Original subtitles

This part will cover Amit Erdigan and Atlantic Records, Timeline with Maryanne and Mick,

Star Groves, Stones, Mobile Truck, Yaya, Muscle Scholes, and Brown Sugar.

Welcome to the Stones world. My last video I talked about the two-headed monsters the Rolling

Stones faced. Gave some details in the Rolling Stones world. I'm now continuing on one key person

that is Amit Erdigan. And not many fans realize how much Amit had done for the music industry.

It's hard to summarize Atlantic, which Amit was co-founder of. As a Stones fan, it's important to

know about him and Atlantic prior. I prefer not to spend a long hour on this, just to give you a

little hint of insight, a what, why, how, when, and short. Early on, Atlantic were the label for

early R&B mega stars and had a who's who of jazz musicians. Amett born in Istanbul, Turkey 1923,

came to the US in 1935. His father was the Turkish ambassador. He did have a brother who was older by

7 years, Noui. Now, at 16, Amma was a collector and would hit up stores to buy jazz and blues

records. Both AMT and his brother Nouie would build up a record collection that had 20,000

records in it. 78s. They were overlooked albums by the record buying public. That's what they keyed

on. They would go to jazz and blue shows in the ' 40s. The brothers were aware of the horrific human

rights issues going on with the black Americans. Being from Turkey, it was easier for them to be

friendly and get to know the musicians directly. They would go to shows. They would meet Cab

Callaway, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton. They were able to relate to them. The war was ended.

His elderly father passed and his family decided to move back to Turkey, but not the brothers.

They stayed. Abbott would continue on through college and then go to Georgetown University

for graduate school in 1944. He was there for medieval philosophy and at 23 now he needed

work. His brother moved to LA and would send him money to help him out. Amit did have a hobby with

a do-it-yourself record cutting machine that his mother bought for him. He decided to go in this

direction of music. During graduate school, he was offered jobs from family friends. Turned it down

though. He wanted to get into the record business. It was a temporary thing just to help him through

college. And then he would go back to Turkey. While he was doing going through graduate school,

he discovered a quality radio repair shop selling and fixing radios and selling new and used

records. The owner of the store decided to get rid of the repair shop and just keep the record,

new and used, and then eventually get rid of the used. And he also put in a radio program where

independent record owners could come and get their records played on the radio. Amit became friends

with him and this is where he learned the record business, understanding what people were buying

and why. He friended Herb Abramson. Herb was going to school for dentistry and he was also an AR guy

for National Records, a New York label from 45 to 61. So in 46, Abramson left National and founded

Jubilee Records that fell apart due to the type of music they had. So Abramson and Amit in 47 decided

to make their own label together. gospel, jazz, blues, blues pop by black artists. Back at that

time, blues music was actually called race music. Abramson forked up $2500 and Amit gets $10,000

from a loan from his family dentist. Atlantic was born September 1947 in New York City. Abramson

was the president and his wife did all the rest. Amit was ANR promotion production guy. Amit would

travel to New Orleans to incorporate that sound, the boogie, which Atlantic would become known for.

Things became very tight, not quite moving along in volumes of their jazz singles, blues, spoken

word, country, western, children's recordings. In 48, there was a musician strike which crippled all

the labels. And then TV came on. They had enough recordings to sell through this troubled year.

They didn't really have anything in their catalog that the public was jumping on versus

their competition like Prestige or Blue Note. In 1949, they got a break. Stick McGee. Jump

Blues. This was Brownie McGee's younger brother. Sticks just put out a single,

a song on another label, Harlem Records. Drinking wine, spoin tune. The label though,

it folded quickly. Aman knew brother Brownie from his earlier days and said to him,

"Bring Stick in to our studio. We'll lay down the song for him." So February 49th, 400,000 copies,

number two Billboard, and this should be the consideration of the first rock and roll song,

not the mid50s. The tune gave a lot of leverage and opportunity and income allowed them to move

offices. Amit had other skills too which helped out the artist songwriting and he assisted the

artists with this. But Atlantic now needed to move from singles to LPs, a newer vision. Colombia

and Bluenote were making 10-in albums. The first jazz 10-in came from Atlantic 1950. Joe Bushkin,

I love that piano. Atlantic would do a lot more 10 in till 52. Sydney Bashette, Dizzy Gillespie,

Sarah Vaughn. It sold well, but not the top in sales. Now, in February of 53,

Herb is now drafted to the army. still president and in 55 comes back from Germany but he brings

back with a pregnant girlfriend whom he marries. Herb had some issues within adjusting with the

team now. They start a new subdivision that Herb is in charge of Atco Records in 55 focusing on

rock and roll, pop and soul. He'll keep this division going for a few years till 1958 and

he gets bought out. He did get the coasters and Bobby Darren and he sold his share of Atlantic

to his first wife Miriam and she became vice president. Now when Abramson was in the army,

Amit had his wheel spinning and planning and he would contact a writer at Billboard magazine named

Jerry Wexler. Wexler buys in to Atlantic and is a VP. He pays $2,63 for 13% share. Jerry was the

one who conceived the phrase rhythm and blues. Remember in the 40s, black blues pop was called

race music. Well, Jerry changed it. They would now become a leading R&B label. And Jerry knew

how to bridge a crossover career for many of the artists. Amit and Jerry saw the vision of the 50s.

They did try to sign Elvis that they offered Colonel Parker, but they lost a bid to RCA.

Got to mention a critical pivotal piece in Atlantic. Tom Dowed. He grew up in Manhattan,

played various instruments, graduated high school at 16, and went on to City College of New York.

while he was working in the evening at Colombia's physics department. After World War II, he left

Colombia because his physics work was on the Manhattan project, which was really classified,

so he couldn't get his degree. He was brilliant, was super bright and skilled in physics,

and registered in the army in 43. and he was working, as I mentioned, as a special engineer on

the Manhattan project, a cell that was working on the building of the atomic bomb. He really wanted

to finish college when he got out of the army, but Colombia would not honor and decline any of his

secret work to push him ahead. He then decided for a change and to go into the music business

and engineering. He had been playing in bands, working part-time as a recording engineer in New

York studios just to make some money. 4748 he was freelancing at a small studio and that's where he

met Herb Abramson. So Abramson was impressed with how his skills were and Amit Erdigan and Abramson

brought him in to help engineer sessions for Atlantic. He joined in 1949. He worked at Atlantic

and he designed the studios for them. He was the genius behind the many of Atlantic hits. He's one

of the first engineers to build and record with an eighttrack console in 58. This was revolutionary

as you can now go do backing vocals and record over mistakes. He left Atlantic in the 60s.

