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Rolling Stones songs: 100 Years Ago (piano demo)

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Written by: Jagger/Richard
Recorded: Dynamic Sounds Studios, Kingston, Jamaica, Nov.-25.Dec. 21, 1972; Island Recording Studios, London, June 1973
Guest musicians: Nicky Hopkins (piano)
*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs, The Story Behind Every Track book:
“100 Years Ago” was written by Mick Jagger some time before the sessions for Goats Head Soup (two years, according to Mick Taylor) and had been worked on during the recording of Exile on Main St. In this song, the Stones singer casts his mind back a century or so. The narrator is walking through a forest, where he observes the world as a carpet laid before him. He remembers sitting on a gate with his friend Mary gazin’ at some dragon in the sky. Is this a return to the heroic fantasy world of Their Satanic Majesties Request? In any event, we are a long way from the spaced-out, psychedelic atmosphere of the second half of the sixties. 100 years ago piano demo

This song opens with an intro from Billy Preston on the clavinet. This is the instrument immortalized by Stevie Wonder on his October 1972 hit “Superstition,” released just a few days before the Stones entered the studio. Preston’s playing is funky and soulful, and he is joined more or less immediately by Nicky Hopkins with an equally rhythmic, although more lyrical, piano part. This time the bass is played by Keith Richards, as Bill Wyman was still unavailable. Charlie Watts sets a very good groove on his Gretsch kit, particularly bearing in mind that “100 Years Ago” is made up of three different sections with three different tempos, moving from 105 beats per minute in the first section to 70 at 2:09 and then 125 from 2:35. In other words, Charlie is the pivot of the piece and performs this role skillfully, supported on tambourine by Jimmy Miller. As the only guitarist on the track, Mick Taylor also has plenty to do, playing both rhythm and distorted lead. When it comes to his solos (at 1:36 and 2:35), he really lets it rip on his Gibson Les Paul, all the more so as he uses the wah-wah pedal like a machine gun. Playing with the fingers, rather than a bottleneck, he sets the track on fire in a display of breathtaking talent and facility. He would later tell Jas Obrecht: “I like that track,” and it is not difficult to guess why… Mick Jagger also gives an excellent performance and joins Keith Richards in the vocal harmonies. 100 years ago piano demo