WCSX Classic Cuts
The Rolling Stones: “Street Fighting Man”
The Hook: Charlie Watts played it on a tiny toy drum kit and, with percussion added, it “sounded thunderous.”
Year: 1968
Album: Beggar’s Banquet
Writers: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Stats: Only peaked at number-48 on the Billboard Hot 100, because many radio stations thought its lyrics were subversive and wouldn’t play it.
Background: “Street Fighting Man” is a big sounding record featuring some really little drums recorded in places you wouldn’t expect, according to Stones drummer Charlie Watts.
Charlie Watts on how the drums were recorded for “Street Fighting Man.” OC:…Fighting Man. :26
“We all did it first of all with a tiny little drum kit and a Sony recorder, me and Keith, and then we overdubbed proper drums and all that, London Jazz Kit. See, but those recorders didn’t smooth the sound out, it broke up a lot. So recorded in bedrooms with little tambourines or little percussion things, it sounded thunderous. And we used that as the basic track for ‘Street Fighting Man.’”