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"Stop Messin' Round" is a song first recorded by English
blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...
group
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
in 1968. It was written by the group's principal guitarist and singer Peter Green, with an additional credit for manager C.G. Adams. The song is an upbeat
12-bar blues The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly base ...
shuffle and is representative of the group's early repertoire of conventional
electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...
. The lyrics deal with the common blues theme of the unfaithful lover and share elements with earlier songs. "Stop Messin' Round" was first released in mid-1968 as the B-side of " Need Your Love So Bad", which appeared on the UK singles chart. A different take of the song was later used as the opening track on Fleetwood Mac's second UK and US albums. Music writers have viewed the song favourably, with Green's guitar work singled out as a highlight. Other artists, such as
Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...
and
Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
, have recorded renditions for their blues-inspired albums.


Lyrics

"Stop Messin' Round" is credited to Peter Green and C.G. Adams, Fleetwood Mac's manager, who also used the name Clifford Davis. Only two of the song's 12-bar verses include vocals: the first uses the common
call and response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...
or AAB pattern, while the second includes four bars of
stop-time In tap dance, tap dancing, jazz, and blues, stop-time is an accompaniment pattern interrupting, or stopping, the meter (music), normal time and featuring regular accent (music), accented attacks on the first beat (music), beat of each or ever ...
, before concluding with the same refrain as the first: In 1948, Detroit
blues harp The Richter-tuned harmonica, 10-hole harmonica (in Asia) or blues harp (in America), is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic scale, diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes (10 holes tim ...
player and singer Walter Mitchell recorded the similarly titled "Stop Messin' Around" for J.V.B. Records. Mitchell uses an AAB pattern, but includes a reference to a .44 caliber pistol. Both songs use similar phrasing to the first eight bars of
Sonny Boy Williamson I John Lee Curtis "Sonny Boy" Williamson (March 30, 1914 – June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player and singer-songwriter. He is often regarded as the pioneer of the blues harp as a solo instrument. He played on hundreds of r ...
's 1945 adaptation of
Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...
's 1938 song " Stop Breakin' Down Blues". Johnson's song uses the refrain "Stop breakin' down, please stop breakin' down".


Recording and musical style

Fleetwood Mac recorded "Stop Messin' Round" at the
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
studio in London on 28 April 1968. The core group—guitarist Green, bassist
John McVie John Graham McVie (; born 26 November 1945) is a British bass guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock bands John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers from 1964 to 1967 and Fleetwood Mac since 1967. His surname, combined with that of drummer ...
, and drummer
Mick Fleetwood Michael John Kells Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician, songwriter and actor. He is the drummer, co-founder, and leader of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of the group's bassist John Mc ...
—were augmented by pianist (also future McVie wife and full-time group member)
Christine Perfect Christine Anne McVie (; Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician. She was the keyboardist and one of the vocalists and songwriters of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. McVie was a member of several bands, notably Chic ...
, and saxophone players
Steve Gregory Stephen Gregory (born 1945) is an English jazz saxophonist and composer. He plays tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophone as well as the flute. Biography and career Gregory was born in London. At St. Paul's School, he learned guitar and ...
and
Johnny Almond Johnny Almond (20 July 1946 – 18 November 2009) was a British saxophonist, who is best known for his recordings with the Alan Price Set, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Biography Johnny Almond was born in Enfield, Middlesex, En ...
. Five takes were attempted: the first three were incomplete and the fourth yielded the master later included on the group's '' Mr. Wonderful'' album in 1968. The fifth take was used for the single release. In order to capture a sound more typical of live performances, a
public address system A public address system (or PA system) is an electronic system comprising microphones, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and related equipment. It increases the apparent volume (loudness) of a human voice, musical instrument, or other acoustic sound sou ...
(PA system) was used in the recording studio. Producer Mike Vernon describes it as providing a "dirtier, gutsier soundcloser to that generated at a club performance" than a typical recording studio. Multitracking, a common studio technique, was not used: " ere is a full density of sound that... is a result of having recorded the full band and guest musicians as one unit. No overdubs", he adds. In a 1999 interview, Vernon singled out "Stop Messin' Round": Fleetwood Mac biographer Donald Brackett describes the approach on ''Mr. Wonderful'' as "the straight goods in terms of gritty white blues within a traditional format" and the material as "pure scintillating blues, rough in form and raw in content". Critic
Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
sees it as an attempt to emulate the sound of the
Sun Studio Sun Studio is a recording studio opened by rock-and-roll pioneer Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. It was originally called Memphis Recording Service, sharing the same building with the Sun Records la ...
in Memphis and
Chess Studios Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and rol ...
in Chicago, where many of the classic electric blues songs were recorded. However, he describes the overall album sound as "rushed, raw, and thin".
Chicken Shack Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb (guitarist), Stan Webb (guitar and vocals), Andy Silvester (bass guitar), and Alan Morley (drums), who were later joined by Christine McVie, Christine Perfect (later ...
co-founder and bassist
Andy Silvester Andrew Frederick Silvester (born 16 June 1947, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England) is a British bassist and multi-instrumentalist. Silvester has played in various bands during his career, most notably as co-founder of both Chicken Shack and ...
recalled Green as a perfectionist, who advised Fleetwood on his drum parts. At Green's request, Silvester played Fleetwood a
Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...
song: " played Reed's'My Bitter Seed', which just had this amazing groove to it: the tempo was really slow and yet it shuffled along with a lot of swing... it just flowed ut Fleetwood's drummingalready had that". (Fleetwood later remarked: "Shuffles... I'm sick to death of fuckin' shuffles!") The most prominent feature of "Stop Messin' Round" is Green's guitar work: only two 12-bar verses have vocals, the remaining four (album version) are devoted to Green's guitar soloing. Author Douglas J. Noble points out that Green's early blues guitar style reflects "a fluid approach to phrasing", where his notes are slightly behind or ahead of the beat. He adds "Green made great use of
quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...
bent notes", which is a feature of blues guitarists, such as
B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
, to whom he was often compared. Noble's transcription shows a tempo of 132 beats per minute (or ''
allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking that indicates to playing quickly and brightly (from Italian meaning ''cheerful'') * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem b ...
'') in the key of C, which he describes as "a straight-forward medium tempo shuffle blues". Green also uses both a C
blues scale The term blues scale refers to several different scales with differing numbers of pitches and related characteristics. A blues scale is often formed by the addition of an out-of-key " blue note" to an existing scale, notably the flat fifth additio ...
and C pentatonic major scale.


