It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Little Red Rooster” by The Rolling Stones
December 9, 1964
“Little Red Rooster” by The Rolling Stones
#1 on the Record Retailer Singles Chart (UK), December 3-9, 1964
The dichotomy between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones wasn’t just a product of the rivalry between the two biggest rock bands of the era, nor of the contrasting personae of the likely lads and the bad boys. The most essential difference between the two groups was rooted in their varied musical backgrounds. While both took their inspiration from American rock ‘n’ roll, the Beatles’ focus on melody and vocal harmonies drew from the pop and country side of the genre, owing a debt not only to Chuck Berry, but also to artists like Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and the Everly Brothers.
The Rolling Stones, on the other hand, started out as purists in the British rhythm and blues scene. While the Beatles named themselves in tribute to Buddy Holly’s band, the Crickets, their London rivals chose a to call themselves after song title by Muddy Waters. Unlike the Fab Four, the Rolling Stones were slow to start writing their own material; instead, their interests lay in honoring the blues by performing it as authentically and accurately as possible (as middle class London schoolboys could, at any rate).
By the time the Stones began releasing records, however, they had relaxed their hard-line blues stance somewhat. Early hits included covers of Chuck Berry (“Come On”) and Buddy Holly (“Not Fade Away”), and even a song written for the group by the Fab Four themselves (“I Wanna Be Your Man”). The Rolling Stones’ success was solidified in mid-1964, when the group’s remake of R&B group the Valentinos’ “It’s All Over Now” climbed into the US Top 40 and became their first UK #1 hit.
The level of goodwill that the Rolling Stones had built up by this point ensured that whatever they released next would be eagerly received by their fans. And while only the most austere blues purist would accuse the band of having “sold out” with their early singles — after all, they were still recording credible versions of great rock ‘n’ roll and R&B songs, not wan, toothless pop — the Stones must have recognized that they had an opportunity to revisit their roots and introduce the pop audience to the music that had inspired them.
In November 1964, the Rolling Stones released their cover of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster,” originally recorded by Chicago blues legend Howlin’ Wolf as “The Red Rooster” three years earlier. The record quickly shot to #1 in Great Britain, and to this day remains the only blues song to top the UK Singles Chart. In a 2009 interview, Keith Richards explained the band’s decision to release the seemingly noncommercial “Little Red Rooster”:
We must have been wearing brass balls that day when we decided to put that out as a single. I think we just thought it was our job to pay back, to give them what they’ve given us…We have been blessed by the music that we listened to, and let’s see if we can actually spin it back around and make American white kids listen to “Little Red Rooster.” You had it all the time, pal, you know. You just didn’t listen.
Despite Richards’ good intentions, the Stones’ American label, London Records, declined to release “Little Red Rooster” as a single. (It would later turn up as a track on the US album The Rolling Stones, Now! in February 1965.) The label may have decided that its stark electric blues sound wasn’t danceable enough to sell; or perhaps the popularity of Sam Cooke’s version of “Little Red Rooster,” which had just missed the Top 10 the previous year, may have made the song too familiar to US audiences. Most likely, however, was the fact that the American powers that be picked up on the innuendo laden in lines like “little red rooster’s on the prowl,” and noted that another word for “rooster” is “cock.”
Cooke’s sophisticated pop arrangement and easygoing charm may have masked some of the song’s more salacious elements, but only the most clueless could miss the insinuations snaking through Mick Jagger’s vocals and Brian Jones’s slide guitar. The Stones’ arrangement of “Little Red Rooster” sticks closely to Howlin’ Wolf’s original, which is probably why Jones, the band’s most fervent blues fan, picked it as his favorite of the group’s recordings. Nevertheless, the instrumentation in the Rolling Stones’ version is a bit crisper, the tempo a bit quicker, Jagger’s phrasing a bit more arch — in short, more youthful and more rock ‘n’ roll.
“Little Red Rooster” may have marked the Rolling Stones’ return to the blues, but it also represented the band closing the book on the first era of their career. While the group would continue to bear the influence of the blues throughout their career, it would no longer be their primary concern. “Little Red Rooster” would also become the Stones’ final cover to be a major hit. “Heart of Stone” would be released in the US in December 1964, making the Top 20, while their British follow-up, “The Last Time,” would top the UK charts in March 1965. Both songs, penned by the burgeoning Jagger-Richards team, would find the Rolling Stones staking out new territory, borrowing from blues, country, rock, pop, and folk, yet sounding wholly like themselves.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
