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

Olympic Sound Studios, London, UK, August & September 5 - 7, 1967

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals, percussion
Keith Richards - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - organ, brass
Nicky Hopkins - piano

We, in our present life
Knew that the stars were right
That if you are the first to go
You'll leave a sign to let me know, tell me so
Please, carry the lantern light

You crossed the sea of night
Free from the spell of fright
Your cloak it is a spirit shroud
You'll wake me in my sleeping hours, like a cloud
So, please, carry the lantern high

Me, in my sorry plight
You, waiting ev'ry night
My face, it turns a deathly pale
You're talking to me, through your veil, I hear you wail
So, please, carry the lantern light

The servants sleep
The door's are barred
You hear the stopping of my heart, we never part
So, please, carry the lantern high

Produced by The Rolling Stones

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Their Satanic Majesties Request” LP
(Decca TXS 103) UK, December 8, 1967



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012-07-11 16:24 by René.

the guitars on this are beautiful - Keith's laying the ground for Beggars Banquet

I like it a lot, and yeah it's the guitar-job thats fine, and Bill could have done much more on the bass....

2 1 2 0

I read a review of this long ago, where the writer made a case that this was based on a certain book of Tibetan mysticism. He analysed it line by line. At the time, Mick was ordering books from the Indica bookstore on various mystical topics.

Can anyone provide a link to the article?

Nice coincidence -- I listened to this just yesterday (w/o listening to the whole album).

Nice song, I like the piano, guitars and melodies. The lyrics are a little cheesy, aren't they?

But I guess if this song had ended up on a better album, like Beggars, it would have a worse reputation, kinda like Can You Hear the Music on Goats.

Well, it's just crap and you all know it!

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LieB
Nice coincidence -- I listened to this just yesterday (w/o listening to the whole album).

I listened to it yesterday too (as the whole album).

One of the weakest Stones songs - filler, rather a throwaway.

Sorry, even major groups sometimes have songs which should have never been released and left to the bootleggers.

I'd have replaced it with Dandelion.

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saltoftheearth
One of the weakest Stones songs - filler, rather a throwaway.

Sorry, even major groups sometimes have songs which should have never been released and left to the bootleggers.

I'd have replaced it with Dandelion.

I see your point, but there is certainly worse stuff than this song on Satanic. I would have tossed Sing This All Together See What Happens and perhaps Gomper or something and put in We Love You and Dandelion. Child Of The Moon would have fit as well, but it was maybe not finished in 1967.

There's no mellotron on this track and it seems unlikely that Brian played the brass and reed instruments heard on the track.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-02 13:06 by His Majesty.

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with sssoul
the guitars on this are beautiful - Keith's laying the ground for Beggars Banquet

Indeed!

A lovely morsel of mind-candy that fits seamlessly into the trippy sonic tapestry of TSMR. I realize this stuff may not be everyone's cup of jasmine-scented tea, but hey, it's only psychedelia, and I like it.

Drew

I wonder if the bell intro inspired AC/DCs Hell's Bells

C

I just really, really like this track, and this period. They've never been so out of the box before, nor after.

Mathijs

Love it or hate it (I love it), but The Lantern as well as the whole album are a part of the the wonderful world that is the Rolling Stones.

Great song with great guitars from Keith. Very underrated like the rest of TSMR.

One of my favourites from '67.

With a bit of tweaking TSMR could have been a good album.

sc uk

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liddas
I wonder if the bell intro inspired AC/DCs Hell's Bells

C

Maybe! John Lennon too, perhaps:





Drew



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-02 15:15 by drewmaster.

Absolutely love this song. Very trippy and kinda reminds me of Pink Floyd. Lyrics informed by The Taoist classic The Secret Of The Golden Flower - a book Marianne gave to Mick to influence his lyric writing and make them more worldly and fit for the psychedelic era.

Another book she gave Mick around this time was The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov which inspired the lyrics for Sympathy For The Devil.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-03 09:33 by Silver Dagger.

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Silver Dagger
Absolutely love this song. Very trippy and kinda reminds me of Pink Floyd. Lyrics informed by The Taoist classic The Secret Of The Golden Flower - a book Marianne gave to Mick to influence his lyric writing and make them more worldly and fir for the psychedelic era.

Another book she gave Mick around this time was The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov which inspired the lyrics for Sympathy For The Devil.

I read it almost 20 years ago...a bit of a tough read but it was interesting.

Great tune!

Great song! Keith at his best. Just love the guitar descending with the single-string harmony. Great stuff!

Wonderful track: I still think it refers to Brian Jones' demise

I just love this song!

One of those almost unlistenable tracks off TMSR. This is the first time I ever tried to study it as a stand alone track. It's a mess. You do get the Child of the Moon/Jigsaw Puzzle/Beggars sound, before its time. But you also get an attempt at psychedilia thrown in. It's like coming down on acid. Charlie and Bill seem lost. Definitely should have been replaced with a more coherent track. Eh, maybe they were too high. And I'm not sure I actually heard brass. It's like two songs fighting each other, weakly.



[www.youtube.com]

The Stones picking at their navels, what's to hate here? OH YEAH ... it's so damn staid.
Me, I LOVE it. It's mellow but very menacing despite the lyrics. Nice smooth geetar,
almost jazzy. True, little or no Jones, but it doesn't need anything else. Maybe the
brass could be up the mix a tad bit, but nothing more. Since the brass is mixed so
low, that's an argument for Jones' conspiracy theorists, so he probably did play those
parts. Nico's site should confirm this.

Listen, there's far worse crap on the LP: "Gomper" and the suite. Toss those instead
and replace with the usual electives, and maybe "Get Yourself Together". That choice
may ruffle feathers here, but lyrically it makes total sense within the loose themes
of this LP. "'Sing This All Together'? NO ... 'Get YOURSELF Together' 'cuz you ain't hip
to what's going on today, and yer gettin' too fooked up to make a positive difference."
That's more aligned with The Stones' philosophy and it's proven on "Beggars Banquet".

And hey, cut the group some slack ... it's their first production without Loogy.

The Lantern.....love it or loathe it; all depending on what you feel that day. It's a song that's just hanging in the air....every rating is just "a guess"

The Brian - brass credit is just folks assuming it's him. No one from the band or relating to the band has said Brian played the trumpets and/or saxophones on that track.

He plays the organ on the track, confirmed via The Satanic Sessions box sets. For the released version the organ is mixed down real low for most of it, but brought up for the swirling lelsie sound.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-04-02 20:35 by His Majesty.

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Silver Dagger
Lyrics informed by The Taoist classic The Secret Of The Golden Flower - a book Marianne gave to Mick to influence his lyric writing and make them more worldly and fir for the psychedelic era.

Yes, that's it - thanks. It would be great to see the analysis I mentioned also.

I love this song and as said before the guitars by keith are excellent!