Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
________________________________________________________________________________

Around And Around
(Chuck Berry)

Chess Studios, Chicago, Illinois, US, June 11, 1964

Mick Jagger - vocals
Keith Richards - electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - electric guitar
Ian Stewart - piano

I said the joint was rocking, goin' round and round
Yeah, reeling and a-rocking, what a crazy sound
And they never stopped rocking, 'til the moon went down

Well it sounds so sweet, I had to take me a chance
Rose out of my seat, I just had to dance
Started moving my feet, oh, to clapping my hands

I said the joint was a-rocking, goin' round and round
Yeah, reeling and a-rocking, what a crazy sound
And they never stopped rocking, 'til the moon went down

Yeah, at twelve o'clock, yeah, the place was packed
Front doors was locked, yeah, the place was packed
And when the police knocked, those doors flew back

But they kept on rocking, goin' round and round
Yeah, reeling and a-rocking, what a crazy sound
And they never stopped rocking, 'til the moon went down

And they go on rocking, goin' round and round
Yeah, reeling and a-rocking, what a crazy sound
And they never stopped rocking, ‘til the moon went down

Well the joint stayed a-rocking, goin' round and round
Yeah, reeling and a-rocking, what a crazy sound
And they never stopped rocking, 'til the moon went down

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Five By Five” EP
(Decca DFE 8590) UK, August 14, 1964



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-21 14:13 by René.

Great. Especially the live versions: Knebworth, Mocambo.The highlights. I hope they will play it (as an opening?) on next tour!

Live versions? I'll take The TAMI show and the 1965 NME concert, thank you.

...and I'll take the Paris April 18 1965 version.

>> I'll take The TAMI show <<

i'll go with you, Green Lady :E the El Mo rendition is mighty hot too though.
( ... you know what? i just freaking love the Rolling Stones)

One of my early Stones' favourites. Keith at his Chuck Berryesque best. Ain't no stopping me dancing once that goes on at the party.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-11-04 11:50 by Silver Dagger.

Quote
Silver Dagger
One of my early Stones favourite. Keith at his Chuck Berryesque best. Ain't no stopping me dancing once that goes on at the party.

Not sure about El Macambo, but actually Ronnie plays all the lead at Knebworeth '76! I was very surprised to see this when watching the DVD recently. But I think this is possibly the only Chuck Berry song ever where I prefer a cover version (the RS studio + 60s live versions), wonderful stuff!

Keith plays one of the leads on El Mocambo. Are you sure he doesn't at Knebworth?

The studio recording is great. Good sound and great playing, imo.

Around and Around is together with Beatles' "Twist and Shout" the best cover versions of all time, thats the way to do a cover period !
"Around and Around" should have been the first singel !
And I'm waiting for the CD version of the German LP "Around and Around".

the stones at there finest .diito for keith.thank you so much to the great CHUCK BERRY.

Great song - I love Charlie's playing toward the end of the studio version.

Also, nice to see an old track discussed...

Even though lots of British(and Irish!) band cut Berry's material like The Beatles,Animals,Them and probably everyone else only The Stones actually "cut" Chuck with his own material! IMHO Keith out-Berried Berry(at least after they got past that awful Come On)

"at least after they got past that awful Come On"
Come On also great IMO, love it.

great performance, both studio and live '77. chuck berry has been sorely lacking in the playlist the past decade. LQ on the B2B b-stage was THE best song they've done on the stage in 3 decades....

The Stones always had a great policy of picking up quite obscure or non-well-known Berry numbers, and make them big numbers, and "Around and Around" is a berry of them all. The song is classic nowadays thanks to The Stones version. That's THEIR song.

- Doxa

Quote
T&A
great performance, both studio and live '77. chuck berry has been sorely lacking in the playlist the past decade. LQ on the B2B b-stage was THE best song they've done on the stage in 3 decades....

I agree with that. Maybe they will put some back in to the live rotation in the future.

CBII

i'm not sure i'd buy the idea that the stones plucked this one from obscurity, exactly. other british invasion bands - including the animals - had this as a staple in their act. in the 70's the Dead routinely featured it in their sets - often outdoing the Stones at their own game, imo....

Quote
T&A
i'm not sure i'd buy the idea that the stones plucked this one from obscurity, exactly. other british invasion bands - including the animals - had this as a staple in their act. in the 70's the Dead routinely featured it in their sets - often outdoing the Stones at their own game, imo....

