Beggars Banquet - "Prodigal Son" & "Stray Cat Blues" Album Reaction (Part 4)

Stray Cat Blues may well be the first ‘grunge’ song. Beatles sang about love and submarines. Stones sang about sex and drugs and more sex. And more drugs.

These are two of my favorite Stones songs. One is a prime example of how they mastered the blues, the other is an example of how they perfected rock and roll.

Syed, you're crushing it on your reaction videos for this album! I immediately liked your channel when I discovered it, but now that you're doing a deep dive into the Rolling f***ing Stones, I've grown to love it! "Prodigal Son" - one of my favorite Stones cover songs. I love Keith's lively acoustic guitar playing, and that's Keith's "Hey!" at the end of the song. You'll hear him sing a lead vocal before the album ends. The secret to what makes this song work was Charlie's driving bass drum. Charlie Watts was one of the 3 essential members of the Rolling Stones; he always found a way to to serve their songs best, and in rock and roll, you can only get as far as your drummer can take you. "Stray Cat Blues" this all about Keith's snarling twin electric guitars for me, played with the same menace as on "Sympathy for the Devil". Nasty, dirty song. "Beggars Banquet" has a kind of theme to it - it's a look at the human condition. The dark side of mankind throughout history on "Sympathy for the Devil", that moment in time's unrest and rising rebellion against authority in "Street Fighting Man ", and smaller tales of ordinary people living ordinary lives. That this should come from the second most famous rock and roll band the world has ever heard was remarkable. Rock and Roll was a powerful cultural force in the 1960s, and similar to Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards chose to voice the discontentment of their generation. The two of them combined their identities to form a unique singer/songwriter - an introverted guitarist with tremendous musical instincts and an extraverted singer with a gift for communicating emotions. It's rare that you hear an album of an established artist and know immediately that it surpasses everything they created before it, but that's the reaction "Beggars Banquet" received from the public and the press. After the disappointment of the Stones' first ever failure on their ill conceived previous album, "Satanic Majesty's Request", their single "Jumpin Jack Flash" announced to the world that the Stones were back, better than ever, and "Beggars Banquet" kept that promise. And they were just getting started...

A great pair of songs. Prime Stones!

The mix is fine. In those days there were giants here on the earth.

I love watching your struggle with the lyrics but loving it at the same time… The Stones cannot be denied.

Prodigal son....this is the voice Mick puts when singing midway at rehearsals

Wow, I don't know if anyone else has reacted to this song, congratulations! Don't like the content but absolutely love this song, probably the Stone's nastiest song ever. Both in content and actual sound. That guitar is as nasty as the lyrics. This album is one of two desert island albums for me to take as a castaway. The other being Music From Big Pink by The Band. Both albums came out about the same time, and I didn't care for either on first listening. I think they're both masterpieces. Great reaction!

The Prodigal Son's story is as old as the Bible - because it's in the Bible. And Stray Cat just kicks ass, love the sloppy raunchiness of Jagger's voice and the band is also loose and sloppy, but oh so good.

I think everyone’s initial reaction to “Stray Cat Blues” is that Idris Elba meme of him chocking on some hot wings. “Oh, shit.” 😂 Jagger even makes the girl younger in the live version from Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out because why the hell not. Another thing about that song is that Keith’s guitar sound like a screeching cat.

truly a great reaction to a great couple of tunes. Beggars Banquet is my favourite Stones album.

of course it's Mick! Great track! Of course the Stones have a huge appreciation for American music like the Blues.

I believe that Jagger admitted in an interview that the song was "inspired" by the Velvet Underground.

If you like the syle of Prodigal Son you would probably like some Mississippi John Hurt...

What a time to be alive. Beggars Banquet was released precisely 2 weeks after the Beatles released The White Album in 1968.

Think the Stones loved their taboo image, sort of like Anti-Beatles. Other great bands were at Woodstock in the summer of love but the Stones said nah, we're going to Altamont and we're gonna get the Hells Angels to be our security lol.

More Stones is always a good thing, even their deep cuts can surprise as they do all kinds of tunes, emanating from the blues, country and rock. They just kept making Interesting music. Keep on keeping on! Enjoy. 🎵🎸🎤🎸🎷🎹🎶

As a 62 year old woman, not saying it’s right, & the onus was and always is on the adults, but we had a lot of fun. We went places because we were free to explore & could travel far from home with little oversight as teens. Did I say we had fun?

Tee hee, we were waiting for your reaction to *Stray Cat Blues*. The two Stones songs couldn't be more opposite.

One of my favorite reactions of yours, especially on "Stray Cat Blues" (so true, but I still laughed out loud). Keep up the great work!