Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
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Something Happened To Me Yesterday
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

RCA Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US, August 3 - 11, 1966 and
Pye Studios & Olympic Sound Studios, London, UK,
November 8 - 26, & December 13, 1966

Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Brian Jones - saxophone
Jack Nitzsche - piano
Mike Leander Orchestra - strings, horns

Something happened to me yesterday, something I can't speak of right away
Something happened to me, something, oh, so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday
He don't know if it's right or wrong, maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was or if it's against the law, something

Something very strange I hear you say, you're talking in a most peculiar way
But something really threw me, something, oh, so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday, yesterday
He don't know just where it's gone, he don't really care at all
No one's sure just what it was or the meaning and the cause, something

He don't know if it's right or wrong, maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was or if it's against the law, something

Someone says there's something more to pay for sins that you committed yesterday
It's really rather drippy, but something, oh, so trippy
Something happened to me yesterday, right
He don't know just where it's gone, he don't really care at all
No one's sure just what it was or the meaning and the cause, something

Someone's singing loud across the bay, sittin’ on a mat about to pray
Isn't half as looney as something, oh, so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday, right
He don't know if it's right or wrong, maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was or if it's against the law, something

Well, thank you very much and now I think it's time for us al to go
So from all of us to all of you, not forgetting the boys in the band
And our producer, Reg Thorpe, we'd like to say: God Bless
So, if you're out tonight, don't forget, if you're on your bike, wear white, evening all

Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Between The Buttons” LP
(Decca SKL 4852) UK, January 20, 1967

First Keith solo vocal?

Superb track in English 'Old Bull and Bush'-style...

2 1 2 0

"Someone's singing loud across the bay, sittin’ on a mat about to pray." A muezzin reference? Which makes me wonder about the locale.

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71Tele
First Keith solo vocal?

Yep.

An amusing throwaway track that always brings a smile. It was quite a turnaround for the Stones to start channeling England after all that American r'n'b, blues and soul that went before.

But let's examine what might have inspired this sudden burst of Englishness that is all over Between The Buttons.

London had suddenly become the rock'n'roll centre of the universe, the coolest city on the planet and the place where most of the world's greatest bands like the Stones, Beatles, the Who, The Yardbirds, The Animals, etc now all lived.

And let's not forget the importance of that most momentous of historic English sporting victories - England had just won the World Cup in summer 1966. So for the first time since the end of the war young English people were proud of their country. The years of austerity and food rationing were over, the arrival of hire purchase made people afford cars and fridges and life in general had never been better.

So back to the song. Yep - it's a piss take of the old guard and the old time Dixieland jazz bands that had been relegated to playing in pubs by the new wave of pop bands led by the Beatles and Stones. But in a way, it's a quaint and nostalgic look back at the public attitude the band grew up in during 1950s Britian.

For those of you who don't remember it, the last line "and don't forget, if you're out tonight, on your bike etc' is a piss take of the 'Evening All' sign off from Jack Warner at the end of an immensely popular TV show at the time called Dixon Of Dock Green.
You can hear it at the end of this new clip about Jack Warner's death.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-01 11:49 by Silver Dagger.

By the Popping Stones - but my favorite band are the Rolling Stones ...

Charming, goofy fun. Jagger aping Dylan, Keith stepping up to sing solo for the first time, Brian whistling, a trad jazz brass band, and lyrics that reference an acid trip ... what more could you want?!!

Drew

Always loved it. A little cracker.

Vaguely remember Chrissie Shrimpton saying Mick wrote it about them splitting? Think I read it in a book I got as a kid called The First Twenty Years with a yellow cover. Dunno.

Anyway great number from an album I love.

Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

Fun track from a masterpiece album!

Love it as it shows the Stones can play
Something different then a blues styled LP.

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

My impression is that the turn to the English of the Stones has more to do with the factors Silver Dagger refers to - in short, possibly summed up by the term "Swinging London" - than to a simple influence from other bands.

And as to that album, BETWEEN THE BUTTONS is probably the album that I am in some sense is most fond of. "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" is then one of the songs that so much contributes to the atmosphere of this album.

