Honky Tonk Women*

There has always been something special about this song for me. I loved it from the first time I heard it, and no many how many times I listen to it, I never get sick of it. When that opening riff starts, it just gets me going. Oh, and plenty of cowbell. I love the Stones, but I am by no means a rabid fan. But I have to admit they knocked this one out of the park.

One of the greatest R & R songs of all time IMHO (though the list is rather long). Anybody in agreement?

 

I think it highlights what they do best. Cool meter, deceptively intricate arrangements and a studied sloppiness. I’ve been hung up on Tumbling Dice for a while

 

One of a trilogy for me, along with "Brown Sugar" and "Tumbling Dice". Some of my favorite records in rock.

 

Coolest song ever.

 

Not to be picky but song title is Honky Tonk Women and I've always liked it. But prefer Country Honk off Let It Bleed LP.

 

D'oh!!!!!!

 

Great song. My favorite sounding version is the London Hot Rocks 2 CD. That opening drum hit is thunderous on that one.

 

It IS a great song, but it took me a long time to warm up to it, for a fairly stupid reason, lol. I was a HUGE Stones fan as a kid....by age 12 I had most of their LPs/cassettes, a bunch of books about them, a fancy hardcover lyrics book, etc etc. I loved 'em. But the line in "HTW" : "she blew my nose and then she blew my mind" grossed me out as a kid...not because of the double entendre, but just because the thought of the girl blowing his nose for him really bugged me, lol. It took me quite a long time to get passed that, and truth be told if I had to make a Top 20 Stones songs playlist, HTW may not make the cut. The drumming is certainly killer though.

 

They did nail it on that one. It's very well recorded...that drum sound still holds up!

 

And I'd put Honky Tonk Women as the best sounding Stones 45 ever. This is how they should have sounded all along.

 

First song i ever heard by The Stones, one of the truly great rock songs.

 

Its the cowbell. It's always the cowbell that gets ya.

 

More cowbell!

 

I concur, Raylinds. For me, it will always be one of the top 3 RnR songs of all time. Love the way Charlie's drums kick in after the cowbell... and then Keith's guitar lick is so great. Plus, I was only 3 or 4 when my brother was playing the 45 over and over. So it really has a great nostalgic factor for me... in addition to being a fantastic song. Its a shame that whenever the Stones play it live, it barely sounds like the same song. Keith seems so disinterested in playing it these days. I guess that's what happens after 40+ years.

 

This is the song where their country influence started coming out, and marks the point where the Stones started becoming "Stonsey".

 

For sure...even by the '77 Love You Live, it sounds like a shadow of it's former self..

 

I do like the live Mick Taylor version from YaYas... very different, but very good. You're right though..... by 1977, it lacked a lot of its luster.

 

Just think about this staggering group of singles released by one band in a 4-5 year stretch ('68 - '72):

"Honky Tonk Women"
"Jumpin' Jack Flash"
"Brown Sugar"
"Wild Horses"
"Tumblin' Dice"
"Street Fighting Man"
"Happy"
"Sympathy For The Devil"
"All Down The Line"
"Rocks Off"

And I'm sure I missed a couple.

 

Maybe so, but one of my favorite moments of that album is Keith playing the intro right out of the over the top "Fanfare...." opening.

 

I know that story, too.

 

One of the greatest, raunchiest, rock 'n' roll songs, and it was #1 on the charts in both the US and UK!

 

Started?!?

They always demonstrated a love for country-ish songs, from their take on Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On' to "It's All Over Now" to "High And Dry" on "Aftermath"...just to name a few that pre-dated HTW by literally years.

 

A truly great song. I remember my cousin and I playing the 45 over and over again when it first came out. I still am not tired of the song today.