Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
________________________________________________________________________________

Gunface
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Ocean Way Recording Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US,
March 13 - July 1997

Mick Jagger - vocals, electric guitar
Keith Richards - electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Ron Wood - electric slide guitar
Danny Saber - bass, electric guitar, keyboards
Jim Keltner - percussion

Gonna go downtown, gonna get my gun, gonna dress real sharp, gonna beat my drum
I ain't gonna lie, gonna walk so slow, gonna talk just right
And my diamond ring gonna shine so bright, I ain't gonna lie, I got a debt to repay
I ain't gonna cry, I put a gun in your face, you'll pay with your life
Yeah, and I got my ears and I got my eyes and I got my narks and my alibis
I won't waste your time, you made one false move, you made one mistake
When the juice is squeezed that's the way it breaks, you'll pay for the crime
Your tongue lickin' way out of place, I'll rip it out, yeah
I'll stick a gun in your face, you'll pay with your life
I’ll tell ya, I taught her everything, I taught her how to dream, I taught her everything
I'm gonna teach her how to scream, I taught her all she knows, I taught her how to lie
I taught her everything, I'm gonna teach her how to cry, yeah
And you cause me hurt and you cause me pain
And you turned the tap on my burning rage, now I can't put it out
Gonna leave no sign, gonna leave no trace
Gonna leave this town in a state of grace, give me the power, I’ll tell ya
I got a debt to repay, I ain't gonna lie, I put a gun in your face, you'll pay for the crime
I’ll tell ya, I taught her everything, I taught her how to speak
I taught her all she knows, I taught her how to eat
I half invented her and now she acts so chic
I taught her everything, but now she's obsolete

I taught her everything, how to read and write, I taught her all she knows
She was a neophyte, I taught her everything, I loved to watch her grow
I taught her everything and now I wanna see her go, I taught her everything, oh yeah
I got a debt to repay, I ain't gonna cry
I'll put a gun in your face, you're playing with your life

I taught her everything, yeah, I taught her how to cheat, I taught her all she knows
She was so indiscreet, I taught her everything, I taught her how to lie
I taught her everything, I'm gonna teach her how to cry, yeah

Produced by Danny Saber & The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Bridges To Babylon” CD
(Virgin Records VJCP 25333) Japan, September 26, 1997

Cool song. I dig it.

It's got that slick, contemporary groove of Bridges and is a pretty strong song IMO. I like the title too.

I've already wondered, however, that since Bridges is generally considered to be a mix-and-match of a Mick solo album and a Winos album, which camp does this one come from? I've always considered it to be a fairly joint MJ/KR composition. Perhaps one of the more informed members could help me out?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-18 10:46 by OneHit.

The true definition of a throwaway.

>> that slick, contemporary groove <<

yeah - it stays right in character, and you can dance to it :E

>> which camp does this one come from? I've always considered it to be a fairly joint MJ/KR composition <<

i've read people here saying it's a Mick number, but it sounds like a collaboration to me too

The groove is good but the slide solo is bad, they should have used a better take.

Quote
with sssoul
>> that slick, contemporary groove <<

yeah - it stays right in character, and you can dance to it :E

>> which camp does this one come from? I've always considered it to be a fairly joint MJ/KR composition <<

i've read people here saying it's a Mick number, but it sounds like a collaboration to me too

Mick was interviewed about it back then, and said he wrote it by himself. Keith doesn't play on it as far as I can recall.

I've always liked the funky sound of this song but holy cow man, just a tad misogynistic wouldn't you say?

"I taught her everything, but now she's obsolete" is a real step up from "Stupid Girl."

very edgy track! I love it

Funny thing about songs from this period and on, I always have to listen to them first because I can't recall them.

It sounds better then the first time I heard it, actually I like it.

__________________________




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-18 14:41 by NICOS.

This is one of the occasions that full on aggression works towards a Stones song's favour. Danny Saber is incredibly strong as both bass player and producer of the song and his performance completing the band in the studio has turned "Gunface" into a very good album track and a strong rocker. I wouldn't take the lyrics too seriously, though.

This is not a band in the studio. This is Mick Jagger and a new producer, with Ronnie coming in late to do the odd slide overdub. Personally, I can't stand Jagger's guitar sound on this one.

I have always loved this track but just feel it is kinda heavy metal stones with some nasty lyrics.

>> Mick was interviewed about it back then, and said he wrote it by himself.
Keith doesn't play on it as far as I can recall. <<

Keith does play on Gunface, i believe - but here's a Mick quote to back you up about the writing of it:
I had written a lot of songs coming into this project ... I'd written them and they were all finished and completed.
... (I wrote) Anybody Seen My Baby, Saint of Me... Gunface, Out of Control, Might as Well Get Juiced.
- Mick Jagger, 1997, quoted on [www.timeisonourside.com]

and sure, the lyrics/persona aren't very likeable! but somehow i don't think they're supposed to be :E
they stay in character, and better still: they suit the beat. Mick's lyrics real often distort words
to force them to fit the rhythm ... that's probably why this one sounded like a collaboration to me



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-18 19:45 by with sssoul.

