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Mathijs
I always thought of it as a 'being on the road'song, as in a touring band being on the road, going from one place to the other, gig to gig, while partying and having fun, and trying to keep out of trouble. They toured partially by train in 1970 and 1971, so I always thought that made sense.

Mathijs

What Mathijs said.

"No Anchovies, Please"

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slewan
Although I'm not a native speaker I always thought that "all down the line" is a metaphor for "all life long" (note the difference/relation between "all down the line" and "won't you be my baby for a while"
and thinking of all the topics mentioned in the song (women sighing, children crying, men working, whistle blowing (maybe not train, but factory whistle!?)) the lyrics remind of lots of traditional blues songs

Thank you!

Maybe you really shouldn't look for a deeper meaning of the lyrics. Such lyrics always drive my insane when I try to analyze them.
I remind in "LIFE" Keith wrote that he came up with the riff and a kind of melody and he had the title "all down the line" but nothing more. And he showed it Mick and they played around with it and Mick found came up with some words. And it could really be that "all down the line" just sounded cool for them and they took it more as a metaphor for "all life long". But also some lines seem to have something to do with trains.
"Hear the whistle blowing, hear it for a thousand miles"

I found some very interesing alternate/early versions on yt:
[www.youtube.com]
[www.youtube.com]
I don't understand much of the acoustic version but he seems to sing something like:
"
le lala-le
oh lalala-le
a-lala-le
a-lala-le
women working, yeah
oh, see the women working
all down the line

all down the line
call me the trouble, yeah
all down the line
call me the trouble
...
(some lines I don't understand)

Want you be my baby for tonight?
Want you call me honey for tonight?
Yeah all down the line

hear the children singing
singing sha-la-la
see the people running
all down the line



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-28 13:45 by StonedRambler.

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StonedRambler
Always one of my favourites on exile and one of my favourite Songs to be played live. Hope they keep it in the setlist.

But what I always wanted to know:
What is this song about?
Is is about cocaine?

Honestly I don't understand anything about the lyrics.
I just don't get the point.
Could be because im German..
So can you explain me what means "All down the line"
and "We'll be watching out for Trouble yeah
and we'd better keep the motor running yeah"
?

I was wondering the exact same thing yesterday at the same time in the evening. Weird. Smack or cocaine. A bottle of Mercks finest?

Somebody once asked Bob Dylan why he had the line "people don't live or die, people just float" in Man In The Long Black Coat. His answer was that he needed a word to rhyme with coat and it was hard - so he settled on float. Sometimes songs and songwriting are not as complicated as we think. Keith has the riff and the title. Mick takes it away and fleshes it out a bit. I believe Mathijs is accurate in describing it as a road song and the Stones did use trains a lot in 1970 - 1971. As far as some big meaning, I doubt there is one.

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Rockman
start me up is not about race car driver.

And King Bee ain't an advertisement for a honey farm...

This made me laugh , thanks Rockman !

Didn't the early Jagger acoustic take include references to working women all down the line, and "calling me to trouble" which seems a clear reference to hookers shouting enticements?

The final version is likely a melange of various meanings, as it's usually more important that lyrics sound good, rather than have any consistent meaning,

dayo

I think the song is about all sorts of "down the lines" that we can directly or indirectly relate to in real life.

The vast millions that work on production lines.
The train line and all that goes with it. Clearly the main focus.
The telegraph line.
Power humming down the power lines.
Haplessly stuck "going down the line" of life.
The line is life.

"Be my little baby for a while" and jump off of the line and play with a rich decadent rock star that has no line. But then afterwards.... You have to jump back on the line.

Like others have said, it's just a spark of an idea that gets fleshed out. It turns out quite well in the end.

The lyrics _do_ say something about all of us on the hamster wheel of life. It's a love/hate relationship. Keep it turning!

Mick would probably be laughing his butt off at our attempts to make such literal sense of his lyrics. He was likely just in free form creative mode, writing down the first thing that came to his mind and sang well over the music.

Really funny how some folks can think just about any song is about drugs. That would make a good SNL skit or standup comic routine. Btw: I am somewhat laughing at my 17 year old self who did the same.

peace

I liked the Taylor versions back at the time, and I think it's one of the best songs they have ever written, but these days it's all down the drain to me.

I am still reeling from those nutty posts from and that full of you know what "onlystones"...so let's get back to reality for a moment and that would
be one of my all-time favorite Stones songs

"ALL DOWN THE LINE" started taking shape in 1969,according to Mick.

It was first performed live in September 1970 at several concerts in Scandinavia. The lyrics involve around men, women and children working in a factory. It has nothing to do with cocaine.

Everyone in the band, including Mick Taylor, showed enthusiasm as they worked on the music.

AND This was one new song that audiences immediately gravitated to...danceable, intriguing lyrics, great playing from the Stones


Somewhere I have a cassette tape of one of those performances. When I have time
to find it, I will let you know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-29 02:33 by stonesrule.

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stonesrule
I am still reeling from those nutty posts from and that full of you know what "onlystones"...so let's get back to reality for a moment and that would
be one of my all-time favorite Stones songs

"ALL DOWN THE LINE" started taking shape in 1969,according to Mick.

It was first performed live in September 1970 at several concerts in Scandinavia. The lyrics involve around men, women and children working in a factory. It has nothing to do with cocaine.

Everyone in the band, including Mick Taylor, showed enthusiasm as they worked on the music.

