Beatles Vs. Rolling Stones Again It’s Beatles Vs. Rolling Stones Again With Paul McCartney Vs. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards At The Grammys – Who Should Win Best Rock Song?

(Photo : Facebook/The Beatles)


The 2014 Grammy Awards Best Rock Song category has us flashing back to 1964! Paul McCartney will go head-to-head with Mick Jagger & Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones for the Grammy for Best Rock Song.

McCartney’s “Cut Me Some Slack,” co-written and co-performed with Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, is up against Jagger’s and Richards’ “Doom and Gloom,” performed by the Rolling Stones (the Grammy goes to the songwriters).

The other songs in the category are “Ain’t Messin ‘Round” by Gary Clark Jr., “God Is Dead?” by Black Sabbath, and “Panic Station” by Muse, but we’re interested in seeing that Beatles Vs. Stones rivalry revived!


The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were often pitted against each other in the early 1960s, when the Beatles were known for their clean-cut image and the Rolling Stones were rock’s biggest bad boys. The two bands went head-to-head in the charts and for awards, but it was mostly a good-natured rivalry. Behind the scenes, the bands were friendly, and McCartney and Richards still hang out to this day – and have talked about making a record together.

“We were really pleased to see each other. We fell straight in, talking about the past, talking about songwriting,” Richards wrote of McCartney in his memoir Life.

“We talked about such strangely simple things as the difference between the Beatles and Stones, and that the Beatles were a vocal band because they could all sing the lead vocal, and we were more of a musicians’ band–we had only one front man.”

However friendly McCartney and Richards may be, however, only one of them can go home with the Grammy! 






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The Rolling Stones - Ride 'Em On Down from their new album Blue & Lonesome

Yeah!
I’m a dealin' man, still dealing, yeah
I’ll go keep on dealing till I find myself a bed
I got to stop dealing, I believe I’ll ride ‘em on down
Well I done stopped dealing, I believe I’ll ride 'em on down

Yeah!
Raised in the country, got up raised in town
Got two kids and they’re all look like mine
I got to stop dealing, I believe I’ll ride ‘em on down
Yeah, I got to stop dealing, I believe I’ll ride 'em on down

Yeah!
I’m dealing darling, by some other deck
Seem like somebody gonna take my shit
I got to stop dealing, I believe I’ll ride ‘em on down
Well, I done stopped dealing, I believe I’ll ride 'em on down

Yeah!

[guitar solo]

Yeah!
Born yesterday and not a day before
Here you come knocking at my door
Done stop dealing, I believe I’ll ride ‘em on down
Well I done stopped dealing, I believe I’ll ride 'em on down

Yeah!

[harmonica solo]



The Rolling Stones searing jazzy blues take on Eddie Taylor's "Ride 'Em on Down" off the rock legends' upcoming LP of blues classics Blue & Lonesome.



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The track dates back to the 1930s when Delta blues great Bukka White penned the track under the title "Shake 'Em on Down." Chicago blues singer Eddie Taylor recorded the track in 1955 as "Ride 'Em on Down"; it's this version that inspired the Stones to cover the track.

The Stones previously shared "Just Your Fool" and "Hate to See You Go" from Blue & Lonesome, released  December 2nd, 2016.

Rolling Stone recently spoke to the band for a cover story where the Stones opened up about the sessions that produced Blue & Lonesome and their contribution to the blues.

"The thing about the blues is it changes in very small increments," Mick Jagger said. "People reinterpret what they know – Elmore James reinterpreted Robert Johnson licks, as did Muddy Waters. So I'm not saying we're making the jumps that they made, but we can't help but reinterpret these songs."

"Ride 'Em on Down" also features a scorching harmonica solo courtesy of Jagger. "This is the best record Mick Jagger has ever made," Keith Richards told Rolling Stone while praising the singer's harmonica skills. "It was just watching the guy enjoying doing what he really can do better than anybody else… And also, the band ain't too shabby."

