Another year, another classic. In 1969, The Rolling Stones released Let It Bleed and kept up their crazy streak. I’m always amazed to see the consistent output of excellence year after year in the 60s by artists such as The Stones, Bob Dylan and The Beatles. It must have been amazing to be alive at that time and experience all of these albums one after another in real time.
If Let It Bleed consisted of nothing but its first and last tracks, it would still be an album for the ages. As it is, the stuff in between is damn good in its own right (particularly the title song and ‘You Got the Silver,’ which features Keith Richards on lead vocals). But it’s all about the bookends.
‘Gimme Shelter’ kicks things off with perhaps the best beginning of any song ever. Just ask Martin Scorsese, who’s used prominently in at least two of his films. It’s a love song for the apocalypse, the song that should be blaring when we all join hands for the trip to hell.
The closing track of Let It Bleed is ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want,’ and if the album titles is a play on The Beatles’ Let It Be, perhaps this song is the answer to the title song of that record. It’s certainly the better song (and I love ‘Let It Be’).
‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ will have its day on the blog one of these days, but for now I had to make the difficult choice and I went with ‘Gimme Shelter.’ Which do you think is better?
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
Ooh, see the fire is sweepin’
My very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
Rape, murder!
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
Rape, murder!
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
Rape, murder!
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
The floods is threat’ning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I’m gonna fade away
War, children, it’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
It’s just a shot away
I tell you love, sister, it’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
It’s just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away
Meet Me In Montauk 
I appreciate “Gimme Shelter,” but, for me, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” may be the best thing the Stones ever recorded.
Quite honestly, “Shelter” just goes on a bit too long with the repetitive “It’s Just a shot away” for my taste. You think Sting can be redundant? This song gives Sting a challenge:)
While it is redundant, I do love this song. Great video shots too. Just curious, what were the movies Scorsese used this song In??
It shows up in Goodfellas and The Departed, and apparently Casino as well.
I like the idea of this song much more than the song itself. Since I promised to do so, I will give you an acoustic version I like even better. While Andrew Garcia didn’t last long on last season’s AI, he did provide a few memorable performances before he went. Notably, he gave an acoustic twist to Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up,” Chris Brown’s “Forever,” and The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” – In Andrew’s hands, I appreciate the song even more, but I agree with Dana that it’s the album closer (also prominently featured in at least one film – The Big Chill!) that is the better song.
Just realized that Andrew doesn’t actually have guitar in hand on that performance, so here is a clip where he does. I fell in love with Usher during this episode of Idol š