THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE: Happy
TIP THE BLOGGER: CC's Tip Jar!
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Produced by Jimmy Miller
Single from the album Exile On Main Street, Rolling Stones, 1972
The first Rolling Stones song I ever knew was "Get Off Of My Cloud," which was a radio smash when I was five years old. In 1965, the Stones were, to me, just another rock 'n' roll group on the radio, and in my mind not substantively different from contemporaries like the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, or Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and certainly not bigger than the Beatles.
I don't think I was much aware of the Stones again until "Happy," a tune that hypnotized me on WOLF-AM in 1972. In retrospect, I must have heard some Rolling Stones material in the interim--how could I have possibly missed "Paint It, Black," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and "Honky Tonk Women," at the very least?--but "Happy" was nonetheless the first Stones track since "Get Off Of My Cloud" in '65 to make an impression on me. And I liked it. I liked it a lot.
So my résumé as a Rolling Stones fan is suspect, at best. Nonetheless, as my knowledge and appreciation of rock 'n' roll began to expand in the mid-'70s, my specific embrace of the British Invasion compelled me to go back and learn about the Stones. I had little use for the group's then-contemporary hits--"Angie" was okay, I guess, but I've never cared about "Fool To Cry"--so I needed to look back in time for golden Stones. I needed to re-visit the Rolling Stones' 1960s work.
"Get Off Of My Cloud." "Paint It, Black." "The Last Time." "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." "19th Nervous Breakdown." That stuff? That stuff rocked.
My first Rolling Stones purchase was a 45, either "Satisfaction" or the double-A side "Let's Spend The Night Together"/"Ruby Tuesday." My first Stones LP was a used copy of Through The Past Darkly, followed by a used copy of Got LIVE If You Want It!, and then by a reproduction of the 1964 four-song UK EP The Rolling Stones. I read up on the group, heard more, bought more, and I was a Rolling Stones fan before I left high school. While I was in college, the group even released a new song that I liked: "Shattered," which came to be known as "Carl's song" in my dorm, as everyone on my floor yelled out whenever it played on the radio: "Carl! Your song's on! CARL...!"
(In the same college time frame, my girlfriend "borrowed" my copy of the Rolling Stones' Big Hits [High Tide And Green Grass], as well as my copies of the Who's Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy and Buddy Holly and the Crickets' 20 Golden Greats, all for her own listening pleasure. I had to marry her to get my damn records back. [Which was a pretty good deal, actually--I got her, of course, AND I got her copies of Cheap Trick At Budokan and The Kinks' Greatest Hits. See? You can always get what you want!])
As an avowed pop fan, I've found that some rock fans think that maybe I don't like the Stones. But I do. For a very brief period in the early '80s, I even preferred the Rolling Stones to the Beatles (though I got over that phase pretty fast!). Granted, there are a number of Stones perennials--"Brown Sugar," "Miss You," "Start Me Up"--that I would be just fine with NEVER EVER HEARING AGAIN. Ahem. But the Rolling Stones were a pop band, especially in the '60s. They were, in fact, a terrific pop band. I like to invoke Bob Segarini's joke about the Rolling Stones being "The World's Luckiest Bar Band," but even a really, really lucky bar band doesn't come up with the riffs, doesn't quite pull off the attitude, and--most importantly--doesn't craft those hooks that made the Rolling Stones essential radio fare. And if you think that ain't good enough for pop music...well, don't hang around, boy--two's a crowd.
Selecting just one Rolling Stones song for celebration as The Greatest Record Ever Made is a daunting task. Given my own preference for the Stones' catalog prior to Brian Jones taking his last dive, a '60s track would seem my obvious choice. There are moments when I believe "Paint It, Black" is The Greatest Record Ever Made. Ditto for the Stones' ace cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," and their take on Lennon and McCartney's "I Wanna Be Your Man." I've certainly never surrendered my enthusiasm for "Get Off Of My Cloud," and still regard both "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" as deservedly iconic.
But the riff and groove of Keith Richards' "Happy" create a juggernaut that could fell a fortress. You can hear the riff right now in your head, and it's always there for you, whenever you want it. I need love to keep me happy. Basic, obvious, and monolithic, even as Keef delivers it all with a shrug and a wink. Baby won't you keep me happy. So say we all.