Honky Tonk Woman Sheryl Crow with The Rolling Stones

Honky Tonk Women"


I met a gin soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis,
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride.
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
'Cause I just can't seem to drink you off my mind.

It's the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

I laid a divorcee in New York City,
I had to put up some kind of a fight.
The lady then she covered me in roses,
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind.

It's the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

(Yeah!) It's the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.

(Yeah!) It's the honky tonk women.
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues.


"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single only release (although a country version was included on Let It Bleed), on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom and a week later in the United States, it topped the charts in both nations.

Inspiration and recording

The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while on holiday in Brazil from late December 1968 to early January 1969, inspired by Brazilian "caipiras" (inhabitants of rural, remote areas of parts of Brazil) at the ranch where Jagger and Richards were staying in Matão, São Paulo.Two versions of the song were recorded by the band: the familiar hit which appeared on the 45 single and their collection of late 1960s singles, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2); and a honky-tonk version entitled "Country Honk" with slightly different lyrics, which appeared on Let It Bleed (1969).

Thematically, a "honky tonk woman" refers to a dancing girl in a western bar who may work as a prostitute; the setting for the narrative in the first verse of the blues version is Memphis, Tennessee, while "Country Honk" sets the first verse in Jackson, Mississippi.


I met a gin soaked bar-room queen in Memphis

I'm sittin' in a bar, tippin' a jar in Jackson

The band initially recorded the track called "Country Honk", in London in early March 1969. Brian Jones was present during these sessions and may have played on the first handful of takes and demos. It was his last recording session with the band. The song was transformed into the familiar electric, riff-based hit single "Honky Tonk Women" sometime in the spring of 1969, prior to Mick Taylor's joining the group. In an interview in the magazine Crawdaddy!, Richards credits Taylor for influencing the track: "... the song was originally written as a real Hank Williams/Jimmie Rodgers/1930s country song. And it got turned around to this other thing by Mick Taylor, who got into a completely different feel, throwing it off the wall another way." However, in 1979 Taylor recalled it this way: "I definitely added something to Honky Tonk Women, but it was more or less complete by the time I arrived and did my overdubs."

"Honky Tonk Women" is distinctive as it opens not with a guitar riff, but with a beat played on a cowbell. The Rolling Stones' producer Jimmy Miller performed the cowbell for the recording.

The concert rendition of "Honky Tonk Women" on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970) differs significantly from the studio hit, with a markedly dissimilar guitar introduction and the first appearance on vinyl of an entirely different second verse.

Live visuals

During the North American leg of the 1989 Steel Wheels tour, a giant inflatable woman was cued to appear just before the first chorus. There was an animated live visual for this song when it was performed in concert around 2002 and 2003. It featured a topless woman riding on the Rolling Stones tongue who was seen in the beginning of the concert.
Release[edit]

The single was released in the UK the day after the death of founding member Brian Jones where it remained on the charts for 5 weeks peaking at No. 1. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was the single's B-side. The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from 23 August 1969. It was later released on the compilation album Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) in September. Billboard ranked it as the No. 4 song overall for 1969.

At the time of its release Rolling Stone hailed "Honky Tonk Women" as "likely the strongest three minutes of rock and roll yet released in 1969". It was ranked No. 116 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in April 2010. The song was later put into the track listing for the video game Band Hero.

Personnel The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger – lead vocals
Keith Richards – lead guitar (incl. solo), rhythm guitar, background vocals
Mick Taylor – lead guitar
Bill Wyman – bass
Charlie Watts – drumsAdditional personnel
Reparata and the Delrons – background vocals
Nanette Workman – background vocals (credited as "Nanette Newman")
Doris Troy – background vocals
Ian Stewart – piano
Jimmy Miller – cowbell
Steve Gregory and Bud Beadle – saxophones

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Chart (1969) Peak position Australia (Go-Set) 1 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 4 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 5 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 2 Germany (Official German Charts) 2 Ireland (IRMA) 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100) 4 New Zealand (Listener) 1 Norway (VG-lista) 2 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 1 UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 1 US Billboard Hot 100 1