You're right. Keith's in there. He is playing the fills.

And yeah, that was the Jagger quote I was referring to. Thx

I taught her everything, yeah, I taught her how to cheat, I taught her all she knows
She was so indiscreet, I taught her everything, I taught her how to lie
I taught her everything, I'm gonna teach her how to cry, yeah


It's a song about revenge and karma. It's very clever because although it's about MICK getting revenge on his cheating girlfriend, it also shows it's his own fault that she became what she is, because she learned her behavior from an expert, from HIM! So he hates what she has done to him, but he has nobody to blame but himself. She made him cry so he wants to make her cry, but he made her cry first and she was getting back at him. So it's classic karma, what goes around comes around!

Not to be mistaken by this one:

i liked GUNFACE & GUN instantly. i like funky Stones.


IORR............but I like it!

Who the hell is Danny Saber, and why is he playing guitar on a Rolling Stones song?

i love this track! mick's vocals do it for me on this one mostly ... love "you're playing with your life"


** edit ** btw, i always think of OJ when I hear this track, although he apparently used a knife.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-18 17:32 by LeonidP.

Quote
Edith Grove
"I taught her everything, but now she's obsolete" is a real step up from "Stupid Girl."

it is? He'd already used "obsolete" in the lyrics to "Out of Time."

I guess the song is effective for what it is, but I have no interest in ever hearing it again.

very aggressive, different... that's why I like it. groovy, loud... solo's okay. the whole song could be a little bluesier, though ;^)

One of the few cuts I liked off this one. Keith's contributions seem minimal on the entire album. Still, it's so difficult for me to listen to post Wyman studio work. I keep hearing where Bill would have transformed the sound with just a few notes here and there. So sad. And they just don't get, or care, how important their bass sound is in the studio. Can someone suggest a good Daryl Jones jazz track with Miles Davis, or someone else? Because he lacks the presence the Stones demand as a rock bassist. That's the main reason I don't expect a lot from them in the studio ever again. The bottom is gone.

Awful song and awful lyrics, Gunface is one of those songs I listened to once when I bought the album and never listened to again, hearing it now reminds me why I don't listen to it. I only liked a few songs on B2B and the others make me cringe.

I have always loved this track and one that gets multiple repeats when I listen to B2B. I love the anger, the energy and feel of the whole track.

Not a track I really enjoy. Just sounds too forced, without the bluesiness or soulfulness that I expect from the Stones. When I read the lyrics now, I think of how this track, from a lyrical perspective at least, would have fit right on the Dirty Work album. Quite similar to the "Fight" lyrics in fact. But even "Fight" was a little more believable than this exercise in, um, Saber-rattling. Sounds to me like Keith had minimal or no input into this one.

Drew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-10-18 22:45 by drewmaster.

agree with drew. kind of a poster-child song for the forced, contrived, over-the-top type of song that has permeated much of their latter-era fodder....

I like it, the sound, the groove, the rawness. But most of all, I like it, because it doesn't sound "conceived". Politically incorrect maybe, but the words read like a straight transfer of what Jagger might feel sometimes. That's all we can hope for, isn't it?

Quote
24FPS
One of the few cuts I liked off this one. Keith's contributions seem minimal on the entire album. Still, it's so difficult for me to listen to post Wyman studio work. I keep hearing where Bill would have transformed the sound with just a few notes here and there. So sad. And they just don't get, or care, how important their bass sound is in the studio. Can someone suggest a good Daryl Jones jazz track with Miles Davis, or someone else? Because he lacks the presence the Stones demand as a rock bassist. That's the main reason I don't expect a lot from them in the studio ever again. The bottom is gone.

Flip The Switch (Keith-song)
Already Over Me (last innovative guitar playing we've heard from Keith?)
Lowdown (Keith-song)
You Don't Have To Mean It (Keith-song)
Always Suffering (Beautiful guitar by Keith on a lame song)
Too Tight (Keith-riff, at least)
Thief In The Night (Keith-song, with Pierre)
How Can I Stop (definitely a Keith-song)

Seems like Keith contributed his 50 percent to me...

>> Too Tight (Keith-riff, at least) <<

I wrote Flip the Switch, and (Mick) had a lot of input on that. Same with Lowdown and Too Tight.
- Keith Richards, September 1997, quoted on [www.timeisonourside.com]

Quote
with sssoul
Keith does play on Gunface, i believe - but here's a Mick quote to back you up about the writing of it:
I had written a lot of songs coming into this project ... I'd written them and they were all finished and completed.
... (I wrote) Anybody Seen My Baby, Saint of Me... Gunface, Out of Control, Might as Well Get Juiced.
- Mick Jagger, 1997, quoted on [www.timeisonourside.com]

Hey I remember seeing Keith Richards adding some licks on Gunface, in the studio.....in the "making of Bridges To Babylon" TV documentary, which was aired in 1997. And if memory serves, those licks sounded pretty much the same as the ones that made it on the released version.
Anybody else remembers this ?

WHen it comes to "Gunface", it's one of the least good songs on BtB, IMO - never did it for me