Tag Archives: 1971

Brown Sugar by Rolling Stones was released 16 April in 1971

Rolling-Stones-Brown-Sugar

“The lyric was all to do with the dual combination of drugs and girls. This song was a very instant thing, a definite high point.”
– Mick Jagger

“I’ve got a new one myself. No words yet, but a few words in my head – called Brown Sugar – about a woman who screws one of her black servants. I started to call it Black Pussy but I decided that was too direct, too nitty-gritty.” – Mick Jagger (1969, The True Adventures of Rolling Stones by Stanley Booth)

Brown Sugar is the opening track and lead single from their 1971 album Sticky FingersRolling Stone magazine ranked it #495 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and at #5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

The group sings the lyric with all the enthusiasm of tongue-wagging dogs swooping onto a prime rib, leading up to one of the band’s strongest shout-along choruses. As on other Stones classics of the period like “Honky Tonk Women” and “Bitch,” beefy horns start to duel with the buzzing electric guitars in the instrumental break; few if any other groups have used guitars and horns as deftly in unison. The crowning embellishment is the final choruses, which vary the melody and tempo so that the group sings and make a high-pitched exclamation in a rhythm that very much resembles that of a sexual climax.

– Richie Unterberger (allmusic)

It is credited, like most of their songs, to  Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, but the song was primarily the work of Jagger, who wrote it sometime during the filming of Ned Kelly in 1969.

Brown Sugar from the fantastic concert film Ladies and Gentlemen (1972):

This version of the song features Mick Jagger on vocals, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor on guitar, Charlie Watts on drums, Bill Wyman on bass, Nick Hopkins on piano, Bobby Keys on saxophone, and Jim Price on horns.

Brown Sugar, Lyrics:

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in new orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he’s doin alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should
A-huh.

Drums beating, cold english blood runs hot,
Lady of the house wondrin where it’s gonna stop.
House boy knows that he’s doin alright.
You should a heard him just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a black girl should
A-huh.

I bet your mama was a tent show queen, and all her boy
Friends were sweet sixteen.
Im no schoolboy but I know what I like,
You should have heard me just around midnight.

Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should.

I said yeah, I said yeah, I said yeah, I said
Oh just like a, just like a black girl should.

Continue reading Brown Sugar by Rolling Stones was released 16 April in 1971

Today: The Allman Brothers played Fillmore East in 1971 – 42 years ago

AB-fillmore

Recorded at the Fillmore East concert hall, the storied rock venue in New York City, on Friday and Saturday March 12, 1971–March 13, 1971, the album showcased the band’s mixture of blues, southern rock, and jazz.
~Wikipedia

[it] remains the pinnacle of the Allmans and Southern rock at its most elastic, bluesy, and jazzy.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)

Statesboro Blues (+ Duane Allman tribute video)

I’m pretty sure this album will rank top15 on Hallgeir’s 30 best live album’s countdown..

Released July 1971
Recorded March 12, 1971–March 13, 1971
Fillmore East, New York
Genre Blues-rock, southern rock
Length 76:26
Label Capricorn
Producer Tom Dowd

At Fillmore East is a double live album by The Allman Brothers Band. The band’s breakthrough success, At Fillmore East was released in July 1971. It ranks Number 49 among Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and remains among the top-selling albums in the band’s catalogue. The original album was released in both conventional two-channel stereo and four-channel quadraphonic mixes. This album has been certified as platinum by the RIAA as of August 25, 1992.

Allman Brother At Fillmore East

Recorded at the Fillmore East concert hall, the storied rock venue in New York City, on Friday and Saturday March 12, 1971–March 13, 1971, the album showcased the band’s mixture of blues, southern rock, and jazz. The cover of Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues” which opens the set showcases Duane Allman’s slide guitar work in open E Tuning. “Whipping Post” became the standard for a long, epic jam that never lost interest (opening in 11/4 time, unusual territory for a rock band), while the ethereal-to-furious “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed”, with its harmonized melody, Latin feel, and burning drive invited comparisons with John Coltrane (especially Duane’s solo-ending pull-offs, a direct nod to the jazz saxophonist).

Wikipedia

allman brothers fillmore east

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed:

..these shows — recorded in New York on March 12th and 13th, 1971 — remain the finest live rock performance ever committed to vinyl.  .. At Fillmore East captures America’s best blues-rock band at its peak.
~Mark Kemp (rollingstone.com)

Tracks

Side one

  1. “Statesboro Blues” (Will McTell) – 4:17
  2. “Done Somebody Wrong” (Clarence L. Lewis, Bobby Robinson, Elmore James) – 4:33
  3. “Stormy Monday” (T. Bone Walker) – 8:44

Side two

  1. “You Don’t Love Me” (Willie Cobbs) – 19:15 (“Joy to the World” medley in the ending portions)

Side three

  1. “Hot ‘Lanta” (Gregg Allman, Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks, Berry Oakley, Jai Johanny Johanson) – 5:17
  2. “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (Dickey Betts) – 13:04

Side four

  1. “Whipping Post” (Gregg Allman) – 23:03

allman brothers fillmore east back

Band

  • Duane Allman – lead guitar, slide guitar
  • Gregg Allman – organ, piano, Vocals
  • Dickey Betts – lead guitar
  • Berry Oakley – bass guitar
  • Jai Johanny Johanson – drums, congas, timbales
  • Butch Trucks – drums, tympani

JWandAllmanBros

Spotify:

Other March 13:

Continue reading Today: The Allman Brothers played Fillmore East in 1971 – 42 years ago