I think it's a toss up between Gimmi Shelter, you can't always get what you want, Sympathy for the devil and Midnight Rambler (live version) . It's difficult to choose as it depends on what mood your in.

I see you are not getting much feedback on this tough one.

You nailed it....Gimme Shelter....live.

It is just too unique, mysitical, errie, blues, gospal, rock, haunting.

But you know you have been treated when you hear a great MR.

It must be the live version from Paradiso. Remeber being outside without a ticket.
Only young blond woman with big boobs couldt get additional tickets. Not bolding men in their mid tirties.......

What a drag it is .....

AJ

don't mind my orthography :-)

Hi all.

I just can´t answer this question and say only one song.
I´ve ever loved SFTD the most.
But, I confess that for me, JJF is their "sound trade mark".

... im glad im not sittin in your class room,, ,

Hands down

........yeah but Gimme Shelter sums up the band. The dirty garage guitar, the vocals, blues/rock and every other genre they incorporate into this one.


by the way.that bootleg clip from Brennen is not bad........there are more on you tube.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-03-20 02:52 by Rip This.

Quote
Rip This
........yeah but Gimme Shelter sums up the band. The dirty garage guitar, the vocals, blues/rock and every other genre they incorporate into this one.


by the way.that bootleg clip from Brennen is not bad........there are more on you tube.

Which is your favourite, the version with Madiline bell from Let it bleed or live version with Mick Taylor doing the solo?

You can write a great song, record it badly, and end up with a mediocre record. You can also write a mediocre song, record it brilliantly, and end up with a great record.

HTW: Great song. Brilliantly recorded. The best three minutes of music they ever put on tape.

Impossible to answer.First off, who am I to answer that? I can't decide for everyone else. Second, I would have to hear everything they have ever done.

The question should be: What is your favorite Stones song? The answer to that is easy. Shattered.

There are many

Shelter, Shine A Light or Lovin Cup. Or Jivin' Sister Fanny.
Or JJJF. Or...

I'm only guessing BUT it seems that the younger you are the later in the Stones career you pick songs from, I suppose that's only natural.

I think a lot of the live versions they did in the early 70's were the best, even better the the studio recordings.

I agree that this question is almost impossible to answer. There are many many great songs but if I was tortured to say one, I would say Brown Sugar (live of course). I know it is not very original from me to pick a warhorse, but I just love it - the riff! Uaaaaa! I think that the BS riff is a kind of Keith's signature. (It was funny to hear it out of tune in Brno). Yea, I love that song, I love everything about it.

in another forum (not stones) they listed all songs, and every song has five points. then the memebers can give one song a plus and one song a minus point:
(You can give your points more than one time)

Start:
Song1 5
Song2 5
Song3 5
.
.

First Member:
Song1 +
Song3 -

Song1 6
Song2 5
Song3 4
.
.

If a song has 0 Points, it's droped out, the last song standing is the best stones song!!! But perhaps we schould do a preselection, because there are too much stones stuff, so this procedure would take ages..

when the whip comes down
respectable
miss you
jjf
brown suger
gimmr shelter
slippin away
etc.....

I've tried very hard but it's hard to pick just one but when I go to a concert I always feel deprived if they don't do Rambler.

They played it at Cardiff in 06 and I thought " Yes, my life is now complete" (Sad isn't it?). The last time I saw them play it live was at Earls court in the early 70's, that's when he used to give the stage a good beating with his belt.

Midnight Rambler live is for me the best piece of music EVER...

I don't know about best song, because there are so many different criteria to be used and every song is the best according to some criterium.

I agree with Happy24 that Brown Sugar is quintessential in that it reflects all aspects of the Stones: a lot of energy coming from Keith' rhythm guitar, only pushed a little further by Charlies dynamic drumming and the happy party and crowd participation during the Yeah Yeah Yeah WhooooH part. I think this song has everything that makes a Stones song a Stones song.

But does that make it "the best"?
I don't know.

Lots of you are mentioning live versions of particular songs, but a "song" is just the words and the music as originally written, not how well the studio recording of that song can be recreated in a lve performance. I've never particularly cared for the way the Stones play HTW live, but I still consider it their best COMPOSITION and their best STUDIO RECORDING, which, by the way, is not the same thing as the SONG. A song, and the studio recording of that song, are two completely separate things. That's why the Grammys give out separate awards for best song and best record. They are not the same thing. Not the same thing at all. If you're talking about which songs work the best on stage, then you're talking about something else altogether.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2008-03-21 00:59 by tatters.

Honky Tonk Women is pretty much perfect.

So is Brown Sugar.

...and Monkey Man.

...and Tumbling Dice.

My favorite today though (although not "the best" Stones song):

Casino Boogie. Love that Texas Tenor.

honky tonk woman is very overrated, its an ok song, nothing more than that.

as for the best stones song ever, it really depends whos listening and what mood your in.

paint it black, gimme shelter and jumpin jack flash would be my main contenders.

Jumping Jack Flash or Brown Sugar. It's hard to choose.

JumpingKentFlash

gimme shelter
jumping jack flash
paint it black
brown sugar

cant decide

Gimme Shelter

__________________________

The studio version of Jumpin' Jack Flash is my absolute favourite song of all time for so many reasons (some personal). It can pull me out of any funk, any tiredness, any mood that's less than rocket-hot par-tay!

The opening chords just grab me by the spine and whip me forward. It's not a cerebral thing I can explain - it's a Pavlovian reaction that's done this to me since I was a toddler. I'm 100% serious. My 'band nickname' was JJ Flash, and if I ever get a vanity plate that'll be on it.

So while I can't necessarily boldly exclaim that Flash is The Stones' Best Song, no other song does this to me the same way.

[thepowergoats.com]

This is an impossible question to answer but this I believe: Many of the great Stones songs are entirely original and unique but there was never a hit single (by any performer) before or since that SOUNDS anything like Gimme Shelter. It really stands apart from everything else.

Gimme Shelter is a strange, strange song that pulls you in rather than repels your with its weirdness. Keith Richards has had many extraordinary moments in his long career but I have to think that two of the most incredible are when he was crafting this track in the studio and much later when he sang it / performed it with the Winos. The studio version is eerie but the Winos version is harrowing.

Satisfaction. The one that will transcend the centuries.

Well the 1969 live version of JJF is close. Since then it stinks. The record version is pretty damn good. Street Fighting Man is excellent.

Too many. Gimme Shelter and Tumbling Dice and Rocks Off might be as close to perfect for out and out rock'n'roll as there ever could be.

Rough Justice is pretty damn good too, as far as considering anything new. For me.