Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
________________________________________________________________________________

Gimme Shelter
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Olympic Sound Studios, London, UK, February 23 - 25 & March 15, 1969,
Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US,
October 17 - October 26, 1969 and
Elektra Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US,
October 28 - November 2, 1969

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals, harmonica
Merry Clayton - lead vocals, backing vocals
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Nicky Hopkins - piano
Jimmy Miller - percussion

Oh, a storm is threat'ning my very life today
If I don't get some shelter, oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away

Oh, see the fire sweepin' our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet, mad bull lost it’s way

War, children, yeah, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away

Rape, murder, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
Rape, murder, yeah, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
Rape, murder, yeah, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away

The floods is threat'ning my very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter or I'm gonna fade away

War, children, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away, it's just a shot away, it's just a shot away

I’ll tell you, love, sister, it's just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away, it's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away, kiss away, kiss away

Produced by Jimmy Miller

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Let It Bleed” LP
(London NPS-4) US, November 29, 1969



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-14 14:03 by René.

a perfect shining piece of forever

(the original spelling of the title really is Gimmie -
the change to the US-style spelling was instigated by the film)

What else can I say, The All Time Greatest Record in the World ...the only old tune that still gives me the chills

__________________________

Quote
with sssoul
a perfect shining piece of forever

(the original spelling of the title really is Gimmie -
the change to the US-style spelling was instigated by the film)

Yeah, I even got Gimmie Shelter tattooed on my back. The tattoo-artist asked whether I was sure about the spelling...

"Rape, murder, it's just a shot away..."

The perfect Stones tune. And one of the best ways to end the sixties. The hypnotic and menacing intro sounds like someone dancing on the grave of the myth of the sixties. The full on propulsion from the engine room ratchets up the anxiety with Jagger pleading for respite from the storm. Then Merry Clayton's vocal juggernaut shreds the canvass to pieces. Keith....whew...the maestro supreme with some of the most iconic guitar to ever hit the grooves of a rock record. Wonderful, and aptly opens Let it Bleed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-08-23 13:25 by whitem8.

The perfect recording! Only a moron would ask Merry Clayton to a retake because her voice cracked. It's sounds beautiful! Yes, it's Merry. Merry Clayton's name was misspelled on the original release, appearing as 'Mary'.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-08-23 13:00 by folke.

The song that best captures the spirit of the age - of America caught up in a war that was needlessly costing the lives of thousands of young soldiers and the end of the hippy dream as so violently demonstrated by the Manson murders.

It also was the first song on the album which really set out the Stones' stall for their brave new world - establishing them as a rock tour de force rather than a pop orientated chart band.

You knew on hearing it for the first time that this was a new Stones, a band with a really stronger vision that was completely consolidating the success of Beggar's Banquet.

Twilight was setting on psychedelic London and this was a goodbye to the pop of the 60s and the rising of a band ready to take on America. It also showed the rowdy upstarts such as Led Zeppelin and The Who that the Stones were a mighty force to be reckoned with.

Quite simply their masterpiece - dark and ominous as a thunderstorm, but somehow it clears the air and you feel better for having heard it.

An orgasm

Not much to add, probably the best song the Stones (or anyone) ever made, what a vibe, Bill kills on this one.
One of the greatest guitar solos of all time.
And Merry Clayton, if only she had joined them live when they were at their peak just to do this song, just once...

I think this is my all-time top Stones song

No one talks about how great Jimmy Miller's guiro playing is on this track.

GREATEST STONES SONG EVER!!!

Quote
71Tele
No one talks about how great Jimmy Miller's guiro playing is on this track.

one of the essential ingredients, that guiro..they love(d) great tasteful percussion, and used it so well..(Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, SFTD )

Not only the best Stones song, the best song period.

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

Best rock song ever written.period.

Absolutely a stunning piece of music. The menace everything is perfect and it captured the feeling in America at the time and maybe still does today!

According to The Stones themselves their #1
from MOJO Special Collectors Edition Jan 2002
"I wrote that in Robert Fraser's flat in Mount St. It was a very gray afternoon. It was basically like chord structure at first. It just keeps going up and down.Its a strange sort of scale.Altough, actually to me, there was always more of a feeling to that song than actually musically how its played. Its really more of a spirit in a way...."
KR
I agree

I've heard so many versions of this great song; including a studio one with Keith singing, and lots of live versions from 1969-current. The only one I'm having trouble finding is the 1989-90 tour live version released for a charity cause. I used to have it but lost it somewhere in cyberspace.

best rock song EVER!
weird is, that no live version ever came close to the masterpiece they recorded in the studio....

Oh, my God, this song is still absolutely stunning, more than 40 years after its release. Possibly the eeriest and yet most ferocious and cathartic piece of music ever recorded. A dagger into the heart of the 60s, Gimme Shelter reverberates to this very day. Nothing else can really compare to this devastating masterpiece that captures the Stones at their very peak. Still get shivers up and down my spine every time I hear it.

Drew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-09 04:01 by drewmaster.

Done in the days when music ripped headlines from the papers and reflected it back to the world. Music as journalism died a long time ago.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-04 08:08 by 24FPS.

Rene, you actively want corrections of typos, right?
you've got a few in the second verse, which i believe should be:

Oh, see the fire is sweepin' my very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet, mad bull has lost its way

and the original title really was Gimmie Shelter ...

It's an amazingly enjoyable song to play on Guitar and the fact is it could still beat any modern music on the charts.

After all is said and done, I did alright, I had my fun.

Absolutely fantastic song - can never hear it enough.

Ah the thread popped up at the perfect moment for me!
I want to know when and where the version on Ladies And Gentlemen was performed?

You got the Sun, You got the Moon,
and you've got
The Rolling Stones

>> I want to know when and where the version on Ladies And Gentlemen was performed? <<

- Brown Sugar (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 2nd show
- Bitch (MJ/KR) -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 2nd show
- Gimme Shelter (MJ/KR) -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 1st show
- Dead Flowers (MJ/KR) -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 1st
- Happy (MJ/KR) -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 1st
- Tumbling Dice (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 1st
- Love in Vain (Robert Johnson) -Houston 25.6.72, 1st
- Sweet Virginia (MJ/KR) -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 1st
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 1st
- All Down the Line (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 2nd
- Midnight Rambler (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 2nd
- Band introductions -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 2nd
- Bye Bye Johnny (Chuck Berry) -Houston 25.6.72, 1st
- Rip This Joint (MJ/KR) -Fort Worth 24.6.72, 2nd
- Jumping Jack Flash (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 1st
- Street Fighting Man (MJ/KR) -Houston 25.6.72, 2nd

that's from [www.nzentgraf.de] - a great site to have bookmarked for questions like that

-



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-03-14 14:02 by René.

AWESOME Song!!! Not much more to add to the above posts. possibly my favorite song

On the back of the record it says Gimmie Shelter.

The movie is called Gimme Shelter.

On the Wild Horses single it's Gimme Shelter.

On the Saint Of Me single it's Gimme Shelter.

On No Security it's Gimme Shelter.

So if we go by the LP, it's Gimmie Shelter. But for some reason it's been Gimme Shelter ever since.

Right? Is 'gimmie' more of a UK use of the word and 'gimme' is a US use of the word?