Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
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Country Honk
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Olympic Sound Studios, London, UK, May 12 - June 7, 1969,
Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US,
October 17 - October 26, 1969 and
Elektra Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US,
October 28 - November 2, 1969

Mick Jagger - lead vocals
Keith Richards - acoustic guitar, harmony vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Mick Taylor - electric slide guitar
Byron Berline - fiddle
Nanette Workman - backing vocals
Sam Cutler - horn

Here we go

I’m sittin' in a bar tippling a jar in Jackson
And on the street the summer sun it shines
There's many a bar-room queen I've had in Jackson
But I just can't seem to drink you off my mind

It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the Honky Tonk Blues

I laid a divorcee in New York City
I had to put up some kind of a fight
The Lady, she all dressed me up in roses
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind

It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the Honky Tonk Blues, oh yes

It's the Honky Tonk Women, yeah, yeah
Gimme, gimme, gimme the Honky Tonk Blues, one more time
It's the Honky Tonk Women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the Honky Tonk Blues

Produced by Jimmy Miller

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Let It Bleed” LP
(London NPS-4) US, November 29, 1969



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-01 17:14 by René.

Is Nanette Workman Nanette Newman? She's credited as singing backing vocals on this album.

It's a mistake/misprint: Nanette Newman was a well-known actress at the time and a much more familiar name than Nanette Workman - but Ms Newman wasn't a singer.

It should have been the single......

One of the few songs of The Stones that are accompanied by sound effects (the car and horn).
I can only think of We love you as a Stones song that has any sound effects, or one has
to count Bills snoring In another land as a sound effect.

I am not a great fan of the fiddle on this version of the song, but I like the general
atmosphere and it fits perfectly on the Let it bleed album.

Quote
marcovandereijk
One of the few songs of The Stones that are accompanied by sound effects (the car and horn).
I can only think of We love you as a Stones song that has any sound effects, or one has
to count Bills snoring In another land as a sound effect.

I am not a great fan of the fiddle on this version of the song, but I like the general
atmosphere and it fits perfectly on the Let it bleed album.

Whaddya mean, ya never heard the planets floating by on 2000 Lights Year From Home? What kind of hifi d'you have?

Quote
marcovandereijk
One of the few songs of The Stones that are accompanied by sound effects (the car and horn).
I can only think of We love you as a Stones song that has any sound effects, or one has
to count Bills snoring In another land as a sound effect.

Does the crowd/party count as a sound affect on On With The Show?

You Can't Always Get What You Want - Sam Cutler



ROCKMAN

"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

I too love Country Honk...and recently heard a bootleg of the track pre-fiddle & car horn.
Too me, it's the fiddle and car horn..and general atmosphere that make the song.

Thanks for the excerpt ROCKMAN....Mick was definitely right about the "open air" feel.
It really does feel like they're all out on the front porch playing.

According to THE ROLLINGSTONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS (Martin Elliott)
Honky Tonk Women was recorded in May 1969
Country Honk was recorded in October/November 1969

But...even though Country Honk was recorded after HTW....did the more country version actually come first?
Was it revamped to make HTW or vice versa?


IORR............but I like it!

Quote
sweet neo con
But...even though Country Honk was recorded after HTW....did the more country version actually come first?
Was it revamped to make HTW or vice versa?

According to Keith the Country Honk version was first: Timeisonourside

Quote
Silver Dagger
Whaddya mean, ya never heard the planets floating by on 2000 Lights Year From Home? What kind of hifi d'you have?

So that's what it was?

But thanks for helping my memories getting organized.

kerb??

Quote
Doctor Dear!
kerb??

[en.wikipedia.org])


IORR............but I like it!

Very cool they put this on Let it Bleed instead of the single version! They are doing a Beatles like Revolution. Different album and single versions. Fits the decayed decadence of LIB. And a perfect flow on side one.... love the fiddle and yet another verse that is different from the single. Rockman thanks for that great write up you provided. That was fantastic!!!

