Dead Flowers (The Rolling Stones song)

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"Dead Flowers"
Song

"Dead Flowers" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the rock band The Rolling Stones, appearing on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.

Recording

Recording of "Dead Flowers" began in December 1969 at the Olympic Studios in London. The lyrics to the song are notably dark, and feature the line, "I'll be in my basement room, with a needle and a spoon", a reference to injecting heroin. The song was performed live during the album tours for Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street in 1970-72, then once during the Black and Blue Tour in 1976. It was not played again until the Steel Wheels Tour in 1989. The song was recently revived by the Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers W/Brad Paisley (Philly) 6-18-13. Brad Paisley accompanied Mick Jagger during a most recent performance of Dead Flowers at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee during the Zip Code Tour on June 17th, 2015. [1]

This was written during the period when the Stones were stepping into country territory, when Richards' friendship with Gram Parsons was influencing his songwriting. Jagger commented in 2003: "The 'Country' songs we recorded later, like "Dead Flowers" on Sticky Fingers or "Far Away Eyes" on Some Girls, are slightly different (than our earlier ones). The actual music is played completely straight, but it's me who's not going legit with the whole thing, because I think I'm a blues singer not a country singer - I think it's more suited to Keith's voice than mine."

Both Richards and Taylor contribute the 'honky-tonk' style lead guitar lines throughout the album version. Richards' choppier fills act primarily as a response to Jagger's vocal lines during the verses, while Taylor's more fluid licks counteract with the vocals of the chorus. It is Taylor who performs the guitar solo in place of a third verse.

A live cut can be found on their 1995 live album Stripped. The recent live version with Brad Paisley in Philly on 6-18-2013 is available on YouTube.

The song was also played during a September 2006 concert in Louisville, Kentucky because of the lyric, "making bets on Kentucky Derby Day". The concert was held at Churchill Downs, site of The Kentucky Derby.

Cover versions

The song has been widely covered. Townes Van Zandt included a version of the song on his album of live covers Roadsongs; this version was used in the film The Big Lebowski. New Riders of the Purple Sage covered the song on their 1976 album New Riders and as an encore during at least one concert in 1977.[2] Both the New Riders of the Purple Sage and the David Nelson Band regularly play it live to the present day. Gilby Clarke also did a cover of the song featuring Axl Rose, on his first solo album Pawnshop Guitars. Steve Earle often plays the song live and has recorded it several times as a live track. GG Allin, the American punk rock singer-songwriter best remembered for his notorious live performances, covered the song live on his album The Troubled Troubador with The Disappointments.[3] Jerry Lee Lewis released a version of the song on his 2010 album, Mean Old Man, which featured Mick Jagger.[4] Poison also covered the song on their 2007 album Poison'd!, and Six Organs of Admittance have covered the song for their Somewhere Between Her Shoulder and God EP and in numerous live performances, some of which have appeared on various bootleg recordings. Guns N' Roses also performed the song since 1993, notably at the 2012 London O2 Arena concert, where their former member Izzy Stradlin joined the band on stage to play the song. Whitewater Band released a version of Dead Flowers on their 2013 Country Rock album "Many Roads". Paul Milner, who worked on Talk is Cheap with Keith Richards, was the producer of Many Roads. A version may also be found on track 7 of Willie Nelson & Friends – Stars & Guitars, a 2002 live album by country singer Willie Nelson featuring Keith Richards, Ryan Adams and Hank Williams III.

Caitlin Rose covered the song on her, 7 track, Dead Flowers album in 2009 Cœur de pirate made a cover of the song in her album Trauma released in 2014.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ 4. Hudak, J. 18 June 2015. Rolling Stone. Retrieved from http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-brad-paisley-sing-dead-flowers-with-the-rolling-stones-in-nashville-20150618
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Jerry Lee Lewis, Mean Old Man Retrieved 16 June 2012.

External links


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