(Baby) Don't Do It (nonstones)

Some songs, it's nearly impossible to get a crappy performance.

"(Baby) Don't You Do It" was released by Marvin Gaye in 1964, one of his series of hits at the time.


No chord changes!

The song then became popular among British rock bands. Here is The Small Faces (released on From the Beginning in 1967, but recorded much earlier):


And The Who (recorded during the Who's Next sessions in 1971, but ultimately left off the album):

That's Leslie West on lead guitar. If you want to see how unorthodox Keith Moon's drumming was, watch this guy show you how it's done. Smack that cymbal, son!

See also: Stevie Wonder, Pete Townshend.

The Band put an end to all that. They recorded several versions, released some. This version, the first I ever heard, is said to date to 12/28-12/31/71, at the Academy of Music, NYC:

But really, every version of the song I've heard them do has been an awesome cacophony.

Hitch Hike

Out of Our Heads (USA version)
Side 1, Track 2
"Hitch Hike" (Marvin Gaye/William Stevenson/Clarence Paul) – 2:25




This is the second time the Stones have gone after a Marvin Gaye hit, but unlike their driving "Can I Get a Witness", "Hitch Hike" is something of a pedestrian affair, lacking the energy that made "Mercy, Mercy" so much fun. That probably has something to do with the material: "Hitch Hike", the song, is a perfectly passable slice of early 60s Motown pop, aspiring to nothing more than Top 40 hitdom, whereas "Mercy, Mercy" is a crushing soul song with an agenda.

Still, there's nothing the Stones have to be ashamed of here. After all the tepid blues workouts that littered their previous albums, it would be a relief to have to listen to nothing by bland R&B. However, I have a feeling that this album is really going to start to pick up....

Can I Get a Witness

England’s Newest Hitmakers

Side 2, Track 4

"Can I Get a Witness" (Brian Holland/Lamont Dozier/Eddie Holland) – 2:55





This was the first song from this album I really loved, and I'm still not exactly sure why. The original version was a generic Marvin Gaye semi-hit, the kind he was chugging out at a regular clip in those days. The Stones didn't really do anything to it to change it up, but where Gaye and his Motown confederates' professionalism make their "Witness" a fairly routine R&B exercise, Mick's earnestness generates a much more exciting rhythm number – it is, I believe, Jagger's first distinctive vocal, particularly the "up early in the morning!" line.

So far, the only song on the album without a solo, although I think the next track is missing one as well.

For your amusement, here is Dusty Springfield's hilariously over the top treatment of the song:

Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)

England’s Newest Hitmakers

Side 1, Track 5

"Now I've Got a Witness (Like Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene)" (Nanker Phelge) – 2:29

Kids, let me tell you a story about the old days. See, back then, bands would create albums by padding their singles releases with filler. Thank god we don't have to deal with that anymore. This filler often took the form of hastily written instrumentals that, unlike the singles which were usually written by professional songwriters, the band could get a writing credit for – or, in this case, an instrumental of an existing Marvin Gaye song, with the melody removed. Nanker Phelge is a pseudonym used by the band for writing credits of these filler songs.

Aren't you glad I told you all that? Aren't you glad you spent two minutes of your life reading that information rather than wasting your time listening to the track, like I did? I'm already dreading the next track on this album, which also has a Nanker Phelge writing credit.

(BTW, and I’m not sure why anyone would care, but the "Uncle Phil" and "Uncle Gene" of the title are Phil Spector and Gene Pitney, who both got credit for playing something or other on this track. I’d try to find out more about why these two respectable recording artists were in the studio with a bunch of English long-haired louts, but the result just isn’t interesting enough for me to do the legwork.)