Song Review - Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Artist - The Rolling Stones from Sticky Fingers (1971)
Many artists from this period experimented with long, less radio-friendly songs that often involved sonic experimentation. The Rolling Stones began this with Going Home (from Aftermath) which clocks in at around the 10 minute mark. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking doesn’t break this barrier but running at 7:16 isn’t short but is neither amazingly long, when at Pink Floyd released Echoes that comes in at 23:28 in the same year.
Like the rest of Sticky Fingers, drugs are referenced in the song (“you got cocaine eyes”) and it features the same guitar riff by Keith Richards over some playful lyrics by Jagger until 2:43 when playful meanderings between guitar and saxophone comes in. The horn section features quite heavily on the whole album and this song is a good example of how it works well and doesn’t date too badly. At 4:41, lead guitarist Mick Taylor comes and his crowning moment of his Stones career begins until the end of the song. The smooth, blues influenced tone is influenced of both Clapton and B. B. King and is as powerful now as it ever was.
Luckily, the band have kept this in their live repertoire and I experienced this at the O2 Arena in August 2007. Obviously, the band is lacking Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor and am I sure you can guess which one is missed more. Ron Wood’s guitar work is outstanding but different to that of Taylor. It lacks the subtlety and smoothness of his blues work but is made up for in energy and skill. The live version on Live Licks represents this to me (clocking in at a high 10:02!) with a new harmonic solo by Jagger added between the saxophone and guitar boogie.
All in all, quite an epic song. My favourite moment by the Stones? It is certainly up there - it combines all elements of the best elements of the band. Exquisite lyrics by Jagger/Richards, jazz style drumming by Watts and interlocking guitar work of Richards and Taylor. It hasn’t become one of ‘the classics’ like Brown Sugar, Start Me Up and Paint It, Black has but it shows the Stones before their artistic peak, which would come a year later with Exile on Main Street. You can find it on YouTube in various forms if you haven’t heard it yet. Rating - 4 out of 5.
