Gimme Shelter

Let It Bleed
Track 1
"Gimme Shelter" – 4:32




I was psyching myself up to get to this song – which I think is probably the Stones' greatest recording – and of course by the time I get to it I have nothing to say. Despite Scorsese's attempts to reduce "Gimme Shelter" to a cliché, it remains as vital as ever due to some terrific percussion work from Charlie Watts and producer Jimmy Miller.

Merry Clayton is the singer who comes in a steals the show. Friend of the blog Mondo hipped me to her solo recording of "Gimme Shelter":



Thanks to YouTube, I found a brief clip of Merry doing her thing:



"Gimme Shelter" seems to inpsire some rather unfortunate cover versions. Here is the normally surefooted Funkadelic performing the song in a desultory manner:



Patti Smith can't seem to get her head around the song either:



I don't know who the fuck these people are, but it's this type of stuff that guarantees that I avoid listening to music made after 1979: