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Honky Tonk Women

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This article is about the Rolling Stones song. For the Cowboy Bebop episode, see List of Cowboy Bebop episodes.

"Honky Tonk Women"
Song
B-side"You Can't Always Get What You Want"

"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom and a week later in the United States, it topped the charts in both nations.[2]

Inspiration and recording

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while on holiday in Brazil from late December 1968 to early January 1969, inspired by Brazilian gauchos at the ranch where Jagger and Richards were staying in Matão, São Paulo.[3] Two versions of the song were recorded by the band: the familiar hit which appeared on the 45 single and their collection of late 1960s singles, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2); and a honky-tonk version entitled "Country Honk" with slightly different lyrics, which appeared on Let It Bleed (1969).

Thematically, a "honky tonk woman" refers to a dancing girl in a western bar who may work as a prostitute; the setting for the narrative in the first verse of the blues version is Memphis, while "Country Honk" sets the first verse in Jackson.[4]

I met a gin soaked bar-room queen in Memphis

I'm sittin' in a bar, tipplin' a jar in Jackson

The band initially recorded the track called "Country Honk", in London in early March 1969. Brian Jones was present during these sessions and may have played on the first handful of takes and demos. It was his last recording session with the band.[5][6] The song was transformed into the familiar electric, riff-based hit single "Honky Tonk Women" sometime in the spring of 1969, prior to Mick Taylor's joining the group.[7] In an interview in the magazine Crawdaddy!, Richards credits Taylor for influencing the track: "... the song was originally written as a real Hank Williams/Jimmie Rodgers/1930s country song. And it got turned around to this other thing by Mick Taylor, who got into a completely different feel, throwing it off the wall another way."[8] However, in 1979 Taylor recalled it this way: "I definitely added something to Honky Tonk Women, but it was more or less complete by the time I arrived and did my overdubs."[9]

"Honky Tonk Women" is distinctive as it opens not with a guitar riff, but with a beat played on a cowbell. The Rolling Stones' producer Jimmy Miller performed the cowbell for the recording.

The concert rendition of "Honky Tonk Women" on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970) differs significantly from the studio hit, with a markedly dissimilar guitar introduction and the first appearance on vinyl of an entirely different second verse.

Release

The single was released in the UK the day after the death of founder member Brian Jones where it remained on the charts for 5 weeks peaking at No. 1. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was the single's B-side. The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from 23 August 1969. It was later released on the compilation album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) in September. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song overall for 1969.[10]

"Honky Tonk Women" was ranked No. 116 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. The song was later put into the track listing for the video game Band Hero.

Personnel

Releases on compilation albums and live recordings

Concert versions of "Honky Tonk Women" are included on the albums 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!', Love You Live and Live Licks, as well as on several concert films and boxed sets: Stones in the Park, Some Girls: Live In Texas '78, Let's Spend the Night Together (film), Stones at the Max, The Rolling Stones: Voodoo Lounge Live, Bridges to Babylon Tour '97–98, Rolling Stones - Four Flicks, The Biggest Bang, and Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live.

Covers

  • On his album Lovejoy, Albert King sang a version with lyrics which skirted the first verse's suggestions of prostitution: "I met a gypsy bar-room queen in Memphis / and on the street the summer sun did shine / The sweetest rose that ever grows in Memphis / I just can't seem to drink her off of my mind." (The lyric editor is not credited.)
  • James Last performs the song as part of medley on album Non Stop Dancing 1969/2.
  • Gram Parsons' version of the song, released on the 1976 rarities compilation Sleepless Nights, features a slightly different set of lyrics and an arrangement that combines elements of both Stones' versions.
  • Travis Tritt covered the song on the 1997 tribute album, Stone Country.
  • A recording of Prince performing the song as "Honky Tonk Women" is on the (possibly unauthorised) 1993 Japanese release The Undertaker.
  • Ali Campbell covered the song on his 2010 album Great British Songs.
  • Elton John performed this song during a concert at A&R Studios in New York City on 17 November 1970, which appeared on his later album 11-17-70.
  • The New Riders of the Purple Sage performed this song during their regular opening for the Grateful Dead. Their version featured Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar recreating the signature guitar riff. Their version, much more "countrified" than the single, but not a cover of "Country Honk", either. While at the Filmore East venue, with the accompanying light show, stills of Mick Jagger in concert were projected on to the scrim above the band as they played the more rhythmic intro to the song.
  • The Pogues covered the song on their EP "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah".
  • Bosnian band Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors covered the song on their debut LP Mitovi i legende o kralju Elvisu (1984). Sung in Serbo-Croat, their version was called "Baščaršy Hanumen".
  • Free (band) covered the song on their 1972 "Free at Last" Album.