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DandelionPowderman

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

I don't think The Beatles did Vaudeville up to that point Dandy. The Kinks certainly did and were THE band in 1966 notching up at least 3 major hits including the No 1 Sunny Afternoon - in the week that England won the World Cup.

They were certainly a huge influence of this new English sound, especially on songs like Dedicated Folower Of Fashion, Dead End Street, A Well Respected Man and some of those sublime tracks off Face To Face like Dandy, Rosy Won't You Please Come Home, and Most Exclusive Resident For Sale.

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

I don't think The Beatles did Vaudeville up to that point Dandy. The Kinks certainly did and were THE band in 1966 notching up at least 3 major hits including the No 1 Sunny Afternoon - in the week that England won the World Cup.

They were certainly a huge influence of this new English sound, especially on songs like Dedicated Folower Of Fashion, Dead End Street, A Well Respected Man and some of those sublime tracks off Face To Face like Dandy, Rosy Won't You Please Come Home, and Most Exclusive Resident For Sale.

Yeah, what a year for the Kinks! People who were around enjoying this stuff at the time were lucky indeed.

You're probably right about the Beatles. Their vaudeville-stuff came later.

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

I don't think The Beatles did Vaudeville up to that point Dandy. The Kinks certainly did and were THE band in 1966 notching up at least 3 major hits including the No 1 Sunny Afternoon - in the week that England won the World Cup.

They were certainly a huge influence of this new English sound, especially on songs like Dedicated Folower Of Fashion, Dead End Street, A Well Respected Man and some of those sublime tracks off Face To Face like Dandy, Rosy Won't You Please Come Home, and Most Exclusive Resident For Sale.

Yeah, what a year for the Kinks! People who were around enjoying this stuff at the time were lucky indeed.

You're probably right about the Beatles. Their vaudeville-stuff came later.

Myself not around, but contemporary with that stuff.

At the time I myself was rather reserved to "Dead End Street", thought "Dedicated Follower Of Fashion" was quite, but not very good, and loved "Sunny Afternoon". Before that, I especially loved four songs, two of which were singles, and two were featured in two albums. Had from earlier years the Kinks debut album (by coincidence, the first album I ever owned) and KINK KONTROVERSY (added: I really liked those albums) , but did not buy FACE TO FACE before much later. (Not at all an album for me to be interesting to buy with the scarce money I had then.)

Also at the time, I never ever thought about the Stones to be influenced by the Kinks, although I noticed some similarities in the build-up of "Cool, Calm, Collected" and "Got Love If You Want It" from THE KINKS, and then that track is not a Ray Davies song.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-01 19:59 by Witness.

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

I don't think The Beatles did Vaudeville up to that point Dandy. The Kinks certainly did and were THE band in 1966 notching up at least 3 major hits including the No 1 Sunny Afternoon - in the week that England won the World Cup.

They were certainly a huge influence of this new English sound, especially on songs like Dedicated Folower Of Fashion, Dead End Street, A Well Respected Man and some of those sublime tracks off Face To Face like Dandy, Rosy Won't You Please Come Home, and Most Exclusive Resident For Sale.

Yeah, what a year for the Kinks! People who were around enjoying this stuff at the time were lucky indeed.

You're probably right about the Beatles. Their vaudeville-stuff came later.

I was in my last year of junior school, aged 9, and the pop singles that were released from summer 65 to autumn 66 are in my mind the best 15 months in pop history. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction; 19th Nervous Breakdown; Have You Seen Your Mother Baby, Standing In The Shadow; Paint It, Black; Like A Rolling Stone; Sunny Afternoon; Paperback Writer; We Can Work It Out; All Or Nothing; It's My Life; Wild Thing; Substitute; I'm A Boy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-01 20:50 by Silver Dagger.

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Witness
My impression is that the turn to the English of the Stones has more to do with the factors Silver Dagger refers to - in short, possibly summed up by the term "Swinging London" - than to a simple influence from other bands.

Yep, it has that new self-conscious English sound (of which bands like The Kinks had offered their own take), I am particularly fond of Silver Dagger's specification: "it's a piss take of the old guard and the old time Dixieland jazz bands that had been relegated to playing in pubs by the new wave of pop bands led by the Beatles and Stones. But in a way, it's a quaint and nostalgic look back at the public attitude the band grew up in during 1950s Britian."

