"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" is a track by English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. The track is over seven minutes long, and begins with a Keith Richards open-G tuned guitar intro. The main song lasts for two minutes and 43 seconds, after which it transforms into an extended improvisational jam. The entire track was captured in one take, with the jam being a happy accident; the band had assumed the tape machine had been stopped, and were surprised to find the entire session had been captured. Originally they were going to end the song before the jam started, but were so pleased with the jam that they decided to keep it in. Besides the regular Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger (vocals), Keith Richards (guitar), Mick Taylor (guitar), Charlie Watts (drums) and Bill Wyman (bass), the track also features conga player Rocky Dijon, saxophonist Bobby Keys, organist Billy Preston and additional percussion by producer Jimmy Miller.
Composition and recording
The track featured Rocky Dijon on congas; tenor saxophonist Bobby Keys performs an extended saxophone solo over the guitar work of Richards and Mick Taylor, punctuated by the organ work of Billy Preston. At 4:40 Taylor takes over from Richards and carries the song to its finish with a lengthy guitar solo.
Richards described writing the guitar riff:
In 2002, Richards commented on the recording:
Taylor recalled in a 1979 interview:
Taylor added, "I used a brown Gibson ES-345 for 'Dead Flowers' and the solo on 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking'."
Jagger noted in the Spotify Landmark interview on the album that the key was too high for his voice and that "I [did] lots of vocals, harmonies to sort of hide the fact that I didn't really hit the notes that great in the chorus bits."
An early alternate take of the song (with dummy/placeholder lyrics) was released in June 2015 on the Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions of the reissued Sticky Fingers album.
Accolades
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine listed it at number 25 in "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time."
"Mick Taylor had the biggest influence on me, without me even knowing it," remarked Slash. "My favourite Stones records were Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers… One of the greatest Mick Taylor solos is 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking'. It's the kind of stuff that's almost like old Eric Clapton – it's very simple stuff, but it's about how the notes are placed and how you approach them."
The Rolling Stones live performances
The number was part of the Rolling Stones' concert repertoire during their Licks Tour in 2002–2003 and A Bigger Bang Tour in 2005–2007. In these renditions, Jagger played a harmonica solo after Keys' sax solo, and Ronnie Wood performed the extended guitar solo. A live recording was released on the band's 2003 DVD set Four Flicks and on the 2004 concert album Live Licks.
It was also performed live during shows in 2013, with Mick Taylor appearing as a special guest with the band.
Another live version was published on the release Sticky Fingers Live - From The Vault, recorded on 20 May 2015 at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California, where the band played the entire Sticky Fingers album.