Keith Sings "Slipping Away"

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who like Keith Richards' singing, and those who don't. Well, let's make that three kinds of people, and include the vastly larger group who have absolutely no opinion at all about the topic. At any rate, put me in the positive camp. Keith has his own take on soulful, i.e., he doesn't try to sound "Black." A quick aside: One of the coolest takeaways from Keith autobiography was the fact that he was a choir boy (!) at his school. It seems that one time Keith was away from school for a choir competition, and his headmaster made him take a fail for a test he missed because of the trip. Keith identifies this as the moment he became totally anti-authoritarian.

So what about this song? The ascending patterns of the melody make it a keeper, and, of course Keith's vocals are very cool. But for me, the thing really makes the song happen is the chord at 0:11 that ends the intro and launches the first verse. I hit repeat just to hear that chord and the way it's set up by the bass and drum interjection just before it. Sometimes a single gesture can make the whole song or painting. Another nice moment is when the horns come in at 1:38, creating a cushion for some liquid guitar riffing.