They would convert many R&B and blues artists to become big and successful,

but not in a white audience. This is around 1955. Ray Charles, Big Joe Turner, Coasters, Drifters,

Chuck Willis, Ruth Brown, Clovers. Now, brother Nouie joins them in 1956 to focus on jazz. He got

to know many contacts in the industry being he was living in California. They built up

the jazz presence. Amit started one of the most important independent record labels in history.

The respect, the visionary and appreciation for what Ammon has done needs to be noticed by

the industry and the music fans. He knew more than almost everyone in the business. He knew

what exactly what will sell or not sell. No one knew more than him about what the musical flavor

was going to be in the 50s. Here's a little story of Amit and how great his vision was.

Abramson was working with Bobby Darren. Bobby wasn't making any hits that Abramson liked. So

Bobby created a song. He wrote it at Murray the Kay's house in 12 minutes. It was called

Splish Splash. He brought it over to Abramson and Abramson didn't like it at all. Said,

"Come to me when you write a good song." So Bobby would go into the office of Amit

and Jerry Wexler and present the song. They loved it and the rest is history.

Here's a little brief timeline. In 1958,

Bobby Darren hits Splishplash and Mac the Knife. He wins two Grammys for Atlantic.

[Music]

61. He marries Mika Banu, an interior designer. 65 he moves to pop with Sunny and Sher. 67 they

would sell Atlantic to Warner Brothers. In the 60s Atlantic had Artha, Otis Reading,

Salman Burke, Wilson Picket, Percy Sledge, Booker T and the MGs, Sam and Dave,

King Curtis, and others. He brought in Buffalo Springfield eventually. Collapton Cream Rascals,

Beeges, Zeppelin, yes, Crosby Stills, Nashing Young, Blind Faith by the end of the 60s. Now,

jumping way ahead in 2006 at 83 years old in October, he was in a coma from a head injury

that occurred backstage in New York City at a stone show. He fell. It was a celebration

for former President and Hillary Clinton on his 60th birthday. He passed in 2006, December 14th.

I'm going to start the timeline around December 1969 and go to 1971 for this documentary.

We're going to get to here and see the timeline up to Sticky Fingers release. Going to be including

the European tour, Britain tour, and then also details about the Sticky Fingers album cover,

the shoots, photographers, and the breakdown of songs. Now, December 7th, Mick and Joe Bergman,

they fly to Switzerland to deposit the 69 tour money, approximately a million dollar into the

Geneva Bank. This was advised by Rupert Loenstein. On December 18th in ' 69, Keith is 26 years old.

Mick and Maryanne went to the Marboral Street Magistrate's Court. They pleaded not guilty.

They claimed 173.5 grams of cannabis was planted by police. Case adjourned continues January 26th.

Now Mick and Maryanne left together from the court, but they went their own way. There was a

little turmoil going on. Maryanne going to see her new lover, Mario Chafano, an Italian artist. Now,

per Maryanne, they had a cottage in Birkshshire, but it shortly went sour when the icing on the

cake melted when Mick and Maryanne visited the Earl of Warwick. She went there and she was

on Mandrex and passed out in the soup. Mick was humiliated. Mick a few days later discussed with

Mario the situation. Not a cordial discussion. Two male egos clashing. Well, Maryanne ended up back

with Mick, and Mick and Maryanne were basically done as Mick had to carry her back into the bed.

January 26, Mick and Maryanne returned to court in

London. Mick found guilty of cannabis possession. Maryanne is acquitted.

Now, around the fall of 1969, Mick had met Marsha Hunt, and they were building a relationship.

Marsha had thought Mick was shy and awkward, which was her attraction to him. Having a baby

was planned. She thought he was insecure and a child would ground him for stability. She would

say they would never plan on getting married duty. He gets up at 2:00 p.m. Now, Mick had his eye open

for a estate to live in, but also to record in. And I'm not sure the exact date of when this was

occurring and when he actually purchased it. He wanted a country retreat, a place with privacy and

also where he could record. He was with Maryanne and did have thinking that she would be involved.

Not 100%, but supposedly Mick was introduced to Star Groves by an agent. He loved the location,

East Woodh, Hamshshire, England. This home goes back to the Goddard family owning it from 1565 to

1830. It was destroyed by a fire in 1840 and in 48 rebuilt again to give it the Victorian Gothic

style. Mick purchases this home from Sir Henry Carden for £55,000. [Music] This Gothic mansion

was a mess and a huge expense to restore. It was creepy and cold. Mick did not spend a lot of time

early on, but he got his parents, then his brother Chris and his girlfriend, then his hairdresser,

and Brian's old girlfriend, Suki Portierre, to be the caretakers. Word of mouth was traveling.

In fact, Glenn John's is the one that told Pete Townsen about how good Star Grows was to record

in. There were several bands that jumped on this recording opportunity. Bob Marley, Deep Purple,

Iron Maiden, The Who, and Zeppelin. When Zeppelin did recording there for physical graffiti,

we know the song, an airplane flying over while they were recording and the engineer

Ron Newison said to take it out and Paige says, "Nah, leave it." That was here at Star Gross.

The Rolling Stones mobile unit, the truck they would call it. It would be Ian Stewart to

think up the idea to get a truck that can mimic a studio just like Olympic Studio that they were in

in ' 68. They could record and have all control. They could go anywhere, any time of the day. Very

convenient. They used a 16 track 3M tape recorder, an Ampex 8 track and 24 channel console designed

by Dick Swatenham. He was the creator of Helios. They used top equipment like Helios recording and

is customized in this truck. Dick was the one who installed the recording equipment. He was also

the one that designed and built Olympic Studios. Glenn John's would assist with the truck building.

