In 1970, The Rolling Stones tracked Sticky Fingers at Olympic Studios in London. A take of what became “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” ran to its natural close at roughly three minutes. The band assumed the tape had stopped.
Guitarist Mick Taylor, sax player Bobby Keys, and percussionist Rocky Dijon kept playing. Taylor soloed over the groove while engineer Andy Johns left the machine running. When the band heard the full seven-minute playback in the control room, they kept every second for the album.
Key Takeaways
- The session: Sticky Fingers was recorded at Olympic Studios in London during 1970.
- The mistake: After a three-minute take ended, three players improvised while the rest of the band thought recording had stopped.
- The capture: Andy Johns rolled tape through the full jam, with Taylor on lead guitar, Keys on sax, and Dijon on percussion.
- The release: The Stones released the entire seven-minute take on Sticky Fingers with no edits to the jam section.
