Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
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Going To A Go Go
(William Robinson / Marvin Tarplin / William P. Moore / Robert Rogers)

Capitol Center Arena, Largo, Maryland, US, December 9, 1981 and
The Power Station, New York City, New York, March - April 1982

Mick Jagger - lead vocals
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Ron Wood - electric guitar
Ian McLagan - keyboards, backing vocals
Ernie Watts - saxophone

Going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go, c'mon now
Going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go, c'mon now

Well, there's a brand new place I found, people coming from miles around
They come from everywhere, if you drop in there you see everyone in town

Going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go, c'mon now
Don't you wanna go and that's alright, tell me

Going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go

It doesn't matter if you're black, it doesn't matter if you're white
Take a dollar fifty, a six pack of beer and we goin' dance all night

Going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go, c'mon now
Don't you wanna go and that's alright, tell me

Yeah, don't you wanna go and that's alright, tell me

Going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go

It doesn't matter you come in drag, it doesn't matter you come in stag
I'm telling everyone to get down here, every taxi that you flag
Is going to a go go, everybody, going to a go go
Don't you wanna go and that's alright, tell me, yeah
That's alright, yeah

Produced by The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Going To A Go Go / Beast Of Burden” 7” single
(Rolling Stones Records RSR 110) UK, June 1, 1982



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-06 17:49 by René.

First Stones record I ever bought, and I loved it. Loved everything about it. The big, boomy, echoey sound, which is really pretty mediocre when you come right down to it, yet somehow still great (or was at the time). The sax, the drums, Mick's vocals. The line about a six-pack of beer, and dancing all night. All of it. Even though there was no significant guitar in it, I still loved it.

I think it was the drums.

One of the best sounding songs from the '81 tour. They take it well beyond the original, and make it a wonderful celebration. I remember seeing them in Detroit and thinking wow! They really do love r and b! Oh, and Charlie is good tonight isn't he!?

Better then the original, although the orignal was great too

__________________________

ROCKMAN

A nice live-song but nothing more..eh and that album 'Sucking in the seventies' is very inspiring when painting walls..

Phenomenal cover song that transcends and surpasses the original, which is remarkable considering the original is a classic by the great Smokey Robinson.

After Mick drawls "All Right Sugar Pie", Charlie kicks in with a beat that is so incredibly infectious, whatever you're doing at the moment you gotta immediately get up and dance. And then the guitars kick in, nasty and raw, starting off with that wonderful "dive-bomb" sound (anyone know the technical name for that?) and then syncing up perfectly with Charlie in the way that only the Stones can do. And then Mick, not to be out-done, delivers an outstanding vocal performance that reeks of defiance and hedonism.

A galvanizing cover, and easily the best track on Still Life, GTAGG is one of the reasons I'm such a rabid Stones fan. Great video, too.

Drew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-06 18:27 by drewmaster.

Quote
NICOS
Better then the original

+1

i think that is often the case when the stones cover songs.

something that rarely happens when other band cover songs.

usually the original is the best version.

Quote
bustedtrousers
Even though there was no significant guitar in it

I don't agree with you here. I was forced to listen to the Still Life album with headphones
at the times (at least if I wanted the proper volume and avoid that my dad would cut off
the electricity) and it is a dizzying experience to hear those guitar licks echoing left
and right through your head. Try it, you won't regret it.

Love those shots of Mick in the video, particularly silhouetted from behind ... somehow he seems like more of a rock deity than ever!

Drew

The Hampton version that they used for the promo video blows the inferior Largo version that was released on the album out of the water. Dont know why they didnt use it - I know Mick gets a line wrong, but its not like they didnt overdub anything on the record, is it? A pity.

The video was brilliant (not that excruciatingly dopey version with the dancers in the night club, but the one that was all Hampton footage with a few bits brilliantly edited in from other parts of the show), and captures the magic of that show (and tour) perfectly.

It came out a few weeks before my first Stones show. I remember that we'd got our first VCR a few months earlier and, in the anticipation of seeing the band I must have watched that clip about a thousand times. 28 years later, I can even remember what clothes some of the audience members are wearing, for Chrissakes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-09-06 18:12 by Gazza.

I could not agree more Gazza. Also - SMU from Hampton, available on Youtube, is also stellar. They were simply on fire that night. Hampton show was one of the first PPV concert events during the cable tv emergence.

I used to have on 45' single with Beast of Burden as B-Side.

Then I sold it in 1990 when the CD fever came around..

Mistakes you make when you are young.

I am into vinyl again!!

Love Bill's slinky bass on this one. They could still do a cover and own it. Loved that they did Twenty Flight Rock on the record too, but Eddy's version is still sacred.

