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

Pathé Marconi Studios (EMI Studios), Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France,
June 10 - October 19, 1979 and Electric Ladyland Studios, New York City,
New York, US, November - December 1979

Mick Jagger - vocals, electric guitar
Keith Richards - electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Ron Wood - electric guitar, pedal steel guitar
Bobby Keys - saxophone
Michael Shrieve - percussion

You're gonna get it straight from the shoulder
Can't you see the party's over, let me go
Can't you get it through your thick head
This affair is finished, dead, please, let me go
I tried giving you the velvet gloves
I tried giving you the knockout punch
Hey, let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go, let me go

I find it hard, hard to be cruel
I find it hard, hard to be cruel with a smile, don't you?
You'll never find that perfect love
That you read about, that you dream about

Maybe I'll become a playboy
Hang around in gay bars and move to the west side of town
You're gonna get it straight from the shoulder
Can't you see the party's over, hey, let me go, let me go

So you think I'm giving you the brush off
No, I'm just telling you to shove off, hey, baby, won’t you let me go
This ain't no time to waste my breath
We're going into sudden death, hey, let me go
Can't you get it through your thick head
This affair is dead as a dodo, hey, baby won't you let me go
The bell has rung and I've called time
The chair is on the table, out the door baby, baby won't you let me go
Let me go, baby won't you let me go, let me go, baby, won’t you let me go
Let me go, let me go, let me go, baby won’t you let me go, let me, let me, let me go

Produced by The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Emotional Rescue” LP
(Rolling Stones Records CUN 39111) UK, June 23, 1980



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-11 10:23 by René.

I love the rythm pattern of these SG-ian tune. Love KRs guitars, CW's drums.....everything. This is one of the many sequelae from respectable that lasted till Flip the Switch.............

One of my top ten Stones tunes. I just LOVE the whole thing about it, and, I dig the sax coming in at the end. Let Me Go is a hidden masterpiece.

Oh baby, this song is so groovy and funky, such a loose and delicious romp, about wanting freedom from being shackled in a smothering relationship ...

That opening guitar growl ... that supremely swingin' groove ... and that awesome production, which lets the music shimmer and breathe...

One of the ten reasons I consider ER to be one of the Stones' most under-rated albums.

Drew

Love this song very much. It's got that same punky attitude that we heard in When The Whip Comes Down and Respectable. Always thought it should have been a single.

It would seem an "easy" song...but this band make this song unique.

It is only rock and roll but...the rock that only this band knows how to play it.

They are not on autopilot. This song is on fire.

One of the great underrated gems. True gems nit just something the fans love, it's a godd song, well played and not a throwaway although it sounds that way live in 1981 despite the intro.

Tasty country/punk tune that they do so well. It would have fit nicely on SG, but belonged on ER. Lovely phrasing by Jagger, almost parody, and taunting. A master class tease.

Very underrated song just like Sad Sad Sad is...both of them is solid Rolling Stones Rock.....with Roll and everything...

2 1 2 0

Always liked this tune and it is one of the very few where I prefer the live version.

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uhbuhgullayew
Always liked this tune and it is one of the very few where I prefer the live version.

Interesting, since the Stones are known as a better live band than studio band.

However, in this case I totally agree. Nothing beats the Still Life-version. Keith's best guitar solo to date as well, imo.

Here's another good version "Maybe I'll become a gay boy"... Mick's giving Ronnie the tongue treatment again - ha ha







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-06-04 15:43 by DandelionPowderman.

Somehow the song that start with the word "Let" are among the greatest songs from the catalogue.
We've had many great songs to talk about these last few weeks.
Actually it is quite amazing that they haven't played this song on stage during any tour after
the 81/82 tour. Together with Dance, She's so cold and All about you, it might even have been
in for an "album of the night" kind of treatment during the Licks tour.

Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away

This is a much better song than Sad, Sad, Sad, or Flip the Switch or other related pieces of crap like Fight and Had It With You.

I love it. It's fun and catchy. I mentioned this song before here and a lot of people hated it. But also I proposed that the guitar solo might be a slide guitar. But some here insisted it was Keith just bending his strings a lot. I still think it could be a slide guitar.

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Title5Take1
I love it. It's fun and catchy. I mentioned this song before here and a lot of people hated it. But also I proposed that the guitar solo might be a slide guitar. But some here insisted it was Keith just bending his strings a lot. I still think it could be a slide guitar.

Love it too, but I don't hear a slide in it.

C

Pumped when they played it live..A even better song when played live...It really helps make ER a better album..
As its by far the Best rocker on the album...

Should have been a single..

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uhbuhgullayew
Always liked this tune and it is one of the very few where I prefer the live version.

I'm the opposite.

I think the studio version swings absolutely beautifully. Very underrated song and a really fine lead vocal too. One of the best two or three songs on the entire album.

Was very disappointed when I heard the way they tunelessly thrashed their way through it (and 'She's So Cold') on the 81-82 tour. The live versions do neither of the songs any justice at all.