Year-end charts Chart (1969) Rank Canada 16 US Billboard Hot 100 4 Certifications Region Certification Certified units/Sales United States (RIAA) Gold 1,000,000^ *sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone

Releases on compilation albums and live recordings

• Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969)
• Hot Rocks 1964–1971 (1971)
• Rolled Gold: The Very Best of the Rolling Stones (1975)
• 30 Greatest Hits (1977)
• Singles Collection: The London Years (1989)
• Forty Licks (2002)
• Singles 1968–1971 (2005)
• GRRR! (2012)

Concert versions of "Honky Tonk Women" are included on the albums 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!' (recorded 1969, released 1970), Love You Live (recorded 1976, released 1977), Live Licks (recorded 2003, released 2004), Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live (2013), and Totally Stripped (recorded 1995, released 2016). The song has appeared in numerous Stones concert films and boxed sets, including Stones in the Park, Some Girls: Live In Texas '78, Let's Spend the Night Together, Stones at the Max, Voodoo Lounge Live, Bridges to Babylon Tour '97–98, Four Flicks, The Biggest Bang, and Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live.

Personnel

The Rolling Stones

• Mick Jagger – vocals
• Keith Richards – acoustic guitar, backing vocals
• Mick Taylor – slide guitar
• Charlie Watts – drums

Additional personnel

• Byron Berline – fiddle
• Nanette Workman – backing vocals (credited as "Nanette Newman")

• This song is about a prostitute - Mick Jagger would sometimes introduce it as being "a song for all the whores in the audience."
  
  Like many Rolling Stones songs, it has highly suggestive lyrics, but they are just subtle enough to keep it from getting banned by radio stations. British rock bands often wrote lyrics that were ambiguously offensive, falling just in line with BBC guidelines for airplay. A good example in this song is "She blew my nose and then she blew my mind," which implies both cocaine and sex, but didn't give the BBC any specific reason to ban it.
• The Stones started recording this as a country song based on Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues." They made it into a rocker for release as a single and released the country version, "Country Honk," a few months later on Let It Bleed.
• Keith Richards: "'Honky Tonk Women' started in Brazil. Mick and I, Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg who was pregnant with my son at the time. Which didn't stop us going off to the Mato Grasso and living on this ranch. It's all cowboys. It's all horses and spurs. And Mick and I were sitting on the porch of this ranch house and I started to play, basically fooling around with an old Hank Williams idea. 'Cause we really thought we were like real cowboys. Honky tonk women. And we were sitting in the middle of nowhere with all these horses, in a place where if you flush the john all these black frogs would fly out. It was great. The chicks loved it. Anyway, it started out a real country honk put on, a hokey thing. And then couple of months later we were writing songs and recording. And somehow by some metamorphosis it suddenly went into this little swampy, black thing, a Blues thing. Really, I can't give you a credible reason of how it turned around from that to that. Except there's not really a lot of difference between white country music and black country music. It's just a matter of nuance and style. I think it has to do with the fact that we were playing a lot around with open tunings at the time. So we were trying songs out just to see if they could be played in open tuning. And that one just sunk in." >>
• Lead guitarist Brian Jones was a founding member of the group and was considered their leader in their early years. Unfortunately, drug abuse made him pretty much worthless, and when The Stones finished recording this on June 8, 1969, they drove to his house and fired him. This was released July 3, 1969, the same day Jones was found dead in his swimming pool.
• Mick Taylor had taken over for Brian Jones on lead guitar, and this was his first appearance on a Stones recording. Taylor claims he came up with the famous guitar riff, even though Richards plays it.
• The distinctive cowbell used to open the song was played by producer Jimmy Miller. He set the tempo for the song by venturing into the studio and hitting the two small cowbells his had set up on a prong.
• Young drummers often practice playing this song because it requires them to play different patterns at the same time with the hands and feet working independently.
• Reparata & The Delrons, an early '60s girl group, sang the backup vocals.
• There is no bass on the verses.
• The single was given away to all the fans who helped clean up after The Stones free concert in Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. This was the first concert Mick Taylor played with the band. A life-size cutout of Brian Jones, who died three days earlier, was kept on stage and the show was dedicated to him.
• The Stones played this at most of their live shows, usually with great theatrics. The Steel Wheels tour in 1989 featured giant inflatable women during the performance.
• This was banned in China. When the group made arrangements to play there for the first time in 2003, they had to agree not to play this, "Brown Sugar," "Let's Spent The Night Together," and "Beast Of Burden." They ended up not playing because of a respiratory disease that was going around China.
• Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of The Pretenders, joined The Rolling Stones on stage in Leipzig on June 20, 2003 and sang this as a duet with Jagger.
• Rick Nelson released a cover of this song on his 1971 album Rudy The Fifth. His version, which is in more a country style akin to "Country Honk," is the song that got him booed off the stage when he played a "Rock & Roll Revival" show that year at Madison Square Garden. Nelson had never played one of these nostalgia shows, and he thought he could play something new in his set. The crowd, there to hear the hits, didn't like it and let him know. The experience led Nelson to write "Garden Party," which became a hit song the following year and got his career back on track. In that song, he included this line:
  
