Rolling Stones on Mandolin?

[Ed Goist]

With today's re-release of The Stones' Exile on Main Street album, I got to thinking (very dangerous, I know!), that MANY of the Stones' early blues-driven and English folk influenced songs would sound killer on mandolin (say from 1967 to 1973 [the albums Between the Buttons to Goat's Head Soup]). Lady Jane, She's a Rainbow, Love in Vain, Country Honk and Street Fightin' Man are five great examples.

Does anyone know of any good sources for mandolin TABs for Stones' songs from this era…or for Stones' songs in general?

Thanks;
Ed

[jefflester]

Dead Flowers is a good one on mando.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Sounds like a job for Jim Richter or John McGann.

[mandroid]

Play along with the recordings , You really don't need no Tab..

[Steve Ostrander]

"Love in Vain" has a nice mando part by Ry Cooder.

[Mike Herlihy]

I tackled it once, here is the audio track witch pictures on Youtube. It's straightforward, G blues scal

[grumpycoyote]

Dead Flowers is a good one on mando.

Yep - I've been doing this live on Octave for a couple of months now. Simple and fun to play.

I even had some clown insist that it was a Townes VanZandt song (who did do a wonderful cover of it)... he was ready to throw punches when I informed him the Stones wrote it.

[Elliot Luber]

I love playing "Paint it Black" with cross picking. Most of their early stuff lends itself to fun mandolin playing.

[JimRichter]

Dead Flowers is a staple playing out with GB. Once a couple years ago, I did a whole set of Stones including Jumping Jack Flash, Paint It Black, Beast of Burden, Starfu$$er, Wild Horses, Monkey Man, Country Honk, Tumblin' Dice, Please Doctor, Brown Sugar, The Last Time, and several more I can't think of right now.

There's a video on YouTube of me playing Dead Flowers on electric mandolin (at a house concert I did) but it's subpar.

The Stones--especially the Let It Bleed through late 70's Stones (especially the Mick Taylor years)--are a great source of mandolin material. I still want to work up a version of She's Like a Rainbow.

[journeybear]

I'll second most of Jim's list (except for "Starf---er," which I have no use for, and "Paint It Black" and "Monkey Man," which they do so much better than I), and add "Sweet Virginia," "Shine A Light," and "Sweet Black Angel" (yes, all from "Exile"), "Connection" (which I'm glad to hear they've restored to their set list) and "She Smiled Sweetly," from the underrated "Between The Buttons," "No Expectations," "You Got the Silver," and "Waiting On A Friend." Me, I prefer "Honky Tonk Women" to "Country Honk," and the riff from "Brown Sugar" sure is fun to play. And though I probably will never do it, the line from "Get Off Of My Cloud" about noisy neighbors - "Just cause you feel so good do you have to drive me out of my head?" - often runs through my mind when I think about people who irritate me.

Did anyone catch the series of "Exile" covers on the Jimmy Fallon Show last week? Great stuff. Also, Friday's entire show was devoted to a screening of much of the new documentary. Mick and Keith showed up occasionally, funny as ever, and Keith did an interview. In one priceless moment, answering Jimmy's question about his favorite album cover, he misidentified "Let It Bleed" as "Beggars Banquet." You can catch repeats this week 3:05 - 4 AM.

One Stones song I wish people wouldn't cover is "You Can't Always Get What You Want." I hated when Patty Larkin would do this. I would much rather have heard two of her much better songs in the time it took her to do this. Yeah, I know, the song title is pretty much self-fulfilling.




"

[tree]

Whichever song you're covering, it's always fun to mock the Mick strut. You know - back of hands on hips, elbows back, chest out, lips pooched out. More fun than should be legal.

[Spruce]

...and several more I can't think of right now.

"Sittin' on a Fence" is a good one, with a cool little intro that sounds great on mandolin....

[thistle3585]

Does anyone know of any good sources for mandolin TABs for Stones' songs from this era…or for Stones' songs in general?

Thanks;
Ed

Get a uke book. I've been going through my son's uke book after he surprised me with a rendition of Paint it Black followed by Smoke on the Water and Blackbird.

[Dan Hoover]

where to start or stop?? 2 that they covered,that i think would work nicely on mando,"it's all over now" and "little red rooster" oh yea..."sittin on a fence" "lady jane" "tumblin dice" "out of time" "no expectations"...so many.."slave"???
not sure if they're on there?,but chordie.com might help you out,then just play around with it...then loosen that strap,and wear that mando low like Keef...ciggy,optional? wouldn't recommend it...lollipop better choice..

[journeybear]

"Sittin' on a Fence" is a good one, with a cool little intro that sounds great on mandolin....

