“Beast of Burden“ is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones….which was featured on the 1978 album Some Girls…..when in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song # 435 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”….and # 433 on the 500 Greatest Rock and Roll Songs of All Time. The song was released as the second single off the album….as It charted at # 8 in the US. A live version was recorded during their 1981 American Tour….and was released as a B-side to “Going to a Go-Go”, as well as being reissued on Rarities 1971-2003 in 2005. Another live version was recorded during their 2002-2003 Licks Tour…..which was released on Live Licks. The single edit of “Beast of Burden” was included on the compilation albums Sucking in the Seventies, Rewind (1971–1984), Jump Back, Forty Licks and GRRR!.
“Respectable“ is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1978 album Some Girls. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the liner notes to the 1993 compilation album Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones….on which it was included….as Jagger said, “It’s important to be somewhat influenced by what’s going on around you and on the Some Girls album, I think we definitely became more aggressive because of the punk thing…”
The biting lyrics talk of a woman rising into high society….and Jagger’s attempts to remind her of where she came from. Jagger said at the time of its release, “‘Respectable’ really started off as a song in my head about how respectable we as a band were supposed to have become, ‘We’re so respectable’. As I went along with the singing, I just made things up and fit things in. Now we’re respected in society… I really meant [the band]. My wife’s a very honest person, and the songs’s not about her… It’s very rock & roll. It’s not like Bob Dylan’s ‘Sara’. ‘Respectable’ is very lighthearted when you hear it. That’s why I don’t like divorcing the lyrics from the music. ‘Cause when you actually hear it sung, it’s not what it is, it’s the way we do it…”
“Shattered“ is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1978 album Some Girls. The song is a reflection of American lifestyles and life in 1970’s-era New York City….but also influences from the English punk rock movement can be heard.
Recorded from October to December 1977, “Shattered” features lyrics sung in “sprechgesang” by Jagger on a guitar riff by Keith Richards. Jagger commented in a Rolling Stone interview that he wrote the lyrics in the back of a New York cab. Most of Richards’ guitar work is a basic rhythmic pattern strumming out the alternating tonic and dominant chords with each bar….while utilizing a relatively modest phaser sound effect for some added depth. Due to the absence of bassist Bill Wyman, the bass track is played by Ronnie Wood.
“Shattered” was released as a single in the United States with cover art by illustrator Hubert Kretzschmar….and in 1979 climbed to # 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Rolling Stones performed the song live for an episode of Saturday Night Live….as seen in this video herewith….which makes this another piece of “pure gold” in our treasure chest of vintage memories here at ImaSportsphile.