  When I sang a song about a Honky Tonk
  It was time to leave
• "Honky Tonk Women" was used as the title for a session of the amime series Cowboy Bebop. Along with other classic rock songs, this was used to introduce the "Femme Fatale" character. >>

The Rolling Stones - Midnight Rambler

"Midnight Rambler"


Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Everybody got to go
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
The one that shut the kitchen door
He don't give a hoot of warning
Wrapped up in a black cat cloak
He don't go in the light of the morning
He split the time the cock'rel crows
Talkin' about the midnight gambler
The one you never seen before
Talkin' about the midnight gambler
Did you see him jump the garden wall
Sighin' down the wind so sad
Listen and you'll hear him moan
Talkin' about the midnight gambler
Everybody got to go
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Well, honey, it's no rock 'n' roll show
Well, I'm talkin' about the midnight gambler
Yeah, the one you never seen before
[ad lib]
Well you heard about the Boston...
It's not one of those
Well, talkin' 'bout the midnight...sh...
The one that closed the bedroom door
I'm called the hit-and-run raper in anger
The knife-sharpened tippie-toe...
Or just the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler
You know, the one you never seen before
So if you ever meet the midnight rambler
Coming down your marble hall
Well he's pouncing like proud black panther
Well, you can say I, I told you so
Well, don't you listen for the midnight rambler
Play it easy, as you go
I'm gonna smash down all your plate glass windows
Put a fist, put a fist through your steel-plated door
Did you hear about the midnight rambler
He'll leave his footprints up and down your hall
And did you hear about the midnight gambler
And did you see me make my midnight call
And if you ever catch the midnight rambler
I'll steal your mistress from under your nose
I'll go easy with your cold fanged anger
I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby
And it hurts!



In this song, Mick Jagger takes on the persona of killer who is stalking his victim. This character calls himself the "midnight rambler" and he seems to relish his notoriety - much like many real-life serial killers.

A likely inspiration for the lyric is the case of the Boston Strangler. Thirteen women were found dead (many had been sexually assaulted) in and around Boston from 1962-1964. Most of the victims had been strangled and were found with their nylon stockings tied in a bow around their necks.

In 1965, Albert DeSalvo, who was serving time in a mental institution on rape charges, confessed to the murders and was later sentenced to life in prison. There was no clear physical evidence that DeSalvo committed the crimes, however, and his confession has been questioned, with some forensic experts stating that there may have been multiple killers. DeSalvo died in prison in 1973; new evidence has come up in the case from time to time.

As for the song, while the lyrics do not directly relate to the case, Jagger implies it when he sings, "Well you heard about the Boston..." before an instrumental stab cuts him off.
The Stones played this in 1969 and throughout the '70s at their concerts, and when they did, it was a showstopper. Mick Jagger created a morbid atmosphere as he took the role of the killer, spastically whipping the floor toward the end of the song as the audience would scream along.

