THE ROLLING STONES - MIDNIGHT RAMBLER

MIDNIGHT RAMBLER

THE ROLLING STONES

SONGWRITERS: KEITH RICHARDS & MICK JAGGER

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: LET IT BLEED

LABEL: DECCA RECORDS

GENRE: BLUES ROCK

YEAR: 1969

 

                 The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. As a diverging act to the popular pop rock of the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, heavier-driven sound that came to define hard rock. The band's first stable line-up consisted of bandleader Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica, keyboards), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar, vocals), Bill Wyman (bass guitar), Charlie Watts (drums), and Ian Stewart (piano), the last of whom was removed from the official line-up in 1963, but continued to work with the band as a contracted musician until his death in 1985. The band's primary songwriters, the partnership of Jagger and Richards, assumed leadership after Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager. Jones left the band less than a month before his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor, who in turn left in 1974 and was replaced in 1975 by Ronnie Wood, who has since remained. Since Wyman's departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has served as bassist. The Stones have not had an official keyboardist since Stewart's departure in 1963, but have employed several additional musicians in that role, including Jack Nitzsche (1965–71), Nicky Hopkins (1967–82), Billy Preston (1971–81), Ian McLagan (1978–81), and Chuck Leavell (1982–present).

                  Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and established themselves at the forefront of the British Invasion of bands that became popular in the United States in 1964, also being identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. The band found more success with their own material; songs such as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Paint It Black" became international hits, and Aftermath (1966) – their first entirely original album – has been considered the most important of the band's formative records. After a short period of experimentation with psychedelic rock in the mid-1960s, the Stones returned to their 'bluesy' roots with Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main St. (1972). In 1969 they were first introduced on stage as 'The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World'.

              The band continued to release commercially successful albums through the 1970s and early 1980s, including Some Girls (1978) and Tattoo You (1981), the two best-sellers in their discography. During the 1980s, infighting curtailed their output, and they kept a low profile for the rest of the decade. Their fortunes changed when they released Steel Wheels (1989), promoted by a large stadium and arena tour, the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour. Since the 1990s, new material has been less frequent. Despite this, the Rolling Stones continue to be a huge attraction on the live circuit. By 2007, the band had four of the top five highest-grossing concert tours of all time: Voodoo Lounge Tour (1994–95), Bridges to Babylon Tour (1997–98), Licks Tour (2002–03) and A Bigger Bang (2005–07). In 2012, the band celebrated their 50th anniversary. Their latest album, Blue & Lonesome (2016), became their twelfth UK number-one album. The group continues to sell out venues, with their recente No Filter Tour running for two years and concluding in August 2019.

The Rolling Stones' estimated record sales of 240 million makes them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The band have been awarded three Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. They have released 30 studio albums, 23 live albums and numerous compilations. Let It Bleed (1969) marked the first of five consecutive No. 1 studio and live albums in the UK. Sticky Fingers (1971) was the first of eight consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the US. In 2008, the Stones were listed 10th on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists chart, and in 2019 Billboard magazine ranked them second in their list of the "Greatest Artists of All Time" based on US chart success.

            "Midnight Rambler" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed. The song is a loose biography of Albert DeSalvo, who confessed to being the Boston Strangler.

              Keith Richards has called the number "a blues opera" and the quintessential Jagger-Richards song, stating in the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane that "nobody else could have written that song."

Did you hear about the midnight rambler

Everybody got to go

Did you hear about the midnight rambler

The one that shut the kitchen door

He don't give you a hoot of warning

Wrapped up in a black cat cloak

He don't go in the light of the morning

He split the time the cock'rel crows

 

Talkin' about the midnight gambler

The one you never seen before

Talkin' about the midnight gambler

Did you see him jump the garden wall

Sighin' down the wind so sadly

Listen and you'll hear him moan

Well, talkin' about the midnight gambler

Everybody got to go

 

Did you hear about the midnight rambler

Well, honey, it's no rock 'n' roll show

Well, I'm talkin' about the midnight gambler

Yeah, the one you never seen before

 

Oh don't do that, oh don't do that, oh don't do that

Don't you do that, don't you do that (repeat)

Oh don't do that, oh don't do that (repeat)

 

Well you heard about the Boston...

It's not one of those

Well, talkin' 'bout the midnight...sh...

The one that closed the bedroom door

I'm called the hit-and-run raper in anger

The knife-sharpened tippie-toe...

Or just the shoot 'em dead, brainbell jangler

You know, the one you never seen before

 

So if you ever meet the midnight rambler

Coming down your marble hall

Well he's pouncing like proud black panther

Well, you can say I, I told you so!

Well, don't you listen for the midnight rambler

Play it easy, as you go

I'm gonna smash down all your plate glass windows

Put a fist, put a fist through your steel-plated door!

 

Did you hear about the midnight rambler

He'll leave his footprints up and down your hall

And did you hear about the midnight gambler

And did you see me make my midnight call

 

And if you ever catch the midnight rambler

I'll steal your mistress from under your nose

I'll go easy with your cold fanged anger

I'll stick my knife right down your throat, baby

And it hurts!