Sticky Fingers is the ninth British and eleventh American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released 23 April 1971 on their new, and own, label Rolling Stones Records after previously having been contracted by Decca Records and London Records in the UK and US since 1963.
Happy 50th Birthday “Sticky Fingers”
Here are great live versions from each track
Brown Sugar
At the end of the ’60s I had a little more time to sit around and play my guitar, writing songs rather than just lyrics for the first time. I’d written songs before then, but they were little things like Yesterday’s Papers. Now I could take it more seriously. Brown Sugar was one of those songs. I wrote it in Australia, somewhere between Melbourne and Sydney, while I was in my trailer filming Ned Kelly – I had a whole bunch of time out there. I was simply writing what I wanted to write, not trying to test the waters. People are very quick to react to what you write, but I just write what comes into my head.
–> Mick Jagger (2003)
Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in the market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he’s doin’ all right
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
The song itself is an indulgent delight, Dylan constructing myriad reasons why he’s ‘gonna have to put you down for a while’. And though the vocal may have been reined in to reflect the contracting range of recent years, it fully manages to sound as worldly wise as the words of wisdom that cavort off the page and onto tape. Using one of his favourite rhyming-schemes – that internal rhyme in line three – to maximum effect, he almost comes up with more quotable lines in a five-minute song than he managed on the whole of “Love and Theft”.
–> Heylin, Clinton. Still on the Road: The Songs of Bob Dylan Vol. 2 1974-2008 (pp. 496-498).
Recorded @ Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, Florida – 12-13 May 2006.
Released on the the album “The Bootleg Series Vol. 8: Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006” October 6, 2008.
Well, I’m not done yet! And I’m still doing it and I’m still not knowing why I’m doing it. Come on, I mean there’s other things that I would really, you know, enjoy doing, besides playing and…
-Bob Dylan (Dave Herman Interview, London, England – July 2, 1981)
Facts from Wikipedia:
Location
North America, Europe
Associated album
Shot of Love
Start date
June 10, 1981
End date
November 21, 1981
Legs
3
No. of shows
54
Earls Court
London, England
29 June 1981
Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar)
Fred Tackett (guitar)
Steve Ripley (guitar)
Willie Smith (keyboards)
Tim Drummond (bass)
Jim Keltner (drums)
Clydie King, Carolyn Dennis, Regina McCrary, Madelyn Quebec (background vocals)
Slow Train
Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can’t help but wonder what’s happenin’ to my companions
Are they lost or are they found?
In a review at the time, Geoff Wall describes the video .. as “ecstasy for the ears”, and it is tonic for the eyes as well. A surprise and a delight.
-Brian Hinton (Celtic Crossroads)
Great late 80’s VM concert with John Lee Hooker & Mose Allison. Check out “Summertime in England” @ ~30min.
Setlist:
(italic – not included in VHS release & this youtube video)
