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Hand Of Fate
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Musicland Studios, Munich, West-Germany, March 25, 1975,
Mountain Recording Studios, Montreux, Switserland, October 19 - 30, 1975 and
Musicland Studios, Munich, West-Germany, December 3 - 16, 1975

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Ron Wood - backing vocals
Wayne Perkins - electric guitar
Billy Preston - piano
Ollie Brown - percussion

The hand of fate is on me now, it picked me up and it knocked me down
I'm on the run, I'm prison bound, the hand of fate is heavy now
I killed a man, I'm highway bound, the wheel of fortune keeps turning round
Keeps turning round, turning round, I should have known it was an one horse town
Cause my sweet girl was once his wife and he had papers that the judge had signed
The wind blew hard it was a stormy night, he shot me once but I shot him twice
The hand of fate is on me now, it picked me up and it kicked me right down
It kicked me right down, it kicked me right down

I had save her life, yeah, I gunned him twice
Yeah, and I watched him die, watch out boy, yeah, I watched him die

He was a barroom man, the violent kind, he had no love for that gal of mine
And then one day in a drinkin’ bout, he swore he'd throw me right out of town
The hand of fate is on me now, I shot that man, I put him underground
I put him underground, underground, yes I did

I'm on the run, I hear the hounds, my luck is up, my chips are down
So goodbye baby, so long now, wish me luck, I'm gonna need it child
The hand of fate is on me now, yeah, it's too late baby, I’ll tell ya, it's too late baby
It's too late now, the hand of fate is on me now, oh yeah, I’ll tell ya
The hand of fate hangs heavy, heavy now, it's heavy now
The hand of fate is heavy now
Now, don’t you worry, don’t you frown, I’m gonna keep right, keep right
Oh yeah, watch out boy, oh yeah, come on, now, don’t you frown
It’s too late, it’s too late now
The hand of fate is heavy now, it pick you up and it knock you down

Produced by The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Black And Blue” LP
(Rolling Stones Records COC 79104) US, April 15, 1976

great chunkachunkachunka Stones - and the lyrics are great too, despite the highly unlikely persona
some trenchant insights from one of the writers:

(Keith and I) write some together. In fact, Hand of Fate we kind of did, get together.
Even on the lyrics, we discussed it over a lengthy coffee... coffee BREAKS, in the studio,
and we came up with the lyrics TOGETHER on that one.
- Mick Jagger, 1976

It's the wrong rhythm these days. It's a bit old-fashioned Rolling Stones ...
If you don't like to dance to [Hot Stuff], you don't have to touch it, soon enough THIS one comes on.
And you're back into your old Rolling Stones booga-boom, gadda-gadda, boom-boom. All right?
- Mick Jagger, 1976

Absolutely fantastic lyrics and one of the best guitar solos ever on a Stones song - too bad it ain't one of the Stones playing it!

This kind of reminds me of the son of Gimme Shelter - you get an early Dylan like scenario of impending doom...a stormy night with the air of menace all around.
God, how I miss them doing songs like these.

Great song that is deceptively low key. Starts with a perfectly dozy narcotic intro. Mick introduces a wonderful anti-hero and the fills start to build with intensity, and then the beautiful backing vocals sound almost gospel. A wonderful middle eighth that intros the first scorching solo. Then another bridge to another wonderful solo. Two in one song! A rarity in a stone's song. Oh and a hit of cow bell and Charlie's wonderful cymbal work leading into the outro solo... Great track!

I never tire of listening to his; it's in my Top 10.

Have always loved it.


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

great song.love wayne perkins guitar solo.

great song, great production, fantastic guitarsound and probably the best guitarsolo on a stones track!

It was excellently played at Roseland Ballroom in 2003(?). We really enjoyed it. BTW, Ron nailed the solo very well.

Killer track at the time...Black and Blue had it all...But for me i loved that track the very best.
What teenage boy wouldn't...Makes you want to fight after hearing it...ha.

I like everything about this song. Great lyrics, great guitar playing, and truly great vocals by Mick. I wish they had done more like this one.

Waine Perkins guitar solo is amazing! Mick's voice too

Nice second tier track. Good harmonies from Keith and Ron back when they could sing.

Great,classic Stones rocker. WOuld love to see this attemtpted live a little more often.

Great Classic Stones song, great different guitar work, great mood............ one minus, remember from back then that I didn't liked his deep throat voice I think I got used with it (wasn't this the first time he used this kind of voice?)

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-01 19:53 by NICOS.

I love everything about it. Not that many Stones songs have an outright story narrative, and that one does. I wish they wrote more story songs.

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mikeeder
Nice second tier track. Good harmonies from Keith and Ron back when they could sing.

Indeed. Mostly Billy Preston, though.

My favorite song on Black and Blue, which is my favorite Stones album.

Isn't it a pedal-steel that Wayne Perkins uses on the solo?

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uhbuhgullayew
My favorite song on Black and Blue, which is my favorite Stones album.

My favorite song on Black and Blue, which is one of my least favorite Stones albums. Great Tayloresque solo by Perkins. The open G riff is really fun to play with that A minor chord in there.

Great song, great riff, great lyrics, great guitar from Perkins and Jagger uses that great growly voice.

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uhbuhgullayew
My favorite song on Black and Blue, which is my favorite Stones album.

Then you got something in common with one of the leading pop stars in Germany.

as the posts so far suggest, this track is at this point somewhat overrated, especially by those with a preference for meat-and-potatoes hard rock. Good song, but I'm glad there aren't too many more like it.

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mikeeder
Nice second tier track. Good harmonies from Keith and Ron back when they could sing.

I don't really like Keith's singing until Too Rude. Up until then his voice was too darned nasal sounding and thin. (Not that I hate his songs prior, but if I like one, it's for reasons other than the vocal. I like the "riffage" of Little T&A).I prefer his voice with some "mileage." Prepare for sacrilege: I much prefer SHINE A LIGHT's version of You Got the Silver to LET IT BLEED's. (This Place is Empty is one of my favorite Stones songs).

Great song indeed.
Bl&BL..session musicians work!

It's an odd song. It's intense yet so sluggish and almost lazy. But they don't have a lot of songs like this. I've always liked it. It always sounds on the verge of falling apart, much like Tumbling Dice is, and so in that aspect, it's a nice groove. Is it a CYHMK or Rocks Off type song? No. But it is what it is - a nice dirty filthy lazy howling rocker.

Killer song and great guitar work.

Good tune but its always bothered me when he says the hand of fate "kicked me right down".

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Nimrod
Good tune but its always bothered me when he says the hand of fate "kicked me right down".

lol, I never thought of that before... maybe "flicked me right down" would have been more correct.

Hmmm, I like this track but I can't say that I love it. It's got a nice groove, especially towards the end, but it's just not transcendent, to my ears. Wayne Perkins does contribute two very good solos, but I prefer his solo on Worried About You, maybe because that song IS transcendent and this is not.

Jagger's vocals are quite growly, kind of like on Dirty Work.

Still, thanks to Charlie and Wayne Perkins, the last minute or so of this song has a nice kick to it.

Drew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-11-02 02:34 by drewmaster.