Love In Vain

Despite what the record jackets and liners say Love In Vain was originally written by Robert Johnson, and recorded by him on June 30, 1937. It's a song writing departure for Johnson who seemed preoccupied with "hellhounds on my trail" and "spooks all around my bed". Maybe this preoccupation has something to do with the six months he disappeared from the face of the earth only to return as nothing less than a guitar playing and song writing wizard. Some say he ......well you know the story. The Rolling Stones arrangement of the song is nothing short of genius. Taylor is in his blues element on this one. The slide lines are incredible. It's difficult to tell if some of the notes are slide or lead. He mixes it up, which is visible on "Ladies and Gentlemen The Rolling Stones". If you look away from the screen it's difficult to tell the difference because the slide playing (glass on the little finger) is so clean. Taylor's lead is missing from the studio version on "Let It Bleed", which makes a good case for commercially releasing improvised live recordings.

A. Structure:

Verse #1:

Line 1. Well I followed her.. to the station

Line 2. With a suitcase...in my hand

Line 3. Yeah and I followed her..a to the station "I tell ya"(Marker #1)

Line 4. With a suitcase...in my hand (crowd whistle)

Line 5. You know its hard to tell its hard to tell

Line 6. When all your loves in vain

Verse #2:

Line 7. When the train come in the station (Drums come in on this line)

Line 8. I looked her in the eye

Line 9. Yeah and the train it come in the station

Line 10. And I looked her in the eye

Line 11. Whoa and I feel so sad and lonesome

Line 12. That I could not help but cry

Line 13. "Cry on baby"(Marker #2)

Instrumental Break: Taylor has his Gibson SG crying, screaming, and begging for mercy. Left channel slide/lead solo.

Verse #3:

Line 14. When the train left the station

Line 15. He had two lights on behind

Line 16. Yeah and the train it left the station "I tell ya"(Marker #3)

Line 17. He had two lights on behind

Line 18. Whoa and the blue light was my blues

Line 19. And the red light was my mind (feedback sound)

Outro:

Line 20. I wanna tell you now

Line 21. All, all my loves

Line 22. All..lll, all of my loves

Taylor sings the words with his guitar!

Line 23. Aw yeah

Line 24. Well all right (during the solo)(Marker #4)

B. Reference Recordings, Markers and Conclusions:

1. Compared to MSG November 27, 1969 audience source

Markers:

Line 3: Does not end with "I tell ya"

Line 5: Starts with "Whoa" and not "You know". Add "and"

Line 9: Ends with "I tell ya"

Line 11: Starts with "Well I felt..." and not "Whoa and I feel..."

Line 13: "And I don't like to cry" instead of "Cry on baby"

Line 16: The line does not end with "I tell ya"

Line 18: Ends with "baby" and not "blues"

Line 20: Is "And I wanna tell now something" and not "I wanna tell you now"

Line 23: Is "I wanna say I gotta tell ya" and not "Aw yeah"

Line 24: No "Well all right" during the solo

2. Compared to MSG November 28, 1969 2nd audience source

Markers:

Line 3: The line does not end with "I tell ya"

Line 5: Begins with "whoa and" and not "you know"

Line 9: Does not begin with "Yeah and"

Line 11: Is "felt" and not "feel". Add "so" before "lonesome"

Line 13: Is "And I tell you, now I don't like to cry too much"

Line 16: Add "I tell ya" the train left the station...

Line 18: Add "and"

Line 20: Is "And I wanna tell to you now somethin'"

Line 22: Add "of" my loves...

No lines 23 or 24

3. Compared to the Baltimore November 26, 1969 audience source

All "markers" are present. The song is note-for-note and word-for-word the same as GYYYO. There are no overdubs that I can detect. There is a soundboard take of this song on the "A Shot Of Salvation" CD. It includes the original words spoken before the song in Baltimore. The guitar channels are switched with Richards' middle left and Taylor right. The clarity of the sound exceeds GYYYO, despite some tape hiss.

4. "Gimme Shelter" Movie:

Spoken words before the song are "We're gonna do, we're gonna do a slow blues for you now people". This is a splice possibly from 11/28/69 1st or 2nd. There is a tape stop on the 2nd show audience source before Love In Vain.

The movie version of the song is also from Baltimore, but there is an edit to the song. The entire Verse #2 is missing.

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