The truck can operate 328 ft 100 meters from the power source and the truck was airond conditioned.

Now, in January and February, they would work on editing and mixing of the Live 69 tour recordings,

focusing on MSG. Mick redid vocals for Stray Cat and also refined Love in Vain. Extra guitar work

for Taylor and Keith. It needed some reinforcing and cleanup. Some of it was not strong enough.

Street Fighting Man, Love in Vain. The leads were overdubbed and Keith had to do some minor work on

Rambler and they would remix and overdub again. Very light overdubs and Mick re singing background

vocals also and guitar. They would do from the MSG tapes at Olympic and Trident in London. The

Stones really liked their performance in Baltimore also. Now I have to spill this out. The primary

source of yayya is from the MSG November 27th 28th 1969. It's not certain what or where,

but there are small pieces of the Baltimore Civic Center in November 26 and some of the

other corrections done at Olympic. Little Queeny and Honky Tonk Woman are thought of having some

splicing in from Baltimore show into MSG. Sympathy may have postour overdubs. Also,

I'm going to play a little sample from the Gimme Shelter movie DVD and we'll

compare it to the Get Your Yaya version. So, you hear two sets. [Music] I want you

to let it [Music]

car.

[Music] [Applause] [Music]

down the

I mean

I

no needing breaking I got the chance

she Hey

again.

I've got the chance. [Applause]

We get to see that footage of me's brothers in Gimme Shelter when Mick and Charlie they

watched the footage of Alamont while this January 70 time frame in London for more

than 300,000. Now going into the fall of 1970 there is a Soho screening room that

they all watched a completed film of Gimme Shelter. There was an eternal discussion

going on after about who Meredith Hunter wanted to shoot. doesn't go to almost anything together,

isn't it? It'll take time. What? 8 weeks. 8 weeks. Stabbed to death in front of the stage by a member

of the Hell's Angels. Nothing's confirmed on that. We were there. We didn't see it,

but we did see a lot. We want to know now what. In early February, the big discussions were with

Rupert, lawyers, accountants, tax adviserss, and the Stones. They were headed for France.

A relocation discussion is done and it's confirmed. They must leave England for France

to avoid those taxes. The UK, they need to get out in 71 for 21 months. They were also informed they

do not own the publishing rights or the master recordings. It was Alan Klein that owned these.

A head shaker in realization what a vicious predicament they were in from Oldm to Klein.

Also, early February, the M6 motorway, Birmingham. There's a photo session. It's

not the Yaya's cover, but photographer Michael Burkovski took shots for the band. The Mail's

brothers show this action in Gimme Shelter. As you could see it here, it was cold and dreary out.

It was intended for the Yaya's cover with photographer Michael Bkovsky and assistance.

Bkovsk's photos were rejected as the tone was not there and to mix liking. Nothing expressive.

It was dull. It's a believed Alan Klene got David or it might have been Sam Cutler. Not

100% sure who hired him. Mick brought the concept idea of the mule, the instruments,

and Charlie on an open empty road. Now, the term yaya has a few connotations, meaning let it loose,

having fun, or the same but in a sexual way. Slang for breasts, get moving along.

Now from North Carolina, blues artist blind boy Fuller 1938 in New York. He recorded the

song Get Your Yaya's Outs. So the Stones, they would borrow this suggestive expression

for them. It wasn't just a can of baked beans, you know, which is like unfortunately alone.

Record companies treat everything. They get rid of it, make it, and get rid of it. And

uh we had three more tracks to that we needed for an album. And we were I think we were playing in

Florida and we had to get to San Francisco to do what turned out to be autumn. And everybody said,

"Where can we do this? uh we can't we won't be able to get to New York or LA from where we are

and then what about that great room that they got all the soul stuff in. You know, yeah. What's his

name? What's his name? What's his name? Ah, muscle shows. The sounds were in Keith's head already

before he even got there. He states that he really wanted to go back there and cut some more songs.

The next thing he knows, he freaking wakes up and ends up in south of France doing exile. Otherwise,

he says exile would have been cut at Muscle Scholes, but politically it wasn't possible.

He just wasn't allowed in the country at that time. So, we heard something from Keith and Mick

about muscle shows. Well, the Stones played the Palm Beach Pop Festival November 30th.

In that 1969 tour, they wanted to record. Why not go to Muscle Scholes, the sound studio? It started

in 1969, 3614 Jackson Highway. So, not wanting to go any big city, they had a mission to get there

for December 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and get in the studio. Jimmy Miller was supposed to be there,

but he didn't make it. House producer Jimmy Johnson stepped in. Prior to the Stones getting to

Muscle Scholes, AMT was producing and working with a musician RB Greavves. Take a letter, Maria. And

this was for Atlantic. So he was at Muscle Scholes working. So when the Stones came in, the staff

was working 10:00 a.m. till 6 with RB and then with the Stones starting at 6 PM. Muscle Scholes

is known for one of the great rhythm sections, the house band, the Swampers. In that band, an

original member, Jimmy Johnson. He played guitar. He was an engineer and ended up as a producer.

He helped make muscle shows what it is. Well, the first session I was not really to to do

the session. I was first hired just to kind of I knew where all the body was buried in the studio.

