Little Red Rooster is the only pure blues single the Stones released and against the advice of critics and Andrew Loog Oldham who felt the song was too uncommercial it made number one in Britain. It is often rumoured even at this early point in the Stones career Brian Jones was isolated from the rest of the group. Despite the fact Brian played a very prominant role in this song (slide guitar) apparently the song was recorded without him being present and he was just told to overdub his part in the appropriate places. Anyway releasing this as a single was a gamble that paid off. I really love the version of this song the Stones recorded for the Ed Sullivan show in May 1965 - i rate it as one of the best live Stones television performances. I am not so keen on the occasional later version eg. Love You Live and Flashpoint despite the spirited Eric Clapton solo . It's the youthful innocence of their early versions that does it for me.
Great Song.... arrangement done with the help of John Paul Jones, who also arranged other songs in the eary-mid 60's for the Stones. Jimmy Page also Helped with the Stones... Heart of Stone infact has some of the Lead guitar performed by Page. Just a note.
To my knowledge, the only Stones song John Paul Jones arranged was She's Like A Rainbow, and that was in 1967. Back in the early days, the Stones arranged most of their songs. They surely couldn't rely on clueless Andrew Oldham. As for LRR, Brian shines in slide guitar. Nobody could replicate Brian's soulful phrasing in that song, certainly not boring Eric Clapton! It was perfect . . .
Funny how this was actually too risque for US radio at one time eh? Boy how times change. Today is much more cruder and totally lacking the subtleties/ double entendres. Is a lost art perhaps? Especially as Jagger sings it? Personally, Spider and the Fly always cracked me up more, but both are great!