6. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
NYC reference: “To have a girl like her / is a dream come true / out of all the girls in New York / she loves me true.”
True story: it is after 11 PM CST on a Tuesday and I am, admittedly, drunk. The bottle of wine I was enjoying after a just terrible, terrible class (not one-off terrible, but rather one of those classes that just always serves as the low point in your week [if you’re an undergrad this doesn’t mean anything as pretty much all class is a total drag, but if you’re a grad student who actually likes being a grad student then you really get what I am saying: these kinds of classes are really a drag because you dislike it on a meta level and wait, what? Did the prof just use ontology and epistemology interchangeably? Truly she’s driving me to drink.] but anyway I digress) ran dry and now I’ve switched to bourbon and ice because I like bourbon and I like ice (at least when it is drenched with bourbon) and I thought this would be a good time to talk about my favorite Rolling Stones cover ever, which is the above track: Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me), originally performed by the Temptations.
It was actually the original version of this song, which popped on the radio last Wednesday while I was driving a pickup truck that I do not own, that gave me the idea to do some sort of NYC related music countdown as a lead-up to our trip to NYC for Halloween. My exact train of thought when I stopped the radio dial was: “Oh hey! I love this song…Oh hey! They mention New York and I am going there in a week and a half!…Oh hey! I should do something NYC music related to commemorate it!… Like count down the top Rolling Stones songs that reference New York!”
Well, now, that train of thought is quite telling isn’t it? Doesn’t it pretty much sum up why anyone is fanatical about rock and roll in the first place? Here I was listening to the original version - a fantastic Motown classic - and instantly all I can think about is the Rolling Stones’ version. This cognitive leap makes sense to me but I’m not sure it actually makes sense. Maybe Wikipedia can help:
Unlike the Temptations’ original, the Rolling Stones cover has a higher tempo, prominent electric guitars, and replaces the subdued tone of the original with a rougher feel.
Kind of like switching from wine to bourbon, right!? Right. While I love Motown and basically any instance of David Ruffin anywhere will arrest my heart (zomg), it’s all just so smooth and calculated and no matter how dirty garage punk any act like The Libertines or the Arctic Monkeys will be billed, bands like the Rolling Stones and The Faces, in their prime, will always have a corner on that description? I mean, is there a song that says “I like music and I like rock and roll” more than the Rolling Stones covering “Just My Imagination?” Probably not, I don’t think, cuz what was it Keef once said? “Anyone can rock, it’s the rolling part that’s hard?” Something like that. And that is why we love true rock and roll, right? Right. (You should have stopped reading this post like 15 minutes ago, FYI. I’m drunk and in love with this song and how in the hell is anyone supposed to ever put into text something we love on an extratextual level. I’M LOOKING AT YOU, PFK.)
Anyway, the version I posted above is from the incredibly recent concert film, Shine a Light. I chose this version because, after 40+ years they still pull it off, don’t they? I remember the first time I saw Shine a Light. I got tickets to an advance screening of it outside of Milwaukee and I showed up an hour early with a flask because when you get those free advance tickets you are supposed to show up early since there is always a line and they always give out way more tickets than capacity can hold because they want to fill the house regardless. Well, this was an IMAX capable theater and - I swear - there were no more than 8 people that showed up. So, here I was, getting lit up by myself at the theater (ok, not totally by myself, I was with an ex who I would like to erase from the picture and, what the hell it is the Internet so I’m going to go ahead and erase her from the picture) for an hour and then sitting by myself in the front row. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much cuz, hey, the Stones are old and Scorsese’s past his prime and WTF it’s just a concert film and they’ve all been sort of not good since The Last Waltz anyway. But, whaddya know Shine a Light turned out to be kind of fun and I’ll be damned if the Stones aren’t still the Greatest Rock and Roll Band on Earth and then they went and pulled out “Just My Imagination” for the film’s set list. I got up and danced by myself (for real, the ex just sat there) in an empty IMAX theater and…
…man, I like rock and roll and I like the Rolling Stones and I’m excited to visit New York City this weekend.
UPDATE: Hey, I wouldn’t be drunk if I didn’t go ahead and interrupt my own self now would I?
What is with their changing the lyrics in the Shine a Light version, anyway? The original version (and the Stones original cover version) sings: “Soon we’d be married / and raise a family / two boys for you / what about two girls for me?” But the updated version replaces the last two lines with “a girl for you / what about a little boy for me?” I mean, it was always the vague creepiness of Mick Jagger singing “what about two girls for me?” that really sold the cover. If the raised tempo and the guitars gave it a rougher feel, then certainly Mick’s delivering that line really sealed that feel purely by virtue of singing the exact same lyrics through Mick Jagger’s vocal chords. That is what rock and roll is, you know? If you’re gonna go for it go for it. I guess that is what separates the Stones in 1978 from the Stones in 2009.
Anyway, go here to hear the original delivery. My glass of bourbon is empty and I am going to go to bed now.