And so I was going to assist their engineer, Jimmy Miller, and he he didn't show. He didn't

show up. And so about eight hours before that, they told me, "You're gonna do it." And I said,

"Oh." You know, I was just I was the only one in the control room. But kind of the reason they were

here was Keith. He always wanted to come here. He thought this studio after he got here and started

where he realized it was probably the best studio ever been in. The sound was in my head before I

even got there. And then of course when that actually lives up to it and beyond, you know,

then you know you're in rock and roll heaven, man. And I got into it with Jagger at one point. We got

nose to nose. He was saying he was hearing a noise in this left speaker here. And I told him when he

first got here, I said, "Let me explain something to you guys." And I I made it real clear. I said,

"This speaker has got a noise in it, but it's not going to tape. It's not going on tape. You're just

hearing it. It's like a crackle." Well, he kept bitching about it. I mean, after every song,

finally, at the end, I just stopped right there. I said, "Hey, buddy." I said, "I want to tell you

something." I said, "I don't explain to you this one. I'm going to tell you one more time." And

then I I went through the whole thing. Me and him were friends after that. And after that he

sent me business, he sent me artist, all kinds of good stuff. So it kind of worked out. We also get

a character Jim Dickinson from Memphis, a pianist, a producer, and a genius of all trades. He was not

a usual hanger at Muscle Scholes crew, but he was brought in for sessions on occasion and he did the

job. What I learned from the Stones, first you got to understand it was December 1969 and I had

just made the deal with Wexler to take the Memphis bass rhythm section to Miami to work for Atlantic.

And we were going to start that in January. This is this December when the Stones were recording.

And we were going to begin working for Atlantic in January. And the Stones, our friend Stanley

Booth was on the road with the Stones uh working on their authorized biography. And uh Stanley had

put together basically my deal with Atlantic with Wexler. He and Wexler were good friends.

And uh okay, so Stanley sat on the road with the Stones. My wife and I had gone down to Auburn.

We'd seen the tour and we'd, you know, met the Stones and whatever. And I thought that was it.

This is as far as that's going to go. I'm, you know, at home back in Memphis waiting to go to

Miami. You know, uh phone rings in the middle of the night at Stanley and he says, "Uh, the Stones

have got three days at the end of their tour. Can they they want to record because they're tight.

They've been touring together, you know, and they uh uh they want to spend that time recording.

If they can, could they record in Memphis? But see, at the time, through the musician,

American Musicians Union, a uh outofcountry artist could get either a either a touring

permit or a recording permit. They couldn't get both. The Stones, of course, had a touring permit,

and they had been prevented from recording uh during this period of time in Los Angeles, and

Leon Russell was fined by the union, I think, for trying to put it together. So, they were looking

for a place they could record under the radar. Of course, Tennessee is a right to work state anyway.

Uh but Stanley says, you know, he said, "Why can't why can't they record in Memphis?" And I said,

"Safety." Yeah, at the time I really didn't think there was any studio where they could

have recorded without somebody knowing who they were and what they were doing. And Staxs had just

turned down the Beatles, which was an insurance problem as I understand it. Uh, so Stanley says,

"Well, where could they record?" And automatically I said, "Muscle Scholes." I said, "Nobody will

even know who they are." And in fact, nobody did. They stayed at the Holiday Inn. Uh, and Stanley,

he gets mad on the phone. He says, "Well, I don't know any of those rednecks down there." He says,

"How I can't put that together. What should I do?" I said, "Call Wexler." Cuz Atlantic, of course,

would working in Muscle Shells exclusively at that point. So then I don't hear anything

from Stanley for a while. Then again, the phone rings in the middle of the night and he says,

"Be in Muscle Shoes on Thursday. The Stones are going to record." So I sneak down there in my

wife's car so nobody will recognize me. and a and a pull up in the parking lot at the old uh the old

Muscle Shell Sound Studio out on the highway. Uh I like to say it was in a coffin factory. David

Hood corrects me and says it was really only the warehouse where they stored the coffins, but it

is across the street from the old graveyard at a small little uh little building. And I pull up in

the in the parking lot and there's nobody there. And wow, this is weird. And I go to the back door

and I knock on the door and Jimmy Johnson cracks the door about this far and he says, "Deigginson,

what the hell do you want?" And I said, "I'm here for the Rolling Stone session." He says, "Oh man,

does everybody in Memphis know?" I said, "No, no, no. Nobody knows. Don't worry." So I come in,

but nobody's there. And Jimmy says, "Well, come on in, man." He says, "Their plane just landed at the

airport. It's the biggest plane that ever landed in muscle shows and only three people got off

the stones. Of course, what I didn't know then was, you know, about half of them hated each

other. They they wouldn't travel together and the whole that was part of the whole deal about

the session was uh they don't unless they're on tour, they don't ever play together, you know,

they just so they were they were pumped up, they were hot, they wanted to record. And also what

I didn't know, what nobody knew except Wexler was that their contract with EMI was running out. And

what they really wanted was to have some material in the boot to make their deal with. So I come

into the to the studio and Jimmy and and a couple other guys that are there and we wait for the the

Stones to show up. Well, they come in and let's Who was it? It was Keith and Charlie and Bill.

on somebody else. Or maybe it was just the three the first time, but Jagger didn't come in and

little Mick didn't come in and and uh Ian Stewart, their road manager, they were still they were

traveling some other way. And this is the only way I got to stay is is through this happening. So,

uh, Keith had they had just met Graham Parsons and and he had kind of introduced them to country

music or at least had gotten me into country music. So, as luck would have it, I, you know,

with through Stanley and whatever, uh, Keith and I sat down at the piano and started doing

country songs, you know, we're just kind of jamming and and then here comes Jagger and all

the rest of them. Anyway, I managed to weasle my way in to where I was, no matter what you hear,

I was the only outside person there, Stanley. And they and Tony, their bagman,

not Spanish Tony who wrote the book, but a black guy from Detroit who was carrying the dope. Nobody

else. They they threw all the people from Muscle Shows out. And they recorded for three nights.

Alhammed Erdigan was starting a session the next day in the daytime, same studio with RB Greavves,

Take a Message, Maria. And believe me, Ahmed knew their contract was running out because he was in

Ahmed. I met Ahmed and and he didn't show up until Mick in the second wave of of people came in and

then Ahmed just kind of popped up out of the woodwork. I don't know where he came from, but

I met Ahmed Erdigan in the room with the Rolling Stones and was equally impressed. I mean, he was

taking up as much room as MC Jagger was, put it that way. You could tell every hair of his beard

was exactly the same length. You know, this is a this is a cool guy doing business right away. So,

the first night they cut You Got to Move, which they've been doing in the live show as a duet,

which just acoustic guitar and Jagger. So, they're doing it with the whole band.

