Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Dear Doctor

Beggars Banquet
Track 3
"Dear Doctor" – 3:26



This is the blueprint for "Sweet Virginia" and "Far Away Eyes" and other songs that I guess we'd classify as "country-rock". Doing this type of stuff was a real breakthrough for the band: unlike their attempts at blues, which were almost farcical in their slavish attempts at authenticity, the Stones achieved a level of credibility on the country songs precisely because they paid no mind to the traditional values of the genre – they brought their rock and roll sensibility to these songs, and produced music that was vital and exciting.

"Dear Doctor" doesn't quite have the formula down yet – the vocals are mannered and unsure, and the band doesn't quite seem committed to the idea of mixing a country waltz ballad with their rock and roll instrumentation. But this is an important recording for the Stones in that it pointed in a direction that would, in time, produce some of their best music.

5 comments:

Mondo said...

Good I'd forgotten what a great album this is, have you seen this clip recording possibly the most famous "ooh, ooh"s ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuc3JGAwom8

(you have to wait 'til 1:17)

Nanker said...

Updated the Sympathy post to include that great clip.

And yes, this is a great album. I've never owned it before, and knew the songs only by coming across them willy-nilly. It was just by looking at the track list I realised how good it was. The best songs are still to come.

I still have no idea how they went directly from Satanic Majesties to this without getting the bends.

Unknown said...

"the vocals are mannered and unsure"

This is a joke song, not to be taken seriously at all. Just listen to Mick in his lady voice.
And the lyric " the girl i'm to mary is a four legged sow".

Unknown said...

marry :)

Nanker said...

"This is a joke song, not to be taken seriously at all. Just listen to Mick in his lady voice."

No, I get that. But he isn't committed to the joke. Later, on tunes like "Emotional Rescue", he would commit to the joke, but not yet.