I Just Want to See His Face

"I Just Want to See His Face"
Song by The Rolling Stones
from the album Exile on Main St.
Released 12 May 1972 (1972-05-12)
Recorded December 1971 – March 1972
Genre
Label Rolling Stones Records
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Jimmy Miller

"I Just Want to See His Face" is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones featured on their 1972 release Exile on Main St. It is credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Background

In 1992, Jagger commented:

"I Just Want to See His Face" was a jam with Charlie [Watts] and Mick Taylor ... I think it was just a trio originally, though other people might have been added eventually. It was a complete jam. I just made the song up there and then over the riff that Charlie and Mick were playing. That's how I remember it, anyway.[1]

Reception

Music reviewer Bill Janovitz writes, "‘I Just Want to See His Face’ has the band exploring the music of America, specifically the country, blues, folk, and soul of the South ... [it] sounds ancient and from another planet; a swampy, stompy gospel song that was recorded to intentionally sound as if it is a field recording document of a long-ago church basement revival meeting."[2] The song's bluesy, murky atmosphere has drawn admiration from other artists. Singer/songwriter Tom Waits names it as one of his favorite recordings: "That song had a big impact on me, particularly learning how to sing in that high falsetto, the way Jagger does. When he sings like a girl, I go crazy," Waits says. "This is just a tree of life. This record is the watering hole."[3]

Recording

The gospel elements to some songs on Exile have been attributed to the presence of Billy Preston during the final recording sessions in Los Angeles. Preston would take Jagger to Sunday services. Initial recording took place in France at Villa Nellcôte. With Jagger on lead vocals, Bobby Whitlock provides electric piano, Mick Taylor plays electric bass and Bill Plummer contributes upright bass.[4] Charlie Watts performs drums with producer Jimmy Miller providing percussion. Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Jerry Kirkland perform the backing vocals for the track.[2]

Whitlock describes the song development:

I am playing the electric piano on this song. The whole thing came from Mick asking me about my Dad being a preacher and if I could play a gospel feel. This was the results. I cranked the vibrato on it and started playing, and Mick Taylor started playing the bass and Charlie started playing the drums and Mick Jagger was sing [sic] 'That's alright, that's alright, I don't want to talk about Jesus, I just want to see his face.' I was recorded at Olympic Studios in London.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ "I Just Want to See His Face". Time Is On Our Side. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  2. 1 2 Janovitz, Bill. "I Just Want to See His Face". AllMusic. Retrieved 2006-10-24.
  3. ↑ Waits, Tom (20 March 2005). "Tom Waits on his cherished albums of all time". The Observer.
  4. ↑ Some think that the electric piano was played by Bobby Whitlock, but he could not be named, because of his contract with another record company.
  5. ↑ YouTube upload of "I Just Want To See His Face"
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