The love for "Bitch" was overwhelming and still, "Street Fighting Man" won by a landslide. As Ken D. pointed out, "95% of bands would kill to have one song in their entire catalog as good as Bitch. For the Stones, it's a runner-up."
And now...
"Prodigal Son" sounds as authentic as "K.C. Blues," the original blues tune from which it derives and it is one of my favorites from BB. The most striking thing about "Prodigal Son" is just how capable the Stones were at this type of country blues, especially when you play this tune next to any of their post 70's work. This is a great track, a really great track.
BUT...
"I Got The Blues." on the other hand, can still drop me over 40 years later. The hammond organ solo by "Fifth Beatle," Billy Preston is as iconic to me as the cowbell that opens "Honky Tonk Woman." It sobs during that break. "I Got The Blues" is my favorite tune on "Sticky Fingers."
22 comments:
Isn't Prodigal Son the next song sequentially?
"Factory Girl" has always been a favorite and gets my vote.
It didn't sound condescending when I was younger.
It's a tough one, but "I Got The Blues" is one I skipped for many years, as a generic soul/blues/gospel blues ballad. I'm easily bored by the slow ones and the title always struck me as a little obvious.
The horns and the organ make it.
'I Got The Blues' is a masterful slow burn ballad. An excellent tribute to the soulfulness of Stax. One of my favorites on 'Sticky Fingers'.
@Rick--Oops.
Not a contest this time around -- "I Got The Blues" hands down.
Prodigal son.
this one too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7SDdMo9BTU
it's close though.
Seems hardly fair to compare the wrong songs, but probably the results will be the same.
I'm probably the only one not in love with "I Got The Blues".
"Prodigal Son" is an actual blues song by Robert Wilkins, mistakenly credited to Jagger-Richards on the album.
I've always liked the energy and feel on this one.
I vote for "Prodigal Son". Having always been one, I can relate.
Choosing between these two is another happy dilemma. The lyrics in ‘Blues’ are just wonderful: 'In the silk sheet of time/I will find peace of mind/Love is a bed full of blues'. Good stuff. But the lines that kind of became a refrain for my group of high school friends, trying to describe our own teenage angst regarding love were these: 'And I’ll tear my hair out/I’m gonna tear my hair out just for you/If you don’t believe what I’m singing/At 3 o’clock in the morning, babe/I’m singing my song for you'. Wow. I wish I had written that. And the music fits the lyrics like a glove.
But a song based on a biblical parable, in a Delta blues style? That seems like both an homage and a flexing of their muscles. Yes, I know the Stones didn’t write this one, but the way they pull it off is so impressive. Mick’s voice, Keith’s guitar: they’re both showing off the adeptness.
Damn, I love both of these songs! Am I forced to pick? Aren’t we all winners, at least in our own minds? (It’s Prodigal Son in a photo finish…)
Got the Blues gets my vote.
Prodigal son
I'm a Dead Flowers guy meself, but I Got The Blues is the hidden gem of the album to me, and the organ solo makes it, yes indeed. So I Got The Blues gets my vote
For me, Billy Preston's massaging of the Hammond keyboard swings it for "I Got the Blues".
I'm with Sal, to me, this is the only easy call in this whole whatever it is we're doing here. I got The Blues is the winner for me.
"I Got The Blues" by a hair. Both are such great songs.
Hello all...no, please remain seated,
PS is wonderful, but IGTB has many elements that always move me...first off, the organ solo is an absolute clinic in how to play the instrument in the rock genre. Next, I know Keith Richards has een fond of saying that he welcomed the way he weaves guitars with Ron Wood, but listen to the weave in action between him and Mick Taylor on this tune. Maybe Taylor could have played on Beast of Burden after all.
Also...great hi fidelity on this one. Really well recorded and mixed.
Regards, RichD
All of the great things about "I Got The Blues" noted are true, and it was Jagger's finest "soul man" performance, and yet... "Prodigal Son" gets my vote for its late nite boozy living room feel, and in spite of Jagger's "authentic blues singer" performance.
I Got the Blues gets my vote, i think it is one of Mick's finest vocal moments
Sal,
I'm a little confused (not so unusual.) I've always understood that 'Prodigal Son' was derived from Robert Wilkins' 1927 'That's No Way To Get Along'. To which 'KC Blues' version are you referring?
Dave Mc- check out Hobart Smith.
"Prodigal Son" -- if this was mixed into the Anthology Of American Folk Music, I wouldn't blink. Isn't it about time for them to do an album of classic blues and rip it up? Or rather, wasn't it time around when they recorded this track.
"I Got The Blues" -- there's nothing wrong with singing "I've got the blues for you." But when the melody is so slow and the emphasis on the lyrics is so strong, the lyrics just don't help. But the horns and Billy Preston's tremendous organ solo save it. Saving it isn't the same as taking a great song even higher, unfortunately, just taking a so-so song and making it good.
"Prodigal Son," without much angst at all.
"I Got the Blues" is not only my favorite track on "Sticky Fingers", it's probably one of my top 5 favorite Stones tracks. Winner,
I enjoy both tunes a lot, and loved that Mick and Keith used to do Prodigal Son as an acoustic duet on the '69 tour. But it still feels a little bit like them trying something different and doing a credible job of it, whereas I Got the Blues is more finding their own way with the blues tradition and making it their own. Plus, as others have said, the great vocal and organ solo. IGTB wins.
Post a Comment