‘Gimme Shelter’ is a song by English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is the opening track of the band's 1969 album Let It Bleed. The song covers the brutal realities of war, including murder, rape and fear. It features prominent guest vocals by American singer Merry Clayton.
‘Gimme Shelter’ was written by the Rolling Stones' lead vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards, the band's primary songwriting team. Richards began working on the song's signature opening riff in London while Jagger was away filming Performance with Richards' then-girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg. In his autobiography Life, Richards revealed that the tension of the song was inspired by his jealousy at seeing the relationship between Pallenberg and Jagger, and his suspicions of an affair between them.
Mick Jagger said in a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone magazine: “Well, it's a very rough, very violent era. The Vietnam War. Violence on the screens, pillage and burning. And Vietnam was not war as we knew it in the conventional sense. The thing about Vietnam was that it wasn't like World War II, and it wasn't like Korea, and it wasn't like the Gulf War. It was a real nasty war, and people didn't like it. People objected, and people didn't want to fight it ... That's a kind of end-of-the-world song, really. It's apocalypse; the whole record's like that.”
The song's inspiration was not initially Vietnam or social unrest, however, but Richards seeing people scurrying for shelter from a sudden rain storm. According to him: “I had been sitting by the window of my friend Robert Fraser's apartment on Mount Street in London with an acoustic guitar when suddenly the sky went completely black and an incredible monsoon came down. It was just people running about looking for shelter – that was the germ of the idea. We went further into it until it became, you know, rape and murder are 'just a shot away'.”
‘Gimme Shelter’ was never released as a single. Nevertheless, it has been included on many compilation releases, including Gimme Shelter, Hot Rocks 1964–1971, Forty Licks, and GRRR! In 2023, a version of the song, featuring Lady Gaga, was also included on their 50th-anniversary live tour album, GRRR Live! – Live at Newark.
Greil Marcus, writing for Rolling Stone magazine at the time of ‘Gimme Shelter’'s release, stated that "the Stones have never done anything better". Pitchfork placed it at number 12 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s". Ultimate Classic Rock put the song at number one on their Top 100 Rolling Stones songs and number three on their Top 100 Classic Rock Songs. It is ranked number 13 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It is also ranked number 1 on the magazine's list of the band's best songs.
Labels – Decca, ABKCO
Songwriters – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
Producer – Jimmy Miller
SONG LYRICS
[Intro: Merry Clayton]Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh
[Verse 1: Mick Jagger]
Ooh, a storm is threatening
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Ooh yeah, I'm gonna fade away
[Chorus: Mick Jagger & Merry Clayton]
War, children
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away, yeah
[Verse 2: Mick Jagger & Merry Clayton]
Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our very streets today
Burns like a red-coal carpet
Mad bull lost your way
[Chorus: Mick Jagger & Merry Clayton]
War, children, yeah
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
War, children, yeah
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
[Guitar Solo]
[Bridge: Merry Clayton]
Rape, murder, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Rape, murder, yeah, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Rape, murder it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
Yeah
[Verse 3: Mick Jagger & Merry Clayton]
Mmm, a flood is threatening
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or I'm going to fade away
[Chorus: Mick Jagger & Merry Clayton]
War, children
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
[Outro: Mick Jagger & Merry Clayton]
I tell you love, sister
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
It's just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away
[Instrumental Outro]
[Harmonica Solo]