Releases

In mid-1968 in the UK, Blue Horizon released the 2:38 fifth take of "Stop Messin' Around" as the B-side to " Need Your Love So Bad", which was recorded during the same sessions. The single reached number 31 on the UK Singles Chart on 23 July 1968.
Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
issued the single in the US, but it did not reach the record charts. Subsequently, the shorter 2:18 fourth take of the song was added to Fleetwood Mac's second British album, ''Mr. Wonderful'' (1968) and their second American album, '' English Rose'' (1969). The album version of the song usually appears on early compilations of Fleetwood Mac songs, such as '' The Pious Bird of Good Omen'' (1969), '' Black Magic Woman'' (1971), ''
Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
'' (1971), and '' Vintage Years'' (1975). The anniversary band retrospective boxed set '' 25 Years – The Chain'' (1992) includes it, along with eight other Green compositions. The Mike Vernon produced '' The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions 1967–1969'' (1999) has all five takes of the song. A live recording by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
from 1 September 1968, shortly after
Danny Kirwan Daniel David Kirwan (né Langran, 13 May 1950 – 8 June 2018) was a British musician and guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues rock, blues-rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972. He released three albums as a solo artist from ...
joined the group, appears on '' Live at the BBC'' (1995).


Critical reception

"Stop Messin' Round" has received positive comments from music writers, with Green's guitar playing being singled out. In a song review for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, critic Matthew Greenwald noted: In a review of ''English Rose'', critic Bruce Eder describes it as one of the songs "representing the stronger tracks" from ''Mr. Wonderful''.
Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
calls it "''Mr. Wonderful'''s one gem" among the album's more derivative tunes. In ''Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists'', "Stop Messin' Round" is identified as one of six "guitar high points" in Peter Green's career.


Renditions

Irish guitarist
Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career, he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, Heavy metal music, heavy ...
recorded the song for his first blues album, '' Still Got the Blues'' (1990). For a while, Moore owned Green's 1959
Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...
, which Green frequently played with Fleetwood Mac and used to record many of the group's most well-known songs. Moore used the guitar to record his tribute album to Green, '' Blues for Greeny'' (1995), which features Fleetwood Mac-era compositions by Green. Welsh guitarist and
Savoy Brown Savoy Brown (originally Savoy Brown Blues Band) were a British blues rock band formed in Battersea, southwest London, in 1965. Part of the late 1960s blues rock movement, Savoy Brown primarily achieved success in the United States, where they p ...
co-founder
Kim Simmonds Kim Maiden Simmonds (5 December 1947 – 13 December 2022) was a Welsh musician. He was the founder, guitarist, primary songwriter and sole constant member of the blues rock band Savoy Brown, which he formed in 1965. Simmonds had led Savoy Br ...
recorded an acoustic ensemble version of the song, which appears on the tribute albums, ''Rattlesnake Guitar: The Music of Peter Green'' (1995) and ''Peter Green Songbook'' (2000). In a 1996 review for ''
Cadence In Classical music, Western musical theory, a cadence () is the end of a Phrase (music), phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution (music), resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don ...
'' magazine, Bob Rusch describes it as "a surprisingly jazzy rendition". American
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
group
Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
recorded the song as "Stop Messin' Around" for their blues tribute album, '' Honkin' on Bobo'' (2004). Group guitarist Joe Perry provides the lead vocals, with
Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...
contributing the blues harp. Perry later explained: " tevens not a technical player... He just lets it rip and he's great. Ripping is what we do best." The two played the song during the "Tribute to the Blues" concert at the
Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...
in New York City in February 2003. Their performance is included as a bonus track on the DVD of ''Lightning in a Bottle'', the 2004 concert documentary film by director
Antoine Fuqua Antoine Fuqua (; born May 30, 1965) is an American film director known for his work in the action and thriller genres. He was originally known as a director of music videos, and made his film debut in 1998 with '' The Replacement Killers''. His ...
.


Footnotes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Aerosmith Songs written by Peter Green (musician) 1968 songs 1968 singles Fleetwood Mac songs Aerosmith songs Gary Moore songs Works published under a pseudonym Song recordings produced by Mike Vernon (record producer)