How To Steal A Song And Get Away With It

Watch this brief video I made and then allow me to explain:

 


Keith Richards tells the story behind making It's Only Rock 'N' Roll (But I Like It) in his book Life. The track was originally recorded at Ronnie Wood's home studio by Woods (12 string guitar), Mick Jagger (vocals), David Bowie (backing vocals), Willie Weeks (bass), and Kenney Jones (drums). The other Stones -- Richards, Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor, and Bill Wyman -- were AWOL or were not invited. There was something special about that take and when Richards heard it, he set about "taking it back." New electric guitar tracks were recorded and mixed in, but they kept the original players who can be heard (as in the "lull" I drew attention to above).

The Stones also released a now extinct music video using the original recording (lip synching) which I haven't seen in a number of years.

Here is the POS music video you will now find instead:



So far as I know, that version of the song only appears in the "Official" video which replaced the original.  The only artist present at the original recording -- who wasn't replaced or dubbed over -- was Jagger.

To add a bit more insult, Richards has stated that the song was originally recorded in the wrong key, E, and changed it to B as in this almost unrecognizable version today:



If you go search on iTunes for the original, be sure to buy the 5 min 7 sec version. It contains nearly a full additional minute of Jagger's righteous indignation at the end which gets truncated in the shorter versions.

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