Wow - there's an overlooked gem. I believe that's from "Flowers," which if I recall correctly was an American compilation of singles and songs left off the British releases of "Aftermath" and "Between The Buttons." A song I liked on that is "Back Street Girl." Its Parisian-style accordion waltz was unlike any other Stones song. This was an odd transitional period for the band, kind of the same time that The Beatles were working on "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver," and the softer, gentler sides of both bands, plus instrumental experimentation, was reflecting their early explorations into psychedelia. In America, The Stones seemed to be following The Beatles' lead, albums with somewhat similar transformations appearing a few months later, though the actual timeline in England may have been closer. Anyway, the two bands were clearly in the forefront for a couple/few years there. I'm sure people have their favorites - The Kinks and The Who were also doing a lot at the time - but the discussion back then was pretty much who was better, The Beatles or The Stones, and they seemed to be the ones duking it out for the top spot. (Too bad The Searchers didn't last - I rather liked them, and their use of the 12-string helped steer me toward the mandolin.)

Sorry to go on so, but I never get a chance to talk about this stuff with my actual friends - they're either too young or jaded - so I relish the opportunity to share with my "virtual friends." Hope that's all right!

[ald]

I tend to like all the Stone's albums up to Between the buttons. I liked a lot of their singles thereafter but I didn't really keep track of their albums

[mandocrucian]

I've done this type stuff for years and years and will probably always be denied any mention of it, even after teaching many of those rhythm grooves/parts in lessons and in workshops. ....may as well be Ralph Nader at a teabag rally.

"Honky Tonk Woman" (the 45 single version with all of those ripped-off Ry Cooder guitar lines)
"Jumping Jack Flash"
"Sympathy For The Devil"
"Brown Sugar"
"The Last Time"
"It's All Over Now"
"Paint It Black"
"Moonlight Mile"

Learn the guitar parts of the recordings so that it retains as much of the punchiness as possible. If you can't get it by ear, dig out some of those various rock guitar magazines that ran transcriptions. (Though they've probably issued guitar transcription books on the Stones by now.) If you didn't/wouldn't put in the time to learn to read standard notation, I guess you're out of luck (and you can only blame yourself).

The only bluegrassized version of any Stones tunes I ever did (and way back in the late 70's) was the Bill Keith/Jim Rooney rendition of "No Expectations" off Keith's Something Bluegrass LP.

[luckylarue]

Keith tunes are usually on the twangy side and translate well to mando/acoustic style. "You got the Silver" is one that I've done before.

[jim simpson]

We currently include Honky Tonk Woman, It's All Over Now, White Horses in our set list. Used to play Ruby Tues.
Love the Stones.

[journeybear]

I'm sure you meant "Wild Horses." No worries.

One of my all-time favorite chord riffs (is there an actual musicological term for this?) is the E - D - A back to E that drives "The Last Time." It's instantly recognizable. Play it a little differently and you've got "All Right Now." Good stuff.

[Jim Garber]

I always thought Beast of Burden would sound great on mandolin, backing up the vocals.

[tree]

True story:

Couple of weeks ago I was riding home with my 15-year-old boys. Since one of them was driving I had a brief moment of uncontested radio dibs. Surfing the presets, I paused long enough to recognize Beast of Burden.

The one in the back seat gets all excited and says, "Wait, wait a minute, don't tell me . . . um, The Eagles."

"No dude, that's the Rolling Uglies. Just listen to the singer - you can't mistake Mick Jagger for anybody. Plus, if you can't understand the words, the odds are very good it's him. Tell me what he's singing about.

"Uh . . . a pink Suburban."

Badda bing. I like it even better than the real lyrics.

[Ed Goist]

I'll never be your Pink Suburban
My tires are broad but they ain't burstin'
All I want is for you to get gas for me
I'll never be your Pink Suburban
I drove for miles, my buns are hurting
All I want is for you to get gas for me

Am I fast enough?
My ride rough enough?
Am I clean enough?
I'm not too blind to see...

[journeybear]

I always thought Beast of Burden would sound great on mandolin, backing up the vocals.

Been there - done that. Don't know why, but one time while playing on the street and getting roundly ignored, it occurred to me that I should be playing stuff that was instantly recognizable. After mulling it over for a while my brain clicked on "Beast Of Burden" - as I said, I don't know why - which I proceeded to play for an hour because once I got started it got stuck in my brain. Actually didn't do too well for me, after all.

"No dude, that's the Rolling Uglies. Just listen to the singer - you can't mistake Mick Jagger for anybody.

FWIW - Latest teen sensation Kesha has a couplet in her monster hit "Tik Tok" that mentions the longstanding international sex symbol:

Now, the dudes are lining up 'cause they hear we got swagger
But we kick em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger

So there!

[tree]

Yeah, when I heard that it made me wonder if Kesha knows who Mick Jagger is . . .