AND This was one new song that audiences immediately gravitated to...danceable, intriguing lyrics, great playing from the Stones


Somewhere I have a cassette tape of one of those performances. When I have time
to find it, I will let you know.

All Down The Line's live debut was Vancouver June 3, 1972. It is Dead Flowers that was debuted in Scandinavia 1970

Sorry, but you're incorrect re the "live debut." Better do a little more research on "All Down The Line." Perhaps "Stone Vikings" can be helpful.

probably just impressionistic phrases that sounded good - not consciously about anything

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Send It To me
probably just impressionistic phrases that sounded good - not consciously about anything

But unconsciously ..?! Whatever the original meaning, I liked the way they showed a montage of photos of Bluesmen and other musical influences when they played this in 2012/13. I thought it was a graceful way of paying tribute to those who went before and it changed the way I listened to this track ever since.

It's about Mick Taylor's solo.

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Naturalust
Pretty clear to me this is about riding a train. Including the party in the service coach and the need for a girl to share your sleeper cabin.

peace

I'm surprised it took five posts to get to this obvious correct answer. It is all train metaphors and takes off from there. It's all about energy and a deisel train barreling down the line at full speed, a metaphor for whatever you want.

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stonesrule
Sorry, but you're incorrect re the "live debut." Better do a little more research on "All Down The Line." Perhaps "Stone Vikings" can be helpful.

You are wrong, Stonesrule, and Stewedandkeefed is right.

Try again !

If Exile is the scripture,
All Down the Line is the decalog.

It's about faith in where the music takes you.

The title reminded me of the movie WHITE LINE FEVER so I thought it was about truck driving, with lyrics like "diesel drumming," "motor running," "open up the throttle, yeah."

I don't like arguments so anyone here that needs to believe I'm wrong about the
earliest performances of "All Down the Line" is welcome to do so. I was there on the early dates of the 1970 European Tour as a guest of the band.

Believe anything that makes you happy. Cause I got better things to do than argue about music.

Best way to appraoch lyrics is to allow whatever your mind pictures to reference the meaning in the song. Dylan once said, when asked about lyrics, that they mean whatever you want them to mean. Sometimes the writer doesn;t intend any one meaning and they are spliced together from different days and feelings. Other times they are written exclusively about something very personal to the writer and so on and so on. If All Down the Line conjures images of train travel etc that's perfect, as it is if it conjures images of drug use, or factory production lines. Once you start looking for metaphors you then stray into guess work once again based on your personal bias. Just enjoy, the fact that the songs on Exile contain what are some of the best rock lyrics you will ever see, hear and imagine!

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stonesrule
I don't like arguments so anyone here that needs to believe I'm wrong about the
earliest performances of "All Down the Line" is welcome to do so. I was there on the early dates of the 1970 European Tour as a guest of the band.

Believe anything that makes you happy. Cause I got better things to do than argue about music.

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stonesrule
the music.

Somewhere I have a cassette tape of one of those performances. When I have time
to find it, I will let you know.

just 30 seconds part of ADTL from your 1970 tape will proove you are right. I hope you are right.

ROCKMAN

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LiveAtHidepark

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stonesrule
I don't like arguments so anyone here that needs to believe I'm wrong about the
earliest performances of "All Down the Line" is welcome to do so. I was there on the early dates of the 1970 European Tour as a guest of the band.

Believe anything that makes you happy. Cause I got better things to do than argue about music.

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stonesrule
the music.

Somewhere I have a cassette tape of one of those performances. When I have time
to find it, I will let you know.

just 30 seconds part of ADTL from your 1970 tape will proove you are right. I hope you are right.

Patience required
[www.iorr.org]

Some Stones songs are obviously edited down and the longer pre-edit (outtake) versions may in fact make more sense (like with HEAVEN where—pre-edit—Mick is singing about a "little girl," probably Jade) but for time purposes or just to be poetically oblique some lines get cut.

According to setlist.fm first performance of ADTL : [www.setlist.fm] and they have the 1970 setlist [www.setlist.fm]:[1970-01-01+TO+1970-12-31] so...

Anyway lots of great stuff here, I think we just need to get a hold of that WSJ guy who got Mick to cough up all that info on MM to put it to bed ;-)

--------------
IORR Links : Essential Studio Outtakes CDs : Audio - History of Rarest Outtakes : Audio

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stonesrule
Somewhere I have a cassette tape of one of those performances. When I have time
to find it, I will let you know.

Wow! Can't wait to hear that!
Thanks in advance stonesrule.

Strange that there are so many interpretations of this song, because for me, the mood and the lyrics have always pointed to one thing. I get a 1930 Depression vibe of a communitiy of hoboes riding the rails in the South. The lines about seeing people working are about seeing the workers in the cotton and tobacco fields that they pass on the train. It's a carefree life in the sunshine, with the rhythm of the train, sharing a bottle with friends. Watching out for trouble means looking out for the guards who would kick them off.

'You can't say yes and you can't say no..just be right there when the whistle blows' - there's no jobs to be had, and nothing else to do except ride the freight trains.

The only lines that I can't fit are the ones about opening up the throttle and keeping the motor running.

Ahh, interpreting art. I think it's a general comment on the life of work, wives, children and the soul. That diesel is the man's engine that gets him taking care of business everyday. He's got responsibilities, sighing women and crying children, but he'll be right there when the whistle blows.


Hear the whistle blowing, hear it for a thousand miles. Sounds like the band on tour.