Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
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Confessin’ The Blues
(Walter Brown / Jay McShann)

Chess Studios, Chicago, Illinois, US, June 11, 1964

Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards - electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar
Ian Stewart - piano

Baby, here I stand before you
With my heart in my hand
I put it to you mama
Hoping that you'll understand

Oh, baby
Mama, please don't dog me 'round
Yeah I, I would rather love you, baby
Than anyone else I know in town

This is my confession, Mama
And it's sung by all your song
It proves that I'm in heaven, Mama
When you hold me in your arms

Well, baby
Can I have you for myself
Yeah, if I can't have you, baby
I don't want nobody else

Well, baby
Don't you want a man like me
Well, baby
Don't you want a man like me
Yeah, think about your future, baby
Forget about your used to be

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Five By Five” EP
(Decca DFE 8590) UK, August 14, 1964



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-25 15:34 by René.

I am always amazed about how Mick could sing such a convincing blues tune at such a young age.
A definite highlight from the early years.

yeah it is pretty pure!

(René, if you don't mind minor corrections, i think "Forget about you’re used to be" is a typo -
it should be "your used to be", no?)

Quote
with sssoul
yeah it is pretty pure!

(René, if you don't mind minor corrections, i think "Forget about you’re used to be" is a typo -
it should be "your used to be", no?)

LOL, Always the teacher; hats off.

I love this song. Jagger shines on all those early Blues cuts. But what really amazes me on this cut, are the two guitars. I have to assume that is Brian on the second guitar; one of the best recorded Stones songs with him on guitar. Now this IMO is really good weaving.
It is this very kind of tune; this is ONE of the essences of Stones sound. The thing that they are untouchable at: the kind of electric Blues with everyone basically solo-ing, but nobody over shadowing the sound. The piano doing runs up and down, harmonica wailing, both guitars busy in similar register - yet apart. I have heard countless other acts try it, but not get it right because there is always somone who steps on the fuzzpedal. I love when the Stones do this; up to present day on "Fancy Man" or "Cook Cook".

with sssoul, I don't mind! That's what this thread is all about, even minor corrections as typos. Thanks!

René

Quintessence of the early Stones.

Its a great song

The production of this track is great. And, yes, the two guitars are awesome, Keith playing the lead and Brian the rhythm. One of the best examples of the twp playing together and getting that Chicago two-guitar thing going.

Worth checking out the original Charles Brown/Jay McShann
version that was a massive hit in 1941..The Little Walter take
on it from 1958 which is most likely the main inspiration for the
Stones version and Mr Chuck Berry's more up-tempo stab at it from April 1960....




Little Walter ...... England 1964



ROCKMAN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-07-06 15:35 by Rockman.

Why didn'tthey release the live recording from the Rock'n'Roll Circus? HAs anyone listened to it? Is it THAT bad?

This is one of my all time fav tracks. The chugging guitars, solid bass/drum lines & Micks vox & harmonica. This is the sound that made me a lifelong follower of the band. I wish they stayed this more blues/R&B than the pop then rock band they morphed into. When people compare the Beatles vs Stones, this is one of the songs I bring out. The Beatles didn't do this kind of song.

It's so very lonely, you're 2,000 Light Years from home

The song is worth it's weight in platinum alone for mine because of Mick's vocal performance.

Great stuff.

Quote
saltoftheearth
Why didn'tthey release the live recording from the Rock'n'Roll Circus? HAs anyone listened to it? Is it THAT bad?

I think it never appeared on a bootlg which is realy sad.Would love to hear that one,too!

Great example of the Brian/Keith guitar playing!

This song hooked me for life.

Mick was and is huge fan of Little Walter.

Just fantastic...I wish Mick would sing this was today...

Confesion the blues is a great song, and
so is look what youve done, I love all the
stones chess recordings, such a great sound.
That chess echo sound is brill, mabe they should record
there new album at chess studios, i wish lol

They did Route 66 AND Confessin the Blues at R n R Circus before filming(supposedly?) THAT would have been the best part of the show! IMO

This is a fantastic song. I prefer some of the Stones takes to the originals on some of those early numbers. For a young skinny white kid Mick was really capable of some great interpretations. Check out the Bo Diddley tune Cops and Robbers from the BBC sessions his vocals blew mw away when I first heard it. That's what living for a year at Edith Grove and doing nothing but learning to play and understand those great blues numbers.

