Mick Jagger introduces John on December 11, 1968, for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a concert film which went unreleased until 1996. John performs "Yer Blues" with his hastily assembled backing band the Dirty Mac, a supergroup featuring Eric Clapton on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums.
1968, The Beatles
Something between a parody of overtly serious British Blues and a wholehearted embrace of its destructive ideals, "Yer Blues" is a suicidal rant shouted with ragged emotion. John twists the formula with some of his playfully surreal lyricism, and the guitar solo is white hot. When he screams, "Yes, I'm lonely, wanna die," you get scared. But when he bellows, "Feel so suicidal, even hate my rock and roll," you laugh. It careens between bleak and hilarious, purposely confounding the lister. It's a dangerous Beatles song, which is something of a rarity.
