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The Rolling Stones — Sweet Virginia
Album: Exile On Main Street
Avg rating:
7.8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 578









Released: 1972
Length: 4:21
Plays (last 30 days): 3
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Wadin' through the waste stormy winter
And there's not a friend to help you through
Tryin' to stop the waves behind your eyeballs
Drop your reds, drop your greens and blues
Thank you for your wine, California
Thank you for your sweet and bitter fruits
Yes, I got the desert in my toenail
And I hid the speed inside my shoe
But come on, come on down, Sweet Virginia
Come on, honey child, I beg of you
Come on, come on down, you got it in ya, a-ha
Got to scrape the shit right off you shoes
Yes, I want you to come on, come on down Sweet Virginia
I said, I want you come on, honey child, I beg of you
I want you come on, honey child, you got it in you, a-ha
Got to scrape that shit right off you shoes
Come on, come on down, Sweet Virginia
Come on, come on down, I beg of you
Come on, come on down, you got it in you, a-ha
Got to scrape that shit right off you shoes
Comments (66)add comment
Long Live                                                                                  Radio Paradise                 
My rating  :                                                                     8 - Most Excellent
Posted 6 years ago by Tomasni    [ Reply ]
Sad that gem is found only on PSD.
Posted 8 years ago by thais    [ Reply ]
 Proclivities wrote:
Great to hear this actually being "broadcast".  I remember occasionally hearing clumsily censored versions on the radio.

 

What was the chorus on the censored version over the airwaves?

"Got to scrape the "gum" right off your shoes"?
Posted 10 years ago by treatment_bound    [ Reply ]
A great example of why this album is by far their best - all kinds of sounds coming from the lads, including this gorgeous song!! {#Biggrin}
Posted 11 years ago by d48m02h1918    [ Reply ]
As others have noted, this somewhat under-rated Stones song is better many years later on their album Sripped..  Gawd.The Stones. Couple of dozen iconic songs, and many more merely great.  I don't care about the hype or whether they're in it for the money.  I was sixteen when Satisfaction was released.  They have been the soundtrack to my life.
Posted 11 years ago by ScottN    [ Reply ]
 Diego21 wrote:
Anybody else's Stones favorite album?
 
Does the Pope shit in the woods?


Posted 13 years ago by Zep    [ Reply ]
Sounds like Paolo Nutini's grandfather singing in the backround.
Posted 13 years ago by ottojama    [ Reply ]
 zenhead wrote:
this was performed better (i thought) - rootsy-er - on the "stripped" album. they have a great slouchy sound on it.
 
Yep... they and it sounded as good if not better in 1995 as they/it did in 1972!!

Posted 13 years ago by h8rhater    [ Reply ]
 Diego21 wrote:
Anybody else's Stones favorite album?
 
Yes!  My favorite 'back in the day' album.   I really like the Stripped album from the '90s, which to me represents a return to their basics - I even prefer the Stripped version of Sweet Virginia to the original.


Posted 13 years ago by spigolli    [ Reply ]
This song feels like they are just sittin' on a deck jamming.  I love it.
Posted 13 years ago by pinnyrat    [ Reply ]
One of the few Stones songs I actually like and turn up!
Posted 14 years ago by gatorade    [ Reply ]
Arguably their best ever, given the timing, certainly one of their top 3 albums, which is saying something.
Posted 14 years ago by nigelr    [ Reply ]
Anybody else's Stones favorite album?
Posted 14 years ago by Diego21    [ Reply ]
This is good for my soul, rocks off!
Posted 14 years ago by nalle    [ Reply ]
this was performed better (i thought) - rootsy-er - on the "stripped" album. they have a great slouchy sound on it.
Posted 14 years ago by zenhead    [ Reply ]
this song cracks me up everytime
Posted 14 years ago by dogpound    [ Reply ]
Killer stuff: there are at least two cds worth of out-tales from this period , at least i have 2 cds worth of it,and the alt versions are very good.....

Posted 14 years ago by jersey_birdman    [ Reply ]
God, these guys were great when they were in their prime.
Posted 14 years ago by jbunniii    [ Reply ]
 Gotdablues wrote:
The Big Three: Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street; at their absolute peak!
 
And to complement the trilogy, the live album from the same period, Get Yer Ya Ya's Out!

Along quite different lines, Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967, just before Beggars Banquet) moves me in mysterious ways.

Sticky Fingers, yeah, it's up there too.
Posted 15 years ago by Otomi    [ Reply ]
 Gotdablues wrote:
The Big Three: Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street; at their absolute peak!
 
