert. There's a blues thing called 'Midnight Rambler' which goes through a lot of changes; a very basic Chicago sound. The biggest production number is 'You Can't Always Get What You Want,' which runs about seven minutes. But most of the album is fairly simple. There's a lot of bottleneck guitar playing, an awful lot, probably too much, come to think of it. But I really got hung up on that when we were doing 'Sympathy for the Devil' on Beggar's Banquet. There's three really hard blues tracks, and one funky rock and roll thing. Not the 'Street Fighting Man' sort, but as basic as that. There's a slow country song, because we always like to do one of them. All of the tracks are long, four, five and six minutes. There's about four tracks to each side, but the sides run 20 minutes. Let It Bleed will also have the original Hank Williams-like version of 'Honky Tonk Women,' which was one of my songs. Last Christmas, Mick and I went to Brazil and spent some time on a ranch. I suddenly got into cowboy songs. I wrote 'Honky Tonk Women' as a straight Hank Williams-Jimmy Rodgers sort of number. Later when we were fooling around with it — trying to make it sound funkier — we hit on the sound we had on the single. We all thought, wow, this has got to be a hit single. And it was and it did fantastically well; probably because it's the sort of song which transcends all tastes."
'Let It Bleed' went to number eleven in Japan; four in Canada; three in Germany and the US; Australia, Norway, and Sweden; and number one in France, the Netherlands, and the UK. 'Let It Bleed' is the second of four consecutive classics (along with 'Beggar's Banquet', 'Sticky Fingers', and 'Exile on Main Street') that comprise the plateau of their career.
http://www.rollingstones.com/
"You Can't Always Get What You Want" was the first song recorded for the album in November of 1968. Jagger says: "It’s a good song, even if I say so myself...It’s got a very sing-along chorus. And people can identify with it: No one gets what they always want. It’s got a very good melody. It’s got very good orchestral touches that Jack Nitzsche helped with. So it’s got all the ingredients."
Well, I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man
No, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
No, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
No, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
But if you try sometime, you just might find
You get what you need
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustrations
And if we don't, we are going to blow a 50-amp fuse", yeah
And no, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
No, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Well, no, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need, baby
And I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescriptions filled
I was standin' in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided to have a soda
"Whatcha favorite flavor?", "Cherry red"
And I sung my song to my friend Jimmy
And he said one word back to me, that was "Dead"
I said to him
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
But if you try sometimes, you just might find
You get what you need
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
You can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
You can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
You can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
And I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
And she was practised at the art of deception
I could tell by her blood-stained hands
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
Oh, you can't always get what you want
aaaahhwaw
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
The apocalyptic "Gimme Shelter" features vocals from a very pregnant Merry Clayton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBva-z1AsGk
Yeah, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Lord, I'm gonna fade away
War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away, hey, yeah
Oh, see the fire is sweepin'
At our streets today
Burnin' like a red coal carpet
A mad bull lost its way
War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away, hey, yeah
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
Yeah, a storm is threatening
My very life today
A gimme, a gimme shelter
Or I'm gonna fade away
War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, yeah, 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, shot away, shot away
It's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away, shot away, shot away
I tell love, sister, yeah, it's just a kiss away
I tell love, sister, yeah, 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
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, kiss away, kiss away
Gimme shelter, yeah, gimme shelter,yeah
Gimme shelter, yeah, gimme shelter
Gimme shelter, gimme shelter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUqqNLB0_FI
"Honky Tonk Woman" was released as a single during the sessions, their last of the 60's. It went to number one in Australia, the UK, and the US.
'Let It Bleed'
full album:
https://myspace.com/therollingstones/music/album/let-it-bleed-2757
All songs written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, except "Love in Vain" by Robert Johnson.
Side one
1. "Gimme Shelter" 4:31
2. "Love in Vain" 4:19
3. "Country Honk" 3:09
4. "Live with Me" 3:33
5. "Let It Bleed" 5:26
Side two
1. "Midnight Rambler" 6:52
2. "You Got the Silver" 2:51
3. "Monkey Man" 4:12
4. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" 7:28
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