The greatest song ever written in history. My ringtone since ringtones began !!!!!

best song written by keith richards!

Yep, best rock song ever!
Interestingly, and probably not surprisingly, it took me a while to warm up to it. I remember first hearing it on "Rolled Gold" when I was 13 and found it a tad boring. I was learning the guitar at the time and the songs I prefered were those with many recognizable chord changes, something like...Yesterday"s Paper, or even Jumping Jack Flash ;-)

GREAT point 24FPS.

The way the vocals are buried in the mix is perfect for this song. Also, the rhythm guitar gets overwhelmed by the rest of the instruments and becomes a quasi-undefinable pulsing and throbbing in the background. It's like it's there and it's not there, there is certain menacing feel just to that.

On top of all of this the song has a real groove also. Then every half bar during the chorus or couple of bars during the lyrics you get that "baa-daa baa-daa baa-daa baa-daa" and it's mind blowing. Your body is conditioned to expect it, and it sweeps you away.

Then the song has that whole "trance" feel to it on top of all of that.

The mix is very muddy. Again, perfect for the song.

Gimme gimme gimme....shelter.

The best of the best the Stones have ever given us. A great tune and an even better MIX.

With the vocals buried in the mix it was years later that I ever figured out what Mick was actually singing but that made NO difference at all, maybe even detracted from my like of the tune.

For me, the music was the key to this tune. That intro is friggin' perfect as it gets with the interplay of the two guitars and the initially hard to understand first guitar. Unfortunately I've NEVER heard the intro done nearly as well as the initial record's mix and I listen for that first mix magic every time. That tells me that Jimmy Miller and Andy Johns? had a large hand in making it sound so perfect. Love to hear the original isolated tracks for this one.

This song probably did more for backup singers than any other rock tune I can think of. Ms. Clayton was superb in her delivery and touched off a subconscious spark in me and probably a few others. Hearing a woman wail like that must be something programmed for response since ancient times. peace

Their masterpiece

The best Rock song ever. Gives me goose bumps when ever I hear the intro...

This one has been on my number ONE spot of all Stones songs now for the past 15 years or so. I am so glad that I got this one live again in Hyde Park a few weeks back.
Remember going to London in November for the first O2 gig. I was on the flight going through what songs I really wanted to get live and this was the first one on my list. I was not sure if they would do it as it was sadly missing from the previous tour. mmmmm

Jan Richards

[www.stonesondecca.com]

Isolated Gimme Shelter vocal track with Mick Jagger and Merry Clayton. Awesome.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-26 02:15 by muffie.

I can only agree to all the praise that´s been said here. GS is perfect! The magical intro, the lyrics, Mick´s vocal, Merry Clayton and everything else! Just wonderful.

I will never forget my friend´s face when we were in Copenhagen in 2003, it was her very first Stones show and she heard Lisa Fischer on GS. When the song ended, she was totally gobsmacked. When she finally was able to speak, she said with awe "this is the best thing I have heard in my entire life!" To this day it is her favourite and she does in fact prefer Lisa vs Merry. My friend is now a sworn Stones fan, we saw them together again in AMS 2006 and Oslo 2007. She raises her little daughter to love the band and especially Charlie.

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Literally 965 kilometers from being "Born in an Arctic zone".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-25 23:53 by LQ1977.

I can't believe this thread is several years old and considering the content, is only two pages.

The Undercover, Steel Wheels and ABB threads are all seeing WAY more action.

This is probably their single greatest recording achievement, and while not my absolute favourite, is certainly in my top 5.

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skipstone
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?

I don't think there is a "correct" spelling of gimmie/gimme because it's slang, common street English, the sort of thing we weren't even supposed to say at my London primary school, let alone spell ( "talk properly, please, it's GIVE ME" }. If there is a UK/US divide over spelling, it's the first I've heard of it - the only time I've ever seen it written as gimmie is here on iorr, by people arguing for the original spelling to be used. I guess like that bloody comma in Paint It, Black the "i" just sort of looks wrong to most people so they leave it out.

I suppose this thread is so short because there's nothing much to argue about - everyone agrees it's a fantastic track.

Has anyone actually heard the alleged moment when the guitar falls apart at the end of the original take, or is this a piece of unproven Stones folklore?

...gotta say ...I prefer Gimmie ....



ROCKMAN

Never ever tire of it........

THE greatest song ever written IMHO

What a drag it is gettin' old

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treaclefingers
I can't believe this thread is several years old and considering the content, is only two pages.

The Undercover, Steel Wheels and ABB threads are all seeing WAY more action.

This is probably their single greatest recording achievement, and while not my absolute favourite, is certainly in my top 5.

What to say of it? I'm still thinking... Goes beyond words...

- Doxa

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Doxa

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treaclefingers
I can't believe this thread is several years old and considering the content, is only two pages.

The Undercover, Steel Wheels and ABB threads are all seeing WAY more action.

This is probably their single greatest recording achievement, and while not my absolute favourite, is certainly in my top 5.

What to say of it? I'm still thinking... Goes beyond words...

- Doxa

I guess 'cat caught our collective tongue' in that case!

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treaclefingers

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Doxa

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treaclefingers
I can't believe this thread is several years old and considering the content, is only two pages.

The Undercover, Steel Wheels and ABB threads are all seeing WAY more action.

This is probably their single greatest recording achievement, and while not my absolute favourite, is certainly in my top 5.

What to say of it? I'm still thinking... Goes beyond words...

- Doxa

I guess 'cat caught our collective tongue' in that case!