 AuralSects wrote:
Of course, Sticky Fingers certainly had it's moments, probably forty minutes worth. Maybe there could be a Big Four.
 
I agree. You gotta include Sticky Fingers for sure. After that it's up for debate.


Posted 15 years ago by On_The_Beach    [ Reply ]
Great to hear this actually being "broadcast".  I remember occasionally hearing clumsily censored versions on the radio.
Posted 15 years ago by Proclivities    [ Reply ]
 Gotdablues wrote:
The Big Three: Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street; at their absolute peak!
 

Of course, Sticky Fingers certainly had it's moments, probably forty minutes worth. Maybe there could be a Big Four.
Posted 15 years ago by AuralSects    [ Reply ]
 Gotdablues wrote:
The Big Three: Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street; at their absolute peak!
 

You betcha!
Posted 16 years ago by jagdriver    [ Reply ]
This song has particular meaning for me spending my entire life in California except for the last three years in Virginia.
Posted 16 years ago by kylemichael    [ Reply ]
Nice segue from Gomez, who also have a song named "Sweet Virginia" . . . .
Posted 16 years ago by robco1    [ Reply ]
It's ok...a little too contrived for me.
Posted 16 years ago by EssexTex    [ Reply ]
It's only bluesy country stomp, but I like it! {#Cowboy}