Yeah, surely it was not any obscure song to r&b audiences and specialists, but it was not any hit record by Berry. It was originally B-side of "Johnny B. Goode". The Stones seemed intentionally neglect from releasing the well-known Berry numbers. I mean they didn't record songs you would find in some 'best of Chuck Berry' collection like "Johnny B. Goode", "Rock and Roll Music", "Reeling and Rocking", "Roll Over Beethoven","School Days", etc. Instead they chose pieces like "Route 66", "Down The Road Apiece" (not even Berry numbers, but based on his versions).

And of course, the other British r&b specialists like the Animals, were following the same philosophy. But I would claim that the song "Around And Around" is well-known song rock number, thanks to The Rolling Stones. Their version of it it in TAMI show and the one in colour from the same era are one of the most well-known Stones performances.

The original version by the Stones recorded in legenadary Chess studios is like all those tracks recorded there very tight, focused and inspired. It almost sounds like the uncle Chuck is watching carefully behind their shoulders...

(as I recall "Around and Around" was included in the first album by the Animals, released October 2004, few months after the Stones version in Five by Five EP)

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-11-04 19:36 by Doxa.

interesting thoughts, doxa. disagree with your conclusion, but still a well-thought out theory.

Quote
Doxa
(as I recall "Around and Around" was included in the first album by the Animals, released October 2004, few months after the Stones version in Five by Five EP)

- Doxa

I guess you mean October 1964...

But I agree, it's The Rolling Stones that made this song well-known.

There certainly is a Stones version of Roll Over Beethoven - I've got it on a boot called Live in 1965 and it's a beauty! I don't think it was ever released, probably because it was a song that every group in Britain (and the Beatles in particular) was singing at that time.

That's probably why the Stones went for slightly less well-known Chuck Berry numbers - yet ANOTHER version of any of the famous ones would have just got lost in the crowd.

Quote
Sleepy City

Quote
Doxa
(as I recall "Around and Around" was included in the first album by the Animals, released October 2004, few months after the Stones version in Five by Five EP)

- Doxa

I guess you mean October 1964...

But I agree, it's The Rolling Stones that made this song well-known.

Well, few decades here or there, who cares...><

- Doxa

Around and Around together with Route 66 is Stones premier covered songs imo...Little red rooster also...

2 1 2 0

Quote
Green Lady
There certainly is a Stones version of Roll Over Beethoven - I've got it on a boot called Live in 1965 and it's a beauty! I don't think it was ever released, probably because it was a song that every group in Britain (and the Beatles in particular) was singing at that time.

That's probably why the Stones went for slightly less well-known Chuck Berry numbers - yet ANOTHER version of any of the famous ones would have just got lost in the crowd.

I believe that version of 'Roll Over Beethoven' is from the 1970 European Tour, but there's also a BBC version from '63, as well as 'Memphis Tennessee'. So they certainly didn't mind performing the more well-known Berry songs, it's just that they preferred more obscure ones for recordings.

Them also did a great version of Route 66 but TOTALLY different arrangement! As far as "COME ON" even the Stones hated that version, pratically refusing to perform it at the time even though they were forced to on occasion.

El Mocambo hard to beat.....masterful version.....the way rock and roll ought to sound and feel like in an intimate setting.....magic.

One of a very few 'holy grail' songs I've yet to hear live. 'Soul Survivor' being another.

To fresh the memory. I did this in other thread a year or something ago. Perhaps all of these Berry numbers are so familiar to us,Rolling Stones fans, but in Berry's own catalog they are quite unprofilic ones.

So, the officially released Berry numbers:

(1) Come On (single A-side) 1963
(2) Bye Bye Johnny (first EP) 1964
(3) Route 66 (first album) 1964
(4) Carol (ibid) 1964
(5) Around And Around (5x5 EP)1964
(6) You Can't Catch Me (no 2 LP) 1965
(7) Down The Road Apiece (ibid) 1965
(8) Route 66 (live) (Got Live EP) 1965
(9) Talkin' Bout You (Out Of Our Heads LP) 1965
(10) Carol (live) (Ya-Ya's Out LP) 1970
(11) Little Queenie (live) (ibid) 1970
(12) Let It Rock (live) (maxi single) 1971
(13) Don't You Lie To me (Metamorphosis LP) 1975
(14) Around And Around (live) (Love You Live LP) 1977

I included (3/8) and (7) even though those are not written by Berry, but The Stones have picked them from his records, and do them with his style. Do I miss something?

So, over-all The Stones have released officially 9 different songs written by Berry + 2 'almost' Berry songs. Three of them we have both studio and live versions. Plus we have a live version of "Bye Bye Johnny" in officially released L&G film... and maybe some others in their official 'recent' live DVD's (Four Flicks?); I am not sure, but I can't recall any.

- Doxa

[www.iorr.org]

So many contributions to this thread and nobody has yet felt to praise Stew's excellent piano work on this, hmm