The first of the giant rock and roll bands on my countdown, here are the Rolling Stones. We all know they have too many hits to mention and so many songs to just love, but for the purposes of my lifetime, there are really only two, so this post will be sharing those two. The first is from the Vietnam era, 1969, and as with most music from that era it played on the radio well into the seventies until, eventually, it found a home as a Classic Rock anthem. Gimme Shelter is just a giant song. Studio singer Merry Clayton, who provided additional backing vocals that are pure and full of earthly soul, stole the record. Sad that a song about the atrocities of war can be heralded as a hallmark of legend. The other, and certainly not lesser, of my two Stones’ songs is, obviously, Angie. Strip away the metal and you get a silent ballad in its most sincere form. It’s the song I always heard in my head anytime my mother was sad; even though it was meant as a love song, for me it represented the need to always be able to lift her up and take away her pain. Even as a little boy, when it played on AM Radio I was drawn to the emotion of helplessness and longing; strangely, it was the first time it occurred to me that my mother had a name, and it was Angie. It’s impossible to explain the emotions this song makes me feel. I am being as real as possible when I say that it evokes tears every single time.
From the historical writing archive. Original date: November 16, 2015. Recovered from local source material; editorial review is still in progress.
