Cover version of the month #122
The Rolling Stones cover The Temptations
I stumbled across The Rolling Stones 1978 album called Some Girls in a lovely bar in the old town section of Malia while on holiday with my wife (then girlfriend) back in 2003. The guy serving behind the bar was also DJ-ing and he played a song that captured my attention.
Me - Who is that?
Barman - The Rolling Stones.
Me - No way?
He passed the CD case across the bar. The song was Miss You, the lead song on (and single from) the album. Kind of disco, kind of soulful, kind of dirty - most definitely cool. I asked him to play it again as soon as it finished.
My wife and I ended up in this wee bar every night. The strip was most definitely not for us, while the old town had quaint little restaurants and bars to chill in. The barman played Miss You every time we went in and often just let the album run on. I bought a copy as soon as I got back to Scotland.
While I most definitely fell for Miss You and the groove of Beast of Burden, I was also captivated by the Stones cover version of Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), a song I knew from a soul compilation album I had.
The Stones are in the zone, they are in absolutely no rush, beautifully lazily loose. Charlie Watts gets a delicious crack from his snare, Keith Richards sounds like he is in love with his phaser pedal and the way his guitar gels with Ronnie Wood is utterly sublime. The Stones sound like the best band in the world - just jamming on a song they love.
The soul of the song is there, but the Stones take it from Motown to a place that maybe only the Stones know how to get to. They throw it under a new light ... or maybe they take it into the shadows, into the darkness. You can just imagine them playing in a dive bar down a gritty side street.
Many cite the Stones Some Girls album as something of a rebirth, given that it was released in a world of punk and disco. Perhaps that inspired Jagger and co. Miss You definitely has a dirty disco groove and beat, while closing track Shattered is new wave before new wave.
Setting up camp at Pathé Marconi studios in Paris, the Stones recorded on a 16-track and cut their band back to the bones with no session musicians. This was Jagger, Richards, Wood, Wyman and Watts. Richards felt that session musicians took the band away from their natural sound. As a result Some Girls was a lean, hungry and remarkably aggressive record, returning the band to a tight, street-wise, bar band. And that really comes across on their cover of Just My Imagination.
Jagger sneers and swaggers through the lyrics that sound so innocent in the original. Behind him, his band sound a few beers and smokes in, you can easily imagine bottle resting on amps and fags hanging from mouths as they play. Maybe in New York City, as Jagger changes the words in the final verse from The Temptations of all the fellows in the world, she belongs to me to and of all the girls in New York, she loves me true.
Jagger also ad libs in the second verse and sounds true to himself, rather than The Temptations.
I say I am just a fellow, with a one track mind
Whatever it is I want baby, I seek and I shall find
Listen to him harmonise with Richards on the chorus - ooft. What a band!
Richards fell for a MXR Phase 100 pedal that you can hear across the album. It creates a swirly, dreamy psychedelic effect, though through the interplay with Ronnie Wood and with Charlie Watts crack beat, the the Stones kick up the tempo. The little instrumental after the second chorus is stunning.
Respecting the melody (and band - they previously covered The Temptations Ain't Too Proud To Beg and My Girl), The Stones didn't quite run away with their imagination, but they definitely allowed it to drift enough to put their own stamp on the song. This is a magical cover version, for me, one of the bands finest covers in their massive catalogue.
The original is a Motown masterpiece - one of many!
The bridge sees Kendrick lost in his fantasy and praying to the Lord not to take his love away from him, only to snap out of it before he hits the chorus again.
Ooh, her love is heavenly
When her arms enfold me, I hear a tender rhapsody
But in reality, she doesn't even know me
While The Temptations original is a fantastic song and recording, The Stones version is my favourite. It just oozes cool and they really seem to be in the zone.
The Temptations original and The Rolling Stones cover version are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Previous covers of the month blogs
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
44. Witchi Tai To
45. Our Lips Are Sealed
46. Sunshine Of Your Love
47. Here Comes The Sun
48. I Think We're Alone Now
49. Don't Let Me Down
50. It's Oh So Quiet
51. Alcoholiday
52. Summer Holiday
53. Who Do You Think You Are?
54. Head On
55. Nothing Compares 2 U
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