Rip This Joint (song)

Infobox Song
Name = Rip This Joint
Artist = The Rolling Stones
Album = Exile on Main St.
Released= May 12, 1972


track_no = 2
Recorded = December, 1971 & March, 1972
Genre = Rock, boogie woogie
Length = 2:23
Writer = Jagger/Richards
Label = Rolling Stones/Virgin
Producer = Jimmy Miller
[ Chart position = ]
prev = "Rocks Off"
prev_no = 1
next = "Shake Your Hips"
next_no = 3

"Rip This Joint" is the second song on rock and roll band the Rolling Stones' 1972 album "Exile on Main St."

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Rip This Joint" is one of the fastest songs in the Stones' canon, with a pronounced rockabilly feel. Jagger's breakneck delivery of the song's lines spells out a rambling tale set across America from the perspective of a foreigner;

Keith Richards quotes the speed of the song "it's one of the fastest ones of the lot and it really keeps you on your toes"

In his review of the song, Bill Janovitz says, "The result is a frenetic pace that approaches the tempos played by hardcore punk rock bands roughly ten years later, certainly recognizing the raw excitement of early roots rock & roll years before... Though the band most likely did not sit down and preconceive it as such, the record seems to set out to cover nothing less than the wide-open spaces of America itself via the nation's music — from urban soul to down-home country to New Orleans jazz. 'Rip This Joint' sets the tone for this journey, as a modern-day "Route 66" travelogue from Birmingham to San Diego." [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=33:hifexqtdldse "Rip This Joint"] . "allmusic". 2007 (accessed 29 June 2007).]

Recording began in late 1971 at Richards' rented home in France, Villa Nellcôte, using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio. With Jagger on lead vocals, Richards sings back-up and plays electric guitar along with Mick Taylor. Bill Plummer provides upright bass for the recording while Nicky Hopkins performs Johnnie Johnson-like piano. Bobby Keys performs saxophone while Jim Price performs trumpet and trombone. [ [http://keno.org/stones_lyrics/ripthisjoint.html "Rip This Joint"] . "Keno's Rolling Stones Lyrics Page". 2007 (accessed 29 June 2007).]

"Rip This Joint" was played frequently by the Stones throughout the early to mid-1970s before disappearing completely and being reintroduced to the band's setlists at various club dates in Europe on the 1995 Voodoo Lounge Tour and subsequent Licks Tour in 2002 and 2003.

It was featured as the closing track to the Stones' 1975 compilation album "Made in the Shade".The song was used at the very beginning of Christopher McQuarrie´s The Way of the Gun.

References