Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
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Congratulations
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Regent Sound Studios, London, UK, May 12, 1964

Mick Jagger - lead vocals
Keith Richards - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmony vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar

Congratulations, congratulations
Well done, my friend
You've done it again
You've gone and broken another heart
Yeah, you've torn it apart

You've done it before
Hope to do it some more
You've got it down to a fine art

Remember the first time
You tried to do it to me
My girl won't fall
Just wait and see
Just wait and see

Congratulations, congratulations
You've gone and broken another heart
Yeah, you've torn me apart

Congratulations, congratulations
Congratulations, congratulations

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Time Is On My Side / Congratulations” 7” single
(London 9708) US, September 25, 1964



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-25 15:35 by René.

it's cute that the 12 x 5 cover spells it wrong

Not one of the best Stones tracks...

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rootsman
Not one of the best Stones tracks...

True but alot better than "It Should Be You" LOL!

Good early Stones slow blues. Really love Keith's acoustic guitar playing on this song.

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

I think it's a great track with a great sound and feel.

One of the songs why I became a stones fan. Still play it a lot.

Found two videos for this on YouTube: here’s the 1964 B-side:





And this I think is from the recent SACD re-issue of 12x5 – much clearer sound and some nice pictures (though mostly not from 1964).





This is another one with some interesting “weaving” – listen to the guitars working together on the intro, one taking over from another down to the final ba-BOM at the end of the sequence. Nice solo, too.

On the other hand, I really, really wish they’d sorted out whether they were going to sing Congratulations or La-La-La-La-La in the final chorus before they got down to recording the track. They try to do both at once, and it just does not work!

not a great tune but charming nonetheless

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slew
not a great tune but charming nonetheless

Yeah, I agree, it's not one of their finest, but it still puts a smile on your face! Mick and Keith were just finding their legs as songwriters, and you can hear some tentativeness here ... it doesn't have the confidence that they exuded when covering some of their idols during this era.

Drew

So it's Keith who plays the 12 string? Did Brian ever play 12 string on any tracks?

I always wonder why people call Oldham a "producer", his band did play with out of tune instruments!

The song and the arrangement are good, but with better tunning will work a lot better

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"I'm gonna walk... before they make me run"

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A group called West Five did an interesting cover in 1965:

I love it...Like songs like "Singer Not The Song" it has a boyish charm. A sincere and not half-bad attempt at Lennon/McCartney style songwriting. I really like the early pop era because of stuff like this.

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Silver Dagger
So it's Keith who plays the 12 string? Did Brian ever play 12 string on any tracks?

Get Off Of My Cloud, probably The Singer Not The Song and the Mother's Little Helper slide motif.

Yes I know Keith says he played the last part, but Brian played it live on 12string in 1966 and it sounds pretty spot on to the studio version, just minus the 2nd guitar scrappily doubling it below.

Don't know what it is about this track but I love it.

What I like about this song is the electric guitar, and I'm guessing it's Brian because Keith is playing the acoustic. Nice plucked low notes give it a nice country feel.

Listening to this & then listening to 'I Think I'm Going Mad' (on another current thread) reminded why I so much prefer the RS of 1965 to the RS of 1978.