Members of the Stones camp were dispatched to write down the words by listening to the acetate pressings, and on this song, the best they could come up with for one of the lines near the end was “I’ve got flatted feet, now.” Jagger insisted he didn’t write that line, but couldn’t remember what the real line was, so it stuck.Īndy Warhol designed the Sticky Fingers album cover. As Robert Greenfield recounts in his book Ain’t It Time We Said Goodbye, shortly before the album was released, someone realized that the lyrics for this song and a few others had not been filed, making them impossible to copyright. Probably best not to read too much into the lyrics of this one, since even Mick Jagger isn’t exactly sure what he wrote. His lengthy sax solo on this track wasn’t planned out, but once he got going, he kept blowing while the tape ran and Keith Richards loved it. Keys, along with trumpet player Jim Price, joined The Stones on their 1970 European tour after performing on Sticky Fingers. This featured Bobby Keys on sax, Rocky Dijon on percussion, and Billy Preston on the organ. The Stones were experimenting with different styles around this time, and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?” has a distinct Santana influence. Mick Jagger’s work is done by 2:45, however, as the groove plays out for the next four-and-a-half minutes. This is an unusually long Stones track, running 7:14. A lot of people seem to really like that part.” It just happened, and it was a one-take thing. 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. Towards the end of the song I just felt like carrying on playing. (The jam at the end) just happened by accident that was never planned. Mick Taylor: “‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ is one of my favorites. After these shows, they didn’t play it live again until 2002, at which point they could bring alone plenty of musicians to support it. These performances took place on their 11-date UK farewell tour before they left England to avoid taxes.
The Stones played a shorter version of this song a few times before it was released on the Sticky Fingers album. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in the UK and #1 in Canada in 1971. This song was on the album Sticky Fingers. This song and album were produced by Jimmy Miller who also played percussion on this track. Great riff, great tone, and great Mick Jagger vocal.
This track sums up the 70s Stones very well.