Rolling Stones Sunday - Shine A Light

It being Easter Sunday, I thought a gospel-influenced song would be a good pick. So have a listen to Shine A Light:

  

From the 1972 double album Exile on Main Street, Shine A Light is another underappreciated Rolling Stone’s song. Or at least it was until it became the title of Martin Scorsese’s 2008 live film/documentary of a two night run at New York City’s Beacon Theatre. Written by Jagger for Brian Jones as he was going through the worst of his drug abuse problems, the song is as much a final attempt at reaching a lost friend as it is a hymn. Listen out for the transition from ballad opening to gospel rock during the first chorus at 1:05 and then the church choir that comes in at the two minute mark. 

Rolling Stones Sunday - I Got the Blues

Unlike last week's song, I Got the Blues actually made it onto an album – 1971’s Sticky Fingers. The absolutely scorching organ solo from Billy Preston at 2:13 is the highlight of the song. If you can’t be bothered with the whole thing, please just listen to those 24 seconds, they are incredible:

I Got the Blues showcases the Stones’ Soul/R’n’B influences, with a steady beat and a horn arrangement by Jim Price. Lyrically, simple, but heartfelt, the opening lines suggest bitterness, but the mood soon changes to loving, then finally, desperate. Musically, the song echoes this, with mournful rhythm guitar and Jagger’s voice a straw shy of breaking. It's a goodbye, but one tinged with sadness and regret. It's a departure from the style of ballads the Stones normally write, and well worth the listen.

Rolling Stones Sunday - Never Stop

It seems silly for my first song for Rolling Stones Sunday to be anything other than the classic Start Me Up. But as I did a bit of digging for this post, I uncovered a demo version titled 'Never Stop' and I thought it was more interesting to highlight this than Start Me Up itself - after being the song that sold Windows '95, I'm not sure there's much left to be said about it. 

This demo is worth a listen because it’s rare to hear a Stones song so unpolished. Never Stop showcases just how much the Richards/Watts rhythm section drives Rolling Stones tracks. Start Me Up’s excellent production doesn’t exactly hide this, but it becomes a lot more subtle than the demo. Have a listen to both, though sadly the Never Stop video doesn’t have the questionable Jagger dance moves of the official video, below:

Gustavo - Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle

Gustavo - Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle

I came across this song courtesy of Mojo Music’s Best of 2013 covermount/freebie album. I have to admit, I didn’t buy the magazine, it was a gift that Christmas. Over the last couple of years a couple of the songs from this album have stuck out, but none more than Mark Kozelek and Jimmy Lavalle’s Gustavo.

It must have taken at least a year of Gustavo cropping up on shuffle before I really listened to it. At 6:56 (7:11 on the original album version) it’s not exactly short and this definitely put me off. But the song has really captured a sense of melancholy that I have been feeling over the course of January/February. The opening synth melody is rhythmic and with enough gain to add a grainy texture to the sound without actually distorting or muddying the notes themselves. This is complemented by an excellent choice in percussive timbres. The percussion is lo-fi, spacious, and varied, with a tasteful amount of reverb that drops in and out as the synth builds. Combined, they create a fantastic, pensive, platform for the song’s lyrics.

A couple of other reviews I have read noted that the album, Perils from the Sea, is more a collection of short stories than an album of songs - the shortest track is 5:16. And with Gustavo, you get a true folk song, the story of an illegal immigrant, known only as Gustavo, coming from Mexico to work. Told from the perspective of a man who hired Gustavo to work on his new house, the lyrics add a sense of melancholy to the music. Gustavo is deported and at this point comes the lyrics that have always stuck with me:

‘He called me collect from a Tijuana pay phone

Asking man, could you wire me money?

twenty five hundred for a border coyote

He needed work and he missed his family

But I hung up and I said I’m sorry

But I hung up and I felt uneasy

I hung up and my heart was heavy

I hung up and my back was aching’

To me this captures the essence of the song. These were the ones that resonated and made me come back for another listen. In these verses comes the focal point of the song. Up until this point, the speaker seems like a nice enough guy. He doesn’t do much, sits on his couch, goes out with Gustavo and his friends when he gets bored, and he lets them crash at his house. But at this genuine request for help, the opportunity for a true act of friendship, he balks. Suddenly he doesn't seem so nice, and as a listener you question his motives.

The whole tone of the song is based on this moment. The song reflects how the speaker feels, uneasy, slightly guilty, when he thinks back on that moment. This is where the song really hits me - we all have these moments from our lives. The moments that we don’t like to look back on. Not necessarily because they are painful, wrong, or traumatising. It’s because we consider a choice we made and wonder whether we did the right thing, and in the back of our mind, we know we probably didn’t.