"Gimme Shelter", My Favorite Rolling Stones Song
"Gimme Shelter" from 1969's Let It Bleed is my favorite Rolling Stones song. The story behind it is interesting, too. Apparently, Keith Richards was staying at someone's apartment in London, and there was a big rainstorm. He looked out the window and saw everyone scrambling for cover to escape the rain. His then-girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg (Brian Jones' girlfriend a year earlier), was doing a movie with Mick Jagger called "Performance." Keith was a bit insecure about the sex scenes Mick and Anita were doing in the film. In fact, Mick and Anita did sleep together during this time. Anyway, the scene of the people running out of the rain and the thoughts of Jagger and Anita together sparked the beginning of the song for Richards. "Oh, the storm is threatening my very life today. If I don't get some shelter, ya I'm gonna fade away." There are two distinct parts of the song that blow me away. The first part is the opening guitar. Hearing Richards use the tremolo effect on his Fender Twin (tweed) amp is haunting. It's killer. It sets the mood, for sure.
At the time the song was written, in May 1969, the whole hippie movement was coming to an end. The song's lyrics expand from the rain storm to a more global meaning that reflects the times. War, rape, and murder. The hippie movement was at an end.
The song's second part that blows me away is Merry Clayton's vocals. A veteran vocalist who had worked with many famous people, she was called and asked to come and sing on the song just before midnight by the Stones producer, Jack Nitzsche. The singer the band had been practicing with couldn't make the session due to illness. As fate would have it, Nitzsche thought of calling Merry Clayton. Merry was very pregnant at the time. Merry wasn't up for the session, so her husband grabbed the phone, telling Nitzsche it was late and she was pregnant. He eventually got turned around by Nitzsche, and Merry's husband actually convinced her to go down to record the session. Merry showed up to the studio in silk pajamas, a mink coat, and a Chanel scarf. In an interview, Merry said that when she recorded what we hear on the record, she thought, I am going to "blow them out of the room." I'd say so, Merry! I have never heard a vocalist in rock and roll sing so intensely. Listen when Merry sings "Rape, Murder" for the third time when her voice cracks. You can hear Mick in the booth yelling, "Yeeaah," because it's so great. Sadly, though, shortly after the session, Merry Clayton had a miscarriage. What a tragedy. She couldn't listen to the song for about 17 years after that. Who could blame her? She says she is at peace with it now though.
Knowing the back story has changed how I experience the song. How could it not? This is my favorite Stones song. It's genius, really. I get chills when I hear it. You know what I mean. It's one of those. Check it out on Spotify: Gimme Shelter.
As usual, I will comment on the album art that Gimme Shelter is on. Let It Bleed. It's crazy. A layer cake with candy and figurines of the Stones on top, a tire, a pizza, a clock face, and a film canister over a record player. Excellent idea, but it makes no sense at all. Maybe because they have to travel a lot (the tire) and eat crappy delicious food, pizza, and they always have to be somewhere at a particular time, and they record it on film. The end result is a record. So they go out on the road, have their cake and eat it too! Just wholly making this up right now! Love the album cover, though, whether it makes sense or not.