Confessin the Blues is really outstanding. Much better than the Stones early stabs at their own originals although Good Times Bad Times is a great county type blues. But along with that we had Grown Up Wrong though in its own way is somehow charming to me but it really is not very good.

Oh man, this song is so good, it is the early Stones at their best. Mick's vocals are simply perfect, and his harp playing is nothing short of stunning. And the production ... wow, that Chess echo sound fills the room.

Pure Stones bliss.

And as Palace Revolution 2000 points out, Fancy Man Blues is the Stones revisiting this sound (very successfully, I might add!)

Drew

Quote
slew
This is a fantastic song. I prefer some of the Stones takes to the originals on some of those early numbers. For a young skinny white kid Mick was really capable of some great interpretations. Check out the Bo Diddley tune Cops and Robbers from the BBC sessions his vocals blew mw away when I first heard it. That's what living for a year at Edith Grove and doing nothing but learning to play and understand those great blues numbers.

Confessin the Blues is really outstanding. Much better than the Stones early stabs at their own originals although Good Times Bad Times is a great county type blues. But along with that we had Grown Up Wrong though in its own way is somehow charming to me but it really is not very good.

As a link pointed to the original thread from a period when I did not read on IORR ( I soon left again after a short earlier period, frustrated by what I at the time, too little robust yet, regarded as too much negativity), I would like to add a post so late after there was an exchange of views.

I do agree now that the Stones had something special as a young white blues playing band, if, which I acknowledgbande can be doubted, a white European might be said to have background to give such an utterance. Anyway, that was also my unmature and inexperienced attitude then that the band had. And during my outdrawn approach towards the band (without a recordplayer) during 1964 -65, I was more keen on the R&B and blues (and soul) influences on them than the rock influence from Chuck Berry during this early and first golden period of the band.

However, what I really wanted to add to the thread, concerned the reference to "Grown Up Wrong". Your post, slew (I notice that you are still active) gives the best occasion and the right context to state my long time view held from when I eventually was given a recordplayer as a present and then many months delayed eventually acquired their first two albums and the German Decca compilation AROUND AND AROUND. That point of view in all shortness: "What A Shame" (from VOLUME 2 in the British catalogue) is a magical recording with the long beautifully floating instrumental band coplay part that is at the end of the song. Never have I read anybody commenting on that.

Later added: And did I not say it plainly, I have always loved track no. 5 of AROUND AND AROUND, "Confessin' the Blues". (The second EP, Five By Five, I have not got.)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-04-23 10:30 by Witness.

10/10-song! This cover is hard to beat, even for the original artist ...



2 1 2 0

Great track! The first time I heard it was on the compilation "Stone Age", when I bought it in the 80s. Great playing and singing - love the harp!

Yes great song but imagine it with a Mick Taylor lead break

Confessin' The Blues 2:46
Who is playing guitars here?
Brian is on harmonica
Is he on guitar too or is Keith double tracked
Stu tinkling the keys I presume
from the FIVE BY FIVE EP 1964
Mick and Keith were 21 years old...what were you doing at age 21?

[www.youtube.com]

hmmmmmm.... Here is a previous IORR track talk on this tune
[www.iorr.org]

One of their greatest and one reason why I love the Rolling Stones. All the Chess songs are wonderful and I would be pleased to hear them all on an archive release.

Thanks Rockman
Confessin The Blues-Little Walter

Quote
triceratops
Confessin' The Blues 2:46
Who is playing guitars here?
Brian is on harmonica
Is he on guitar too or is Keith double tracked
Stu tinkling the keys I presume
from the FIVE BY FIVE EP 1964
Mick and Keith were 21 years old...what were you doing at age 21?

[www.youtube.com]

Brian and Keith on guitars.

Isn't it Mick on harp? At least, according to timeisonourside.com...

Quote
DandelionPowderman


Isn't it Mick on harp? At least, according to timeisonourside.com...

Highly unlikely. Brian was the Stones harp player early on. Was way ahead of Mick on that. Mick became very good on it.... but this was later