And Stanley and I are in the control room with Jimmy Johnson. They're starting to

run this thing down and it ain't working. I mean, it was terrible. And Wyman wasn't

playing bass. He was playing horser. And it just wasn't working. And I thought, "Wow,

this is really going to be a drag. I'm going to sit here and watch the Stones blow it." You know,

Stanley had just become romantically involved with this uh uh younger sister of a high school

friend of his. was really uh kind of sleazy, but he wants to go to the hotel, the motel to call

this chick on the phone. And they had just had a another one of the uh studios in Muscle Shells had

just had a drug raid, the sheriffs. And one of the things that Johnson was afraid of was that

somebody from this other studio would find out that the Stones were at Muscle Shell Sounds and,

you know, call the cops to reciprocate. So the they were real paranoid about drugs

uh at the studio. So I figured this would be a good opportunity if he'd go with Stanley that

he could talk to his girlfriend. I could smoke a joint. So we're gone maybe 45 minutes an hour tops

and and what we left was chaos, you know, for the Stone. We come back and they're listening

to the first playback and they've got it. and they had like managed to turn this chaos into

what was literally a classic Stones performance, you know, in a matter of 45 minutes. We walk in,

Charlie Watts got this big grin on his face, you know, I thought, "Wow, maybe they're not

going to blow it." So, they start working on the the second song, which is Brown Sugar. They don't

get very far and then they call it, you know, for the first night. Second night they come back to

work on Brown Sugar. Now Keith has got the music, the whole music for the song and uh you know the

killer riff playing in G- Tuning, but no words, no title, no nothing. Jagger's got a green steno pad.

Keith is like as he plays the song, he's singing what isn't words. this guttural

sounds and Jagger's writing it down like he's translating, like he's taking dictation. And

after he has enough, he kind of wanders off and scribbles away, turns over. When he gets three

pages full of lyrics, which took him less than an hour, that was the song. And you know, I've seen

some pretty serious songwriters in my day. I've never seen anything like what McJagger did. Uh he

was absorbing all of the like colloquialisms and all the southern stuff that was around him. If you

think about that song like in the first verse he says sky dog slave trader. Okay. What's sky dog?

Sky dog is the nickname that the guys in muscle shows called Dwayne Almond because he was high

all the time. And Jagger had heard it. He heard somebody say Sky Dog and it just Yeah. My own uh

footnote to rock and roll history comes a little later, but it's this the same song. So I watch him

record Brown Sugar and Ian Stewart's their road manager who is was their piano player for years

but wouldn't grow his hair out so they wouldn't let him, you know, in the band literally. Uh,

you look kind of like a um uh what do you call them at the uh golf course? A caddy. You look

kind of like an overdressed caddy. Uh but great boogie woogie piano player. So I watched him cut

brown sugar and it and it was uh it was brilliant and you know the eighth note tomtom ride on on the

verses that that the beginning of every verse and Charlie walked in. He didn't even have a pair of

sticks. He just walked in and picked up the sticks that were there and sat down and started playing

the drums. So, he's doing this TomTom ride and it's rubbing against the bass note that's there,

you know, and the way you know anybody who's been in the studio has heard that happen. So,

they're listening to a playback and somebody says to Charlie, he says, "Man,

says your tomto time is rubbing the bass note. Uh, maybe you better tune it." Charlie says,

"I never tuned me drums." And everybody just kind of acts like they didn't hear it. And finally,

Ian Stewart says, "Wait a minute. Wait, you can't say something like that. I've known you for years.

You can't just say, "I never tune my drums." So he says, "I never tune my drums. Why should I tune

something I'm going to go out there and beat on?" He says, "I'll hit it a few times. It'll change."

That's what he did. You know, but to give you an idea of the mindset that was at work here,

I did not see Keith Richards hands in three days moved to the tuning pegs. He simply did not tune

his guitar. Period. Nor did Charlie tune the drums. Uh, and every time Jimmy Johnson asked

um asked Bill Wyman to turn his bass up, he turned it down. And Jimmy told me later said, "I was

afraid to keep I thought he was going to turn it off, you know. I was afraid to keep saying it."

Keith says that these sessions were as vital to him as any other that he had done. He wondered

what if. What if some of beggars are Let it bleed. Those sessions were cut there. They

may have sounded a little more funkier. In 1995, Rolling Stone magazine interviewed Mick and Mick

would say he would never write the song now. It was just too raw. Some girls had it share. Also,

the references around slavery and physical abuse around a plantation and the fact that also sticky

was a heroin album. What was mix intention for Brown Sugar? Was it exploitation? Was it satire?

Or just historical analysis? The messages of brown sugar can be tangled and mixed. Some may say, "Oh,

it's simple enough and it's obvious. Slave trade slave owners who raped their captive females that

they bought in New Orleans off the ships." Mick says he was rehabbing his hand from an accident

on the Ned Kelly set and sitting in a trailer in the Australian desert in ' 69. Brown sugar.

Yeah. I was sitting in a field in Australia with a pair of headphones on plugged into my electric

guitar and writing tune while I was shooting a movie. Yeah. Very alone in the outback. I mean,

of course, not that alone with the 200 crew. He had time to dig into writing and not only

that into writing music and Brown Sugar was his first crack at it. And there are claims Marsha

Hunt is who the song is written for, but really I could only see the chorus claiming that it's not

romantic lyrics for sure. Marshall was a recipient of several love letters that Mick would send her

from Australia. And when you look at the chorus of Brown Sugar, you can see the sexual engaging

with her. But Bill would mention someone else. Claudia Laneir, one of Ike and Tina's Ikeets. She

was a muse of mix in the late 69. It's possible it's her. We were very good friends, let me put

it that way. And I also think what helped people to associate me with Brown Sugar was that Mick

and I were seen around town a lot together. So, people put two and two together. Here is one of

the earliest insights I know of Mick sharing his riff and some of the opening and chorus lyrics to

Ike Turner backstage at MSG November 69. This is a fantastic and great watch to see Ike's reaction

to hearing Brown sugar and how come you taste so good. He's enjoying that. Keep in mind that

this was premuscle shows. [Music] You're doing all right. You should have heard me just about [Music]

sugar.

