THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,403) The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie”
Written by the Rolling Stones’ (see #382, 398, 537, 579, 1,098) bassist Bill Wyman (see #1,348) and recorded during the sessions for Beggar’s Banquet and Let It Bleed, this “good-time boogie with a portion of acoustic blues and open tuned slide guitar by Ry Cooder” (Martin Elliott, http://www.stonessessions.com/martin-elliott.html) is a rollicking good time — “The guitars are gorgeous and I like Jagger’s cheeky I’m-rolling-my-eyes-as-I-sing-this vocal . . . . a great song”. (dkmonroe, https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/rolling-stones-downtown-suzie.172484/) Marcelo Sonaglioni notes that the lyrics were supposedly written impromptu while the musicians were working on Let It Bleed. (https://rollingstonesdata.com/canciones/downtown-suzie-1968/) The song was finally released on ’75’s intended bootleg killer Metamorphosis.
Martin Elliott writes that Wyman admitted that “Downtown Suzie” “did not warrant inclusion on Let it Bleed or earlier on Beggars Banquet.” (http://www.stonessessions.com/extracts/0427.html) Bill, I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it. “Suzie” would have made a great Beggars Banquet‘s amuse-bouche!
Richie Unterberger dismissively writes that:
Prior to Metamorphosis, Bill Wyman had landed just one of his compositions on a Rolling Stones album (“In Another Land,” from Their Satanic Majesties Request) although he’d been writing songs almost as early as the team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had. . . . It was originally recorded in 1968 during the Beggars Banquet session, but didn’t make it aboard the album. As to whether it should have made the cut, it’s a tough call. It’s near the same level of the filler of that album, but not nearly as good as the best of the record’s songs (or nearly as good as “In Another Land,” for that matter). It’s a rather average, if unembarrassing, blues-rocker with a good-natured, slightly racy, romping bent. The lyrical premise of the song isn’t exactly sharply drawn, but the narrator takes the role of some guy nursing a hangover; the “Sweet Lucy” character might be his woman. It’s implied that she’s not the cleanest of characters, either, with the line about her kicking him in the hole (probably not a golf hole), and talking about getting a dose from Lucy — of VD or drugs, it’s uncertain. Probably the best parts of the record are when Jagger plaintively moan-sings the lines during the verse, to be met after each phrase by almost mock-chiding low vocals chanting “yeah, yeah.” The song speeds up to an almost singalong jazzy kind of blues for the choruses, kind of like drunks singing together in a group as they head out of the pub and into the street. Not bad at all, with some good blues slide guitar work in the quieter sections, it’s nevertheless not compelling . . . .
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