Day After Day #84: Can't You Hear Me Knocking

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4). 

Can't You Hear Me Knocking (1971)

It's not easy to pick a favorite Rolling Stones song. With over 60 years' worth of music to pick from (okay, maybe just the first 30 years), there's a lot of great stuff to choose from. For me, the best stretch of Stones music runs from 1965 (Out of Our Heads) to 1973 (Goats Head Soup); there's good stuff before and after, but those eight years are the sweet spot. 

I'm going with "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" off 1971's Sticky Fingers, an album that got as much attention for its controversial Warhol-designed cover of man in tight jeans from the waist down as it did for the music. I already owned a repressing that didn't include the zipper, but I went to a school used book and record sale in the early '90s and got a copy of the original for something like 75 cents. The album also introduced the iconic tongue and lips logo of Rolling Stones Records, which I never realized was based on the Hindu goddess Kali.

The Stones had gone through a tumultuous few years at the end of the '60s. Guitarist Brian Jones was struggling with drugs and left the band; within a month (in July 1969) he drowned in his swimming pool. Mick Taylor replaced him. The decade ended with the Stones playing the disastrous Altamont Speedway concert, where the Hells Angels providing security ended up killing a fan after they realized he was armed. After dealing with contractual issues with their manager Allen Klein and Decca Records, they formed their own record label.

Sticky Fingers has some iconic Stones jams: "Brown Sugar," "Sway," "Wild Horses," "Dead Flowers." But I've always loved the 7-minute "Can't You Hear Me Knocking," which starts with a wicked Keith Richards riff and continues through the first 3 minutes before ending with a long jam. The band didn't realize the tape was still running as they continued to jam. It was basically a happy accident. Recorded in one take, the song includes a killer Taylor guitar solo, organ work from Billy Preston and a sax solo from Bobby Keys. Mick Jagger is in fine form as he spits out the lyrics.

"Yeah, you got satin shoes/Yeah, you got plastic boots/Y'all got cocaine eyes/Yeah, you got speed freak jive, now/Can't you hear me knocking/On your window?/Can't you hear me knocking/On your door?/Can't you hear me knocking/Down your dirty street?"

The song was dirty and ferocious; Jagger always claimed the lyrics came to him spontaneously, but they sure sound like someone trying to wake up his dealer to score some more dope.

"Hear me ringin' big bell tolls/Hear me singin' soft and low/I've been beggin' on my knees/I've been kickin', help me, please/Hear me prowlin'/I'm gonna take you down/Hear me growlin'/Yeah, I've got flatted feet now now now/Hear me howlin'/And all around your street now/Hear me knockin'/All around your town."

The final jam has a Latin feel thanks to Taylor's solo and congas from Rocky Dijon. Richards has denied that it was inspired by Carlos Santana. The song was never released as a single, but it became a staple of classic rock radio, especially if the DJ had to run out for a smoke or bathroom break. 

When I was a kid, I got a clock radio with a cassette deck in it, so I started taping songs off the radio and making crude mixtapes. One of the songs I taped was "Can't You Hear Me Knocking." It had such swagger, and that Richards riff was such a grabber. We moved to a small Washington state city that didn't offer much in terms of rock radio, so I would listen to those old tapes constantly. Even now, the song still holds up. I can't imagine anyone in 1971 thought these guys would still be alive in 2024, let alone touring.