These performances were enhanced by a custom light rig that their lighting director, Chip Monck, created for the band's 1969 US tour. This was the first lighting system to travel with a rock band, and The Stones used it to great effect on this song. At the climax, the lights would shine red on Jagger in a very theatrical moment.

Mick Jagger: "That's a song Keith and I really wrote together. We were on a holiday in Italy. In this very beautiful hill town, Positano, for a few nights. Why we should write such a dark song in this beautiful, sunny place, I really don't know. We wrote everything there - the tempo changes, everything. And I'm playing the harmonica in these little cafés, and there's Keith with the guitar." >>
Brian Jones is credited on percussion. Even though he died before this album was released, a few of the songs were recorded during the Beggar's Banquet sessions in 1968. "Midnight Rambler" was one of them..Mick Taylor added an extra guitar to the live performances of this. The live version can be heard on Get Yer Ya-Yas Out.

When Mick Jagger performed this in character on stage, it was good preparation for his acting career. In 1970, he appeared in two films: Ned Kelly and Performance. He would later appear in Freejack (1992) and The Man from Elysian Fields (2001).Keith Richards: "When we did Midnight Rambler, nobody went in there with the idea of doing a blues opera, basically. Or a blues in four parts. That's just the way it turned out. I think that's the strength of the Stones or any good band. You can give them a song half raw and they'll cook it."

Midnight Rambler

"Midnight Rambler"
Song by The Rolling Stones from the album Let It Bleed
Released	5 December 1969
Recorded	Spring 1969, Olympic Sound Studios, Trident Studios
Genre	Blues rock
Length	6:53 (album version) 9:43 (live version "Get yer Ya Ya's Out") 12:49 (live version "Brussels Affair")
Label	Decca Records/ABKCO
Writer(s)	Jagger/Richards
Producer(s)	Jimmy Miller
Let It Bleed track listing

"Midnight Rambler" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed. The song is a loose biography of Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to being the Boston Strangler.

Keith Richards has called the number "a blues opera" and the quintessential Jagger-Richards song, stating in the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane that "nobody else could have written that song."

Composition and recordings

On the composing of the song, Mick Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, "That's a song Keith and I really wrote together. We were on a holiday in Italy. In this very beautiful hill town, Positano, for a few nights. Why we should write such a dark song in this beautiful, sunny place, I really don't know. We wrote everything there -- the tempo changes, everything. And I'm playing the harmonica in these little cafes, and there's Keith with the guitar." When asked about the song in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Richards said: "Usually when you write, you just kick Mick off on something and let him fly on it, just let it roll out and listen to it and start to pick up on certain words that are coming through, and it's built up on that. A lot of people still complain they can't hear the voice properly. If the words come through it's fine, if they don't, that's all right too, because anyway that can mean a thousand different things to anybody."

Did you hear about the midnight rambler
Well, honey, it's no rock 'n' roll show
Well, I'm a-talkin' about the midnight gambler
Yeah, the one you never seen before

The studio version of the track (which runs six minutes and fifty-three seconds) was recorded during the spring of 1969 at London's Olympic Sound Studios and Trident Studios. Jagger performs vocals and harmonica, while Richards plays all the guitars on the track, using standard tuning for the main guitars and open E tuning for the slide. Bill Wyman plays bass and Charlie Watts drums, while multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones is credited with playing the congas.^[6] The song bears similarity to "The Boudoir Stomp" and "Edward's Thrump Up", recorded in April 1969 by the band minus Keith Richards and Brian Jones, featuring Ry Cooder on guitar and Nicky Hopkins on piano. The sessions were released on the 1972 LP, Jamming With Edward.

Jones' percussion is pretty much inaudible throughout the track and even though he may have participated during the recording sessions, it is possible that his contribution was not used in the final mix. James Hector, who wrote the 1995 Omnibus Press published book The Complete Guide to the Music of The Rolling Stones has speculated that the credit may have been a mere gift to Jones from his former band mates.

