Every Friday night we smooth our way into the weekend with music, the universal language. These selections demonstrate that despite what is being passed off as art today, there is plenty of really good music available. Come along and enjoy!

ONE NIGHT ONLY: Get ready to rock at The Music of the Rolling Stones with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on April 30 as they pay tribute to The World’s Greatest Rock ‘n Roll Band with guest vocalist MiG Ayesa and a full rock band.

Don’t have tickets? Wondering what that concert might sound like?

Symphonic Stones. That’s our focus this week. Let’s start you up.

I know what you’re thinking. C’mon. Can an orchestra do the Rolling Stones justice? I mean, after all. Remember the 60’s?

There’s no argument. That was the Stones’ greatest and most popular hit.

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra was created in the mid-1960s by Andrew Loog-Oldham, the original manager and record producer of the Rolling Stones who assembled a bunch of studio musicians and came up with….

In researching this week’s feature I stumbled across one rock writer’s listing ranking the 50 best Stones recordings.

Number 2 was “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”

Number 2? Are you kidding me?

What could possibly be #1 according to this “rock writer”? He went with “Gimme Shelter.”

Please.

We move on.

“Sympathy for the Devil” further cemented the Stones’ reputation as bad boys.

Mikhail Bulgakov’s book “The Master and Margarita” that depicted the devil as a sophisticated socialite inspired the lyrics. British singer Marianne Faithfull was Mick Jagger’s girlfriend at the time and she gave him the book.

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
‘Cause I’m in need of some restraint

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politnesse
Or I’ll lay your soul to waste

Jagger claimed the song was about the dark side of man, not a celebration of Satanism.

Let’s contrast. First a dark, sinister short clip from jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears.

And that can be made into something orchestral?

Actually…

Jagger:  “I wrote it one way and then we started to change the rhythm. And then it became completely different. And then it got very exciting. It started off as a folk song and then became a samba. A good song can become anything.”

Yeh. Like a symphonic variation.

Mick Jagger along with Keith Richards wrote “As Tears Go By” for the popular UK teenage singer Marianne Faithfull. In 1964 it became Faithfull’s first big hit.

“I wrote the lyrics, and Keith wrote the melody,” said Jagger. “It’s a very melancholy song for a 21-year-old to write: The evening of the day, watching children play – it’s very dumb and naive, but it’s got a very sad sort of thing about it, almost like an older person might write. You know, it’s like a metaphor for being old: You’re watching children playing and realizing you’re not a child. It’s a relatively mature song considering the rest of the output at the time. And we didn’t think of doing it, because the Rolling Stones were a butch Blues group.”

But the Stones would record their own version a year later proving the blues-oriented band was more than capable of handling a ballad.

That’s it for this week.

Goodnight.

Sleep well.

Have a great weekend.

We close with an amazing mega-medley. See how many you recognize.

This year the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra based in London celebrates 75 years of music-making.