Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones

[Rolling Stones WIKI Excerpt]

The Stones are an English rock band, formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.  Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup.  Stewart, deemed unsuitable as a teen idol, was removed from the official lineup in 1963 but continued as the band’s road manager and occasional keyboardist until his death in 1985.

In 1963 Jagger and Richards formed a songwriting partnership and eventually took over leadership of the band as Jones became increasingly troubled and erratic.  After recording mainly covers of American blues and R&B songs, every studio record since the 1966 album Aftermath has featured mainly Jagger/Richards songs.  Mick Taylor replaced Jones shortly before Jones’s death in 1969.  Taylor quit in 1974, and was replaced in 1975 by Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood, who has remained with the band ever since.  Wyman left the Rolling Stones in 1992, and Darryl Jones, who is not an official band member, has been the primary bassist since 1994.

First popular in the UK, the Stones toured the US repeatedly during the early 1960s “British Invasion”.  They have released 22 studio albums in the UK (24 in the US), eight concert albums (nine in the US) and numerous compilations; and have album sales estimated at more than 200 million worldwide.  Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums reaching number one in the United States.  Their latest album, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005.  In 1989 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 they ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.  In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked the band at number ten on “The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists”, making them the second most successful group in the history of Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Early History [ Wiki Excerpt ]

In the early 1950s Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were classmates at Wentworth Primary School in Dartford, Kent.  They met again in 1960 while Richards was attending Sidcup Art College.  With mutual friend Dick Taylor (later of Pretty Things), they formed the band Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys.  Stones founders Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were active in the London R&B scene fostered by Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner.  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met Brian Jones while he was playing slide guitar sitting in with Korner’s Blues Incorporated.  Korner also had hired Mick Jagger periodically and frequently future Stones drummer Charlie Watts.  Their first rehearsal was organised by Brian Jones and included Ian Stewart, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards – the latter came along at Jagger’s invitation.  In June 1962 the lineup was: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ian Stewart, Brian Jones, Dick Taylor, and drummer Tony Chapman. Taylor then left the group.  Brian Jones named the band The Rolling Stones to pay tribute to “Rollin’ Stone” by Muddy Waters.

Inspiration and Recording of Gimme Shelter [ Wiki Excerpt ]

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, “Gimme Shelter” was created from the combined efforts of both the singer and the guitarist.  Richards had been working on Gimme Shelter’s (the film) signature opening in London while Jagger was working on the film Performance.  Gimme Shelter, the song, takes the form of a churning mid-tempo rocker.  It begins with a rhythm guitar intro by Richards, followed by Jagger’s lead vocal. On the recording of the Gimme Shelter album, Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, “Well, it’s a very rough, very violent era.  The Vietnam War.  Violence on the screens, pillage and burning.  And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense…”   On the song Gimme Shelter itself, he concluded, “That’s a kind of end-of-the-world song, really.  It’s apocalypse; the whole record’s like that.”

The lyrics of Gimme Shelter speak of seeking shelter from a coming storm, painting a picture of devastation and social apocalypse while also talking of the power of love: “Oh, a storm is threat’ning, My very life today; If I don’t get some shelter, Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away” and “War, children, it’s just a shot away, It’s just a shot away… Love, sister, it’s just a kiss away, It’s just a kiss away.”

A much higher-pitched second vocal track on Gimme Shelter is sung by guest vocalist Merry Clayton.  Of her inclusion, Jagger said in the 2003 book According to… The Rolling Stones: “The use of the female voice on Gimme Shelter was the producer’s idea.  It would be one of those moments along the lines of  ‘I hear a girl on this track – get one on the phone.’ ” Clayton gives her solo performance, and one of Gimme Shelter’s most famous pieces, after a solo performed by Richards, repeatedly singing “Rape, murder; It’s just a shot away, It’s just a shot away,” and finally screaming the final stanza.  She and Jagger finish Gimme Shelter with the line, “Love, sister, it’s just a kiss away.”  To date it remains one of the most prominent contributions to a Rolling Stones track by a female vocalist.

At about 2:59 into Gimme Shelter, Clayton’s voice cracks twice from the strain of her powerful singing; once during the second refrain, on the word “shot” from the last line, and then again during the first line of the third and final refrain, on the word “murder.”  At 3:02, Jagger is heard in the background saying “woo!” in apparent approval of Clayton’s effort.  Merry Clayton’s name was misspelled on the original release of The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter, appearing as ‘Mary’.

Recording of The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter took place at London’s Olympic Studios in February and March 1969.  Clayton’s piece was recorded at Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound & Elektra Studios in October and November of that same year.  Nicky Hopkins performed pianos for Gimme Shelter while the Rolling Stones’ producer Jimmy Miller provided percussion.  Charlie Watts performed drums while Bill Wyman performed bass.  Jagger performed harmonica for the piece and sang backup vocals with Richards and Clayton.  Brian Jones was absent from these sessions.  An unreleased version of this Rolling Stones song features only Richards providing vocals.

Although popular, The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter was never released as a single. Gimme Shelter quickly became a staple of The Rolling Stones live show, first featured throughout The Rolling Stones 1969 American Tour.  The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter has been included on many compilation releases, including both Hot Rocks 1964–1971 and Forty Licks, and concert versions appear on the Rolling Stones albums No Security and Live Licks.

Gimme Shelter was placed #38 on the list of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.