Rolling Stones Single-By-Single Thread

Fair point. I think it's the first verse I find particularly contrived - the whole graveyard lair thing. I've heard the song hundreds of times but usually while listening to the early Brussels from 1973 where the band plays it so well that stewedandkeefed's petty concerns with the lyrics are blown away.

 

Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)
I think this is one of the best songs on the album, as well as one of the best songs they recorded between Exile On Main St and Some Girls. It does a great job of mixing funk and hard rock with imagisitic lyrics, all while maintaining a sound that is still pure Stones. I think this is their most successful genre experiment of the post-golden-age, pre-Some Girls period.

Dancing With Mr. D
This is a fairly entertaining rock song, but isn't anything special. It's not on par with the straightforward rockers on their past few albums IMO, and suffers a bit from muddled sound and a sort of grinding quality to the way it moves along. Overall, it's not a bad song at all, but is definitely not side one, track one material.

 

Doo Doo Doo....is one of those Stones songs that for me, actually benefits from not being overplayed in that when I hear it today I actually focus on it and not just keep it in the background. I guess I liked it well enough in '73 but I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have. With a few upcoming exceptions, the days of Stones records being instantly likeable are in the past for me.

 

Ketchup time!

I still think, if you flipped the A and B sides around, that this should have been the leadoff single from Exile.

Admittedly, "Angie" isn't one of my favourites, neither is "Silver Train".

I much prefer this second Goats Head Soup single to the first...haven't got much to say about these songs 'cos I pretty much said it all in the big Goats Head Soup discussion!

 

I tend to agree Parachute Woman. Re Heartbreaker a great little song and performance (that makes 3 great Heartbreaker songs including Zep and Free). Again I had no idea at the time that this along with Mr D was a single. Mr D is ok too.

 

Next:

It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It) (1974)



Released: 7/26/74
B-Side: Through the Lonely Nights
Charts: #16 (US); #10 (UK)

Recorded in late 1973 and completed in the spring of 1974,[1] "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)" is credited to the Rolling Stones songwriting team Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, although future Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood collaborated with Jagger on it.[2] The song was originally recorded one night in a studio at Wood's house, "The Wick" in Richmond, London.[3] David Bowiewas backing singer to Jagger's lead, and Willie Weeks played bass with Kenney Jones on drums. The song on the album is similar to that original recording, with the Stones keeping the original rhythm track.

The meaning of the lyrics was summed up by Jagger in the liner notes to the 1993 compilation Jump Back; "The idea of the song has to do with our public persona at the time. I was getting a bit tired of people having a go, all that, 'oh, it's not as good as their last one' business. The single sleeve had a picture of me with a pen digging into me as if it were a sword. It was a lighthearted, anti-journalistic sort of thing."

If I could stick my pen in my heart, And spill it all over the stage;
Would it satisfy ya, would it slide on by ya, Would you think the boy is strange? Ain't he strange?

If I could win ya, if I could sing ya, a love song so divine,
Would it be enough for your cheatin' heart, If I broke down and cried? If I cried?

I said I know it's only rock 'n roll but I like it

Jagger also has said that as soon as he wrote it, he knew it was going to be a single. He said it was his answer to everyone who took seriously what he or the band did.[4]According to Richards there was opposition to it being a single but they persisted, saying it had to be the next single. He said that to him "that song is a classic. The title alone is a classic and that's the whole thing about it."[4]

The song was promoted by a music video directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg,[1] showing the band dressed in sailor suits and playing in a tent which eventually fills with bubbles. This video was one of Mick Taylor's last appearances as a member of the band as he decided to leave in December 1974. Ronnie Wood, who does not appear in the video, played acoustic guitar on the recording, alongside Keith Richards on electric guitar.

The froth was detergent and, according to Richards, the idea for the sailor suits came about at the last minute because none of the members wanted to get their own wardrobe ruined. Jagger said the entire filming process was "most unpleasant" and was also extremely lengthy. The cameras and lights could not be inside the tent for fear of electrocution. Because of this risk, in order for the video to be filmed at all, the band had to be insured for quite a reasonable sum. Richards is quoted as saying: "Poor old Charlie (Watts) nearly drowned... because we forgot he was sitting down."[4]

 

And here's the famous sailor suits music video:

 

this single deserved its hit status, it's a classic.

