The Rolling Stones - Salt of the Earth (from The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, 1968)

[Mousetoescamper]

Recorded before a live audience in London in 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was originally conceived as a BBC-TV special. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it centers on the original line up of The Rolling Stones -- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (with Nicky Hopkins and Rocky Dijon) -- who serve as both the show’s hosts and featured attraction. For the first time in front of an audience, “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” performs six Stones classics. The program also includes extraordinary performances by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono, and The Dirty Mac. A ‘supergroup’ before the term had even been coined, the band was comprised of Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Keith Richards (bass), Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (drums) and John Lennon on guitar and vocals.

Salt of the Earth
by Keith Richards & Mick Jagger

Let's drink to the hard-working people
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth
And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange
Raise your glass to the hard-working people
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leading, but get gamblers instead
Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray-suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
When I look into the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange
Let's drink to the hard-working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the hard-working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth

[Walleye]

1. Thank you. Very appropriate Labor Day anthem