[Music]

[Music]

I'm going to die off [Music] just like the young. [Music] There's so much debate that's still going

on on the lyrics where Mick used Sky Dog Slaver or did he use scarred old slaver now? Johnson

and Dickinson say Sky Dog. I got to go with Scarred and I'll present a few things going

forward here. Mick found out that Dwayne Alman worked there at Muscle Scholes in the sessions.

As many know, his nickname was Dog due to his playful and shaggy look as he became

more prolific. And it was Wilson Picket's guys when they were in the studio that named him

Sky Dog adding the word Sky as he was just way out there. So we hear Jim Dickinson and

there's also Jimmy Johnson and talk about Sky Dog and using that instead of scarred

old. In early versions Mick sings scarred and especially at Altoont he doesn't say Sky Dog

which was just a few days after it was recorded. Thank you. [Music] And we're going to do one for

you now which we did for you which we haven't played ever before. We're going to play for

you for the very first time. It's called Brown Sugar. Yeah. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey.

Hey. [Music]

Go save [Music] in the market down in New Orleans. I know it's doing all right.

You should midnight. [Music] [Applause] [Music] And Keith recites it too as scarred. Gold coast

slaves found sold in the market in New Orleans. Scott old slave knows is doing all right here with

the women just around me. Keith is known for saying that the publishing guy changed it and

transcribed it to scarred instead. He had no idea what Sky Dog was. Mick would declare that there

were sometimes incorrect lyrics being published in officially released Stone sheet music.

Now, just for the heck of it, I got backto back Scarred Old sung

by Mick and then I recorded Sky Dog. You could hear the differences. Sky

Dog,

there are two verses related to the slavery and plantation. Now, I'm not telling you

anything new here. Just got to present it. Put it out here in this documentary. First verse,

the Gold Coast. That's West Africa. And sure, the slave ship had many on board. And a slaver,

well, it's the middleman who buys and sells and transports slaves. The whipping women is

a brutal vision that went on. There is no obvious sexual reference, but many fans will think these

are metaphors for sexual abuse and rape. So take it what you want. Whipping or sexual rape. The

drums beating. It's a slave drumming, African drums, war drums, conquering drums. Old English

blood runs hot. Contrast of a proper Englishman getting lthered up for his sexual desires. The

Englishman's lady is fed up with his sexual antics now, while she also does have the house boy,

also known as a servant, for her sexual desire. Someone is screaming around midnight. Simple,

my interpretation, your interpretation. Let me know if you think differently. With the third

verse being totally off the slavery topic, more sexuality as a woman having pleasures with young

boys. sweet 16. Then the narrator protagonist claims he's older than those boys and he has his

pleasures also. So the chorus sexual engaging and the narrator enjoys it. And with the song

title originally called Black Kitty, you fill in the word kitty and figure that one out. It's

a man and woman encountering. He does reference a young girl, so who knows what age. Marsha was 23.

Claudia was 23. Then there's the brown sugar, heroin slang reference, the song being drugreated,

cooked brown heroin. So many thoughts and ideas. As we know now, this song hit Mick

hard lyrically and he understood the meaning from his perspective and he didn't like it.

throwing this in here and thanks to Martin Elliott with his book, great book,

The Rolling Stones Complete Recording Sessions, he talks about and pointed out

that Sam and Dave recorded in 1968 song called Soul Sister Brown Sugar. And in April of 69,

it was released on Atlantic. You can see the lyrics and how it's outright obvious their

intention. Keep on socking it to me baby all night long. The song a great stacks funk and

soul. The term brown sugar here is taken as a compliment for an Africanamean woman.

Mick would also add, "God knows what's on about that song. It's such a mishmash. All

the nasty subjects in one go. Slavery, dope, sex, you name it." Keeping in mind blues men

would use food as a sexual metaphor like sugar, lemon, peaches, jelly, honey.

Mick on vocals, maracas and castinets. Keith lead and rhythm guitar and acoustic and background

vocals. Mick Taylor lead and rhythm guitar. Bill on bass. Charlie and I on Piano and Bobby,

Jimmy Miller, Jimmy Johnson, Andy John's, Glenn John's, assistant by Chris Kimsey, Keith Hardwood,

and Larry Hamby. I'm breaking in now with a little something different. Present a background song,

an outtake called Traveling Man. Now in March to May in London Olympic Studios and also Star

Groves, a mix house with the mobile recording unit using Jimmy Glenn, Andy, Chris Kimy,

and I believe Keith Harwood. They worked on a song called Traveling Tiger. It's unverified.

But later on in the October time frame, at the end of the month, which is when they went to Olympic,

they were in Star Groves earlier in the month, but went back to Olympic and Traveling Man was

put together. Nikki Hopkins is playing on it. You're seeing right now Jeremy Baress Rolling

Stones guitar cover channel on YouTube, giving us an insight on Traveling Man.

[Music]

Jimmy Johnson talks about what Keith used as a guitar and he mentioned it was an SG or a

Teleer for Brown Sugar. I don't find any concrete confirmation about that. We did see him use the

Dan Armstrong Plexi on top of the pops in 71 and Taylor used on top of the pops his ES345,

but not clear in the studio. It's probably Keith's Gibson Hummingbird used for the acoustic though.

Anybody has concrete evidence? Bring it on. Bill the Fender Mustang Stew would add his

typical piano boogie woogie. There are videos out there of interviews with Jimmy Johnson and Jim

Dickinson. However, I also found some articles and interviews with Jimmy Johnson. Tapeop.com

was a great source and he gave a good explanation of some technical details which I'm just going to

lay on you. And the studio was about 25 by 55 ft. They used a Scully 280 A track

1 in brown sugar was 15 IPS. That means 15 in per second of tape used. And it was all done

in mono. [Music] And what Jimmy did was one roll of tape per session was used a day, three total.

