Line #73 Music/LetItBleed


1	[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/let_it_bleed_cover.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:325:''"... but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need."'']]
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4	''Let It Bleed'' is the eighth studio album (tenth American album) by Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}, released in November 1969 on Creator/DeccaRecords in most of the world and its subsidiary London Records in the US and Canada. It is the last Stones album to feature founding member Music/BrianJones, who was fired from the band and subsequently drowned during its recording, and the first to feature his replacement Music/MickTaylor. The band struggled to achieve the [[EchoingAcoustics lush production sound]] on the singles "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter", while pushing for a [[HardRock heavier]], more [[BluesRock bluesy]] sound in the studio. The release was thus delayed until the end of the year, after the Stones had completed their American tour; nevertheless, many critics view it as the ultimate [[TheLastDance swan song]] for the tumultuous era of TheSixties.
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6	With this record, the band continued to invoke explicitly sexual and political subjects such as UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar in "Gimme Shelter", [[AllLoveIsUnrequited unrequited love]] in "You Got the Silver" and "Love in Vain", and [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll lust]] in "Let It Bleed" and "Live with Me". The album features influential GenreBusting concerns such as [[GospelChoirsAreJustBetter the male and female choir]] in the final track, the creative use of SopranoAndGravel VocalTagTeam, and the AlternativeCountry sound expressed throughout the record. Straddling these complexities with [[DefectorFromDecadence the perceived decadence of the time]], the album is hailed as a stylistic and thematic masterpiece for expressing maturity and passion when confronted with grim reality.
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8	----
9	!! Tracklist:
10	[[AC:Side One]]
11	# "Gimme Shelter" (4:31)
12	# "Love in Vain" (4:19)
13	# "Country Honk" (3:09)
14	# "Live with Me" (3:33)
15	# "Let It Bleed" (5:26)
16
17	[[AC:Side Two]]
18	# "Midnight Rambler" (6:52)
19	# "You Got the Silver" (2:51)
20	# "Monkey Man" (4:12)
21	# "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (7:28)
22	----
23	!!Principal Members:
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25	* Music/MickJagger - lead vocals, harmonica
26	* Music/BrianJones - congas, autoharp
27	* Music/KeithRichards - guitar, backing and lead vocals, bass
28	* Music/MickTaylor - guitar
29	* Charlie Watts - drums
30	* Bill Wyman - bass, autoharp, vibraphone
31
32	----
33	!! '''''Rape, murder! It's just a trope away! It's just a trope away!'''''
34	* ACappella: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" starts off with a male and female choir, which sings the first verse.
35	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Midnight Rambler", with the line "''Well he's pouncing like proud black panther''"
36	* AlliterativeTitle: "'''M'''onkey '''M'''an".
37	* AnimalMotifs: "Monkey Man"
38	--> ''But I've been bit and I've been tossed around''\
39	''By every she-rat in this town''\
40	''Have you, babe?''\
41	''Well, I am just a monkey man''\
42	''I'm glad you are monkey woman too''\
43	''I was bitten by a boar''\
44	''I was gouged and I was gored''\
45	''But I pulled it on through''
46	* BadToTheBone: "Gimme Shelter" is a very popular soundtrack choice to implement trouble is in the air.
47	* BeliefMakesYouStupid: "Monkey Man". It's also a clever [[TakeThatCritics self-deprecating mockery of the band's perceived image at the time]] since they were getting lots of flack for being influenced by Satanism (especially after the release of "SympathyForTheDevil" from ''Music/BeggarsBanquet'').
48	--> ''Well, I hope we're not too messianic''
49	--> ''Or a trifle too satanic''
50	* {{Bowdlerize}}: The line "she blew my nose and then she blew my mind" in "Country Honk" originally blew [[RagingStiffie something else]] in the working lyrics rather than a nose.
51	* BuxomBeautyStandard: "Let It Bleed"
52	--> ''She said: "My breasts, they will always be open''
53	--> ''Baby, you can rest your weary head right on me.''
54	* CarefulWithThatAxe:
55	** "Monkey Man"
56	---> ''I'm a monkeeeeeeeeeee-uuuurgh!''
57	** Merry Clayton's cracking voice in the bridge of "Gimme Shelter". So powerful that [[StudioChatter Mick audibly says "Woo!" in response]].[[note]]And, unfortunately for the then-pregnant Clayton, caused her to have a miscarriage.[[/note]]
58	* CoverVersion: "Love in Vain", a Music/RobertJohnson cover. The albums credits, however, have cited it as a [[NonIndicativeTitle traditional piece]] or to "Woody Payne", a HousePseudonym of Robert Johnson.
59	* DesignStudentsOrgasm: The cover is a surreal sculpture designed by Robert Brownjohn and depicts a record being played by the tone-arm of an antique phonograph, and a record-changer spindle supporting several items stacked on a plate in place of a stack of records: a tape canister labelled "Stones – Let It Bleed", a clock dial, a pizza, a tire and a cake with elaborate icing topped by figurines representing the band.
60	* DoubleEntendre: "Let It Bleed", sung from the perspective of a woman:
61	--> ''And there will always be a space in my parking lot''
62	--> ''When you need a little coke and sympathy"''
63	--> ''Yeah, we all need someone we can dream on''
64	--> ''And if you want it, baby, well you can dream on me''
65	--> ''Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on''
66	--> ''And if you want to, well you can cream on me''
67	* DramaticChoirNumber: A choir sings the first two lines of "You Can't Always Get What You Want", then disappears until the very end.
