Stooges' 1971 repertoire

Joined : 04 Sep 2008 Posts : 49 Location : Sweden

An attempt to describe the 1971 repertoire, but note that the titles of three songs are VERY tentative. Quite possibly, one of the three latter tunes is "Big Time Bum" - audio quality is too poor to be able to tell. Per

The 1971 edition of the band took a new musical direction, performing mostly newly penned material: “You Don’t Want My Name,” “Fresh Rag,” “Who Do You Love?”, “Do You Want My Love?” (tentative title because the only known version is a poor-quality live recording), and “I Feel Alright” (also a tentative title). In addition, “I Got A Right” was a holdover from their late 1970 repertoire. “The Stooges always seemed to play what we were working on at the current time, not the recorded stuff so much,” James observes. “That was actually a problem in that the audience was never familiar with the new stuff. It was difficult for them to relate to what we were doing.”

Used as an opening number in their 1971 set, “I Got A Right” is an explosive rocker with a tremendous attack, faster than anything on The Stooges or Fun House. The song is spearheaded by whiplash guitar chords and features Iggy passionately defending his right to sing and move, “No matter what they say.” It was written by Iggy on his own (prior to James joining the band) and he has performed it on many of his post-Stooges solo tours (it was released on 1978’s TV Eye Live 1977). “Fresh Rag,” meanwhile, is based around an insistent, furiously fast guitar phrase. It features an effective chorus, with Iggy pleading “I need you.” “You Don’t Want My Name” is a close cousin to “Fresh Rag,” combining a potent “Louie Louie”-style three-chord progression with a memorable melody. The lyrics, with Iggy stating that “you don’t want my name, you want my number,” may have been inspired by re-runs of The Prisoner TV series depicting an anonymous numbered-only British secret agent (played by Patrick McGoohan) who was trying to affirm his identity. Another line of the song is “you don’t want my love, you want my action.”

“Who Do You Love?” is a mid-tempo number that takes shape around a jagged guitar riff repeated throughout, creating a taut, rhythmic groove. Ron and James take turns soloing on the song. “Do You Want My Love?” is built around a monotonous bass-and-guitar riff, with a descending three-chord guitar sequence inserted as a chorus. “I Feel Alright” is somewhat similar, boasting a relentlessly repetitious bass figure that recycles the main riff of “1970.”

With the trio of “I Got A Right,” “Fresh Rag,” and “You Don’t Want My Name,” the Stooges clearly had the beginnings of a phenomenal album. “Who Do You Love?” also showed promise, although the circulating version contains few lyrics, possibly being a work-in-progress. “I Got A Right” and “Fresh Rag” were deemed strong enough by the band to commit to tape the next year in London during preparations for Raw Power, although they were rejected for inclusion on the album. The 1972 London version of “I Got A Right” is the only number from the Stooges’ 1971 repertoire that has seen official release as a studio recording. Interestingly, two of the tracks, “You Don’t Want My Name” and “Fresh Rag,” were covered in 1979 by Detroit artist Matt Gimmick on an independently released EP. His versions showcase many differences, although “You Don’t Want My Name” is fairly close the Stooges’ original.

The musicianship of the new line-up surpassed earlier editions of the band. The dual guitars of Ron and James created a dense buzz-saw sound. They focused primarily on the rhythm guitar playing, keeping the solos succinct and to the point. Jimmy Recca underpinned the guitar attack with his versatile bass playing, providing fast, fluid bass lines as well as the type of grinding riffs in which Dave Alexander specialised. The Stooges’ fairly experimental musical approach of the preceding years, with many songs stretching into lengthy solos and jams, gave way to a more conventional performance of derivative but excellent rock songs.

Subject: Re: Stooges' 1971 repertoire Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:18 am

I dont believe that the line "you dont want my name you only want my number" is a Prisoner refference. More simply just someone wanting his phone number.
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Subject: Re: Stooges' 1971 repertoire Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:58 am