 

In the summer of 1974, my family was in France. Richard Nixon resigned the US presidency and the new Rolling Stones single was due. We drove up to England and on the day of the flight back to Canada, the Stones' graffiti artists had hit most of the signs on the road to Heathrow Airport with the phrase "it's only rock n roll". Some of that graffiti was around London for years to come. I like this single but I don't love it. It has become one of the band's warhorses in live performance. If it's not in the show this summer, I'll be very surprised. It has become something of an iconic single in the band's career but I find it a little too generic but I recognize that Mick came up with a phrase that has stuck in the public consciousness. I like the above posted video because the audio for it is different than the single or album. It sounds closer to what I think is the basic track cut at Ronnie Wood's house. I really like Ronnie Wood's first solo album, which was recorded around the same time with both Micks and Keith all over it - heck, Keith even sings a song ("Sure The One You Need") and the Stones attempted it the next year a couple of times in the Keith slot instead of "Happy" (which actually draws attention to the fact that I was wrong when I said Keith had only sung "Happy" in concert with the Stones before 1981 upthread).
Of course, the single had a B-side worth finding back in the day but it's now available on the Rarities CD. It's actually a Goat's Head Soup outtake and you can hear that distinct sound associated with those sessions. It's not a true classic but one of the treasures worth tracking down when you were becoming a Stones nut in 1974.

 

It's Only Rock 'n Roll
I'm surprised this only got to #16 in America. This is one I used to hear on the radio all the time back when I still listened to the radio and it is definitely a live warhorse. I've got kind of a love/hate thing with this song. On the one hand, I think the lyrics are quite good, especially in the verses. Mick wrote a song about songwriting and the public's expectations for the band. How much did he need to give them before they were satisfied? On the other hand, I find the song a little bit tired or worn out or something. It's sluggish. The chorus is good for chanting along with at a concert, but I like the verses better.

I do find the music video enjoyable, even if Keith looks at his all-time worst in it. This is his serious junkie period. And poor Charlie nearly drowning to death!

Through the Lonely Nights
Kind of a druggy b-side that definitely feels like Goats Head Soup. It's enjoyable and worth hearing. I didn't hear it until the Rarities CD came out. I'm still holding out hope for a collection with all the non-album b-sides from 1971 on.

 

One of my favorite Stones singles. It chugs along at Stones speed....and it's about that rock and roll that we all love. I like it.

 

Yes, you are quite right on this!

Was away from this great thread near another week, it's moving too fast! But I did want to follow up on this turn away from psychedelia business. I went back through Keith's Life in this period, and while a huge Keith fan I do think he as much as anyone has contributed to a revisionist take on the issue. It's clear that SEVERAL HUGE things having nothing to do per se with the substance of some kind of psychedelic versus blues debate were going on:

1. Brian basically not playing much guitar. Evident to every Stones fan of this period, Brian turned his focus to becoming a multi instrumentalist, and as a result more or less dropped contributing on guitar. This was clear in Life to be a source of much frustration for Keith. He had to do it all on that level, and the whole two guitar basis of the Stones, particularly the interweaving rather than standard lead and rhythm guitar duties, was in flux. This period went on simultaneously, and imo for the Stones coincidentally, with the psychedelic period from roughly Aftermath until JJF.

2. Closely tied to the previous point, of course, was Brian gradually withdrawing from the group in general, which in general put the most strain on Keith in terms of filling in during recordings and arrangements.

3. 5 string open tuning. Keith places huge emphasis on revamping his basic playing style, and this different approach led directly not only to his recording of JJF but several other tunes on Beggar's Banquet. In short this was a period of fundamental transformation, one he very much was all on board with, that had really nothing directly to do with psychedelia v. blues issues.