Country Honk

"Honky Tonk Women"
Song

"Country Honk" is a country version of "Honky Tonk Women", released five months after on the album Let It Bleed (1969). As noted above, the country arrangement was the original concept of "Honky Tonk Women".

According to some sources "Country Honk" was recorded at the Elektra recording studio in Los Angeles. Byron Berline played the fiddle on the track, and has said that Gram Parsons was responsible for him being chosen for the job (Berline had previously recorded with Parsons' band the Flying Burrito Brothers). Producer Glyn Johns suggested that Berline should record his part on the pavement outside the studio to add ambience to the number. Sam Cutler, the Rolling Stones' tour manager, performed the car horn at the beginning of the track.[14] Nanette Workman performs backing vocals on this version (although the album sleeve credits actress Nanette Newman). Other sources state that "Country Honk" was recorded at Olympic Studios right after "Honky Tonk Women", with only Berline's fiddle part overdubbed at Elektra Studios; this might be supported by the existence of a bootleg recording that contains neither the fiddle nor Mick Taylor's slide guitar. Richards has repeatedly stated that "Country Honk" is how "Honky Tonk Women" was originally written.

It was this version of the song that was played by Ricky Nelson at the Rock 'n Roll Revival concert at Madison Square Garden on 15 October 1971. As the crowd were expecting traditional rock 'n roll (such as Nelson's older numbers, which he also played at the concert, "Hello Mary Lou" and "She Belongs to Me", and the music of others at the concert such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Bobby Rydell), they began to boo. While some reports say that the booing was caused by police action in the back of the audience, Nelson took it personally and left the stage. He watched the rest of the concert backstage and did not reappear on stage for the finale. This event was the stimulus for the song "Garden Party", which appeared on the 1972 album of the same name. This is evidenced by the line "then I sang a song about a honky-tonk, and it was time to leave."

Personnel

References

  1. ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=J2qTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT114&dq=start+you+up+honky+tonk+women&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v_6iVMKGKoH4yQT9uYFY&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=start%20you%20up%20honky%20tonk%20women&f=false
  2. ^ Elliott, Martin (2002). The Rolling Stones: Complete Recording Sessions 1962-2002. Cherry Red Books. p. 148. ISBN 1-901447-04-9.
  3. ^ "Há 45 anos Rolling Stones faziam história em Matão." Kappa Magazine. September 17, 2014, edition 92, pp. 100-102. <http://www.revistakappa.com.br/edicoes/saocarlos/edicao_92/index.html?pageNumber=100>.
  4. ^ The Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Women". Time Is on Our Side. (accessed 19 May 2007).
  5. ^ "Honky Tonk Women". Keno.org. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  6. ^ "Country Honk - Lyrics". Keno.org. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  7. ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Honky Tonk Women". allmusic. 2007 (accessed 19 May 2007).
  8. ^ Appleford, Steve (1997). The Rolling Stones It’s Only Rock and Roll: Song by Song. New York: Schirmer Books. p. 88.
  9. ^ McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Honky Tonk Women". Retrieved 27 August 2009.
  10. ^ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1969
  11. ^ "Ike & Tina Turner - Honky Tonk Woman 1970". YouTube. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  12. ^ "House MD Episode Guide: Season Two #214 "Sex Kills"". Housemd-guide.com. 7 March 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
  13. ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=7ryvnZiTBAAC&pg=PA410&dq=die+at+the+right+time!:+a+subjective+cultural+history+of+the+american+sixties+country+honk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PF2gVNSWEsytyASO5oCgAw&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=die%20at%20the%20right%20time!%3A%20a%20subjective%20cultural%20history%20of%20the%20american%20sixties%20country%20honk&f=false
  14. ^ Cutler, Sam. You Can't Always Get What You Want - My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates ISBN 978-1-74166-609-0
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
23 August 1969 (four weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number-one single
23 July 1969 		Succeeded by
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