“Jumpin' Jack Flash” is a Spawning Between ‘Beggars Banquet,’ ‘Between the Buttons,’ and ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’

“Jumpin' Jack Flash” is a Spawning Between ‘Beggars Banquet,’ ‘Between the Buttons,’ and ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’

Just a short while after The Rolling Stones completed their recording sessions for their very successful record, “Beggars Banquet,” they began writing this song which would offer the world one of the most notable and successful, most memorable and loved Rolling Stones hits of all time: “Jumpin' Jack Flash.” The notoriety of this amazing hit song precedes itself even today. It has been featured on more Rolling Stones albums than any other song of theirs, and mostly by the popular nature of this tune. This includes the following Stones records: Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2), Hot Rocks, Singles Collection and Forty Licks.

Perhaps the most notable difference between these songs is the parting of ways of guitarist Taylor and the changes that were being made musically to the band during this shift of theirs. And the most likeable part of the sound is the distinct guitar flavor offered by Keith Richards.

Of this unique sound he created for this song, Keith Richards notes:

“I used a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic tuned to open D, six string. Open D or open E, which is the same thing - same intervals - but it would be slackened down some for D. Then there was a capo on it, to get that really tight sound. And there was another guitar over the top of that, but tuned to Nashville tuning. I learned that from somebody in George Jones' band in San Antonio in 1964. The high-strung guitar was an acoustic, too. Both acoustics were put through a Philips cassette recorder. Just jam the mic right in the guitar and play it back through an extension speaker.”

Rolling Stones ‘Jumpin' Jack Flash’ Live in Rio
There is nothing like seeing the Rolling Stones perform a live concert. Then again, there are the bigger shows that they do – in comparison – to the smaller venues that they play. They have such a large, worldwide fan base now that when they hit up venues in other countries, quite often there is not even a stadium that is large enough to hold the capacity of people that wish to attend their amazing live shows. As you can plainly see in Rio – where this live footage was shot – the Rolling Stones can’t play any venue in Brazil. They have to set up an enormous outside concert venue, with a large stage, similar to a fairground, in order to host this still immensely popular act. And who thought that Brazilians didn’t appreciate great rock and roll?