Besides that obvious "burst of Englishness" I tend to think that Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" might have been some sort of inspiration behind the song - Dylan is there having a kind of 'piss take' musically of a certain musical form, whatever it is - A Salvation Army band playing dead-drunk blues scale? - and also the the topical reference in both songs seem to be the same... The Stones cleverly transformed the idea into English context. Actually, compared to the bands like the Kinks - and probably The Beatles a bit later - I don't think any of them had that nasty, even evil humour both Dylan and the Stones had. Just listen to Brian's sax...

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-01 20:18 by Doxa.

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Doxa

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Witness
My impression is that the turn to the English of the Stones has more to do with the factors Silver Dagger refers to - in short, possibly summed up by the term "Swinging London" - than to a simple influence from other bands.

Yep, it has that new self-conscious English sound (of which bands like The Kinks had offered their own take), I am particularly fond of Silver Dagger's specification: "it's a piss take of the old guard and the old time Dixieland jazz bands that had been relegated to playing in pubs by the new wave of pop bands led by the Beatles and Stones. But in a way, it's a quaint and nostalgic look back at the public attitude the band grew up in during 1950s Britian."

Besides that obvious "burst of Englishness" I tend to think that Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" might have been some sort of inspiration behind the song - Dylan is there having a kind of 'piss take' musically of a certain musical form, whatever it is - A Salvation Army band playing horribly blues scale? - and also the the topical reference in both songs seem to be the same... The Stones cleverly transformed the idea into English context. Actually, compared to the bands like the Kinks - and probably The Beatles a bit later - I don't think any of them had that nasty, even evil humour both Dylan and the Stones had. Just listen to Brian's sax...

- Doxa

I find this to be a most interesting hypothesis. Because that kind of indirect influence I think often is relevant for a band like Stones. An influence that is too direct and obvious, I would guess that a band like the Stones would have had too much pride to be led by.

The edit: I started my quote a little too early to get everything complete of the brilliant post from Doxa originally, but now I have got it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-01 21:22 by Witness.

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

I don't think The Beatles did Vaudeville up to that point Dandy. The Kinks certainly did and were THE band in 1966 notching up at least 3 major hits including the No 1 Sunny Afternoon - in the week that England won the World Cup.

They were certainly a huge influence of this new English sound, especially on songs like Dedicated Folower Of Fashion, Dead End Street, A Well Respected Man and some of those sublime tracks off Face To Face like Dandy, Rosy Won't You Please Come Home, and Most Exclusive Resident For Sale.

Yeah, what a year for the Kinks! People who were around enjoying this stuff at the time were lucky indeed.

You're probably right about the Beatles. Their vaudeville-stuff came later.

I was in my last year of junior school, aged 9, and the pop singles that were released from summer 65 to autumn 66 are in my mind the best 15 months in pop history. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, 19th Nervous Breakdown, Paint It, Black, Have You seen Your Mother Baby, Like A Rolling Stone, Sunny Afternoon, Paperback Writer, All Or Nothing, It's My Life, Wild Thing, Substitute, I'm A Boy.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-01 20:57 by Silver Dagger.

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Doxa

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Witness
My impression is that the turn to the English of the Stones has more to do with the factors Silver Dagger refers to - in short, possibly summed up by the term "Swinging London" - than to a simple influence from other bands.

Yep, it has that new self-conscious English sound (of which bands like The Kinks had offered their own take), I am particularly fond of Silver Dagger's specification: "it's a piss take of the old guard and the old time Dixieland jazz bands that had been relegated to playing in pubs by the new wave of pop bands led by the Beatles and Stones. But in a way, it's a quaint and nostalgic look back at the public attitude the band grew up in during 1950s Britian."

Besides that obvious "burst of Englishness" I tend to think that Dylan's "Rainy Day Women" might have been some sort of inspiration behind the song - Dylan is there having a kind of 'piss take' musically of a certain musical form, whatever it is - A Salvation Army band playing dead-drunk blues scale? - and also the the topical reference in both songs seem to be the same... The Stones cleverly transformed the idea into English context. Actually, compared to the bands like the Kinks - and probably The Beatles a bit later - I don't think any of them had that nasty, even evil humour both Dylan and the Stones had. Just listen to Brian's sax...

