THE ROLLING STONES – "It's All Over Now"

One of the musical subjects which has fascinated me most over the years is the so-called “British Invasion” of the U.S. in the Sixties.

It has always confounded me how the British Beat groups took America by storm in the early/mid-Sixties and helped kill off most of the ‘native talent’ – especially when so much of the material the British Beat groups performed was borrowed from those same American artists! Along with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones were of course the chief protagonists of that ‘invasion force’ and although “It’s All Over Now” wasn’t nearly as big a hit in America as it was in the UK, it was one of the first songs which established them across the Atlantic and is therefore a prime example of the way in which the Brits re-branded a distinctly American concept and sold it back to its originators as something new!

As my collection of American R&B artists expanded over the years I was constantly amazed to realise how many songs which I had always associated with British Beat Groups had originally been recorded by lesser-known U.S. artists. I was also struck by how consistently I found the U.S. originals to be FAR BETTER than their British counterparts. I really don’t think this was just some sort of musical snobbery on my part – where the British recordings tended to have thin, plastic instrumentation backing them, the American ones generally seemed to have a depth and warmth; while the vocals on the British recordings often sounded half-hearted and twee, the American originals invariably had vocals that were powerful and soulful. This led to a sense of injustice within me that these classic recordings had been overlooked and undermined as a result of what felt to me like inferior cover-versions.

After a while, as is my tendancy when I’m trying to “prove a musical point”, I put together a CD to “explain my theory” – well, actually two CDs – one with the US originals and the other with the British covers in exactly the same order for comparison! (track-listing for anyone who’s intersted is below!) Listening to both underlined my belief that the US versions were better and yet the glaringly obvious fact is that in every case the British covers were more successful – which is, after all, what defines ‘popular music’. I’d like to think this wasn’t all down to the question of race although it is an inescapable fact that there are only three white artists included in my personal ‘top-30 US originals’ below (Jackie DeShannon, Evie Sands and Barry Mann) whereas all of the British artists involved were of course white. I’d like to think that it was just a case of a style of music from one culture being played by those from a very different culture with different accents and ‘gaining something in translation’ – as far as the American record-buyers were concerned, at least. (A similar thing happened around the same time in Jamaica when local artists tried playing New Orleans R&B in their own style and created Ska in the process.) I’d LIKE to think that but I’m not convinced.

Don’t get me wrong I do like a lot of those British Beat groups as well – and obviously some of them out-grew their American R&B roots to create styles of music which were unique – but it just seems a shame that they did so at the expense of those who had inspired them. But then I guess that’s often the way in music.

1 The Exciters: Doo Wah Diddy [Diddy] (Manfred Mann)
2 Jackie DeShannon: Needles And Pins (The Searchers)
3 The Isley Brothers: Twist And Shout (The Beatles)
4 Irma Thomas: Time Is On My Side (The Rolling Stones)
5 Evie Sands: I Can’t Let Go (The Hollies)
6 The Shirelles: Baby, It’s You (The Beatles)
7 Bessie Banks: Go Now (The Moody Blues)
8 Barry Mann: We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place (The Animals)
9 Earl-Jean: I’m Into Something Good – (Herman’s Hermits)
10 The Drifters: Sweets For My Sweet (The Searchers)
11 The Shirelles: Boys (The Beatles)
12 Betty Everett: You’re No Good (The Swinging Blue Jeans)
13 The Valentinos: It’s All Over Now (The Rolling Stones)
14 Sam Cooke: Bring It On Home To Me (The Animals)
15 Jackie DeShannon: When You Walk In The Room (The Searchers)
16 The Cookies: Chains (The Beatles)
17 Maxine Brown: Oh No, Not My Baby (Manfred Mann)
18 The Contours: Do You Love Me? (Dave Clark Five)
19 Barbara Lewis: Someday We’re Gonna Love Again (The Searchers)
20 Nina Simone: Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood (The Animals)
21 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me (The Beatles)
22 Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs: Stay (The Hollies)
23 The Clovers: Love Potion Number Nine (The Searchers)
24 The Marvelettes: Please, Mr Postman (The Beatles)
25 Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles: Groovy Kind Of Love (The Mindbenders)
26 The Shirelles: Sha La La (Manfred Mann)
27 Sam Cooke: Wonderful World (Herman’s Hermits)
28 Barrett Strong: Money (The Beatles)
29 Chuck Berry: Come On (The Rolling Stones)
30 Chan Romero: The Hippy Hippy Shake (The Swinging Blue Jeans)

(* Most of these records were hits in the U.S. for the British groups but I make no apologies for having included some songs which were only covered on album by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones since they spearheaded the ‘invasion’ and therefore deserved to feature prominently. I should also point out that a few selections (e.g. “Can’t Let Go”, “You’re No Good”, and “Oh No, Not My Baby”) were big hits in the UK for the artists who covered them and so are still examples of groups that were part of ‘The British Invasion’ reworking American material, even if they didn’t enjoy the same chart success in the U.S. with those particular songs! Also, if I’m going to get fussy about this (…and let’s face it – I AM) I should mention that The Isley Brothers version of “Twist And Shout” was not technically the ‘original’ (which was by Derek Martin’s Top Notes) but this was clearly the version which inspired The Beatles’ cover!)

Hi – I do agree with most of what you’re saying, but a few points in response:

There’s an interesting bit about “It’s All Over Now” in the sleeve-notes to “Sam Cooke’s SAR Records Story” (the label on which the original version was released): “When the record was released in the spring of 1964, it immediately caught on and, through the efforts of New York DJ Murray the K, captured the interest of the Rolling Stones. They recorded it at the Chess studio in June and hit the charts in July taking all the wind out of the Womack’s sails. Bobby was furious, but Sam [Cooke] hastened to reassure him that it would all work out for the best. “He said ‘This will be history.’ He said ‘Bobby, man, this group will change the industry. They ain’t like the Beatles, they’re ghetto kids. They gonna make it loose for everybody.'” Bobby didn’t particularly like the way they sang the song: “Well, I was partial to our version, cause I thought, naturally, ‘No one can beat me singing my song'” …I understand that he started to see Sam Cooke’s point when he received his first royalty cheque after the Rolling Stones’ version hit the top of the charts!

To be honest, “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place” does fall into a sligthly different category to the other originals as Barry Mann’s version was recorded primarily to demo his song – which listening to his version I would assume he was hoping to pitch to the Righteous Brothers (and given the success they’d had with his ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ that’s understandable, I guess!) In fairness I’d say that this is one of the ones – along with (as you rightly point out) “Twist And Shout” and “Sweets For My Sweet” – where the British version compares the most favourably. You are right about the tempo being faster on the British versions – I hadn’t really considered that simple difference – but then you could argue that faster isn’t always better …especially if you consider the idea that “Rock n Roll” is a euphemism for sexual acts! (although this may be indicative of the differences between Afro-American and white British males in that department also!!!)

I do agree with you that the Searchers’ cover of “Love Potion No. 9” is a ‘pissweak album track’ by the way… which makes it all the more bizarre that it was a Number 3 Smash Hit in America (easily the Searchers’ biggest song over there!) and, as such, serves as a perfect example of the strange phenomenon of the British Invasion!

Anyway… I’ve uploaded the original versions of “It’s All Over Now” and “We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place” to the address below (you may need a Multiply account to play them but it’s pretty quick and painless to get one if you don’t already have one!):

http://wildheartedoutsider.multiply.com/music/item/7

Re 3/4: There’s obviously a distinction to be made between the contemporaneous covers; like It’s All Over Now or Time Is On My Side or Cilla’s Anyone Who Had A Heart, and those of songs from several years before, like Money or Wonderful World – in latter cases there is clearly no question of the singers of the originals losing out.
I think you’d have to have a awful lot of historical evidence on your side to argue out the cases in which the original artists genuinely lost out. We’re not just talking about Britishness or whiteness pushing the covers forward, but the idea of being a young beat group at the time when that was generally felt to be the most exciting thing around. And the wider audience may well have liked faster and tinnier at that moment – the British invasion hits probably sounded more instant coming out of a transistor radio. What I’m stumbling towards is saying we have to be careful about not confusing what COULD have been a hit in other circumstances and (the Lexian fallacy) what we may feel SHOULD have been a hit [if there was any justice in this world].

…and talking of Cilla Black, the Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham famously took out adverts in the British music papers imploring everyone to go out and buy the Righteous Brothers’ original of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” – rather than Cilla Black’s contemporaneous cover. Curious that he didn’t do the same for the Valentinos’ version of “It’s All Over Now”!!!

♯8 I seem to recall reading somewhere else on Popular where it was claimed that the WHo had to rerecord many of their earlier hits at a later date for contractual reasons so, for example, the version of My Generation we are familiar with is not the original release.

As for the earlier discussion of what sounds better – the original or the copy? This must surely be in the ear of the beholder. The conventional wisdom is that Florence Ballard of the Supremes had a more soulful voice than Diana Ross but, to my ears, it is the relative thinness of DRs voice that gives the Supremes hits their particularly appealing pop quality. It may have been a similar story with the Brit invasion acts. Add to this that the Brit acts were perceived/marketed as ‘dishier’ and/or less conventional than the original acts (longer hair/funny accents/cheeky personas).

Thanks wildhearted. There’s a story behind We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place which I assumed might be hooey until I heard Barry Mann’s original. Mickie Most was on a songfinding trip to the States when Mann played him an acetate of his forthcoming single. ‘Very nice’ said Mickie, ‘sounds like a hit. good luck’. Mann didn’t give him a copy but within a few days Most had cut it with the Animals from memory! Sure enough, there are considerably different lyrics (the entire second verse for a start, and the Animals’ version lacks the optimistic end) plus the neat minor chords at the end of the chorus are new to me. Barry Mann was extremely pissed off about this – after all, he did want to launch his solo career and this was a pretty much guaranteed hit. Great bit of archeological digging, thanks!

As for It’s All Over Now, Bobby Womack might have been miffed at the Stones, but Chuck Berry can’t have been too pleased to hear Memphis Tennessee given a thin lick of paint by Bobby Womack! For me, the best parts of the Stones’ version are the intro and the slashing chords on the coda, which I now know are all Keith Richards’ work. Beats the Valentinos’ version hands down I reckon.

“….The answer is The Rolling Stones, or more specifically Mick Jagger.” Tom has hit part of the nail on the head here regarding what gives legitimacy to this middle-class, white, British cover of an American blues. Certainly, Jagger’s sneering, insouciant delivery radiates confidence and gives the recording an instant magnetism. But the rest of the band are equally confident and sound utterly natural – these boys have a feel for uptempo blues that matches any of the Stateside bluesmen they so idolised. And, even at this early stage of their career, their technique is second to none. Watts and Wyman lay down a faultlessly steady and unfussy groove, leaving plenty of space for the intertwining leads of Richards and Jones, both of whom are exceptional here. The former barks out dark, spiky chords in simultaneous contrast and complement to the latter’s laid-back country-tonk jangling, the two styles blending beautifully before Brian breaks out into his wild, visceral solo. Keef rounds off the (unusually long for the time) instrumental coda with a series of booming, growling licks that ooze a kind of gleeful malice; for me, this is the first Stones track to bear the sinister edge that makes their best output so unique and compelling.

Delicious stuff, and none of it in slavish imitation of their heroes – the Stones are already doing it their way.

It’s a pity that this and other early Stones stuff is generally overlooked these days: to me, it’s a symptom of how ver blues, once such a venerated genre, seems to have become as antiquated as ’50s rock’n’roll in the popular mind – and even in the minds of critics with broad and eclectic tastes such as Tom. The blues inspired a huge, and hugely successful, musical movement in Britain throughout the 1960s, but any direct influence on latter-day British rock is virtually impossible to detect. While the progressive blues-based rock of Cream, Hendrix and Zeppelin is still widely popular (though less and less influential), the earlier iterations – yer Howlin’ Wolfs and Muddy Waterses – have become museum music, the preserve of purists and ‘old-timers’.

What do you mean by “museum music”?

Given that a panoply of (largely urban) American musicians at the time from Archie Shepp to John Fogerty were learning and absorbing from Wolf and Waters – not to mention the not inconsiderable fact that both were still alive, touring and making records – your assertion does not seem evidentially grounded.

Re discussion on “museum music”. I think that for the more general UK teenage public (as opposed to blues fans)in the UK in the pre-Beatles early 60s, the original US blues singers were bundled in with folk/calypso/trad jazz. If I can make a crude generalisation, we saw all these categories as middle class music from the past – despite the origins of the blues singers – and therefore I suppose it was (although I don’t recall anyone using the term) “museum music” – rock’n’roll was working class and up-to-date, and was the music of the Beatles-led revival. Even the Rolling Stones’ very earliest hits were Chuck Berry/Beatles/Buddy Holly numbers.

Muddie Waters and others toured in the UK with Chris Barber in late 50s/early 60s.I recall seeing Sonny Boy Williamson on the BBC Tonight Programme in late 1963. It was “The One Show” of its day and generally featured folk singers, such as Robin Hall and Jimmy McGregor.

So it’s 50 years since The Rolling Stones first got together and started bashing out Howlin’ Wolf covers. Perhaps there should have been some sort of flurry of reissues or something to mark the occasion, no?

Bobby Womack R.I.P.

It’s all over now for Giorgio Gomelsky, owner of what became the Crawdaddy Club and a prime mover in the Stones’ early career. RIP.

The Season of Death marches grimly onward.

I wouldn’t consider this blues at all. R&B, and even then, the poppier side of R&B. That may be why it works better for you.

The Stones did plenty of blues numbers, this just isn’t one of them.

And that’s a big wicket for the Reaper as Charlie Watts holes out at deep extra cover. RIP Charlie.

Whether the Stones covering It’s All Over Now was ultimately in Bobby Womack’s best interest is something discussed in detail by the character of Sam Cooke in the 2020 movie One Night In Miami…

(There’s a later scene that seems a more contentious bit of pop history but turns out to have some basis in truth.)