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Gazza

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uhbuhgullayew
Always liked this tune and it is one of the very few where I prefer the live version.

I'm the opposite.

I think the studio version swings absolutely beautifully. Very underrated song and a really fine lead vocal too. One of the best two or three songs on the entire album.

Was very disappointed when I heard the way they tunelessly thrashed their way through it (and 'She's So Cold') on the 81-82 tour. The live versions do neither of the songs any justice at all.

Agree 100%; the atmosphere of the studio versions is not easily replicable live (maybe the slap back delays, etc...)

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liddas

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Title5Take1
I love it. It's fun and catchy. I mentioned this song before here and a lot of people hated it. But also I proposed that the guitar solo might be a slide guitar. But some here insisted it was Keith just bending his strings a lot. I still think it could be a slide guitar.

Love it too, but I don't hear a slide in it.

C

Didn't Wood play peal steel on it?

Mathijs

My favorite ER song. I remember cranking it all Summer everytime it would come on. ER was the first Stones album I did not buy. I remember hearing Indian Girl and Where The Boys Go and being hugely disappointed - thinking that they half mailed it in, and half sold out to pure pop. Let Me Go redeemed them in my head. (though this was when I was a teen and naive to the fact that so many records contained leftovers from previous recording sessions and that this may have been written for Some Girls...it would take me till found this site to know Tattoo You was an album of outtakes!)

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24FPS
This is a much better song than Sad, Sad, Sad, or Flip the Switch or other related pieces of crap like Fight and Had It With You.

I enjoy Sad, Sad, Sad and Fight. I don't find them to be pieces of crap at all, they are probably my favorite songs from their respective albums. That said, I also think Let Me Go is a great song, and ER a great and underrated album.

The album version is a top ten for me also. It's such a chuggy, laid back tune. (you can almost feel the box cars rolling by) Guitars are simple but so effective, tasty solo fits perfectly and Mick's singing is spot on.

The live version is great also but at the fast tempo it's like so many other songs and misses the magic of the record.

Can't think of another song where Charlie hits a tamborine throughout like that either.

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Markdog

Can't think of another song where Charlie hits a tamborine throughout like that either.

Is it Charlie or is it "Michael Shrieve"?

Drew

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tkl7

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24FPS
This is a much better song than Sad, Sad, Sad, or Flip the Switch or other related pieces of crap like Fight and Had It With You.

I enjoy Sad, Sad, Sad and Fight. I don't find them to be pieces of crap at all, they are probably my favorite songs from their respective albums. That said, I also think Let Me Go is a great song, and ER a great and underrated album.

Okay. I'm very glad you get enjoyment out of them. It's a harsh world. I known someone who insists I listen to their Grateful Dead cuts whenever I get in their car. It makes me hate the Dead even deeper and question the taste of their fans. But hey, if that particular noise does it for somebody, then I am glad for them.

Punk with a twang...if there is such a thing.

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KeithNacho

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Gazza

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uhbuhgullayew
Always liked this tune and it is one of the very few where I prefer the live version.

I'm the opposite.

I think the studio version swings absolutely beautifully. Very underrated song and a really fine lead vocal too. One of the best two or three songs on the entire album.

Was very disappointed when I heard the way they tunelessly thrashed their way through it (and 'She's So Cold') on the 81-82 tour. The live versions do neither of the songs any justice at all.

Agree 100%; the atmosphere of the studio versions is not easily replicable live (maybe the slap back delays, etc...)

Yes, both songs swing a bit more on the studio versions.

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Mathijs

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liddas

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Title5Take1
I love it. It's fun and catchy. I mentioned this song before here and a lot of people hated it. But also I proposed that the guitar solo might be a slide guitar. But some here insisted it was Keith just bending his strings a lot. I still think it could be a slide guitar.

Love it too, but I don't hear a slide in it.

C

Didn't Wood play peal steel on it?

Mathijs

I was referring to Keith's solo. Indeed there are a couple of slide licks coming out of Ronnie's channel that could be pedal steel!


C

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Mathijs

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liddas

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Title5Take1
I love it. It's fun and catchy. I mentioned this song before here and a lot of people hated it. But also I proposed that the guitar solo might be a slide guitar. But some here insisted it was Keith just bending his strings a lot. I still think it could be a slide guitar.

Love it too, but I don't hear a slide in it.

C

Didn't Wood play peal steel on it?

Mathijs

Can you hear Wood in there?

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drewmaster

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Markdog

Can't think of another song where Charlie hits a tamborine throughout like that either.

Is it Charlie or is it "Michael Shrieve"?

Drew

Only on percussion. Don't know if he's on this one, though.

Try Dance and Send It To Me...

OK, so I rediscovered this one and really enjoyed it - but now I can't get rid of the bloody thing! I've got it as an un-shiftable earworm - catchy as the plague!

Yes I do like it. A lot. But enough is ENOUGH. Go AWAY!