The Rolling Stones debuted "Midnight Rambler" on stage on 5 July 1969 and performed it regularly in concert through 1976; performances frequently included Jagger crawling around and lashing the stage with his belt. One notable 1969 performance (running just over nine minutes) was captured for the 1970 album, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! and was re-released on the 1971 compilation album Hot Rocks 1964-1971. This rendition features Mick Taylor on lead guitar, in addition to Jagger, Richards, Wyman and Watts. Versions from 1975 following the departure of Taylor from the band feature Ronnie Wood instead of Taylor.

"Midnight Rambler" returned to the Rolling Stones' stage repertoire in 1989 and has remained a powerful concert favourite ever since. The January 2003 rendition featured in the Stones' concert collection Four Flicks runs about twelve minutes, while a briefer July 1995 performance appears on Totally Stripped (2016). The Stones with special guest former band member Mick Taylor played the song at all the concerts of the 50 & Counting... tour, including 12-minute versions of "Midnight Rambler" during their 25 November 2012 concert at London's O2 Arena, at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival, and during their July 2013 Hyde Park concerts, as seen in Sweet Summer Sun: Hyde Park Live.

Personnel

• Mick Jagger - vocals, harmonica
• Keith Richards - guitars
• Brian Jones - congas
• Bill Wyman - bass guitar
• Charlie Watts - drums

Controversy

In his book The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker discusses the song at length as an illustration of his thesis that the 1960s counterculture "pushed against" the Civilizing Process (identified by Norbert Elias), which, Pinker argues, had been reducing violence over many centuries, and that the counterculture's "glorification of dissoluteness shaded into indulgence of violence.... Personal violence was sometimes celebrated in song, as if it were just another form of antiestablishment protest." He says that "Midnight Rambler" "acted out a rape-murder by the Boston Strangler..." and he sees this as an example of how in the 1960s counterculture "the control of women's sexuality was seen as a perquisite" of men.

ACDC & The Rolling Stones - Rock Me Baby

"Rock Me Baby"

Rock me baby, rock me all night long
Rock me baby, honey, rock me all night long
I want you to rock me baby,
Like my back ain't got no bones

Roll me baby, like you roll a wagon wheel
I want you to roll me baby, like you roll a wagon wheel
Want you to roll me baby,
You don't know how it makes me feel

Rock me baby, honey, rock me slow
Yeah, rock me pretty baby, baby rock me slow
Want you to rock me baby,
Till I want no more

"Rock Me Baby"
Single by B.B. King
from the album Rock Me Baby
B-side	"I Can't Lose"
Released	May 1964
Format	7-inch 45 rpm record
Recorded	Los Angeles, California prior to January 14, 1962
Genre	Blues
Length	2:56
Label	Kent (no. 393)
B.B. King singles chronology
"How Blue Can You Get" (1964) "Rock Me Baby" (1964) "Help The Poor" (1964)

"Rock Me Baby" is a blues standard that has become one of the most recorded blues songs of all time.^[2] When B.B. King's recording of "Rock Me Baby" was released in 1964, it became his first Top 40 hit. It is based on earlier blues songs and has been interpreted and recorded by numerous artists in a variety of styles.

Earlier songs

B.B. King's "Rock Me Baby" is based on "Rockin' and Rollin'", a song recorded by Lil' Son Jackson in 1950 (Imperial 5113). King's lyrics are nearly identical to Jackson's, although instrumentally the songs are different. "Rockin' and Rollin'" is a solo piece, with Jackson's vocal and guitar accompaniment, whereas "Rock Me Baby" is an ensemble piece.

Muddy Waters' song "Rock Me", recorded in 1956 (Chess 1652), is also based on Jackson's song. Some of Jackson's lyrics were used, but Waters incorporated a couple of verses from his 1951 song "All Night Long" (which is also based on "Rockin' and Rollin'") (Chess 1509). Muddy Waters' "Rock Me" also uses Jackson's guitar figure and the starting of the vocal on the IV chord and he interpreted it as an unusual fifteen-bar blues (an uneven number of measures, rather than the traditional twelve bars or somewhat less common eight or sixteen bars). Muddy Waters recorded a second version of "Rock Me" for his 1978 album I'm Ready.

