Rip
This Joint
Composers:
Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date:
July 1971 & October 1971-March 1972
Recording locations: Rolling
Stones Mobile Unit, Keith Richards' home, Villefranche-sur-mer, France & Sunset Sound Studios,
Los Angeles, USA
Producer: Jimmy
Miller Chief
engineers: Glyn
Johns, Andy Johns & Joe
Zagarino
Performed onstage: 1972-73,
1975-76, 1995, 2002-03

Probable line-up:
Drums: Charlie
Watts
Upright acoustic bass: Bill
Plummer
Electric guitars (incl. slide): Keith
Richards
Lead vocal: Mick
Jagger
Background vocals: Mick
Jagger & Keith Richards
Piano: Nicky
Hopkins
Saxophone: Bobby
Keys
Trumpet: Jim
Price
Mama says yes, Papa says no
Make up you mind 'cause I got to go
I'm going to raise hell at the Union Hall
Drive myself right over the wall
Rip this joint, going to save your soul
Round and round and round we go
Roll this joint, going to get down low
Start my starter, going to stop the show
Yeah
Oh yeah
Mister President, Mister immigration man
Let me in, sweetie, to your fair land
I'm Tampa bound and Memphis too
Well, short, fat Fanny is on the loose
Dig that sound on the radio
Then slip it right across into Buffalo
Dick and Pat in old D.C.
Well, they're going to hold some shit for
me
Yin yang, you're my thing
Oh now, baby, won't you hear me sing?
Flip flop, fit to drop
Come on, baby, won't you let it rock?
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
From San Jose down to Santa Fe
Kiss me quick, baby, won't you make my day?
To New Orleans with the Dixie dean
Down to Dallas, Texas with the butter queen
Rip this joint, going to rip yours too
Some brand new steps and some weight to lose
Roll this joint, going to get down
low
Round and round and round we go
Wham, bam, Birmingham
Alabam' , don't give a damn
Little Rock and I'm fit to pop
Ah let it rock
TrackTalk
Actually, Rip This Joint was the fastest
track the Stones ever cut - until Flip the Switch, which is a couple
of beats faster. There's something about that speed when you cut it in
half and the acoustic bass plays that tempo. I just love the air that you
get. Same as the acoustic guitar. There's a power you can get from an upright
bass if you record it right. It just has a different feel than electric
bass. It doesn't thump so much. And it doesn't have such a precise note
sound. There's a wider, fatter bounce on it. It puts the roll back into
the rock.
-
Keith Richards, 1997
The Butter Queens... They did loads of wonderful
things with butter, apparently. I used to see them around all the time,
but they never buttered me up. I used to avoide them like the plague. Anything
that smacked of professionalism. We've got a plaster cast of Robert
Plant's cock. Would you like to add yours to the collection? No, I
never wanted to be part of anybody's collection. But mind you, there were
some great individual operators out there.
-
Keith Richards, 2002
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