- Doxa

Never thought of that Dylan reference but well spotted Doxa. And I've never even thought of that idea of Dylan using a drunken Salvation Army/Temperence Movement Band sound to take the piss out of the old guard. That's an insight/observation worthy of the top musical writers.

Absolutely charming, weird and naive - the acid was good in those days
and the events that immediately followed the release of Between the Buttons
hadn't yet made it difficult to be light-hearted about not being sure if it's against the law -
or something :E

I love the Rolling Stones

.....and the boogie riff from Roy Orbison's 1959 hit Uptown sure feels like it spilt over into Mr Dylan's Rainy Day Women ...



ROCKMAN

Despite what people say about Connection being Keith's first lead vocal tune...to me, it's this one...classic tune directly reflecting the time and place.

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with sssoul
Absolutely charming, weird and naive - the acid was good in those days
and the events that immediately followed the release of Between the Buttons
hadn't yet made it difficult to be light-hearted about not being sure if it's against the law -
or something :E

I love the Rolling Stones

1966 was the year that LSD became illegal in the UK - I don't think it was at the time of the Redlands raid or when this track was being recorded.

Hmmm. Correction. Maybe it was by the time of Redlands - but the police don't seem to have been very interested in it. They were after cannabis and other drugs they were familiar with.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-02 21:31 by Green Lady.

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger

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DandelionPowderman

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jiggysawdust
Obviously influenced by The Kinks.

the Kinks - and the Beatles, too, perhaps?

I don't think The Beatles did Vaudeville up to that point Dandy. The Kinks certainly did and were THE band in 1966 notching up at least 3 major hits including the No 1 Sunny Afternoon - in the week that England won the World Cup.

They were certainly a huge influence of this new English sound, especially on songs like Dedicated Folower Of Fashion, Dead End Street, A Well Respected Man and some of those sublime tracks off Face To Face like Dandy, Rosy Won't You Please Come Home, and Most Exclusive Resident For Sale.

Yeah, what a year for the Kinks! People who were around enjoying this stuff at the time were lucky indeed.

You're probably right about the Beatles. Their vaudeville-stuff came later.

Right, Beatles/McCartney would do this a little on 'Sgt. Pepper' and on subsequent albums (I'm thinking in '64,' 'Your Mother Should Know,' 'Honey Pie,' and maybe even 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' falls into that category, not sure).

But the vaudeville thing never was dominant in 60s british pop, even considering the Kinks. Psychedelics then came along.

I do like 'Something Happened To Me Yesterday' as it has for me atmosphere and fun (plus charming Keith vocal parts). If nothing else an appropriate closing track on a rather unserious album in which the Stones are in transitional stage (phase 1).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-09-02 21:49 by nightskyman.

I'd never been fond of Between the Buttons, believing the general consensus that they had burned out after their first great burst of creativity. However, in the last couple weeks, I popped my SACD version into the car player and I was intrigued. There was a lot more there than I'd previously accepted. But, there are problems with it that Jagger spoke about. There's the base there for some great songs, but the execution in the production booth is lacking to pull it all off. This might have been one of the last straws in the Stones/Oldham relationship.

I love this one with its gloriously silly surface that contains a real reaction to an intriguing but possibly dangerous/illegal/immoral new experience. I like the way that the nature of the experience is never quite made clear, so that although we can guess that it was probably some kind of drug trip, the song could also apply in other situations.

with_sssoul is quite right - this was the last time that they were able to be light-hearted about the possible illegality of what they were up to. Any innocent belief that the British police were like the cosy Dixon of Dock Green (everybody in Britain would have recognised that "evening all" sign-off instantly) was soon going to be shattered forever.

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Silver Dagger

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with sssoul
Absolutely charming, weird and naive - the acid was good in those days
and the events that immediately followed the release of Between the Buttons
hadn't yet made it difficult to be light-hearted about not being sure if it's against the law -
or something :E

I love the Rolling Stones

+1