4. Jimmy Miller. Miller's presence seems to have freed up Keith to experiment more on his own approach to recording guitar tech and the sound palette, specifically the idea of layering several acoustic guitars and playing them back through such ways as the cassette he talks about. Again a huge change but one having nothing necessary to do with turning away from psychedelia.

5. Drugs cannot be underestimated here, either. Life shows Keith to have been subtly skeptical of the acid experience while all in on the "speedball" combo of heroin and cocaine, a transition that was occurring through 1968. This paralleled John Lennon's experience, and the two spent much time together in this period.

In short at the risk of playing armchair psychologist, I think these factors were much more at work other than some purely musical assessment of a divide between psychedelia and blues based music. To be sure by Beggar's Banquet the net result was very different than Satanic Majesties and going back before it. I simply as a fan cannot get all on board with the idea that one must diss psychedelia in the way Keith has come to over the years.

 

Wonderful post!! Also like John Lennon, I think Keith really loves rock 'n roll music and both of them seemed to have some level of guilt when playing music that wasn't rock 'n roll. Sort of a "If it was good enough for the master (Chuck Berry), why do we need all of this extra stuff all over our records?" There was no need for guilt from either one of them because their experiments and forays into other styles of music actually wound up informing and bettering the music they wrote that was more stripped down and "pure" to the blues/rock 'n roll of the '50s. I don't think either the Beatles or the Stones could have created their great late '60s albums if not for going through the '66-'67 period of heavy experimentation with pop song craft.

 

It’s Only Rock & Roll
I’ve never really cared for this song. The vocals are some of Mick’s worst IMO, despite the lyrics being pretty good. Musically, it feels like a rip-off of T Rex’s “Get it On,” because of its similar riff and overall structure and the sort of subdued vocal sound.

Through the Lonely Nights
I had never heard this song before. I think this song is okay, but nothing special. The sound and performances (especially Mick Taylor, and who I presume to be Nicky Hopkins) are all good, but the song itself is just a basic ballad. It’s good for a b-side, but nothing particularly interesting.

 

agree on Sway completely. My take on why you prefer the Burritos' version of Wild Horses, as I do, is so simple it's right in front of our noses, which is as a kind of material it was more up Gram Parsons's alley in terms of interpreting the song. I say this as a huge fan of Mick's usual effort, even this one. But arguably no one knew how to sing this kind of song better than Parsons.

 

When I first heard "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" in the summer of 1974, I didn't just like it; I loved it. I used to have my own personal Top 10 (sometimes Top 20) pop chart from 1973 to 1989, as if I were a radio station, and this song rocketed to the #1 spot on WTIM (later WTCN), which was audible only in the second floor of the two-story house in which I grew up. (Even then, I usually closed the door of my room so I could pretend to be a DJ in peace. I liked talking about records, but hated my voice, and even more, I hated that others would hear it. It took me 35-40 years to find out that others thought I had a great announcing/radio voice -- too late to do much about it.)

But it also went down my charts just as fast. I guess I got tired of a song that was five minutes long, half of which consisted of "I know it's only rock 'n' roll, but I like it" or "I like it/Only rock 'n roll but..." repeated ad nauseam.

I didn't follow national charts in 1974, but later, I learned that the song behaved similarly on them: It zoomed quickly into the top 20, and then it just died. "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" peaked at #18 in Cash Box and #11 in Record World.

I wasn't much of an album person at the time, so I didn't know until years later that "Through the Lonely Nights" was a non-LP cut.

This 45 was originally assigned a catalog number of 19114 in the U.S.; I think it retained that catalog number in most territories outside the U.S. and Canada. A test pressing made at Specialty, with a mono short/mono long version on it, is known to exist with that number. But by the time the single came out, the entire U.S. industry decided to change list price for 45s from 99 cents to $1.29. (Hardly anyone charged that much, but the prices where I usually bought 45s suddenly increased by 25-30 cents each in August 1974.) Different record companies used different methods to indicate the price change. All the WEA labels, including Atlantic, decided to skip ahead on their 45 rpm catalog numbers, so instead of 19114, "It's Only Rock 'n' Roll" was assigned the catalog number of 19301.

