Originally written by Robert Johnson but not copyrighted, so the Stones claimed title to it. Song recorded between December 1971 and March, 1972. Released on Exile On Main Street in 1972.

Lead Vocal, Guitar & Harp: Mick Jagger Slide Guitar: Mick Taylor Bass: Bill Wyman Drums: Charlie Watts Piano: Ian Stewart


Every time I'm walking all down the street
Some pretty mama start breaking down on me.
Stop breaking down, baby, please, stop breaking down.
Stuff is gonna bust you brains out, baby,
Gonna make you lose your mind.

You Saturday night women, now, you just ape and clown,
You don't do nothing but tear my reputation down.
Stop breaking down, mama, please, stop breaking down.
Stuff is gonna bust you brains out, baby,
Yeah, it's gonna make you lose your mind.

I love my baby ninety nine degrees,
But that mama got a pistol, laid it down on me.
Stop breaking down, baby, please, stop breaking down.
Stuff is gonna bust you brains out, baby,
Yeah, gonna make you lose your mind.

Every time I'm walking all down the street
Some pretty woman start breaking down on me.
Stop breaking down, mama, please, stop breaking down.
Stuff is gonna bust your brains out, baby,
Gonna make you lose your mind.


So does does this business of "claiming title" work ? And how come the song was never copyrighted ?

Anyway, if ever there was a song that the Stones probably WISH they'd written but didn't, Stop Breaking Down would I think have to be up there somewhere near the top of the list. If Mr Johnson, from his place up there in the big recording studio in the sky, could hear Keith's intro on it, he's be very proud I have no doubt. This song, together with Jivin' Sister Fanny, occupy a very special place in the Stones catalog for me. The intros are in leagues of their own, KR at his absolute best. People bang on about "best riffs" etc. Yep, fine, but don't overlook these two tunes. They're the personification of what is Mr Keith Richards.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 13:06 by paulywaul.

... but Keith doesn't play on Stop Breaking Down, Paul.
and they did finally give credit to Robert, didn't they? same as with Love In Vain.

edit: oops, sorry - not quite! it's listed as "trad - arranged by MJ/KR" on the Virgin CD.
Stop Breaking Down was released on the second volume of King of the Delta Blues Singers - when did that come out?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 15:19 by with sssoul.

Robert Johnson recorded two takes of
Stop Breakin' Down Blues....Dallas Texas Sunday 20 June 1937...Classic Stuff



"The stuff I got'll bust your brains out,it'll make you lose your mind".....



ROCKMAN

okay, i looked it up: the second volume of King of the Delta Blues Singers was apparently released
in 1970; in the booklet that goes with Robert's "complete" recordings, Keith says they found Love In Vain
on a bootleg that appeared in 67 or 68, but he doesn't mention Stop Breaking Down.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 14:13 by with sssoul.

edited because Mathijs (below) does a much better job of clarifying it.
have some popcorn.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 14:10 by with sssoul.

>> if ever there was a song that the Stones probably WISH they'd written but didn't ... <<

just a sidelight but: on the so-called Honeymoon Tapes, Keith says "wish i'd written that one"
after Time Is On My Side.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 14:13 by with sssoul.

On the internet the entire law case concerning the work of Johnson can be found, albeit quite unreadible if you're not a lawyer. But basically, Johnson nor his family ever copyrighted the songs, so when his work was rediscovered in the early 60's all the songs were free of copyrights. It wasn't until the early 90's when Johnson's step son or grandson or something claimed that he was the holder of the rights, and the court ruled he was right. The work of Johnson is still good for 1.5 million dollar per year of copyrights. Funny thing is that most songs of Johnson were not written by Johnson, but were blues standards all blues man played in these days.

Also funny is that the recordings as we know them now run way too fast. His high pitched voice is not his own virtue, but it's because the tracks run about 20% too fast. Most of his songs are in the key of B, wich makes it impossible to play on any acoustic guitar. If you lower the speed to normal, all songs are suddenly in the key of A and G -like 99% of all tracks from that era.

Mathijs

with sssoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >> if ever there was a song that the Stones
> probably WISH they'd written but didn't ... <<
>
> just a sidelight but: on the so-called Honeymoon
> Tapes, Keith says "wish i'd written that one"
> after Time Is On My Side.
>
> and Paul i do hope you see this before the MT Army
> hits the fan:
> Keith didn't play on Stop Breaking Down.

Well bugger me, it would appear he didn't. Goes to show how long it is since I READ the Exile sleeve, instead of just sticking it on and cranking it !! How about that, seeing as if ever there was his sound on a song, this is it ? I guess I assumed he played on it due to the fact that MJ/KR claim the credit for the re-worked version taken from Johnson's original.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 14:15 by paulywaul.

Chapter 10 - Stop Breakin' Down - Jerry Hall's Tall Tales



ROCKMAN



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-26 23:10 by Rockman.

Vol II of King Of The Delta Blues Singers was released in 1970
Stop Breaking Down was also available in the mid 60's on the
both the Australian bootleg release (Plain cover with brown paper strip)
titled Robert Johnson and also on Delta Blues - Roots RL339...



