Can't You Hear Me Knocking

"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is a track by English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. The track is over seven minutes long, and begins with a Keith Richards open-G tuned guitar intro. The main song lasts for two minutes and 43 seconds, after which it transforms into an extended improvisational jam. The entire track was captured in one take, with the jam being a happy accident; the band had assumed the tape machine had been stopped, and were surprised to find the entire session had been captured. Originally they were going to end the song before the jam started, but were so pleased with the jam that they decided to keep it in. Besides the regular Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards (guitar), Mick Taylor (guitar), Charlie Watts (drums) and Bill Wyman (bass), the track also features conga player Rocky Dijon, saxophonist Bobby Keys, organist Billy Preston and additional percussion by producer Jimmy Miller.

This article is about the song by the Rolling Stones. For the episode of That '70s Show, see Can't You Hear Me Knocking (episode).

"Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
Song by the Rolling Stones
from the album Sticky Fingers
Released23 April 1971
RecordedMarch–May 1970
StudioOlympic, London
Genre
Length7:15
LabelRolling Stones/Atlantic
Songwriter(s)Jagger–Richards
Producer(s)Jimmy Miller

Composition and recording

The track featured Rocky Dijon on congas; tenor saxophonist Bobby Keys performs an extended saxophone solo over the guitar work of Richards and Mick Taylor, punctuated by the organ work of Billy Preston. At 4:40 Taylor takes over from Richards and carries the song to its finish with a lengthy guitar solo.[1]

Richards described writing the guitar riff:

"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" came out flying – I just found the tuning and the riff and started to swing it and Charlie picked up on it just like that, and we're thinking, hey, this is some groove. So it was smiles all around. For a guitar player it's no big deal to play, the chopping, staccato bursts of chords, very direct and spare.[1]

In 2002, Richards commented on the recording:

The jam at the end wasn't inspired by Carlos Santana. We didn't even know they were still taping. We thought we'd finished. We were just rambling and they kept the tape rolling. I figured we'd just fade it off. It was only when we heard the playback that we realised, Oh, they kept it going. Basically we realised we had two bits of music. There's the song and there's the jam.[1]

Taylor recalled in a 1979 interview:

"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" ... is one of my favourites ... [The jam at the end] just happened by accident; that was never planned. Towards the end of the song I just felt like carrying on playing. Everybody was putting their instruments down, but the tape was still rolling and it sounded good, so everybody quickly picked up their instruments again and carried on playing. It just happened, and it was a one-take thing. A lot of people seem to really like that part.[1]

Taylor added, "I used a brown Gibson ES-345 for 'Dead Flowers' and the solo on 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking'."[1]

Jagger noted in the Spotify Landmark interview on the album that the key was too high for his voice and that "I [did] lots of vocals, harmonies to sort of hide the fact that I didn't really hit the notes that great in the chorus bits."[2]

An early alternate take of the song (with dummy/placeholder lyrics) was released in June 2015 on the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions of the reissued Sticky Fingers album.

Accolades

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine listed it at number 25 in "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time."[3]

"Mick Taylor had the biggest influence on me, without me even knowing it," remarked Slash. "My favourite Stones records were Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers… One of the greatest Mick Taylor solos is 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking'. It's the kind of stuff that's almost like old Eric Clapton – it's very simple stuff, but it's about how the notes are placed and how you approach them."[4]

The Rolling Stones live performances

The number was part of the Rolling Stones' concert repertoire during their Licks Tour in 2002–2003 and A Bigger Bang Tour in 2005–2007. In these renditions, Jagger played a harmonica solo after Keys' sax solo, and Ronnie Wood performed the extended guitar solo. A live recording was released on the band's 2003 DVD set Four Flicks and on the 2004 concert album Live Licks.

It was also performed live during shows in 2013, with Mick Taylor appearing as a special guest with the band.

Another live version was published on the release Sticky Fingers Live - From The Vault, recorded on 20 May 2015 at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California, where the band played the entire Sticky Fingers album.

Personnel

Sticky Fingers

The Rolling Stones

Additional musicians

Live Licks

The Rolling Stones

  • Mick Jagger – vocals, harmonica
  • Keith Richards – guitar
  • Ronnie Wood – guitar
  • Charlie Watts – drums

Additional musicians

References
  1. McPherson, Ian. "Track Talk: Can't You Hear Me Knocking". Retrieved 24 August 2008.
  2. "On "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", a song by The Rolling Stones on Spotify". Open.spotify.com. 23 April 1971. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  3. Rolling Stone. "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time - Number 25 of 100". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  4. "The 100 greatest guitarist of all time". Classic Rock. No. 136. September 2009.
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