The actual promo 45 is a mono short version/stereo short version, but the "short" version cut the song only by 17 seconds, from 5:03 to 4:46. WFIL in Philadelphia edited it more, I think by cutting the entire second verse and second chorus.

For the fourth time in four years, Rolling Stones Records had a new line of perimeter print. It wasn't too different from the third: ROLLING STONES RECORDS TM MUSIDOR B.V. DIST. BY ATLANTIC RECORDING CORP. 75 ROCKEFELLER PLAZA N.Y. N.Y. As was true of "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)," some copies from the late 1970s-early 1980s added the word OLDIES to the upper right of the label while keeping the same catalog number. Finally, this was the first U.S. RSR 45 not to have SIDE ONE and SIDE TWO on the labels.

Most stock copies were issued with a company sleeve stating "Distributed by the Atlantic/Atco Group."

 

It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll - I am surprised by the mixed reviews this song is receiving. In my mind, this is one of the Stones’ most memorable singles. The lyrics are great, and I love Jagger’s delivery (some cool harmony vocals from Keef too). The song had a great groove - I love all of the guitar riffage.

Through the Lonely Nights - Meh. I find this song to be a bit dull and repetitive. It sounds like heroin.

 

Yes, this deserves its spot as one of their top-tier hits. Enter Ron Wood!

I love the B-side, it has a slightly country-tinged flavour, particularly from Keef's plaintive vocal harmony and the cool acoustic part in the left channel with a bit of Nashville flavour. They were preparing to rehearse this for the Licks tour, but no-one in the band could remember how it went! I think it was Blondie who was dispatched to Kops Records on Queen Street West in Toronto to find a copy of the 45...

 

not to get too negative here, but as a Stones longtime fan their influence really wanes from only getting one or two songs a year, it was ok to this point but it really gets sporadic from here until Some Girls era.

 

Heartbreaker: The beginning of the mundane in the stones catalog. Goats Head Soup was pure product for the first time in the stones career. Some nice ballads but it was tired.

It's only rock and roll: I can't hear the intrigue. It's not catchy. I have a feeling that needing it to be the single because of the title alone was not a good sign overall for it's strength.

 

I think it's a mistake to dislike It's Only Rock N Roll because it means you are refusing to follow that advice!
But more seriously, nobody's pointed out the one feature of the song that really makes it. In the middle/quiet part as it builds up to the repeated choruses/outro? Best. Stones. Backing. Vocals. EVER.

 

I'm just a free spirit. Sometimes it's only rock and roll and I don't like it.

 

I agree, great song. But...

Personally the time when this came out was quite problematic for a number of reasons. It was funk's totally heyday. Earth Wind and Fire and especially the Ohio Players were HOT in 74. Man that got my attention. Fire! And in general the music was changing. Bad Company for more straight rock issued their first album that year. Awesome record, imo. 74 was an off year for both Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, but Physical Graffiti came out just a few months later and was MUCH bigger as far as I was concerned. Punk was still on the horizon, but I first paid attention to the New York Dolls in 74. Jazz fusion has not held up well for me, but at the time...

But as for the Stones themselves, by the time the album IORR came out, the news of Mick Taylor's departure accompanied it, and I KNEW that was not going to turn out well. As it didn't. This song was kind of the end of an era in that regard, and I had to add an element of melancholy to listening to the Stones at the time.

 

You're right...didn't think about it at the time. But they ended it with a pretty good album. Fingerprint File and Time Waits for No One are great songs to go along with this one.

 

"Heartbreaker" is in my top 5 Stones songs. Soaked in heavy wah-wah, groovy echo, and a dose of lyrical grit.

As for "IORR," I remember when Joan Jett's cover of "I Love Rock & Roll" (recorded in 1975 by the Arrows as a "knee jerk response" to the Stones' IORR) was pitted against "IORR" on DC 101's nightly music battle where listeners would call in and vote. I called in for the Stones, but Joan Jett won and I was pissed. DC 101 was one of the first stations to really push Joan, playing her alongside more established rockers, so she had a large local fan base.