Ventilator Blues

Album: Exile on Main St. (1972)
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  • When your spine is cracking and your hands, they shake
    Heart is bursting and your butt's gonna break
    Woman's cussing, you can hear her scream
    Feel like murder in the first degree

    Ain't nobody slowing down no way
    Everybody's stepping on their accelerator
    Don't matter where you are
    Everybody's gonna need a ventilator

    When you're trapped and circled with no second chances
    Code of living is your gun in hand
    Can't be browed by beating, can't be cowed by words
    Messed by cheating, ain't gonna ever learn

    Everybody walking 'round
    Everybody trying to step on their Creator
    Don't matter where you are, everybody, everybody gonna
    Need some kind of ventilator, some kind of ventilator
    Come down and get it

    What you gonna do about it, what you gonna do?
    What you gonna do about it, what you gonna do?
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it
    Gonna fight it, gonna fight it Writer/s: Keith Richards, Michael Taylor, Mick Jagger
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

  • Ashley from Quincy, IlI agree with Craig.Exile on main sreet is pretty much the greatest album ever made. this song is one of my favorite's.
    -ashley stone.IL
  • Craig from Melbourne, AustraliaIncredible song with lots of atmosphere. Eearthy, raw & powerful. The vents in Keith's house had Nazi swastika emblems in them! It was used by the Gestapo during WW2. The song leads into the spooky "Just wanna see his face". From the greatest album ever made by anyone - anywhere.
  • Julie from Durham, NcSam, you make an important point that people like to ignore. After all, if Howlin' Wolf had only recorded songs of his own composition, his catalogue would be minuscule -- just ask Willie Dixon. The problem with these "Elvis/Zep/(Insert artist here) ripped off other artists" whinefests is that THIS IS HOW THE BLUES WORK. But in a fun reversal, Gatemouth Brown's cover of "Ventilator Blues" is slammin. Love that fiddle.
  • Johnny from Los Angeles, CaYes, I agree with Sam. I like that weird bluesy sound that's achieved by not using a real recording studio.
  • Sam from Shanghai, ChinaIf you're suggesting that blues artists should sue each other for ripping off each other songs, there would be about 10 songs available for the world to listen to. If you think the Stones are guilty, don't even get me started on Led Zeppelin... Plus, it's a form of tribute. Keef & Mick loved those old blues greats, esp. Howlin' Wolf.
  • Geoffrey Ball from San Francisco, CaMany Captain Beefheart songs, not to mention his vocal style, sound almost EXACTLY like Howlin' Wolf w/ Herbert Sumlin on guitar, but I guess it's too late for them to sue!
  • Kris from Toronto, CanadaThis song sounds so much like ANY Captain Beefheart song, I hope someday he sues them.
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