Posted 16 years ago by Darkmatter    [ Reply ]
Perhaps a skilled therapist could explain why I've always like this song so freakin' much. I've dug deep, I've got nuthin'
Posted 16 years ago by Hodgie    [ Reply ]
physicsgenius wrote:
Mick couldn't come out of the bathroom, or at least open the door, before recording the vocals?
This was mastered way before digital, of course; sounds like they used a 4-track system and the vocal mics were dropped a tad bit. If you wanted to you could pull up the vocals and boost them, but who knows where the master is these days. Important, sacred, stuff is lost everyday by incompetent Keepers. NASA has managed to loose all kinds of original stuff from the moon missions; thousands of motion picture masters have been lost or neglected to the point of destruction; indeed thousands of films are no longer existent. Unique recordings made in the 1920's and 30's are long gone, as are thousands of 78 rpm symphonic pieces. The permanence of recording media is a real problem. Remember that when you create something -- even if it is your baby's first words -- preserve the media for future generations. My first words and that of my mother and father were recorded in 1944 on a home disk recorder which cut a plastic 7 inch 78 rpm record. I remember hearing it when I was about 10 years old. It is long gone and how I wish I could play it for my grandchildren. Be careful out there!
Posted 16 years ago by Misterfixit    [ Reply ]
The Big Three: Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street; at their absolute peak!
Posted 16 years ago by Gotdablues    [ Reply ]
This is one of their best singles from one of their best albums. Their forte' is R&B and Motown, and they do it better than anyone else I know. Thanks, RP
Posted 16 years ago by rbigelo    [ Reply ]
duke wrote:
Great song. To me, when the Stones were at their peak, whatever genre they attempted (R&B, psychedelic, country, roots, gospel) they ruled the roost. also, one of my favorite beginnings of any song. thanks for playing it!
Pretty damn close to it, anyway! Great album!
Posted 17 years ago by nigelr    [ Reply ]
They could really do their blues nice and dirty.
Posted 17 years ago by Moak    [ Reply ]
Some of my fondest memories are of sitting around with one of my best friends in the world and his guitar, drinking until we forgot who we were and singing this song. "Thank you for your wine, California..." Such sweet and bitter fruit.
Posted 17 years ago by agnes    [ Reply ]
The best stones album-love the raw production.
Posted 17 years ago by skyguy    [ Reply ]
ugh
Posted 17 years ago by felix_the_man    [ Reply ]
sorry, this one just doesnt do it for me....
Posted 18 years ago by rubenbeagle    [ Reply ]
Pure Rolling Stones! You can almost smell the bourbon and cigarettes .
Posted 18 years ago by chefhahn    [ Reply ]
Please don't ever, ever play this song again.
Posted 18 years ago by Calgary_Don    [ Reply ]
Not feeling this. For once, I agree with the self-proclaimed physicsgenius.
Posted 18 years ago by wade44    [ Reply ]
physicsgenius wrote:
Mick couldn't come out of the bathroom, or at least open the door, before recording the vocals?
It must stink if where youre from 90% of everything is crap... But then again, if you havn't left, you must be a fecalfeliac.
Posted 18 years ago by mysteryplane    [ Reply ]
Mick couldn't come out of the bathroom, or at least open the door, before recording the vocals?
Posted 18 years ago by physicsgenius    [ Reply ]
Mari wrote:
"Drop your reds, drop your greens & blues"...Sweet Virginia, Exile On Main Street... ...
Dammit Beavis!
Posted 18 years ago by Death_to_Clear_Channel    [ Reply ]
jbpjayhawk wrote:
Call it hyperbolic, but I think that this is the greatest Rock-n-Roll album of all time.
with Sgt. Pepper, of course.
Posted 18 years ago by nick_valensi    [ Reply ]
Some days I can't stand the whining sound of Mick's voice and this is one of them.
Posted 18 years ago by thatch    [ Reply ]
Thanks RP! You can never hear this song on reg. radio, and we all know why...and it aint'--- "Drop your reds, drop your greens & blues"
Posted 18 years ago by treatment_bound    [ Reply ]
'you got to scrape that shit right off your shoe...' so true. good call, mick jagger. i love the rolling stones.
Posted 18 years ago by PattonFever    [ Reply ]
jbpjayhawk wrote:
Call it hyperbolic, but I think that this is the greatest Rock-n-Roll album of all time.
It's in a class by itself, that's for sure.
Posted 19 years ago by kazuma    [ Reply ]
Call it hyperbolic, but I think that this is the greatest Rock-n-Roll album of all time.
Posted 19 years ago by jbpjayhawk    [ Reply ]
AC wrote:
OK. Doesn't like that either. How about sh*take mushrooms?
May I suggest: shrap?
Posted 19 years ago by kazuma    [ Reply ]
am wrote:
It just swings!
That it does.
Posted 19 years ago by kazuma    [ Reply ]
banana wrote:
that is some obnoxious harmonica playing, stick with your own cultural roots, Mick!
I'm thinkin' if Mick and the British Invasion boys had never played American Blues, we'd have never heard of folks like Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, Howlin' Wolf and the rest of them that were hardly ever played on U.S. radio, until after they had been re-introduced to the U.S. by Cream, the Stones, Peter Green and other early Brit Blues bands... In other words, had it not been for the British invasion, we'd probably still never have heard much about the roots of blues in the USA.
Posted 19 years ago by Gregorama    [ Reply ]
Bitchin_Bob wrote:
How sweet it is! You can you feel the Gram Parsons influence.
Um...so that's why I like it. #-o Just love GP's music! I'm not a Stones fan (at all!) but this is such a great song! It just swings!
Posted 19 years ago by am    [ Reply ]
Well my memory fails more as I get older. i thought this was a cut from Beggars Banquet. Hey play something from Beggars Banquet will ys Bill? I love the raw funk that the Rolling Stones delivered on these albums.
Posted 22 years ago by Wack-A-Mole    [ Reply ]
more exile!
Posted 22 years ago by MM_de_TX    [ Reply ]
Originally Posted by AC: OK. Doesn't like that either. How about sh*take mushrooms?
Damn. This is fascinating. OK. I'm done hogging bandwidth now.
Posted 22 years ago by AC    [ Reply ]
Originally Posted by AC: Testing: How about "sh*te"? (All you Irish kids, cover your eyes....)
OK. Doesn't like that either. How about sh*take mushrooms?
Posted 22 years ago by AC    [ Reply ]
Originally Posted by AC: Ahhhh.... May well have been the first "dirty" lyric (other than, of course, "Louie Louie" to slip under the regulator radar.
And then the message board software finds it necessary to insert a "*" in the middle of "sh it" in my post. ROTFLMAO Testing: How about "sh*te"? (All you Irish kids, cover your eyes....)
Posted 22 years ago by AC    [ Reply ]
Ahhhh.... "Got to scrape the sh*t right off your shoes." May well have been the first "dirty" lyric (other than, of course, "Louie Louie" to slip under the regulator radar. Geez. Remember when they couldn't air "Don't give a damn about a greenback dollar" without excising the offending usage? (Am I getting old, or what?)
Posted 22 years ago by AC    [ Reply ]
Ahhhhh, this gets me right where I live: SWEET VIRGINIA!
Posted 22 years ago by Antigone    [ Reply ]
Great song. To me, when the Stones were at their peak, whatever genre they attempted (R&B, psychedelic, country, roots, gospel) they ruled the roost. also, one of my favorite beginnings of any song. thanks for playing it!
Posted 22 years ago by duke    [ Reply ]
How sweet it is! You can you feel the Gram Parsons influence.
Posted 22 years ago by Bitchin_Bob    [ Reply ]