When he finished, he put one of them into a vault and next day start with a new fresh

one. Now for microphones on the drums, Charlie brought in his own drum set. They used a Newman

U47 over the top. It was about nose high to Charlie. There was also a mic facing downward

to the bass drum kit in front and also a boom mic placed over the snare. That is why I'm

mentioning this because incredible known sound. Charlie loved the sound so much he wanted to buy

the microphone but Jimmy Johnson just said no. For his bass drum, they used a EV 666 electro

voice on a stand placed on the backside of the drum. His high hat was a Shore SM57.

The console, they used a Universal Audio. It was tubed, those big huge rotary knobs with

10 inputs. Now, there's some discussions about the echo, the reverb, the delay, whatever you

want to call it. Jimmy would say that they use the echo chamber in the console when recording. Now,

there's some beautiful slapback echo and delay that we hear. Now, here's where the dilemma is.

It's thought that an EMT plate reverb device was used for Keith's guitar. This EMT 140 was

used since around 1957. [Music] This device, it sends the audio signal to a large plate that

is suspended in the unit, a metal plate here. You could see it. And it vibrates.

There are pickups on the plate and that sends the vibrations as an audio signal. And this

signals mixed in with the original signal. A lot there. And I'm sure some of you just

don't even want to think about it. Now, Jimmy Johnson says in interviews they did not get

this unit until a year later. Now, the mic for guitars, they were two to three inches

from the grill. Taylor had a Shore SM57 on his Fender Twin. Keith using the Fender Twin. Also,

he had his twin wide open Max. Using an RCA 77DX mic, loud. Jimmy said this mic was the

key. To avoid the distortion though, Jimmy used a homemade 20 del pad which drops the decibel levels

before it hit the console. So these tools helped Jimmy out tremendously. Both the 20dB pad and that

RCA70X mic. The amps held up fine. The piano was miked up. The bass amp miked up with an RCA 44.

Mick did overdubs for the maracas and castinets at muscle shows and he would use mono headsets.

They used maybe eight tracks. They would transfer the three tapes in London at the Olympic studio.

They did that so they could do more overdubs. It's thought some takes were erased in London.

And Jimmy would get credit for engineering on the album, but not the studio due to the union

and the immigration laws and not having the work permits. So, they did not want to get busted,

which again is why everything was a hush. Jimmy said he would sneak off the rough cuts. He did

this at 7.5 IPS mix, not having the overdubs or sacks. He would play it for folks. Jimmy goes

on and he explains, "For all three songs, they would start with just the idea. As Mick says,

a mishmash. They were trying to come up with some lick. Three to four hours of noodling around,

and by hour four, everyone would now fall in place as one cohesive unit. Charlie and Bill would find

their place. Then by end of hour five, they would start singing. This is when Jimmy knew he had to

really focus. No producer to tell him what to do about rolling tapes. He used his own intuition to

produce. And Jimmy said Mick and Keith really produced it. So by the fifth and sixth hour,

all was falling into place. This is how each day flowed. After the take, they would ask, "Is that

it?" And Jimmy would say, "You need one more. You got it in you. And it was usually by the third

take this magic happened. And when it would end around 1:00 a.m. Jimmy's coworker, Barry Beckett,

he was one of the swampers, keyboardist in fact. He was outside of the building. And while these

takes around 1:00 a.m. were happening, he said he could feel the building shake. And Jimmy would say

he never ever experienced this stone's formula and magic again. Never ever like it since. The

Stones had lawyers down there. Atlantic had lawyers down there. And on the third day,

Jerry and Amit were there. They worked on the distribution of the Stones new label in the

US for Atlantic at Florence, Alabama. Let's give a listen to two of these early takes.

[Music]

[Music] head gun cold in his blood run hot the house stop know that

he's doing all right you should know that he's doing all right you should

[Music]

drunk cold in this blood running hot the house money where going to stop knows

That is doing all right. You should be a good feel in the morning and all. Oh,

he's doing all right. You should have heard just about midnight.

You know, I'm going to take going to get

[Music]

it taste so good.

around that I'm feel all right. You should hear me just around midnight. [Applause]

[Music]

Jimmy Johnson would talk about how Keith Amp was in a booth and Mick would be in

a back room with baffles around him. For vocals, there was some leakage,

but he was so close to the mic anyway. The drums did not have a booth,

just baffles. Charlie would not play too loud anyway. Still a little bit of leakage. They

didn't get anywhere on the first take. Jimmy Johnson would marvel at how Mick and Keith

would sing. They were together at the mic, holding a fifth of bourbon and sharing it.

They sang lead and harmony there. Vitz tracking vocals that were laid down December 4th, the

last day for all three songs. Jim Dickinson was in the studio listening to Brown Sugar. He heard the

early takes and then heard the later takes with the vocals and he and Charlie were sitting in the

control booth during one of the takes and Mick had sung here and with the women just around midnight

and it changed in later takes it was missing. So Dickinson told Charlie what's going on earlier

on he's singing here and whip the women. That's such a great line. Charlie being Charlie he says

why don't you tell him? So Jim goes over to the intercom and tells Mick and Mick just responds,

"Oh yeah, thanks." And that's the way it was. Mick Taylor lays down a guitar solo for Brown

Sugar. That's what's used. Mick says Brown Sugar has the muscle sh sound distorted and funky.

There are plenty outtakes for brown sugar. I don't know which ones are first, second,

last, but I'm going to put them few out there for you just so you can get a taste. I'm sure

there's many people out there who haven't heard some of this. So, it's for you. It's going to

be some random intros and some of the middle parts, verses, solos. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

[Music] [Applause]

Go save your cotton I feel sold in the market down in New Orleans. Scott say

know it's doing all right here with the wh just around midnight. [Music]

[Music]

[Applause] [Music]

Heat. Heat. [Music]

Heat. [Music]

[Music] Heat.