The first Rolling Stones song I ever knew was "Get Off Of My Cloud," which was a radio smash when I was five years old. In 1965, the Stones were, to me, just another rock 'n' roll group on the radio, and in my mind not substantively different from contemporaries like the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, or Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and certainly not bigger than the Beatles.
I don't think I was much aware of the Stones again until "Happy," a tune that hypnotized me on WOLF-AM in 1972. In retrospect, I must have heard some Rolling Stones material in the interim--how could I have possibly missed "Paint It, Black," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and "Honky Tonk Women," at the very least?--but "Happy" was nonetheless the first Stones track since "Get Off Of My Cloud" in '65 to make an impression on me. And I liked it. I liked it a lot.
So my résumé as a Rolling Stones fan is suspect, at best. Nonetheless, as my knowledge and appreciation of rock 'n' roll began to expand in the mid-'70s, my specific embrace of the British Invasion compelled me to go back and learn about the Stones. I had little use for the group's then-contemporary hits--"Angie" was okay, I guess, but I've never cared about "Fool To Cry"--so I needed to look back in time for golden Stones. I needed to re-visit the Rolling Stones' 1960s work.
"Get Off Of My Cloud." "Paint It, Black." "The Last Time." "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." "19th Nervous Breakdown." That stuff? That stuff rocked.
My first Rolling Stones purchase was a 45, either "Satisfaction" or the double-A side "Let's Spend The Night Together"/"Ruby Tuesday." My first Stones LP was a used copy of Through The Past Darkly, followed by a used copy of Got LIVE If You Want It!, and then by a reproduction of the 1964 four-song UK EP The Rolling Stones. I read up on the group, heard more, bought more, and I was a Rolling Stones fan before I left high school. While I was in college, the group even released a new song that I liked: "Shattered," which came to be known as "Carl's song" in my dorm, as everyone on my floor yelled out whenever it played on the radio: "Carl! Your song's on! CARL...!"
(In the same college time frame, my girlfriend "borrowed" my copy of the Rolling Stones' Big Hits [High Tide And Green Grass], as well as my copies of the Who's Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy and Buddy Holly and the Crickets' 20 Golden Greats, all for her own listening pleasure. I had to marry her to get my damn records back. [Which was a pretty good deal, actually--I got her, of course, AND I got her copies of Cheap Trick At Budokan and The Kinks' Greatest Hits. See? You can always get what you want!])
As an avowed pop fan, I've found that some rock fans think that maybe I don't like the Stones. But I do. For a very brief period in the early '80s, I even preferred the Rolling Stones to the Beatles (though I got over that phase pretty fast!). Granted, there are a number of Stones perennials--"Brown Sugar," "Miss You," "Start Me Up"--that I would be just fine with NEVER EVER HEARING AGAIN. Ahem. But the Rolling Stones were a pop band, especially in the '60s. They were, in fact, a terrific pop band. I like to invoke Bob Segarini's joke about the Rolling Stones being "The World's Luckiest Bar Band," but even a really, really lucky bar band doesn't come up with the riffs, doesn't quite pull off the attitude, and--most importantly--doesn't craft those hooks that made the Rolling Stones essential radio fare. And if you think that ain't good enough for pop music...well, don't hang around, boy--two's a crowd.
Selecting just one Rolling Stones song for celebration as The Greatest Record Ever Made is a daunting task. Given my own preference for the Stones' catalog prior to Brian Jones taking his last dive, a '60s track would seem my obvious choice. There are moments when I believe "Paint It, Black" is The Greatest Record Ever Made. Ditto for the Stones' ace cover of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," and their take on Lennon and McCartney's "I Wanna Be Your Man." I've certainly never surrendered my enthusiasm for "Get Off Of My Cloud," and still regard both "Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" as deservedly iconic.
But the riff and groove of Keith Richards' "Happy" create a juggernaut that could fell a fortress. You can hear the riff right now in your head, and it's always there for you, whenever you want it. I need love to keep me happy. Basic, obvious, and monolithic, even as Keef delivers it all with a shrug and a wink. Baby won't you keep me happy. So say we all.
You can support this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon: Fund me, baby!
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
The many fine This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio compilation albums are still available, each full of that rockin' pop sound you crave. A portion of all sales benefit our perpetually cash-strapped community radio project:
Volume 1: download
Volume 2: CD or download
Volume 3: download
Volume 4: CD or download
Waterloo Sunset--Benefit For This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio: CD or download
I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.
No comments:
Post a Comment