Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (again)

The Rolling Stones, Now!
Side 1, Track 1
"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (Solomon Burke/Bert Russell/Jerry Wexler) – 2:58





What the hell? This isn't the same version of the song found on The Rolling Stones No. 2 – that version wasn't anything special, but at least had some charm. This one is a sloppy mess of a song, featuring the most ridiculously out of tune background vocals of the Stones career to date – quite an accomplishment. I just can't believe someone gave the green light to release this.

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By the way, I know The Rolling Stones, Now! came before Out of Our Heads, but for some reason I missed it. I am a details geek, and I have to get Now! out of the way before I can move on to Aftermath/December's Children.

Everybody Needs Somebody to Love

The Rolling Stones No.2
Side 1, Track 1
"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (Solomon Burke/Jerry Wexler/Bert Russell) – 5:03





Solomon Burke is back. We first met his acquaintance on 12 x 5's "If You Need Me", a slow ballad that showed Mick the dangers of tangling with a real soul singer. This time, Mick takes a swipe at a more uptempo number, complete with a long soul testifying interlude, and of course the famous spoken intro, which could only have been released in the sixties:

You know, sometimes you get what you want
And then you go and lose what you have
And I believe every woman and every man here tonight listen to my song
And it save the whole world.

Sez on Wikipedia that the version of this song that appears on The Rolling Stones, Now! is two minutes shorter. We'll see about that: Now! is the next album in my queue. The version on this album is more than five minutes long, and for some reason they left the long, meandering outro in place, even though Mick is clearly expecting to be faded out.



Image courtesy of Exeter Memories. Caption reads:

The Rolling Stones played on 26th August 1964 (2 shows at the ABC) and on the 2nd October 1964 (2 shows at the Odeon). The Odeon had just spent £6,000 on new dressing rooms and enlarging the stage. The rare photo of the Stones was taken backstage at the ABC 26th August show.