Keno's ROLLING STONES Web Site
ROLLING
STONES LYRICS
COUNTRY HONK
First recorded on March 10, 1969. Brian Jones may have played
guitar on the early take of this song. Another take, made 3 months later in June,
was where Mick Taylor played his slide part, but this has been disputed, as
some claim only Taylor was in the studio on this day and he only added his guitar to "Honky
Tonk Women" at that time, going by instructions left by Keith Richards, who was at Brian
Jones' house on this same day, where he and Mick Jagger finished up their dealings with
Jones' leaving the band. Others claim that Taylor recorded his slide part that
May, at his audition session with the band, but close insiders claim 'no', and
that once
again say that it was "Honky Tonk Women" that he only played on at that audition. Then,
a few say it was not Jones, nor Taylor heard on
the second guitar, but Ry Cooder, who played the slide guitar part and or acoustic
guitar on this song. Finally, others claim Richards played the slide on this
tune, and bass, too, as Bill Wyman wasn't in the studio to play. With all of
these stories, and with Jones, Taylor and Wyman's names all showing up in the
early sessions logs for this ditty, who knows for sure
who's playing what on here; other than it's unlikely that Cooder played on this, since his name doesn't appear in the session logs, which means he wasn't
there to play.
One last note, on November 2, 1969, Byron Berline's fiddle was added during the last take of the
song, and the finial mixing was done
5 days later on November 7. It is true that Berline's fiddle was recorded outside of the studio
(producer Jimmy Miller's idea), hence the reason for the car horns heard in the song,
as he was playing on the sidewalk - by the street, as cars were driving by.
The song was then released on the Let It Bleed album, on December 5, 1969.
Lead Vocal: Mick Jagger Acoustic Guitar:
Keith Richards and Brian Jones (?) Slide Guitar: Mick
Taylor (?) or Keith Richards (?) Bass
Guitar: Bill Wyman (?) or Keith Richards (?) Drums: Charlie Watts
Fiddle:
Byron Berline Backing Vocals: Keith Richards & Nanette Workman (credited as Nanette Newman by
mistake on the album's inner sleeve)
COUNTRY HONK
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)
I'm sittin' in a bar tippling a jar in Jackson
And on the street the summer sun it shines
There's many a bar-room queen
I've had in Jackson
But I just can't seem to drink you off my mind
It's the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
I laid a divorcee in New York City
I had to put up some kind of a fight
The lady she all dressed me up in roses
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind
It's the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
It's the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
It's the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme thse honky tonk blues