"Rip This Joint" is the second song on

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

' classic 1972 album '' Exile on Main St.'' Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Rip This Joint" is one of the fastest songs in the Stones' canon, with a pronounced

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

feel. Jagger's breakneck delivery of the song's lines spells out a rambling tale set across America from the perspective of a foreigner.

Background

Richards notes the tempo of the song: "It's one of the fastest ones of the lot and it really keeps you on your toes".

Reception

In his review of the song,

Bill Janovitz Bill Janovitz (born June 3, 1966) is an American musician and writer. He is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter of alternative rock band Buffalo Tom, and has also released three solo albums. Janovitz has written extensively for Allmusic, author ...

comments: {{quote, The result is a frenetic pace that approaches the tempos played by

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

bands roughly ten years later, certainly recognizing the raw excitement of early roots rock & roll years before{{nbsp... Though the band most likely did not sit down and preconceive it as such, the record seems to set out to cover nothing less than the wide-open spaces of America itself via the nation's music – from urban

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

to down-home

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

to New Orleans jazz. 'Rip This Joint' sets the tone for this journey, as a modern-day " Route 66" travelogue from Birmingham to San Diego.

Recording

Recording began in late 1971 at Richards' rented home in France, Villa Nellcôte, using the

Rolling Stones Mobile Studio The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio (also known as the RSM) is a mobile recording studio inside a DAF F1600 Turbo truck, once owned by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Numerous bands and artists have recorded music using the RSM, including ...

. With Jagger on lead vocals, Richards sings back-up and plays electric guitar, along with

Mick Taylor Michael Kevin Taylor (born 17 January 1949) is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, he appeared on: ''Let It Bleed'' ...

, and Charlie Watts plays drums. Bill Plummer provides

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

for the recording while

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, most notably ...

performs Johnnie Johnson-like piano.

Bobby Keys Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Ni ...

plays two

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

solos, Jim Price performs trumpet and trombone.{{cite web, date=2007, title=Rip This Joint, url=http://keno.org/stones_lyrics/ripthisjoint.html, access-date=29 June 2007, website=Keno's Rolling Stones Lyrics Page

Live performances

"Rip This Joint" was played frequently by the Stones throughout the early to mid-1970s, and appeared in the concert film '' Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones'', before disappearing completely from their setlists. The song was reintroduced to the band's setlists at various club dates in Europe on the 1995

Voodoo Lounge Tour The Voodoo Lounge Tour was a worldwide concert tour by the Rolling Stones to promote their 1994 album '' Voodoo Lounge''. This was their first tour without bassist Bill Wyman, and their first with touring bassist Darryl Jones, as an addition ...

(as released in 2016 on '' Totally Stripped'') and was also performed on the Licks Tour in 2002 and 2003. The song was included as the closing track to the Stones' 1975 compilation album, ''

Made in the Shade ''Made in the Shade'', released in 1975, is the third official compilation album by the Rolling Stones, and the first under their Atlantic Records contract. It covers material from ''Sticky Fingers'' (1971), '' Exile on Main St.'' (1972), ''Goa ...

''. The song was played in the opening scene of the film, '' Way of the Gun''. American pop punk band

Green Day Green Day is an American rock band formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt. For most of the band's career, they have been a powe ...

has performed the song on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''.

References

{{Reflist {{Exile on Main St. {{The Rolling Stones {{Authority control The Rolling Stones songs Rockabilly songs Songs written by Jagger–Richards 1972 songs Song recordings produced by Jimmy Miller