Yeah... "Parachute Woman" made people poets, but here the most common statement is 'just' the best rock song ever done... I guess it says it all...

I bullshit a lot, but trying to say something 'capturing' of "Gimme Shelter", really makes my words nothing but big bullshit...

- Doxa

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Doxa

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treaclefingers

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Doxa

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treaclefingers
I can't believe this thread is several years old and considering the content, is only two pages.

The Undercover, Steel Wheels and ABB threads are all seeing WAY more action.

This is probably their single greatest recording achievement, and while not my absolute favourite, is certainly in my top 5.

What to say of it? I'm still thinking... Goes beyond words...

- Doxa

I guess 'cat caught our collective tongue' in that case!

Yeah... "Parachute Woman" made people poets, but here the most common statement is 'just' the best rock song ever done... I guess it says it all...

I bullshit a lot, but trying to say something 'capturing' of "Gimme Shelter", really makes my words nothing but big bullshit...

- Doxa

There are very few words to describe the song, but if I were to try to in two words, it would be "apocalyptic beauty".

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treaclefingers

There are very few words to describe the song, but if I were to try to in two words, it would be "apocalyptic beauty".

I can only speak from behalf of myself, but I have noticed that 'bigger' the song is, more difficult is to say something of it, since the song and its greatness is so obvious that any description starts to sound banal or cliche-like. And probably "Gimme Shelter" is the biggest of them all. But in contrast some lesser known gems are more 'inspiring' in the sense of like discovering something novel in them that is not so obvious. Like mentioned "Prachute Woman" is among the best track talks ever done, and I think recently "Paint It Black" is another real gem in that sense. "Paint It Black" surely is a big song, but I think still a bit under-valuated among Stones fans, and not so obvious like, say, "Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sympathy For The Devil", "Honky Tonk Women" etc. are.

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-10-26 17:32 by Doxa.

I am not sure if anyone/anyplace keeps track of the use of Stones songs for "other things", but I would bet that GS is the most used Stones song by others for everything from movies to TV to marketing products to etc etc etc, and it never gets old or fails to bring a grin to my face when I hear it.

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Doxa

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treaclefingers

There are very few words to describe the song, but if I were to try to in two words, it would be "apocalyptic beauty".

I can only speak from behalf of myself, but I have noticed that 'bigger' the song is, more difficult is to say something of it, since the song and its greatness is so obvious that any description starts to sound banal or cliche-like. And probably "Gimme Shelter" is the biggest of them all. But in contrast some lesser known gems are more 'inspiring' in the sense of like discovering something novel in them that is not so obvious. Like mentioned "Prachute Woman" is among the best track talks ever done, and I think recently "Paint It Black" is another real gem in that sense. "Paint It Black" surely is a big song, but I think still a bit under-valuated among Stones fans, and not so obvious like, say, "Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sympathy For The Devil", "Honky Tonk Women" etc. are.

- Doxa

I think you're right...much to my surprise I see Paint it Black quite often in the most downloaded Stones songs in ITunes or Amazon...so, maybe undervalued by fanatics like us by maybe accurately valued by the general public?!

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Doxa

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treaclefingers

There are very few words to describe the song, but if I were to try to in two words, it would be "apocalyptic beauty".

I can only speak from behalf of myself, but I have noticed that 'bigger' the song is, more difficult is to say something of it, since the song and its greatness is so obvious that any description starts to sound banal or cliche-like. And probably "Gimme Shelter" is the biggest of them all. But in contrast some lesser known gems are more 'inspiring' in the sense of like discovering something novel in them that is not so obvious. Like mentioned "Prachute Woman" is among the best track talks ever done, and I think recently "Paint It Black" is another real gem in that sense. "Paint It Black" surely is a big song, but I think still a bit under-valuated among Stones fans, and not so obvious like, say, "Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sympathy For The Devil", "Honky Tonk Women" etc. are.

- Doxa

Exactly. Gimme Shelter is their masterpiese. A day in the life is the Beatles masterpiece. The greatness is so obvious.

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Redhotcarpet

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Doxa

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treaclefingers

There are very few words to describe the song, but if I were to try to in two words, it would be "apocalyptic beauty".

I can only speak from behalf of myself, but I have noticed that 'bigger' the song is, more difficult is to say something of it, since the song and its greatness is so obvious that any description starts to sound banal or cliche-like. And probably "Gimme Shelter" is the biggest of them all. But in contrast some lesser known gems are more 'inspiring' in the sense of like discovering something novel in them that is not so obvious. Like mentioned "Prachute Woman" is among the best track talks ever done, and I think recently "Paint It Black" is another real gem in that sense. "Paint It Black" surely is a big song, but I think still a bit under-valuated among Stones fans, and not so obvious like, say, "Satisfaction", "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Sympathy For The Devil", "Honky Tonk Women" etc. are.

- Doxa

Exactly. Gimme Shelter is their masterpiese. A day in the life is the Beatles masterpiece. The greatness is so obvious.

Nice analogy and I'll agree with that.

Ok, I see it's become a bit over rated, or to put it another way, there are other songs/recordings by them which are as good.

Ruby Tuesday and 2000 Light Years From Home being two.

Yes but Gimme Shelter is the best production by the Stones (Botnick/Miller). A Day in the life is the best production by the Beatles (Beatles/Martin). There are better Stones songs.

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His Majesty
Ok, I see it's become a bit over rated, or to put it another way, there are other songs/recordings by them which are as good.

Ruby Tuesday and 2000 Light Years From Home being two.

Don't be such a silly

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treaclefingers

Don't be such a silly

That is my forte.