The Rolling Stones Top 75 Countdown (#66-61)

Our first song for today belongs to an album that for many critics is the Stones' best. I originally bought this album a couple of years after its release, in the mid 70s. I wasn't originally taken with it - it was too chaotic, and no songs obviously stood out - but over the years that very same chaos, as well as the harder edge of this LP compared to the previous ones, made me re-appreciate it. It's still not my favorite Stones' album (that would be Sticky Fingers), but Exile On Main St (1972) has moved up to #2, ever so slightly preferred over Let It Bleed and Beggar's Banquet.

The song at #66 is an album track called Shake Your Hips. The song was written and first performed in 1965 by American bluesman, Slim Harpo. Here's his version:

... Here are the Rolling Stones, during rehearsals at Montreux in 1972:

... And here is the song in the Exile On Main St version:

The song at #65 is a controversial one: the title track from the 1978 album Some Girls caused a ruckus among both feminists and civil rights activists over such lyrics as "black girls just want to get f*cked all night" and "Chinese girls are so gentle/They're really such a tease". Mick Jagger and the band defended the song, saying the lyrics mocked actual stereotypical feelings towards women. It wasn't the first Stones' song to be attacked as having degrading lyrics towards women, Under My Thumb, Brown Sugar, Star Star, as well as last week's Yesterday's Papers, being other examples. I would however like to point out that the Stones' logo is a tongue teasingly sticking out of a mouth. I think that this is the spirit of the Rolling Stones, provocation for provocation's sake. In my opinion, it comes out as naughty rather than nasty.

The song at #64 is another of the songs from Exile On Main St. Rip This Joint is one of the fastest songs in the Stones' canon, with a pronounced rockabilly feel. Jagger's breakneck delivery of the song's lines spells out a rambling tale set across America from the perspective of a foreigner. If it dosn't get you in the mood for crazy dancing, I don't know what will.

At #63, we find another great rocker: If You Can't Rock Me is the opening track to It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974). The lyrics play off the dual meaning of the word rock, referring both to Rock 'n' Roll music and to sex. The song begins with lead singer Jagger singing about being on stage lusting for sex with the women in the audience. According to Rolling Stone Magazine critic Jon Landau, the refrain of "If you can't rock me somebody will" is what turns the song "into the anticipated and angry f*ck song."

Other meanings are ascribed to the song as well. Music journalist James Hector suggests that the line "I think I better just sing one more song" is more telling than the band intended, noting the implication that the group was recording the song to fulfill their contractual obligations to their record company. Rolling Stones biographer Martin Elliot describes the lyrics as "bitter", suggesting that they may reflect the band's exhaustion with the Rock 'n' Roll lifestyle, and possibly even Jagger's own failing relationship with his wife Bianca.

At #62 we find the opening track to the Rolling Stones' next album, called Black And Blue (1976). It's called Hot Stuff. It is heavily influenced by the Disco/Funk sounds of the day, with Charlie Watts laying down a heavy drum pattern accompanied by Ollie E. Brown on percussion, Bill Wyman adding a funky bassline, and extensive use of the Wah-wah pedal by guest guitarist Harvey Mandel, formerly of Canned Heat. Billy Preston plays piano on the recording and contributes backing vocals along with Richards and Wood.

Finally for today, at #61 is a song called Sittin' on a Fence. it was recorded in December 1965 during the Aftermath sessions, and released first in the United States on the 1967 album Flowers. It was released in Great Britain in 1969 on the greatest hits album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2). The Rolling Stones did not release this song as a single. Towards the end of the acoustically driven song, a harpsichord, played by Brian Jones, can be heard.

However, the song was given to the singing duo Twice As Much, who released it as their debut single in May 1966. This version became a top forty hit on the UK Singles Chart and also received some attention in the United States, where it charted on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. Here it is: