THE ROLLING STONES – “The Last Time”
I’ve been trying to figure out why this doesn’t quite work for me. There’s a stiffness to it – the band don’t seem comfortable with this jaunty a sound. The riff’s a good one, full of bounce, but maybe not good enough to carry a song virtually by itself, and certainly not without some more variety in the dynamics (sure enough the instrumental break brings the track to life). The monotony of the riff then ends up highlighting the problems with Jagger’s vocals – every line in every verse has its final words bluntly emphasised, which puts too much stress on the rhymes and not enough on their content. It’s rather like listening to a non-rapper try to rap, they usually make the same “wow I’m rhyming!” mistake.
The chorus is great, though, Jagger at his most viperish – so manipulative. “This could be the last time, maybe the last time, I don’t know”. The tease! There will be many, many more times to come – it’s just that they’ll happen when and if Mick wants. Maybe that’s my problem with the song – musically it’s a jangly crowd-pleaser, verbally it’s a cold power-play.
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Amazingly, this is the first Jagger/Richards song that the Stones took to the top, and that really rather underlines the way the Beatles were exceptional in performing their own materialk at this level, at this time. All that would change, of course, but it surprises me now.
Regretfully (or not) we will not be encountering David Whittaker’s slowed-down orchestral arrangement of this tune on Popular in any shape or form…
hmm, yeah that would have been some debate, “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
(hah! Safe from teh bunnie)
TOTPWatch: The Rolling Stones performed ‘The Last Time’ on Top Of The Pops on four occasions;
4 March 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Hermans Hermits, Petula Clark, The Hollies, The Searchers and Twinkle. The Stones did a four-track set on that edition, also performing ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’, ‘Down The Road Apiece’, and ‘I Can’t Be Satisfied’. Jimmy Saville hosted, and also interviewed Jagger and Jones.
11 March 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Marianne Faithful, The Searchers, The Who and Tom Jones. David Jacobs was the host.
18 March 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Sandie Shaw, The Searchers, The Yardbirds and Unit 4 + 2. Pete Murray was the host.
1 April 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Freddie & The Dreamers, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Animals, The Who, The Yardbirds, Them and Unit 4 + 2. Jimmy Saville was the host.
None of these editions exist, but a clip of the ‘Last Time’ performance of 4 March 1965 does.
DESERT ISLAND DISC WATCH:
Tim Rice- Lyricist(2004)
Lynn Barber- Journalist(2010).