No Expectations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “No Expectations” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Rolling Stones | |||||
| Album | Beggars Banquet | ||||
| Released | 6 December 1968 | ||||
| Recorded | May-June, 1968 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 4:02 | ||||
| Label | ABKCO | ||||
| Writer | Jagger/Richards | ||||
| Producer | Jimmy Miller | ||||
| Beggars Banquet track listing | |||||
|
|||||
"No Expectations" is a song by the British rock and roll band the Rolling Stones featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet.
Contents |
[edit] Inspiration and recording
The song was written by singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. The song is a slow, country-tinged blues ballad. "No Expectations" was one of the famed Beggars Banquet songs recorded with open microphones set between the band members and was recorded live. In his review of the song, Bill Janovitz says, "The loneliness expressed in the song is palpable; all about being left behind, the song is certainly a tribute in musical and lyrical tone to such Robert Johnson blues songs as "Love in Vain" — a favourite cover of the Stones — referencing such images as a train leaving the station."[1]
| “ | Take me to the station, And put me on a train; I've got no expectations, To pass through here again | ” |
| “ | Once I was a rich man and, Now I am so poor; But never in my sweet short life, Have I felt like this before | ” |
While the song's lyrics have much to admire, "No Expectations" leaves its greatest impression through the acoustic slide guitar performance of Brian Jones. One of his most famous contributions to a Stones song, Jagger said in a 1995 interview in Rolling Stone, "That's Brian playing [the solo]. We were sitting around in a circle on the floor, singing and playing, recording with open mikes. That was the last time I remember Brian really being totally involved in something that was really worth doing. He was there with everyone else. It's funny how you remember - but that was the last moment I remember him doing that, because he had just lost interest in everything." [2] Accompanying Jones is Richards on acoustic rhythm guitar, with Janovitz remarking that Richards, "play[s] the same open-tuned rhythm he would later use on 'You Can't Always Get What You Want', also contributing to that lonely ambience." The song is also noted for its simple claves-kept beat by Charlie Watts and Nicky Hopkins' "building single-chord organ" and low piano trills.
[edit] Aftermath
The first live performance was captured during the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus and is featured on the accompanying live album and DVD. This performance was to be Jones's last live performance with the Rolling Stones. Like Brian Jones' performance on the Beggar's Banquet album, that live performance is also Brian's last substantial contribution on stage, as many of the Stones songs from that filming have little to no audible contribution from him. The songs has since rarely been played live. The second, and most notable performance, was at the Hyde Park free concert, July 5, 1969, which was held as a memorial to Jones whom died three days before. The third live performance was at the January 18, 1973 benefit concert at the Los Angeles Forum for victims of the recent 23 December 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua. It would take another 24 years until December 9, 1997 in Atlanta, GA, USA, that the song was performed again. On the 2002/2003 Licks tour No Expectations was played eleven times in total, and hasn't been performed since.
"No Expectations" has also proven to be a popular cover song for other artists. Johnny Cash recorded a bluegrass-inspired version, available on his album Gone Girl and the collection Essential Johnny Cash 1953-83. Waylon Jennings recorded a version for his 1998 album Closing in on the Fire. Soulsavers recorded a brooding, piano-and-voice version accompanied with Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan on their album It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land. Joan Baez also performed a cover on her 1970 album One Day at a Time. Beck also started playing this song in his concerts just after the release of Sea Change. Jam-grass acts Yonder Mountain String Band and Flatlander also often cover this song at their shows.
It is also included on the 1972 Stones compilation disc More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies).
[edit] References
- ^ Janovitz, Bill."No Expectations". allmusic. 2007 (accessed 29 June 2007).
- ^ Wenner, Jann."Jagger Remembers". Rolling Stone. 1995 (accessed 29 June 2007).