X



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2018-08-17 13:53 by UrbanSteel.

decayed decadence, eh? prolly the best decayed decadence of the decade, too....

LIB is my favourite album of all time. And this track is just one of the jewels which make it perfect. All good individually and perfect together.

Everytime I hear this song while driving the horn always gets me looking around at who is honking at me....

the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler!

The gentler, hillbilly brother to HTW, this track (like all of Let It Bleed) is simply brilliant. As sweet neo con wrote, you definitely feel like you're witnessing them play on the front porch. A front porch in the deep South, that is, nursing a glass of Jack Daniels and a plateful of fried catfish, collard greens, and cornbread.

A magical little gem that sounds timeless and effortless. Yeeee-haa!!

Drew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-19 00:15 by drewmaster.

It is very easy to think of them as two totally different songs and both ways are great!

Rockman the excerpt you posted is amazing, thank you.

I consider this to be a guilty pleasure. I just loved to PLAY IT LOUD (as the LIB sleeve recommends). Love the harmonies, the car horn of course, Jagger doing a country voice with less irony/parody than usual, and of course the fiddle. Great tune all around.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-13 11:45 by Turner68.

It’s good but doesn’t really cut the mustard when the inevitable comparisons with its more famous twin are made. Sam Cutler’s account of recording Country Honk is more entertaining than the song itself. In my opinion it should’ve been left off the album to make room for a more meatier track and then could’ve resurfaced when the deluxe version of LIB were released a la Good Time Women on Exile.

Quote
Swayed1967
It’s good but doesn’t really cut the mustard when the inevitable comparisons with its more famous twin are made. Sam Cutler’s account of recording Country Honk is more entertaining than the song itself. In my opinion it should’ve been left off the album to make room for a more meatier track and then could’ve resurfaced when the deluxe version of LIB were released a la Good Time Women on Exile.

i think when you have meaty tracks like GS, YCAGWYW, MR, etc. it's good to have some lighter fare - as with say "Dear Doctor" on BB or "You Got to Move" and "Dead Flowers" on Sticky Fingers. But I totally get that it's not everyone's cup of tea (frankly one reason I like it)

Oh, this is so beautiful, I love it. The Stones should surprise their audiences playing Country Honk instead of the well known other tune...

one of the best tracks ever by the Glimmers that became my all time favorite song HTW. This shows to me there brillance in making music which crossed boundries between country and rock .Done so well !!!!!!!!!!!

A great Little trifle...I love the intro...

2 1 2 0

Quote
Turner68

Quote
Swayed1967
It’s good but doesn’t really cut the mustard when the inevitable comparisons with its more famous twin are made. Sam Cutler’s account of recording Country Honk is more entertaining than the song itself. In my opinion it should’ve been left off the album to make room for a more meatier track and then could’ve resurfaced when the deluxe version of LIB were released a la Good Time Women on Exile.

i think when you have meaty tracks like GS, YCAGWYW, MR, etc. it's good to have some lighter fare - as with say "Dear Doctor" on BB or "You Got to Move" and "Dead Flowers" on Sticky Fingers. But I totally get that it's not everyone's cup of tea (frankly one reason I like it)

Light tasty snacks are of course welcome but Mick and Keith had the creative juice in 1969 to scrap Country Honk and write a completely new country ditty. I feel that songs shouldn't be reworked and then released as different songs (even though in this case Country Honk came first). Taken to the extreme, the Exile on Main Street we all cherish could've consisted of 20 different reworkings of Tumbling Dice.

I'm glad it led to Honky Tonk Women. (To me Country Honk vs. Honky Tonk Women isn't too far removed from the Beatles' Wild Honey Pie vs. Honey Pie. I'll take the latter with both.)

Thanks Rockman! A great read.
I was always certain that the car horn was not coincidental. Because it's an F note, it makes the 7 for the G chord, so it's perfect for the ending. It's timming too.