ROCKMAN

Mathijs have you ever heard the RJ tunes in tyhe right key? I only have them on CD and always thought they were a little too fast but didn't know it was that much.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Rockman,

Ref your earlier post with the article in which Jerry talks; fascinating stuff. Interesting to read what MJ thinks of the song. Thanks ever so for posting.

Where does it say that Keith doesn't play on "Stop Breaking Down"? I thought for years that he DIDN'T play on that track, then I read somewhere that he DID, so I'm not sure myself.

Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel, Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues, Stop Breaking Down and to some extent Torn and Frayed and I Just Wanna See His Face are for me the meat and potatoes of the "mythic" EOMS album. I say "mythic" because these songs define for me the gritty, edgey Stones guitar sound, but with RARE exceptions these songs have never been or have never been adequately performed on stage. These songs are fictions, existing only on that recording. It is a powerful and enduring myth, however.

I think it's in the Stanley Booth book that keith sits and plays his bootleg copy of songs that would be on King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol 2. Can't remember if it's an LP or reel.

But it would seem it was mick who took this one to heart. I wonder how many stones fans similarly regard the rhythm riffing here as classic keith, when it's actually mick. And I wouldn't even say it was the classic keith sound--it's got more crunch than he normally used even then.

pmk251 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Shake Your Hips, Casino Boogie, Sweet Black Angel,
> Turd On The Run, Ventilator Blues, Stop Breaking
> Down and to some extent Torn and Frayed and I Just
> Wanna See His Face are for me the meat and
> potatoes of the "mythic" EOMS album. I say
> "mythic" because these songs define for me the
> gritty, edgey Stones guitar sound, but with RARE
> exceptions these songs have never been or have
> never been adequately performed on stage. These
> songs are fictions, existing only on that
> recording. It is a powerful and enduring myth,
> however.



They did play Stop Breaking Down. It's on the official Voodoo Lounge dvd with a guest appeance by Robert Cray.

Cheers,
Wuudy

... my point in enquiring when Volume 2 of King of the Delta Blues Singers was released
is that bootlegs don't always list the provenance. but that's beside the point in this case.

Actually the bootleg and the Roots RL 339 album carry
more recording information than the Columbia Vol II release ...



ROCKMAN

paulywaul....A pleasure my friend



ROCKMAN

Pages 145 - 147 Exile On Main St.....Bill Janovitz





ROCKMAN

Impossible to listen to this song and keep still.

What is Janovitz talking about? Several of the songs on Exile were "old": "Loving Cup," "Shine a Light," maybe more?

cc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is Janovitz talking about? Several of the
> songs on Exile were "old": "Loving Cup," "Shine a
> Light," maybe more?


sweet virginia was old.


and maybe all down the line? I've heard that.

I have a DVD of Gimme Shelter with some extra backstage stuff of '69. In it Jagger is showing Ike Turner the guitar riff he uses on Stop Breaking Down.

I like the DVD version with Robert Cray. I thought his sound was very complimentary to the band, ala Mick Taylor.

John

ChelseaDrugstore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mathijs have you ever heard the RJ tunes in tyhe
> right key? I only have them on CD and always
> thought they were a little too fast but didn't
> know it was that much.

While various programs will let you adjust pitch, one CD of the pitch-adjusted songs is on CD: [www.touched.co.uk]

Thanks Smokey.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Mathijs, as to be seen on Rockman's picture, Robert Johnson uses a capo. That makes B/E/F# easier to play.

JJHMick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mathijs, as to be seen on Rockman's picture,
> Robert Johnson uses a capo. That makes B/E/F#
> easier to play.

The regular tuning of the blues man in the 30's was open E and G without a capo, open G with a capo on the second fret, or open A without a capo. The limitations of the acoustic guitar was that they only had 12 fret clear to the body, meaning that you could only play decently until the 14th fret. Many of Johnson's songs are in the key of B, an absolute strange key for 30's blues music. Johnson played many of his intro's, riffs and solo's an octave higher in order to have them stand out. This means that he played at th 16th fret when he played in the key of B -and this is impossible on an acoustc guitar. Even on acoustics of this day with 14 frets clear of the body, playing the fairly technical intro's of Johnson on the 16th fret is very, very hard.

Also, Johnson is famous for his high pitched voice, a voice that perfectly fis with his "sold to the devil" image. But if you play the songs at "correct" speed his voice, timbre and phrasing suddenly transforms to a very contempory, black blues voice of the 1930's, just like all his colleagues and just like what you would expect what was fashionable at that time (remember, it was meant to be dance and party music, not scary doom music).

Personally I don't doubt that the music is too fast on all records we know of him.

Mathijs

Thank you, I wasn't doubting the speed or the keys in general but had made the conclusion that it might be easy to play in B on an acoustic using a capo as the photo suggested
(by the way, Clapton dropped the cigarette from Rockman's original for his Me And Mr Johnson tribute / portrait on the table. I did an interview with Bill Wyman and he complained that Clapton just covered Johnson instead of interpeting him. When I mentioned the cigarette, Wyman laughed and said "That's Eric since he quit smoking...").
I didn't know that open tunings were standard for Black musicians.
Blacks must have been introduced to the guitar by white Folklore (don't think that the guitar was used for classical music in the South) songs and by that with the standard guitar tuning. These are usually in C or G. But those keys are too jolly for the Blues?!