July 12, 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones first ever live performance. I am reposting this Mick Jagger tribute I wrote last year. Many of the video  links had been discontinued, so I redid them all. Hope you find some time in your day for a little bit of The Rolling Stones.

I'm starting off with a video I hadn't included in my original post because it is Various Artist's favorite Stones song, and he is themain reason I am on Open Salon at all.

Happy Anniversary Mick, Keith, Charlie & Ron! 

Happy 68th  birthday Michael Phillip Jagger!

Let's spend the night together listening to his music.

It all began in 1962 when The Rollin' Stones first performed together-the 'g' would be added later. A few lineup changes along the way and the core group was formed with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, & Charlie Watts. The band has been going strong ever since.

I've had the good fortune to see the group twice in concert. I can think of no other front man with the seemingly endless energy of Mick Jagger. The first time I saw The Rolling Stones Mick was well over 40, and the last time he was 62 years old. He was perpetual motion, running from one side of the stage to the other at full speed, up and down the telescoping stage that jutted into the audience, on and off the drum riser as he grooved with Charlie, and over and under speaker columns singing all the while. I was exhausted just watching him. On today, his 68th birthday I just want to honor the man that has been the driving force behind The Rolling Stones. Keith Richards has said that it is due to Mick that they are all millionaires. That driving force is obviously not just a presence on the stage.

As Tears Go By- One of Mick & Keith's first collobarative compositions. It was a hit for them in 1965.

 The Last Time-While Mick & Keith penned this song, Keith has credited a 1955 song called This May Be The Last Time by The Staples Singers as the inspiration.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction-When the song was first released in 1965 only pirate radio stations would play it due to it's sexually explicit lyrics.  Kinda pales in comparison to some of today's lyrics, dontcha think?

Get Off My Cloud-Another 1965 hit, it helped with the rebellious persona the band was creating.

Paint it Black- One of Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Songs Ever Written, the song was released in 1966 and stayed on top of charts around the world.

 Lady Jane- I recently included this song honoring the late Brian Jones on my Club 27 post. I love his dulcimer work on this song.

 Under My Thumb- This 1966 song has the misfortune of being related to the killings at the Altamont Speedway concert. The Stones had just finished this song when a Hell's Angel stabbed a concert goer to death.

19th Nervous Breakdown-Released only in mono format in 1966, the song reached #2 on the charts.

Mother's Little Helper- This 1966 flip side single to Lady Jane, many housewives related to the dark lyrics referring to barbituate use.

Let's Spend the Night Together- You may have heard the infamous story about The Stones being told they could not perform this song while appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show due to the suggestive lyrics. Mick promised to change the wording to "Let's spend some time together", but when the cameras rolled did not do so. Sullivan angrily threw them out and banned them from further appearances.

Ruby Tuesday- Written about Richard's girlfriend, Linda Keith, he was despondant over her relationship with Jimi Hendrix and her drug use.

Jumpin' Jack Flash- From Wikipedia: Keith has said that he  wrote the lyrics with Mick while staying at Richards' country house, where they were awoken one morning by the sound of gardener Jack Dyer walking past the window. When Jagger asked what the noise was, Richards responded: "Oh, that's Jack – that's jumpin' Jack."

Sympathy for the Devil- One of my favorite Stones song.

Honky Tonk Woman- A 1969 hit for the group it was inspired by the Sao Paola, Brazil gauchos.

Brown Sugar-Written by Mick for Marsha Hunt, the mother of Mick's first child,  Karis.

Tumblin' Dice-From the Exile on Main St. album. If you have not seen the documentary on this time frame in Stones history, do yourself a favor.

Start Me Up-This 1981 hit is often used to open their live shows. It was the opening song when I saw them on their Bigger Bang tour in 2005.

Wild Horses- From the 1971 Sticky Fingers album. This is a really pretty acoustic version of the song from 1995.

Waiting on a Friend- This one shows the softer side of Mick's songwriting and singing. A rare performance with Mick on guitar.

Beast of Burden-Mainly a Keith Richards compostion, he wrote it in gratitude to Mick after Keith left for awhile to deal with his addiction issues. He felt Mick had shouldered the load like a beast of burden, hence the title.

Shattered-The 1978 song was the first rap style the band recorded.

 Angie- Straight to number one in 1973, the song has been attributed to various women with the name. But Keith says it was written during his heroin addiction and he referred to the drug as Angie.

You Can't Always Get What You Want-The B side to 1969's Honky Tonk Woman, it was one of the first rock songs to feature a full choir on the recording.

Thank you, Mick Jagger, for the heavy contributions to the music I've listened to the past 40 years. It never gets old.