[Music] [Applause]

Go save you feeling down.

I know he's doing all right.

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

Heat. Heat.

[Applause] [Applause]

Yeah.

[Music] [Applause]

[Music] [Applause] [Music]

All right. Yeah. [Music] [Applause] Heat. [Applause]

Yeah. Heat.

[Music] Heat. [Applause] [Music]

Heat.

[Music]

[Music]

Mick, I think it's one of the first rock and roll that Mick wrote by himself. off basically all the

way through. I showed Mick this five string tuning, you know, this and he's great. He went

back and learned it and I was really amazed. But basically that song was basically all Mick. We

I really just arranged it a little and and got the sound down on it. December 9th to the 18th,

Stones would be an Olympic studio doing some work overdubs with Brown Sugar, Wild Horses,

and also You Got to Move and Dead Flowers. They were also rehearsing for four shows. Two would

be December 14th at the Seville Theater, then two shows at the Lysum Theater on December 21st. Now,

Bobby and Jim Price, they would be working in 1970 with George Harrison on his album All Things Must

Pass. Harrison doing some work, I believe, with EMI and eventually going to Trident Studios. And

in August and September, that's where Bobby and Jim would help him out with some overdubs

of brass. Now, Mick would run into Bobby and also Jim and bring them on to work on Sticky.

They wanted some brass horns. So that would be done also in the June summer time frame at

Olympic. I mentioned that so I could add this to the timeline for December 1970. At Olympic,

December 18th, that was Bobby and Keith's birthday party and they had a jam session.

Invited was Eric Clapton and Al Cooper to join on a jam of brown sugar. that version many of you

heard George Harrison was there but he didn't participate Eric playing the slide guitar and

Bobby playing the sack solo instead of Taylor playing his lead solo as we hear this so-called

clapton version it has a great intention vocals for Keith were great throughout the

slide and sack solo going to a quick little solo by Clapton only kind of So in the long

around [Music]

[Music] 1:15:55.040,1193:02:47.295 Heat up

[Music]

here. [Music] Heat.

[Music]

Heat.

[Music]

And at the 310 mark, some fabulous bad living from Mick. Then he also says, "Get down on your knees.

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

Heat. Heat.

[Music]

[Music]

And at the end we hear that's it. And then someone says,

"Was that good?" And that is supposedly Eric. [Applause] Was that good?

Several days after the Clapton Jam, they would have Bobby come in and lay down his sack solo,

replacing Taylor's leads. Vocals and overdubs were done at Olympic for Brown Sugar in April and

then also December. It was not worked on at Star Groves. I'm not going to be explaining anything

new and amazing here, but just give it a flip side CT perspective. We first get that wonderful echo

slapback sound in those first chords and into the single tasteful leads and the castinets.

But pay attention to the first simple crash and then the pounding bass and then also the drums.

And then at the 22 second mark, the beautiful well positioned, wellplaced acoustic rhythm.

And the bonus treat right into the second line of this song is Keith's backing vocal. [Music]

[Applause]

Don't say you kind of feel so in the market.

Then in the chorus, we get that peppering sweet little taste of Ian with the piano,

which I wish there was more of.

And you think you hear the saxophone, but it's not in there yet. [Music]

There's this rhythm part right around 131 where

Keith makes a different change of the chords and the sound to me is

such a key part of the song. It's in the left channel and then it goes into Bobby

Heat. Heat. Heat. [Applause]

Like a cat walking through the grass nice and slow. And the castinets just wonderfully placed.

[Music]

And as towards the end of the song, it slides into the yes and the wos. And the maracas are

icing on the cake here as it fades out. The symbol crashing of Charlie is just fantastic.

Moroca's coming in around 207 and acoustic is nice and clear with heavy strumming. The sacks

and the lead guitar sound off each other and we get the yes at the end. Jimmy was not sure

what this was, but thinks it was Taylor or Charlie that says, "Yeah, at the end.

[Music]

Now for some deconstructing sounds just to

give you an idea and flavor of the pieces. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

[Music]

Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

[Applause]

No slave ship on V. in a market down in New Orleans. Scott slave know it's doing

all right here and the women just around midnight

sugar so good. I bet your mama was a tual queen and all of our friends were sweet 16.

I know but I know that life just around midnight sugar

baby

sugar just like a young girl yeah

just like a just like a black girl Yeah. Yeah. [Applause]

[Music] Heat. [Music]

Gold copper

down in New Orleans

is just around midnight down B to the how come your tail so good

to the ground your tail so good

the great comp album from Abco got hot rocks released in 71. There were several record

plants that produced this album in the US. One of those plants was in Long Island, and by accident,

they were sent the wrong versions for Brown Sugar and Wild Horses. It was about 2 weeks worth of

time that went by when someone realized it was the wrong songs. Now, when you look at a vinyl record

and you look towards the middle, you see a label and outside the label is a sort of a shiny black

area with no grooves in it. That's called the dead wax. It is in there where the writing of Shelly is

written and then also the date 111871 combination on side four tells you that you would own that

rare vinyl with the mistake. EPCO is the one that had and owned the Muscle Shows tapes. So the

engineer for that day who's mastering the tape, the vinyl pressing, they usually inscribe their

name and that's where Shelly comes in. So go break out your Hot Rocks double album and see which one

you have. These versions were intended for the Give Me Shelter documentary. And you'll know this

version because it does not have the sack solo for Brown Sugar. It has Mick Taylor's leads. [Music]

And Mick, the thing is, Mick, he got to finish this record. This record's going to be great. It's

going to be a great record. We're going to put all our resources behind the record. But listen,

the promotion, forget the promotion. We don't want to spend money on the promotion. We just

have a big [ __ ] party and promote the [ __ ] out of the party and that'll sell the record.

Okay, enough. This concludes part two of the making of Sticky Fingers. Part

one was Rolling Stones in a two-headed monster. So, part three will be coming

up giving you more about the entire album and the songs also outtakes and then also details

about Sticky Fingers album cover, the shoots, photographers and their tours. See you then.

Just another mad