Monday, December 12, 2011

JERK IS THE WORD


Who's idea was it? I have wanted to know for years, just who's idea it was for the Stones to change the phrase in Chuck Berry's "Come On," that goes "some stupid jerk trying to reach another number" to "some stupid guy trying to reach another number"? Being that it was done on their very first 45, it could be the secret of the whole dynamic of the band. What if Jagger and Richards agreed about everything else up to that point, but Jagger was insistent enough about changing the word "jerk" to "guy," that Richards assumed the "fuck off" attitude of the band, right then and there? Or could it have been the idea of Andrew Loog Oldham? Maybe they had a vote. Who knows? I thought that the answer to this lingering question would be in Richards' tell-all autobiography Life, but no. He doesn't tell all. Not of what I want to know.
The answer's probably out there, in some Stones book, or in the mental database of any real Stones fiend. Regardless, I was reminded of that when I ran into a couple posts at Boogie Woogie Flu. Both posts are about the Stones' early material, particularly the covers they did, and they're a nice mix of the covers original versions, early Stones oddballs and a couple of unreleased tracks. I'm not linking directly to any Stones stuff (just go there to get them). Let's just say that this time it's because they changed the lyrics to a Chuck Berry song on their first record. Yeah, they're lucky this big shot listens to them at all.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Chuck Berry - Come On mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Muddy Waters - I Want To Be Loved mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Benny Spellman - Fortune Teller mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Muddy Waters - I Just Want To Make Love To You mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Jimmy Reed - Honest I Do mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Bo Diddley - Mona mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Slim Harpo - I'm A King Bee mp3 at Boogie Woogie Flu
Visit:
Gather No Moss - Rolling Stones post, part 1 (13 more songs) at Boogie Woogie Flu
England's Newest Hitmakers - Rollings Stones post, part 2 (9 more songs) at Boogie Woogie Flu

3 comments:

missjulied said...

I don't have a comment about the actual post, but I have never seen that first photo before and I LOVE it! I really wish that trouser style would come back for men, before I'm too old to appreciate it anymore.

TomT said...

TomG - Based on this post, if you don't have it already, you need this: http://captainsdead.com/the-rolling-stones-chess-sessions-64-65.html - (Patti C told me about your blog; I'll be checking it regularly.) - TomT

Tom G. said...

Heya Tom T!

Long time eh? That's cool you found me, I'll have to thank Patti.

I swooped on that Captain's Dead post a while back:
(http://ladimensiondetrastos.blogspot.com/2010/05/stones-at-chess.html ), but thanks for the tip. And if you see any others feel free to give me a holler. That's pretty much why I started this mess in the first place, to turn people on to cool things I run into. I was sending links via email so often, I figured why not just put them in one place where everybody could find them. I never thought I'd be doing it this long!

Cheers, Tom G.