Along with "Country Honk," this was one of two songs new guitarist Mick Taylor played on Let It Bleed. He and Keith Richards produced a distinctive 2 lead guitar sound.
This marked the first appearance of Bobby Keys, who played sax on this and many other Stones songs. He had toured in the past with Buddy Holly and Bobby Vee, and went on the road with The Stones from 1969-1974. Keith Richards and Bobby Keys were born on the same day: December 18, 1943.
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Suggestion credit: Whitney - Houston, TX
This song was a harbinger of what was to come for The Stones. The guitar and sax style would appear on their next few albums.
Leon Russell and Nicky Hopkins both played piano on this track. Russell also helped arrange the sax section.
The racy lyrics were a reason the London Bach Choir, who sang on "You Can't Always Get What You Want," asked that they not be associated with the album.
The album cover for Let It Bleed featured a cake, and was designed by a famous UK TV cook named Delia Smith. She said in Bill Wyman's book Rolling With The Stones: "I was working then as a jobbing home economist with a food photographer who shot for commercials and magazines. I'd cook anything they needed. One day they said they wanted a cake for a Rolling Stones record cover, it was just another job at the time. They wanted it to be very over-the-top and as gaudy as I could make it."
This was the first song lead guitarist Mick Taylor worked on with the Stones. He said in 2000: "'Live with Me,' very appropriately named because once I joined The Stones, it was like living with a family for the next five or six years. It was an interesting session, actually, because they were putting the finishing touches on Let It Bleed and the first track I played on was 'Live with Me.' We did that live, and the second thing I did was I overdubbed my guitar part on 'Honky Tonk Women.'"
Bobby Keys: "Both the horns AND Mick Taylor made their debut on the same album on the same track. At the time a lot of people overlooked the fact that it wasn't just Mick (Taylor) joining the band, that was the whole period where the horns joined too. And they all left at the same time."
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Suggestion credit: Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 3
Andrew from New York, United StatesThis song was Mick Taylor's first recorded appearance with the Stones, and also the first appearance of the horn section, starring Bobby Keyes (note the spelling), who does the amazing sax solos in this song as well as many others like "Brown Sugar"...Bobby, who played with tons of R&B stars in the 50's and 60's, still occasionally plays with the Stones to this day. Also noteworthy is Jim Price, who blows a mean trumpet. Note the amazing bassline from Keith, which never repeats, but randomly picks from 4 different melodies each time around, again (as in Keith's bassline on "Sympathy for the Devil") using a Major 3rd where you would expect a Minor 3rd...though some versions of the riff use the Minor 3rd too. Compare this to the recent live versions, post-Wyman, where the bassist plays one version of the riff over and over, and misses the cool part near the end, right after the line "the Cook she is a whore": Keith suddenly hits one note repeatedly, and it drives the verse home. Keith's approach just kicks *ss! The later versions are wimpy by comparison. Keith's basslines are always so cool and different...too bad we can't clone him for live shows!
Sam from Shanghai, ChinaBetween Gimme Shelter and this track, Let It Bleed could be the Stones' best album!
Xx from Whakatane, Hong KongThe live version of this on Get Yer Ya-Yas out is really good.
Ted from Loveland, CoRecorded on May 24, 1969. Released on Let It Bleed on December 5, 1969 Lead Vocals: Mick Jagger Electric Guitars: Keith Richards & Mick Taylor Bass: Keith Richards Drums: Charlie Watts Tenor Sax: Bobby Keys Pianos: Nicky Hopkins & Leon Russell Backing Vocals: Keith Richards