I love the version on Four Flicks from L'Olympia

I think they one of the best versions in washington in 1981,2nd day.

Quote
marcovandereijk

Quote
bustedtrousers
Even though there was no significant guitar in it

I don't agree with you here. I was forced to listen to the Still Life album with headphones
at the times (at least if I wanted the proper volume and avoid that my dad would cut off
the electricity) and it is a dizzying experience to hear those guitar licks echoing left
and right through your head. Try it, you won't regret it.

I don't doubt what you say at all, but I was obviously speaking more from listening to it without headphones. I'm not saying there is no guitar, just nothing that jumps out, and no solo, which it doesn't need due to the sax. It's not a guitar heavy song.

I did however just listen to it, and the guitars are more prominent than I remembered them being. They are more rhythm and melody though, driving the song along in an underlying way, rather than with a significant hook or lead that builds to a solo that jumps out.

which release is the general reference point here? Sucking in the 70s?

First of all: best wishes from Bonn, Germany, and sorry for my poor English!

In 1982 (18 years old) I bought Still Life and right from the first listening, I fell in love with Going to a GoGo.

The Stones´version captures one thing: DSHUNGLE RHYTHM!! It creates a hypnotic groove; when I close my eyes I see an old Tarzan Movie on the screen: the elephants are gathering, black men (who know four-on-the-floor) beat their drums.

I bet, no band on earth, beside the Stones,can create that kind of groove!

And to all those people, who decry Ronnie´s playing ability in comparison to Mick Taylor's:

Going To A Go Go is the perfect example to show us, what the Rolling Stones are about...

The 2nd guitar is NOT the most important thing, nor is Mick Jagger (the greatest front man in Rock history!!).

The centerpiece of their music are Charlie+Keith+Bill. These three guys were able to hypnotize 50.000 people in a stadium, when they set the groove like a clockwork.

Watch the Hamption video of Going To A GoGo and dream about an old Tarzan Movie!

Priest

Sorry to bump a 5 year old thread; but seeking out the Track Talk for this great song was a must as I'm currently really rediscovering both 'Still Life' and the vastly superior Hampton Archive Release (audio and DVD).

'Go Go' was always one of my favourites from 'Still Life'; it sounds even better on the Hampton release. The band are absolutely kickin' on the entire show; when first discovering the Stones I thought they looked ridiculous on initial viewing of the live 1981 movie by Hal Ashby, but musically, ye Gods, quite a show!

'Go Go' is one of the many highlights; great version of a great song!

I didn't know that there is a promotional video of "Going To A Go-Go" that also has something else than the live footage. I recall always seeing just the pure live footage version.

But here it is (for those being as ignorant as me), and seemingly released years ago in their official channel. Mick having small 'acting' scenes there too:





A cool version, by the way, the one on STILL LIFE. Especially Charlie shines.

- Doxa

The very first appearance of the track on compact disc. Late 1983.

The story behind the release is here
The First Motown On CD
[picknmixed.blogspot.com]

The first appearance of The Rolling Stones cover on CD. Early to Mid-1984.

The one and the only 'target label' CD of The Rolling Stones.

Both CDs mentioned above are really hard to find if one is looking for the 1st pressing version.

ROCKMAN

Ha! Cheers, Rockie! That was a cool info that Marv Tarplin took some inspiration from The Stones there (who were emulating him). Fascinating times - musical ideas were moving back and forth, people picking up ideas from each other and developing them further. I wonder what was the Stones recording he is referring to. And no wonder the STILL LIFE version sounds so natural in their hands, like playing one of their own ones...

- Doxa



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2022-02-03 11:41 by Doxa.

Anyway, I have always listened and thought the Stones version as a part of medley that starts with "Twenty-Flight Rock" and ends with it. At least in STILL LIFE they sound like the latter starting (by great Charlie) immediately as the former ends. I don't recall if they actually played like that live, but that what my ears are used to listen.

But a great cover duo those two. Not just on STILL LIFE, but throughout 1981/82 tour. Something very peculiar to that tour (especially the great rhythm section of the Stones - Keith, Charlie and Bill - shine. If that doesn't make one's ass move, nothing does. And Mick is Mick.)

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2022-02-03 11:59 by Doxa.

Love it! The 2003-version doesn´t come close.

In my top 10 of best Stones tracks. The Phoenix version is fantastic as well, with an outstanding Charlie.

Mathijs

Great, great track! It surprised me to read earlier in this thread that the song is not guitar-based. That riff is killer, and those licks in there are right in the pocket.

Brilliant

Big guitars, backing vocals, swing, piano, drumbeat, groove, sax, song has it all.