The Rolling Stones performed for six nights straight at Madison Square Garden in mid-June 1975, and Hollywood Elsewhere was there for one of the shows with then-girlfriend Sophie Black. Good seats too, snagged by Sophie’s Broadway producer dad, David Black.
I’ve never heard this recording of the 6.22.75 MSG show, but I remember the wowser beginning — a star-like, flower-petal stage unfolding as Aaron Copeland‘s “Fanfare for the Common Man” blared through and filled the house…cheers, howls, sonic excitement. And then the opening chords of “Honky Tonk Women”…
If you listen closely to the studio recording version of “Honky Tonk Women”, the Stones sing the chorus as follows: “It’s a haung-ahhauhuhhaung, it’s okay!…gimme gimme gimme the honky tonk blues.”
At MSG on 6.22.75, the Stones sang “it’s them hawng-kay-TONK, hawng-kay-TONK wimmin’…gimme gimme gimme the honky tonk blues.”
And I don’t want to hear any fucking bullshit about this. The words “honky tonk women” simply aren’t sung on the recording.