Mix Tape: "Sweet Virginia" by The Rolling Stones

When you ask someone what their fave Stones song is, chances are you get "Sympathy for the Devil," "Satisfaction" or "Harlem Shuffle" (just kidding on that last one, folks!). My favorite has to be "Gimme Shelter" or "Wild Horses," but coming up fast behind is "Sweet Virginia."

Nestled smack dab in the middle of the band's playing-with-a-hangover (and worse) classic, "Exile on Main Street," Sweet Virginia grabs you quite unexpectedly. It's not as greasy as the rest of the album ("Rocks Off," et. al.) With a quiet start, a harmonica honk and a few guitar strums, it sounds like a breezy paean to one of Mick Jagger's many conquests. Instead, it morphs into a stunning country-blues that picks up speed the more the group and its backup singers repeat the chorus (this song doesn't have that many words to it)

After Mick thanks California for all the wine he has drunk that came from there, and noting the "speed inside my shoe," he moves on to advise young Virginia to follow along "Come on/ Come on down...." and to "scrape the shit right off your shoes...."

I always liked the song cause it quietly urges you to - no matter how strung out or down you may be - to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep on slumping forward. Hey, what more can you try to do when life kicks you a hard one?