My Top 1000 Songs #430: Before They Make Me Run

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.]

Ok, I can't objectively say that this one, from the Rolling Stones' 1978 "comeback" album Some Girls, truly deserves a place atop the Stones pantheon--not with so many greats from Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers and Exile (not to mention that extraordinary run of 60s singles) still to be accounted for. Still, Keith Richards is a towering figure in rock & roll, and is there a more definitive Keef song than "Before They Make Me Run"? (Ok, maybe "Happy," but we've snagged that one already.)

I mean, if you're looking for an absolutely killer line of rock & roll defiance, it's hard to top "I'm gonna walk before they make me run." That one's been living in my head rent free for 45 friggin' years!

Live 2003:

Live 1994: