Hey there,

I have to get this off my chest, because this is driving me nuts for years. Maybe I just have a bit too much spare time, but I seriously hope Mick or anyone from his website-checking staff reads this. I listened to so many boots over the past weeks and always came across the same disturbing things.
I think Mick is a phenomen when it comes to singing live, but there are songs he constantly c*cks up with only few exceptions.

E.g. YCAGWYW...it is such a soulful and beautiful song. How can he dare to shout out the first lines "I SAW HER TODAY AT A RECEPTION....". This song is meant to create some sentimal feelings and make everyone feel smooth. He should just start it with a soft voice for example like he did at the St. Louis B2B show 97. That was a beautiful version. There is no reason to launch into this song as if he was going to do Start Me Up.

Next one which is my alltime least favorite live song because of Mick. IORR! My god. Whenever he starts it Mick constantly mispronounces "---->WOULD<--- it satisfy..." making something like "WOOUAAD" out of it. *SHIVERS*
And at all there is absolutely no flow in this song until to the last refrains. Mick has always trouble to pronounce certain words right or he sings too choppy. Better he performs it like he did during the SW/UJ tour.

Another hot candidate for my Mick-@#$%&-Ups-List is Brown Sugar. He got it right throughout SW--->VL--->and most of the B2B tour, but since Licks and BB made BS unlistenable, because he always sings:

"You shoulda heard him jusssaa'round midnight" Argh...WTF. Just sing it like:
"You shoulda heard him juuuust Around miiidnight". Everything else is no good improvisation, but sloppyness.


Ok, now I'm running hot haha...next candidate: JJF. Mick, is it so @#$%& hard to hold a note for like 2 seconds when singing:

"but it's aaaaaaaaaaallllright now,...."?? Why does Lisa and Bernard always have to take the lead on this part? Can't be that hard...
Same with Anybody Seen My Baby, but this is merely a B2B issue...

Another one: Beast Of Burden. Why the f*ck does he always mispronounce the word "burden" and making something like an really awful "badaan" of it? Absolutely unnecessary, in particular because it messes up a very important part of the song.

Tumbling Dice: He should sing it as good as he did during the VL tour and not so choppy as Licks (disastrous TD versions) and parts of BB. Mick, this is NOT a rap song!

Another one coming to my mind is HTW:
I can't stand it when he sings "I had to puddup some kind of a fight."
Better: "I had to puuuut uuup some kind of a fight." Pls!

Ok, I think that it for now. On the other I'd have to write books to tell what I like about his singing. I'm no Stones basher at all, but listening to so many boots lately I just had to write down this little text to see if anyone else gets shivers at certain Mick live habits...

bye

ThatsWhatISay

easy to solve. don't go see them and give a real fan the ticket.

you're right - too much time on your hands.

One thought:

It's physically taxing to move around like Mick does and sing as HARD as he does (at MCI Center in DC this week, Mick's power and range were incredible, BTW). Point is: he probably has to change the way he sings some of the lyrics to keep breathing. I know you gave this explanation some consideration; I think it covers a lot of what Mick does.

But basically, Mick has been doing that odd improvisational style of his going back at least to Got Live If You Want It. Recognizing you ain't bashing him, it's a safe bet Mick's gonna keep singing this way until their final tour in 2028.

lol, maybe I'm indeed under-worked.

Don't you guys have certain Mick parts, especially among the warhorses, that have always been a pain in your ass? Can't imagine that as most of you are longtime fans with a catalogue of dozens or hundreds of boots at home. :-)

scaffer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One thought:
>
> It's physically taxing to move around like Mick
> does and sing as HARD as he does (at MCI Center in
> DC this week, Mick's power and range were
> incredible, BTW). Point is: he probably has to
> change the way he sings some of the lyrics to keep
> breathing. I know you gave this explanation some
> consideration; I think it covers a lot of what
> Mick does.
>
> But basically, Mick has been doing that odd
> improvisational style of his going back at least
> to Got Live If You Want It. Recognizing you ain't
> bashing him, it's a safe bet Mick's gonna keep
> singing this way until their final tour in 2028.



Yes I always thought it might be connected to the physical demands of a live show, but then at opening nights he gets those things always right.
And he got them right during SW/UJ, VL tour...which were physically not less demanding.
I think it's more some kind to laziness to sing it right or he might think it's good improvisation. Some shows after opening night he's always back to his old habits. Well, but I can live with it :-D

Oh, I don't disagree that Mick can sing lazy at times (lots of times!). Also, he forgets the words a LOT. Have you heard the outstanding 1966 Honolulu performance? The band and Mick are great, but he forgets a bunch of lyrics to Paint it Black and then starts laughing while trying to fake it. It's pretty amusing.

ok - how come he hasn't remembered the opening line to rocks off since it came back into the setlist in '94?

T&A, you mean at opening night? I didn't talk about forgetting lyrics. I just said that WHAT he indeed sings is pretty flawless at opening nights, although it appears to be very careful at times. But this is more due to the band trying to find the right pace and adjustment.

Does Mick use any kind of tele-prompter device for lyrics? It seems improbable given his movement, but seems like so many performers do these days. If not, you have to give him a lot of credit for remembering so many lyrics. I loved his comment in FF about Hand of Fate having so many damn lyrics. Could this (lyrics) limit the number of setlist changes?

I saw Lucinda Williams a couple of weeks ago and was quite amazed that she sits a lyric book in front of her, and then has a roadie come out every song and find it for her. She must be 15 years younger than Mick, but apparently doesn't have the memory he possesses.

Karl

at every performance since '94....

in terms of HOW he sings? how about SWAY - sorry to pick on a well-worn topic. But he just butchered the phasing and melody in Columbus...Carla Olson sang it 10x better....

Yep, Sway was a disaster. Absolutely unlistenable.

I dunno about Rocks Off. Maybe he changed it consciously?

I would never bash Mick for not remembering lyrics. This is absolutely ok and can happen anytime. Especially when you think about the huge song catalogue the Stones have. I just complain about certain lines he messes up over and over again either with a strange pronounciation or by choppering it.

Mick's used a teleprompter the past few tours....

KSIE Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does Mick use any kind of tele-prompter device for
> lyrics? It seems improbable given his movement,
> but seems like so many performers do these days.


From the on-stage seats, it looked like there was a teleprompter. There was a small monitor on the floor near the edge of center stage. I couldn't see what was written there, but it didn't look like it was a setlist. I assumed it was a teleprompter. Maybe when he feels like he's going to forget some of the lyrics he heads back to that area to refresh his memory.

Wasn't looking too good, but I was feeling real well.

Last tour i sat side stage right next to the backup singers and you could see the teleprompter. it was a little disappoiting to see that not only does it give him lyrics but also choreagraphy, such as "stage right, shake ass, back to center..." I know Mick want to put on a show rather than a concert at times, but he deosnt have to choreograph his prancing so that it is the same every night.

A few years back i saw an interview (it might have been the 60 minutes one) where he responded to having to memorize so many lyrics by saying, "I dont have to memorize them, i wrote them." I guess that doesnt work any more.

Having said all that i am not complaining, just providing info on this topic.


My question is when he sings the wrong lyrics and we knw they are coming what are we suppsoed to sing? Do we sing along to Tumblng dice by sayingpeople think i'm crazy or do we stil go with women think i'm tasty" if keith ever sings happy again do we follow his lead and sing i never kept your daughter past sunset, or are we expected to sing the original "a quarter" line?

I forget which line it is but Mick completely butchers one of the line in Spider and the Fly on Stripped and when i play it in my car i hate singing the wrong line along with him, but...whatever its all great.

Maybe the original album is wrong and the live version is right......think about it.

He can sing them any way he chooses - it all sound good to me.

It's up to the singer to sing the song how he wants. And I wouldn't like to bet on the chances of infallibly remembering all the words to 20+ songs every single time while also running around and presumably trying to keep track of what the others are doing etc. Like many jobs I doubt it's as easy as everyone assumes or imagines when you add up all the factors involved in the performance. Totally perfect and flawless without fail would be boring.

