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

Regent Sound Studios, London, UK, September 28 & 29, 1964

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals, tambourine
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar

Heard from friends of mine, you been tellin' lies, how I was wrapped up in you
But, surprise surprise, surprise surprise, I never wanted you that bad
'Cause I knew you was tellin' lies, knew you was tellin' lies, I could see it in your eyes

Why did you hafta go and fool after we had got along so fine
But, surprise surprise, surprise surprise, fakin's nothing strange to me
I knew you was tellin' lies, knew you was tellin' lies, I could see it in your eyes

I knew you was tellin' lies, knew you was tellin' lies, I could see it in your eyes

I hope you're proud of all your chasin' 'round, thinkin' I was alone all night
But, surprise surprise, surprise surprise, you're only foolin' yourself
'Cause I knew you was tellin' lies, knew you was tellin' lies, I could see it in your eyes

Yeah baby, why did you hafta go and fool around after we got along so fine
I knew you was tellin' lies, tellin' lies, yes I did, we got along so fine
But I knew you was tellin' lies, knew you was talkin' jive, I could see it in your eyes

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “The Rolling Stones, Now!” LP
(London PS 420) US, February 13, 1965



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-29 11:00 by René.

ROCKMAN

Strangely cool little number - I'll take it!

Not a song that makes me want to hoot and holler or rip up the dance floor I'm afraid to say. This is b-side material and not yet up to the standard or other b-sides they would soon write like Congratulations, Blue Turns To Grey or Play With Fire.

It sounds a little bit like they were trying to replicate the manic rush of I Wanna Be Your Man but without achieving either the same ferocity or catchy chorus.

I agree, Mike, but I would put Congratulations in the same bag as this one: A decent B-side.

A slight, forgettable track.

Drew

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DandelionPowderman
I agree, Mike, but I would put Congratulations in the same bag as this one: A decent B-side.

Same here, except that this one has the advantage of not being misspelt :E
"Congradulations" is the actual title of that one, at least on 12x5

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DandelionPowderman
I agree, Mike, but I would put Congratulations in the same bag as this one: A decent B-side.

The reason I like Congratulations is for that lush sounding 12 string that on which Keith picks the riff. Always found that a kind of nod to the folk rock style that was popular then. Sounds also like something George Harrison might have played.

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman
I agree, Mike, but I would put Congratulations in the same bag as this one: A decent B-side.

The reason I like Congratulations is for that lush sounding 12 string that on which Keith picks the riff. Always found that a kind of nod to the folk rock style that was popular then. Sounds also like something George Harrison might have played.

I also like the boogie guitar in Surprise Surprise, but it doesn't quite save the song

I have always liked this tune since I heard it for the first time in NO STONE UNTURNED album. It has a rough, not much worked demo feel, and its structural components are a bit odd in pieces, but there is that young, vital eagerness there that puts a smile to my face every time I hear it (which is not too often, I admit). A real Jagger-Richard work in process, the guys learning song-writing, and not eally having any signature idea yet. But young Keith had a mind full of catchy pop melody skectches; antenna working full-time.

- Doxa

Wow, this was a song a heard first with the Swedish band 'Ola & The Janglers'...it was a hit with them...

video: [www.youtube.com]

2 1 2 0

The Stones original is a decent-enough rendition, but Lulu's take is superb: firery and driving, with some tertific playing from Jimmy Page. Thank you for posting, Rockman.

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Big Al
The Stones original is a decent-enough rendition, but Lulu's take is superb: firery and driving, with some tertific playing from Jimmy Page. Thank you for posting, Rockman.

You've got to love her...... She's done some great stuff over the years.......

Very underrated IMHO

What a drag it is gettin' old

Love it!






What a drag it is gettin' old

I always liked the rough sound to it...Kind
of a early punk sound.

With all the clean and sweet love songs out there
its cool they released a demo type track instead of working on it
a little more.

Didn't understand taking a song from 1964 and making it
a b-side in 1970.

Oh well. A fun little track.

I really love their early original stuff. This is a spunky little vintage with boquets of rasberries and leather, and finishes well.

A strange track to release, since it is obviously not finished.
It's okay but nothing special.
I guess the only reason to include it on Now! was that they were one song short for the song line-up and that the track were among other tracks recorded during September 1964.

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71Tele
I really love their early original stuff. This is a spunky little vintage with boquets of rasberries and leather, and finishes well.

Lovely description. Sounds like the bottle of red that I'll polish-off this evening

The drums and bass line are typical "Bristol Stomp".

This was the only way that fans in the UK could get "Surprise Surprise" in the sixties.




[www.stonesondecca.com]


"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

Listened to this tune for the first time today. Pretty cool for 1964, I'd say. Definitely had strong hints of what the Stones would do in years to come. Micks vocal style was certainly hitting a groove he would milk for a long time.

peace

In those days all their early albums seem to end with a fast tempo song, and Surprise Surprise is the fastest tempo tune on Now!, which is an adequate enough way to signal the ending to a collection of mid-tempo tunes. It would be interesting to know how this song would have done chart-wise if Come On had been the B-side instead.

For such an early B-side, it seems to have generated several covers over many decades. Besides the Lulu and The Luvers and Ola and The Janglers versions mentioned above, there was also one done by a Danish rock group that year (1965) known as The Defenders.





Defenders discography at: [www.dk-rock.dk]

It was recorded in the 1970s by U.S. glam-rock band Berlin Brats.



In 1980, Akron, Ohio punk-rock band Rubber City Rebels released a version on their eponymous Capitol Records album.



Audio clip: [www.artistdirect.com]

Detroit band The Hentchmen recorded a version in 2003 as the B-side of a single.



