If You Need Me

12 x 5
Side 2, Track 5
"If You Need Me" (Robert Bateman/Wilson Pickett) – 2:04





Wilson Pickett wrote this one, and had a moderate hit singing it in 1962. Thing is, Pickett was one of the most distinctive soul singers ever, and he just owned this slow ballad.



It would be hard for anyone to top that performance. After Pickett flopped with "If You Need Me" Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records passed it along to Solomon Burke, who recorded it for Atlantic and had a huge hit with it:




All that happened months before the Stones ever went into the studio to record this album. You know what must have happened then, right? The Stones said to themselves, yeah, Wilson sure knocked that sucker out of the park, and Solomon really went to town on it, too – but I still think we can top those guys.

Needless to say, it wasn't even close. There is simply no way Mick could outsing Wilson Picket or Solomon Burke on a slow soul ballad – not then, not ever. But what I'm really curious about is this: who the hell thought this was a good idea?