IF YOU'RE ON YOUR BIKE, WEAR WHITE

And now for some random thoughts on some random Stones songs (I'm pulling these from an alphabetical list, if a pattern is apparent)...

2000 Light Years from Home
One of the few pieces of Stones psych that's worth it's weight in lysergics. And really, this one is not so much about the trippy part of the trip as the dislocation part of the trip. Which is what keeps it from floating off into the ether.

All Sold Out
Between the Buttons has had a weird history as far as public perception goes. I think initially folks felt it was just kind of minor and weird, and eventually it became admired for being minor and weird. It's actually kind of endearing after all those cocksure albums to hear the Stones a bit lost in the sheets. This is a perfect representation of that vibe.

Before They Make Me Run
"And then there's Keith, waiting for trial/25,000 bail/If he goes down/You won't hear his sound/But his friends'll carry on anyway/Fuck 'em!"

Can't You Hear Me Knockin'
I've waited in the street while my buddy stood under some dirtbag's window buying coke with money he scored by stealing his parent's credit cards. Sounds exactly like this song. Well, the first half of the song, at least-- not the wanky part.

Dead Flowers
On the train into MSG to see the Stones back in '81, some Deadhead bikers were going on about how they hoped the Stones would play this. And I was hoping to hear Have You Seen Your Mother...? Sadly, we were all terribly misguided.

Flight 505
I've always loved that Satisfaction piano riff at the opening.

Happy
Yes.

Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?
What a glorious piece of skronk this is. It's a shame that they followed the line of sonic experimentation from here to Satanic Majesties-- it was not perordained that they had to take such a mundane and of-the-times turn. Perhaps part of what makes this so discordant is the fact that it is simultaneously the sound of revolutionary promise and, at least in retrospect, the sound of retreat from revolutionary promise.


It's Thursday night, and my needle is on E-- more tomorrow...