If you were to work out HOW MANY times Mick has sung these songs you would realise why he sings them differently sometimes, I'm sure....

And of course the sheer energy required to sing those songs and run around the stage would be enough to wear out us lesser mortals...

Regards,

Ian.

Rolling Stones Tribute

Play Rolling Stones

dont get me wrong, i love them in concert with all the foibles of a live show. isnt that the reason to go to a show, to hear the a different sound from the album. if it was exactly the same it wouldnt be any fun.

I think the horns version of satisfaction was a treat compared to the same song we have heard over the years. of course if you ask keith that was the REAL version as they "covered" Otis Reddings proper rendition of the song.

I like the way he has been singing beast or burden, it gives the song more personality. The only thing that really bothers me is the live version of "just my imagination" on still life. He uses two tenses in the first line.

Josh

Fair points. I was quite insulted that he didn't sing "Lonecrapshooter" at Hershey. On the other hand, I play BOB the most from my Fenway taping. I really enjoy the vocals on that version.

<<Another one: Beast Of Burden. Why the f*ck does he always mispronounce the word "burden" and making something like an really awful "badaan" of it?>>

I kind of agree with you on that one. Sounds pretty stupid to me, but then again not enough to make a whole post about it.

"You look like a leper dressed as Sergeant Pepper"

Totally disagree about YCAGWYW. I love it when Mick screams 'I saw her today at the reception'. He gets the crowd's attention from the start and the crowd get ready to join in on the chorus.

John

This is just one of the ways the Stones uses to change their songs for a new tour. That's why it's never boring to hear the warhorses over and over again. They change their way of doing them. Tumblin dice for example, are totally different in the way of singing over the past five tours. So is Keiths playing. The opening riff, the way he plays the riff through the song, the way he's added a solo at the end. So are Ronnies solos. They constantly changes the song, and we should be happy about it. Lot's of bands sound exactly the same on tour after tour.

As for Mick remembering the words, hes always been mixing them up. Sometimes he just mix the verses, somtimes he mixex sentences and words, and sometimes he just changes the lyrics, like on @#$%& on the Licks tour, or on Spider and the fly on Stripped. Some is done while on the move on stage, without any plan or just because hes forgotten. But some is done on purpose. But no matter why, I think it's charming, and it shows that on the heat of rock'n roll anything can happen. And it shows that it's a live and spontanious show they put on. Very unlike Madonna, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey and most other acts.

Amen, and amen again.

aw come on, Mick wouldn't be Mick if he didn't sing the way he does

Re: Lyrics different from the original version

Mick ain't no Bob Dylan. No sermons or sacred poetry. His voice in an instrument. What he sings is not important, it's HOW he sings that counts. Imagine saying that Taylor or Keith or Wood should stick EXACTLY to the same licks and riffs that were originally recorded!

This leads to the second point

Re: How MJ interprets certain songs.

I have to agree that there are times when MJ misses the point, but I understand it is a matter of tastes. I love the present live version of Beast of Burden while the recorded version never convinced me. I hate MJ's affected singing on, say, Devil. Best of all was his singing (singing?) on the 75 version. If I were a singer I would shout as strong as I can that intro line "I saw her todiiiiiii at the riseptiooooooooon". GREAT.

C

I don't like the way he sings "Heartbreaker" refrain in concert - it's much better/nastier on the album - emphasis on the HEART - he rushes through it now, and it loses punch as a result.

J.J.Flash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> easy to solve. don't go see them and give a real
> fan the ticket.


Agree.

BUT, I do agree when it comes to JJFlash. I'd rather hear Mick singing the "It's aaaaaaalriiiiiiiiiiiight" line. But all the other stuff is very cool with me.

JumpingKentFlash

During Start Me Up he always goes:

"YO, YOU!!" instead of "YOU, YOU" or "YO, YO!".

That annoys the shit out of me.

I must be bored.

Not that Mick gets it wrong, but:

Have always found it interesting in Mixed Emotions that Mick sings "you're not THEE only one", while Keith pronounces it "you're not THE only one".

This provides a unique weave throughout the song.