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Rolling Stones songs: Everybody Knows About My Good Thing

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Call the plumber darling/ There must be a leak in my drain…

Written by: Miles Grayson/Lermon Horton
Recorded: British Grove Studios, London, England, Apr-June 2016
Guest musicians: Eric Clapton (slide guitar), Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (piano), Matt Clifford (Hammond B3)
*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

From Songfacts:
In this song, Little Johnny Taylor has a good thing going – his woman – but there’s a problem: everybody knows about her and they won’t leave her alone. The plumber, the postman, and even the butcher are always coming by to see her (as least the butcher leaves some meat). It’s a blues tune with a bit of levity – at least she isn’t cheating on him.

This was written by Miles Grayson and Lermon Horton, frequent collaborators from Los Angeles who were in a band called the Gay Clefs in the 1960s. Grayson did a lot of work with Z.Z. Hill and co-wrote his song “Don’t Make Me Pay For His Mistakes.” Hill also recorded this song.

Little Johnny Taylor (John Lamarr Taylor), is best known for his 1963 #1 R&B hit “Part Time Love,” which also made #19 on the Hot 100. He died in 2002 at age 59.

The Rolling Stones released this song on their 2016 covers album, Blue & Lonesome, which was recorded in December 2015 in Mark Knopfler’s British Grove Studios. Eric Clapton happened to be laying down his own album in the same studio and ended up contributing slide guitar to this song and lead guitar to “I Can’t Quit You Baby.”

“Eric Clapton was recording next door,” producer Don Was recalled to the BBC. “He just walked over and he had the same reaction as everyone else did. His jaw just dropped. Picture the Rolling Stones just set up in a circle in one room [and] the amplifiers are blaring. It reminded him of when he was a teenager, going to see the Stones playing in Richmond. He was just in awe, so he just grabbed one of Keith’s guitars and started playing. It was quite a thing.”

Mick Jagger performed this song Hammersmith Odeon in London with Gary Moore at a concert in 1992. This performance was used as the B-side of his 1993 single, “Don’t Tear Me Up.”

From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs, The Story Behind Every Track book:
Composed by the Miles Grayson–Lermon Horton duo, “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing” was a success when recorded by Little Johnny Taylor in 1970, going to number 9 on the Billboard R&B chart (and to number 60 on the pop charts), the title also being used for the title of the album that came out in 1971. Born in Gregory, Arkansas, Little Johnny Taylor started out as a member of the Los Angeles gospel choir Mighty Clouds of Joy. So it was in a fervent gospel style that he performed this song, even if the words are loaded with heavy irony.

One of the verses in Part 2, for example, goes: I was talking to my neighbor / About the way you wear your hair / They say you must have a lot of children / Because the milk man is always there. Double meanings like this are part and parcel of the blues, and the Rolling Stones have been well aware of the fact since 1963. Their version of “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing” has all the requisite irony— with the added delight of Eric Clapton on the slide guitar. Clapton, who was recording his album I Still Do in a neighboring studio, was genuinely delighted to join up with his colleagues—friends for over fifty years. Keith Richards described the process as being like the good old days in Richmond when he was interviewed by Matt Everitt on BBC 6 Music.

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