Gather No Moss?

For some reason I have become addicted to the song Beast of Burden from the Rolling Stones. I especially like to think about it in the context of this band who has stuck together through a lot of crap over 45 years of playing together. Yes, 45 YEARS. My blogger friend Dry Bones wrote yesterday that "sticking around pays off if you do it long enough." That's what this song has come to symbolize to me.

In 2003, Keith Richards said, "When I returned to the fold after closing down the laboratory [referring to his drug problems throughout the 1970s], I came back into the studio with Mick... to say, 'Thanks, man, for shouldering the burden' - that's why I wrote "Beast of Burden" for him, I realise in retrospect."

Check out these guys performing this song over the decades and think about sticking around for a while. (My favorite is the 2004 version.)

1978


1994


2004