[nortonrecords.gostorego.com]

"Surprise! Surprise! is a stock phrase in the English language from 1928 and earlier. The phrase also exists in French." "... surprise gymnique, par Francis Serres, Mauguères et Jean-Claude ; Une surprise-surprise, par Calixte" [en.wikipedia.org]

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René
But, surprise surprise, surprise surprise, fate is nothing strange to me

I believe it's "fakin's nothing strange to me", isn't it?

Strange song...never realy liked it.....

__________________________




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-23 11:52 by NICOS.

Charlie's good on this on in't he?

Funny to think about it... and even considering the context... how come such a raw, second rate piece of music, be it not even single b-side worth or something, sound so much better and vital than anything they did, for example, in VOODOO LOUNGE or A BIGGER BANG albums? That's something I was reflecting when I was listening to this song now, after a long time, thanks to Rene. And I mean that really... Jagger's vocals alone are better than what he has done for ages, at least if we can hear that on a recording. So fresh, wit, edgy, with that natural color... Damn, things like "Love Is Strong" or "Rough Justice", be them 'stylistically' no matter how spot on, sound so pretentious compared to the natural charm of "Surprise Surprise".. There really is a huge difference between music that is inspired and going uphill than with music that is 'by numbers' and going downhill...

- Doxa



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-23 04:31 by Doxa.

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Doxa
Funny to think about it... and even considering the context... how come such a raw, second rate piece of music, be it not even single b-side worth or something, sound so much better and vital than anything they did, for example, in VOODOO LOUNGE or A BIGGER BANG albums? That's something I was reflecting when I was listening to this song now, after a long time, thanks to Rene. And I mean that really... Jagger's vocals alone are better than what he has done for ages, at least if we can hear that on a recording. So fresh, wit, edgy, with that natural color... Damn, things like "Love Is Strong" or "Rough Justice", be them 'stylistically' no matter how spot on, sound so pretentious compared to the natural charm of "Surprise Surprise".. There really is a huge difference between music that is inspired and going uphill than with music that is 'by numbers' and going downhill...

- Doxa

Doxa, you are normally spot on in your comments, but here I must very respectfully disagree. Look at Laugh, I Nearly Died, for example. In every way (IMHO), it sounds "so much better and vital" (to use your words) than a toss-off like Surprise Surprise. There is nothing "by numbers" about LIND. It is a genuinely inspired, utterly brilliant, fully realized work of art. (And Jagger's vocals are as good on LIND as on anything he's ever done, and certainly more interesting than on Surprise Surprise). There are several other tracks from the two albums that you cite that I feel are also vastly superior to SS and support what I'm saying, but I think LIND is perhaps the best example of all.

Drew

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Doxa
Funny to think about it... and even considering the context... how come such a raw, second rate piece of music, be it not even single b-side worth or something, sound so much better and vital than anything they did, for example, in VOODOO LOUNGE or A BIGGER BANG albums? That's something I was reflecting when I was listening to this song now, after a long time, thanks to Rene. And I mean that really... Jagger's vocals alone are better than what he has done for ages, at least if we can hear that on a recording. So fresh, wit, edgy, with that natural color... Damn, things like "Love Is Strong" or "Rough Justice", be them 'stylistically' no matter how spot on, sound so pretentious compared to the natural charm of "Surprise Surprise".. There really is a huge difference between music that is inspired and going uphill than with music that is 'by numbers' and going downhill...

- Doxa

HMMM! Auuch!

I think that the youthfullness of "Surprise, Surprise" and the immense spark of life in the mature lust for love in "Love Is Strong" combine into such a fact of contrasts that one ought not measure the songs against each other. Do compare, but do not rank. The songs are incommensurable.

I remember during my slow, timeusing approach towards the Stones during the early '60s, when I in my naivety thought I had heard all released Stones recordings (not so many until then), and I was met by "Surprise, Surprise" visiting someone. I could not get enough of it and listened to it probably ten times without stop before I was pushed aside by someone. Then I did not rank that song against any other song, I was only captured in the momentary magic of the song.

To me "Love Is Strong" is, of course, inspired.

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Doxa
Funny to think about it... and even considering the context... how come such a raw, second rate piece of music, be it not even single b-side worth or something, sound so much better and vital than anything they did, for example, in VOODOO LOUNGE or A BIGGER BANG albums? That's something I was reflecting when I was listening to this song now, after a long time, thanks to Rene. And I mean that really... Jagger's vocals alone are better than what he has done for ages, at least if we can hear that on a recording. So fresh, wit, edgy, with that natural color... Damn, things like "Love Is Strong" or "Rough Justice", be them 'stylistically' no matter how spot on, sound so pretentious compared to the natural charm of "Surprise Surprise".. There really is a huge difference between music that is inspired and going uphill than with music that is 'by numbers' and going downhill...

- Doxa

It doesn't

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DandelionPowderman

Quote
Doxa
Funny to think about it... and even considering the context... how come such a raw, second rate piece of music, be it not even single b-side worth or something, sound so much better and vital than anything they did, for example, in VOODOO LOUNGE or A BIGGER BANG albums? That's something I was reflecting when I was listening to this song now, after a long time, thanks to Rene. And I mean that really... Jagger's vocals alone are better than what he has done for ages, at least if we can hear that on a recording. So fresh, wit, edgy, with that natural color... Damn, things like "Love Is Strong" or "Rough Justice", be them 'stylistically' no matter how spot on, sound so pretentious compared to the natural charm of "Surprise Surprise".. There really is a huge difference between music that is inspired and going uphill than with music that is 'by numbers' and going downhill...

- Doxa

It doesn't

Or possibly, at the same time, it both does, and it does not.