There are two ways in which I wanted to approach this post.
The first was through Keith Richards’ autobiography “Life”; which I am in the
process of re-reading. I wanted to simply compare the original version of this
song by Hoagy Carmichael with the one recorded by Mr. Richards along about
1979. It was written in 1941 and has been recorded by just about every major
name in show business. But it’s not a song you would usually associate with
Keith Richards.
The second approach was more along the lines of “look what
happens to the Rolling Stones whenever Mick Jagger leaves the stage.” In the
video above the band backs Keith in his rendition of “The Nearness of You”, and
towards the end he performs a beautiful guitar solo in the way in which only he
can.
It’s a bit like the performance of “You’ve Got the Silver”
in the “Shine a Light” concert at the Beacon Theater. (I was actually on the
list for the $25 tickets and didn’t go!) There was all this high rock and roll
energy filling the air one moment and then this beautiful, cooling performance
by Keith and Ron Wood; mesmerizing the audience with the song.
The best part of watching the performance of this Hoagy
Carmichael song is the back story. In the book “Life” the author recounts
having made a tape of himself, along with Bobby Keys, doing a version of the
song. He then gave it to an associate
who forwarded it on to Mr. Carmichael. This is about 6 months before Mr.
Carmichael passed away in 1981
As a matter of fact he claimed that Keith Richards version
was closer to the way he had originally conceived the song! To say that Keith
was bowled over by the phone call would be a major understatement. So, here are
the Stones; sans Mick Jagger; doing a wonderful version of the song written by
Mr. Carmichael over 70 years ago.
And here is the link to Hoagy’s version; I was unable to
find any live footage and I couldn’t get the big machine to allow me to
download the audio except by a link.
Mr. Carmichael circa 1953
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