Their Satanic Majesties Request Song By Song Thread

I'll be using a lot of these: *$%*@$#%&$*@

 

Dandelion:

And now we conclude the thread with the B-Side Dandelion. Named for the English children's game, this track was originally called "Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue" and it was originally Keith singing lead. It also is the last song to be produced by manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
The son starts with Mick singing in a pretty voice over Nicky's harpsichord before the band comes in at :04, and I absolutely adore the harmonies, just so excellently executed. And oh, that part at 1:07 with mainly the vocals is so awesome, and I love that low rumbling horn I believe? Because I know Brian either played oboe or sax on this song.
This is such an exceptional song, and way too amazing to be a B-Side. A B-Side ? This band is so awesome that most bands' A Sides are their B-Sides!

 

And here's the demo:

 

"Dandelion" is a real continuation of the feel of the album, more so than the sombre "We Love You" I think. Love Brian's oboe part.

 

Dandelion is a beauty, and it's not even on Flowers.

 

Great pop song it is - more like a predecessor to She´s A Rainbow...
And Brian plays soprano sax.

 

Dandelion is a great song and the album would have benefited from including it. The working titles included Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Blue (posted above) and Fairground.

The Rolling Stones All The Songs states the song was based around the nursery rhyme Tinker Tailor.

Dandelion was actually the A-side in the U.S. reaching number 14 while We Love Love only reached #50.

 

I love this song. Your point about Oldham is a good one in that I think he is underrated as a producer.

 

Dandelion
I prefer the simple charm of Keith's demo to the finished version. Very nice.

 

One of my favorite songs.

 

I mentioned before how I liked the pairing of "Gomper" with "2000 Light Years From Home." I also love the combination of "Dandelion" and "2000 Light Years From Through The Past Darkly. The happy tune fading out followed by the psychedelic dark intro worked great in my mind.

"Dandelion" and "We Love You" are both among my favorite Stones songs.

 

Dandelion is a great pop production, but I've grown a little bit tired of it over the years. I think it's one of those songs Jagger & Richards would have been better off giving away, because the theme and lyrics are a bit twee for them.

I've heard a modern cover the other day by some young girl singer, and it was pretty good.

This one is close to The Beatles' style of the time... The single track among all the ones from the '67 sessions IMO.

 

Yes well the lyrics are a mixture of 'Tinker, taylor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief' (which we used to say when counting cherry stones left on the plate) and counting the time when blowing dandelion seeds (one o'clock, two o'clock etc. to see how far you could go before all the seeds blew away).

Innocent childhood rhymes to do with serious matters about what the future holds and the relationship between time and matter.

This great Stones song captures that innocence and those questions with oddly efffective harmonies, light jinge-jangle instrumentation and Charlie as always solid on the drums.

 

@sami You mean more than usual.

 

"Dandelion" was number 6 for four consecutive weeks in August 1967 in Cash Box magazine (where the charts were based on record sales only, unlike Billboard), nevertheless I only heard it played two or three times on the radio. Now the 60s channel on Sirius XM plays it.

 

Well this thread blew me away. Thanks to the OP for posting it. Since 1967 TSMR has been my favorite Stones album by a long shot. I actually keep my top favorite 50 albums in a binder in order of how much I love them. Sgt Pepper is number 1 and TSMR is number 10. That's number ten all time. I don't share a lot of opinions with most people on this forum and for the last 50 years I have never read anything good about this album. Most everything I read made it sound like the worst piece of psychedelic garbage imaginable. I was shocked to find out other people actually like this album, I thought I was the only one.

 

I first heard "Dandelion" when I was 13. It had a profound effect on e, for some reason. I played it constantly and it will always have a place in my heart.

 

Dandelion is another great song by the boys in 67! I love this song and agree it's inclusion on Satanic would have made the album better.

The boys were on a roll and Brian was a huge part of it. Love this era of my favorite band!

What a thrill it would have been to be a part of the Swingin London Scene in 66 and 67. Incredible time..........

 

Oh man, if you do Black And Blue I am in like Flynn Some Girls too, of course, but Black And Blue is one of my favourites (it is my wife's favourite)

 

"Dandelion" - Beautiful. While it's similar to most of the baroque pop on Between the Buttons (during which it was written), it also fits in with the menace of Satanic Majesties, especially with the heaviness of Mick's delivery during the chorus ("Dandelion don't TELL NO LIES"). But Brian's soprano sax absolutely takes the song to another level, really shoes you how much he brought to the band this era. Love the little "yes!" Mick gives in the final verse, a little nod that we're almost near the end.

Also, aside from John and Paul returning on this track, this song is notable for being the only one during his period to feature Ian Stewart, obviously alienated from most of the band's activities (a feeling shared with fellow elder statesman Bill Wyman).

Edit: Apparently not, once again Nicky plays the keys.

 

Love Dandelion ! With We Love You it's one of the all-time greatest A/B combos.
Nice thread ! Although I already liked the album, it made me appreciate it even a bit more.

 

"Dandelion" is such an anomaly in the Stones catalog - it seems to stand completely outside the body of their other work at the time. Nobody even seems to be able to pin down exactly when it was recorded - though one would assume if John & Paul are indeed on backing vocals that it must have been around the same time as the A-side. It's enjoyable and hooky as hell, but at the same time, a little "twee" (as another poster so aptly put it). The Flowers comp was really a failure for not collecting all the non-LP B-sides (such as this) and other non-issued-in-the-U.S. tracks at the time in lieu of repeating several tracks that had already appeared on Aftermath and Buttons.

 

Sorry to be late to the party (/thread). I think over all Satanic Majesties is my favourite Stones album, it's certainly t he one I play most often. And We Love You is my favourite Stones single. I won't comment on all the songs but I will rank them. I absolutely hate the effect on Bill's voice on In Another Land, it just really grates on my ears. I'd love to hear a version without it.

Anyway:

2000 Light Years From Home
Citadel
2000 Man
She's A Rainbow
Gomper
The Lantern
Sing This All Together
On With The Show
In Another Land
See What Happens

 

Yes back in the 80s when I was getting the back catalogue on CD I thought 'Oh Dandelion must be on Flowers!' and I was so disappointed when it wasn't. I was so glad to get the London Years singles collection and finally have We Love You and Dandelion on CD.