Lil' Son Jackson's "Rockin' and Rollin'" was inspired by earlier blues songs Many songs from the 1920s through the 1940s have some combination of rock, roll, baby, and mama in the title or lyrics, although instrumentally they are different than "Rock Me Baby", "Rock Me", or "Rockin' and Rollin'". Big Bill Broonzy's 1940 song "Rockin' Chair Blues" makes frequent use of the phrase "rock me baby" as in "Rock me baby now, rock me slow ... now rock me baby, one time before you go" (OKeh 6116). Arthur Crudup's 1944 song, "Rock Me Mama", is based on Broonzy's song and repeats the same refrain, but uses "mama" in place of "baby" (Bluebird 34-0725). Curtis Jones' 1939 song "Roll Me Mama" shares a couple of phrases ("like a wagon wheel", "ain't got no bone") with "Rockin' and Rollin'" (Vocalion 4693).

B.B. King song

"Rock Me Baby" is a medium-tempo twelve-bar blues notated in the key of C in common or 4/4 time.^[In addition to King's vocal and guitar, the song features a "tight, punchy arrangement underpinned by a pianist whose identity is in some doubt". Kent part-owner Joe Bihari recalled the pianist as King's frequent collaborator Maxwell Davis, although others have been suggested, such as Lloyd Glenn and Jimmy McCracklin.The arrangement "provides a blues structure that allows King room for biting guitar work" and appealed to many guitarists.

There is some confusion as to when B.B. King recorded "Rock Me Baby". Although King had signed to ABC-Paramount Records in January 14, 1962, his former label, Kent Records, continued to release singles (and albums) well into the 1970s from "many unreleased King masters ... thus forcing King to compete with himself". Recording dates have been estimated as "about 1958"^[ to before 1962.^[1] The song was released shortly after King's Paramount release "How Blue Can You Get" in 1964 and reached number 34 in the Billboard Hot 100.^[6][7] "Rock Me Baby" was the first of six B.B. King records to reach the pop Top 40. In 1997, King re-recorded the song with Eric Clapton for the album Deuces Wild.

Recordings by other artists

Over the years, many blues and other artists have interpreted and recorded "Rock Me Baby". Although "most contemporary versions are based on Lil' Son Jackson's 1951 record, 'Rockin' and Rollin'", "B.B. King and Muddy Waters can share credit for making it one of the most familiar blues songs of all time."

Some studio versions include Otis Redding from Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (1965), the Animals from Animalism (1966), Jeff Beck as "Rock My Plimsoul" from the Truth album with slightly altered lyrics (1968), Slim Harpo in his Tip On In album (1968, also with altered lyrics), Blue Cheer from Vincebus Eruptum (1968), Lightnin' Hopkins from Lightnin', Vol. 1 (1969), Ike & Tina Turner from Outta Season (1969), Lee Michaelsfrom 5th (1973) Robin Trower from Twice Removed from Yesterday (1973), Johnny Winter from Still Alive and Well (1973), Frank Marino &Mahogany Rush from What's Next (1980), Hot Tuna from Historic Hot Tuna (1985), Tina Turner from What's Love Got to Do With It (1993), Pappofrom Buscando un Amor (2003), and Steve Miller Band from Bingo! (2010).

Live versions include those by Jimi Hendrix from Historic Performances Recorded at the Monterey International Pop Festival (1967, released 1970), Jefferson Airplane from Bless Its Pointed Little Head (1968), the Doors from Live in Detroit as part of medley with "Heartbreak Hotel" (1970),Deep Purple from Made in Europe as part of medley with "Mistreated" (1976), Eddy Clearwater from Black Night (1979), and the Rolling Stonesfrom Live Licks (2003).