Saturday, March 7, 2009

We Love You

We don't care
If you only love "we"
We don't care
If you only love "we"
We love you.

We love you
And we hope
That you will love "We" too

We love "they".
We love "they", and
We want you to love "they" too

Ah

We don't care
If you hound "we" and
Love is all around "we"
Love can't get our minds off
We love you

We love you

You will never win "we"
Your uniforms don't fit "we"
We forget the place we're in
Cause we love you

We love you.
Of course, we do

I love you.
I love you
And I hope that

You won't prove wrong too
We love you. We do.
We love you. We do.

Ah...




- Released September 2, 1967

-
"We Love You" is a psychedelic collage of jail sounds, Nicky Hopkins' foreboding piano riff, and otherworldly tape delayed vocal effects, featuring a visiting John Lennon and Paul McCartney on high harmonies. It was written during the aftermath of the drugs arrests faced by Jagger and Richards at the Redlands country home of the latter in Sussex that year, the single opens with the sounds of entry into jail, and a cell door clanging shut.

- The song is a droning Moroccan influenced anthem of defiance. Outwardly, it was a message from the band to its fans, expressing appreciation for support in the wake of their recent drug busts. It was also an ironic, tongue in cheek slap in the faces of the police harassing them and the Stones' true feelings about it, putting on a cooperative and friendly face while inside they were seething with anger and indignation.

- The song was also a "Thank You" to their fans, The Beatles, The Who, and the editorial page of the London Times, who supported and spoke out in favor of the Stones after Jagger, Richards and Jones were all arrested on drug charges.

-
The Who recorded and released a double A-side of the Stones' "The Last Time" and "Under My Thumb" to keep the Stones' music alive while they were going through their court and prison difficulties.

The Who's cover of "Under My Thumb"



- Allen Ginsberg was in London for a pro-marijuana rally in Hyde Park. He met Mick at Paul McCartney's house, and Mick invited the Beat poet to that night's session with Paul and John to record backing vocals for "We Love You". Ginsberg, waving his Shiva beads and a Tibetan oracle ring, conducted the singers from the other side of the studio glass to the tempo of the stuttering Mellotron track. "They looked like little angels," he wrote later of the Stones and the Beatles, "like Botticelli Graces singing together for the first time."

The official event poster at Hyde Park

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