68	* DrowningMySorrows: "Country Honk":
69	--> ''I just can't seem to drink you off my mind''
70	* EpicRocking: "Midnight Rambler" is often extended live; it is a whopping nine minutes long in the Stones live album ''Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!'', and other performances have been known to reach thirteen minutes. The 7:30 "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is longer than the single version, which is only 4:50.
71	* EtherealChoir[=/=]GospelChoirsAreJustBetter: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" features a choir. Jagger originally wanted to use a {{Gospel Music}} choir, but since they couldn't find one around they settled on the London Bach Choir instead. Funnily enough, the Choir released a statement soon after to disavow support for the record and its "[[MoralGuardians relentless drug ambiance]]".
72	* GenreRoulette: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" starts off with an ACappella choir singing, then moves into a more rockin' sound. "Gimme Shelter" uses a gospel sounding background vocal.
73	* GriefSong: "Gimme Shelter" sings about a CrapsackWorld, though in the final lines, we do get a more hopeful message:
74	--> ''I tell you, love, sister, it's just a kiss away.''
75	* HeavyMeta: "Monkey Man" is about the attitudes the general public had toward the Rolling Stones and their style of music, all expressed within the song.
76	* HouseHusband: "Live with Me" is a deconstruction of the role of masculinity within a household. It's complete with the man in the song asserting dominance over the woman and wanting to have sex with her all the time, while they share a seemingly blissful life ([[DinnerAndAShow complete with the butler shtupping the cook]]).
77	* {{Improv}}: Near the end of "Midnight Rambler", Mick starts ad-libbing.
78	--> ''Well, you heard about the Boston...\
79	It’s not one of those...\
80	Well, talkin' 'bout the midnight...sh...\
81	The one that closed the bedroom door\
82	I'm called the hit-and-run raper in anger\
83	The knife-sharpened tippie-toe...\
84	Or just the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler''
85	* InopportuneVoiceCracking: The famous moment where Merry Clayton's voice cracks as she belts out "''murder''" during the third refrain. A subversion of the trope as Clayton managed to stay in key as her voice cracked and delivered an all-time great performance.
86	* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: The title sounds very violent, though the band has said it references emotional abuse and dependence more than it implies drug use and violence.
87	* IntercourseWithYou: This ''is'' a Rolling Stones album, after all.
88	* InTheStyleOf: The band's cover of Music/RobertJohnson's "Love in Vain Blues" is performed in a CountryMusic style.
89	* LongestSongGoesLast: The album closes with "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (7:28).
90	* LoveNostalgiaSong: "Country Honk", though it's more of a ''lust'' nostalgia song:
91	--> ''There's many a bar-room queen I've had in Jackson\
92	But I just can't seem to drink you off my mind''
93	* MurderBallad: "Midnight Rambler", which explicitly references The Boston Strangler and the victims. The band thus faced controversy for supposedly glorifying violence.
94	--> ''I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby, and it hurts!''
95	* PepTalkSong: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" appears to be the opposite, but it does tell the listener:
96	--> ''You can't always get what you want''
97	--> ''But if you try sometimes, you just might find''
98	--> ''You'll get what you need.''
99	* RearrangeTheSong: "Country Honk" is a slowed-down version of "Honky Tonk Women".
100	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: "Midnight Rambler" was inspired by real-life serial killer Albert [=DeSalvo=], aka "The Boston Strangler".
101	* SomethingBlues: "Country Honk"
102	--> ''Gimme, gimme, gimme, the honky tonk blues''
103	* SpecialGuest: Ry Cooder--who was briefly considered as a possible replacement for Brian Jones--plays mandolin on "Love in Vain" and slide guitar on "Let It Bleed". Another famous name is Leon Russell, who provides piano and horns on "Live with Me". The London Bach Choir provides vocals on "You Can't Always Get What You Want", which also features Al Kooper on organ and french horn. And gospel singer Merry Clayton provides backing vocals on "Gimme Shelter".
104	* SpoiledBrat: "Live with Me" seems to reference, [[IntercourseWithYou among other things]], hippies and their incessant laziness around that time:
105	--> ''And there's a score of harebrained children''
106	--> ''They're all locked in the nursery''
107	--> ''[[TimeMarchesOn They got earphone heads]]; they got dirty necks''
108	--> ''They're so 20th century''
109	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Keith Richards sings lead on "You Got the Silver". This was the first Stones song were he was the solo lead vocal throughout. Previously, he had sung separate lead vocals on "Something Happened to Me Yesterday" from ''Music/BetweenTheButtons'' and "Salt of the Earth" from ''Music/BeggarsBanquet''.
110	* StockSoundEffects: Car traffic is heard at the start and fade out of "Country Honk".
111	* AStormIsComing: "Gimme Shelter":
112	--> ''Ooh, a storm is threatening my very life today''
113	--> ''If I don't get some shelter, oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away''
114	* TitleTrack: "Let It Bleed".
115	* UnrequitedLove: "Love in Vain"
116	--> ''Yeah, when the train left the station''
117	--> ''It had two lights on behind''
118	--> ''Whoa, the blue light was my baby''
119	--> ''And the red light was my mind''
120	--> ''All my love was in vain''
121	* WarIsHell: "Gimme Shelter", one of the seminal {{protest song}}s of [[TheSixties '60s]]/[[TheSeventies '70s]]:
122	--> ''War, children, it's just a shot away''
123	--> ''Rape, murder!''

Context Music / LetItBleed