Can't You Hear Me Knocking
| "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Rolling Stones from the album Sticky Fingers | ||||
| Released | 23 April 1971 | |||
| Recorded | March–May 1970, Olympic Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Length | 7:15 | |||
| Label | Rolling Stones/Atlantic | |||
| Writer | Jagger/Richards | |||
| Producer | Jimmy Miller | |||
| Sticky Fingers track listing | ||||
|
||||
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is a song by English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. The song is over seven minutes long, and begins with a signature Keith Richards open-G tuned guitar intro. At two minutes and forty-three seconds, an instrumental break begins, with Rocky Dijon on congas; saxophonist Bobby Keys performs an extended saxophone solo over the layered guitar work of Richards and Mick Taylor. At 4:40 Taylor takes over from Keys and carries the song to its finish with a lengthy guitar solo.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Inspiration
Richards on writing the guitar riff,
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking came out flying - I just found the tuning and the riff and started to swing it and Charlie picked up on it just like that, and we're thinking, hey, this is some groove. So it was smiles all around. For a guitar player it's no big deal to play, the chopping, staccato bursts of chords, very direct and spare." [1]
[edit] Recording
On the recording, Richards said in 2002,
"(The jam at the end wasn't inspired by Carlos Santana.) We didn't even know they were still taping. We thought we'd finished. We were just rambling and they kept the tape rolling. I figured we'd just fade it off. It was only when we heard the playback that we realized, Oh, they kept it going. Basically we realized we had two bits of music. There's the song and there's the jam." [1]
Taylor recalls in a 1979 interview,
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking... is one of my favorites... (The jam at the end) just happened by accident; that was never planned. Towards the end of the song I just felt like carrying on playing. Everybody was putting their instruments down, but the tape was still rolling and it sounded good, so everybody quickly picked up their instruments again and carried on playing. It just happened, and it was a one-take thing. A lot of people seem to really like that part." [1]
Taylor continues,
"I used a brown Gibson ES-345 for Dead Flowers and the solo on Can't You Hear Me Knocking." [1]
[edit] Accolades
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine listed it at #25 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time."[2]
[edit] The Rolling Stones live performances
The number was part of the Rolling Stones' concert repertoire during their Licks Tour in 2002–2003 and A Bigger Bang Tour in 2005–2007. In these renditions, Mick Jagger played a harmonica solo after Keys' sax solo, and Ronnie Wood performed the extended guitar solo. A live recording was released on the band's 2003 DVD set Four Flicks and on the 2004 concert album Live Licks.
[edit] In other media
- It is featured in Blow.
- It is featured in its entirety in Casino.
- It is featured in Comedian.
- It is featured in The Fighter.
- It is featured in Without a Paddle.
- It is featured in episode Exile on Main St. of Californication.
- Rapper Juelz Santana sampled it on his song "Blow" from Back Like Cooked Crack Volume One.
- Shortened cover version of the studio track (without the saxophone solo) is featured in 2006 music video game Guitar Hero II.
[edit] Personnel
[edit] Sticky Fingers
- The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals
- Keith Richards – electric guitar, backing vocals
- Mick Taylor – electric guitar
- Charlie Watts – drums
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar
- Additional musicians
- Ian Stewart - piano
- Rocky Dijon – congas
- Bobby Keys – saxophone
- Billy Preston - organ
- Jimmy Miller – percussion
[edit] Live Licks
- The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – vocals
- Keith Richards – guitar
- Ron Wood – guitar
- Charlie Watts – drums
- Additional musicians
- Darryl Jones – bass guitar
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Can't You Hear Me Knocking". http://www.timeisonourside.com/SOCantYouHear.html. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
- ^ Stone, Rolling. "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time - Number 25 of 100". http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/20947527/page/13. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
