Prodigal Son

Beggars Banquet
Track 7
"Prodigal Son" (Rev. Robert Wilkins) – 2:55




A weird track – it sounds like the type of album filler that was common on the Stones early albums, an old blues track with a neat little melody. It's a nice performance, but the track isn't especially strong itself – it is the placement of "Prodigal Son" on this album that gives it a credibility their earlier blues recording largely lacked. At the beginning, when the Stones were a band who had no ambitions beyond paying homage to their blues heroes, a track like this would just be another tribute. But this time, the Stones clearly have greater goals, and surrounded by tracks as strong memorable as "Street Fighting Man" and "Sympathy for the Devil", "Prodigal Son" serves as kind of a rest stop, a quick look back to the past for a band who is clearly going in another direction.