The Rolling Stones - "Stuck Out All Alone" (1969)

Between 1968 and 1972, the Stones were greater than the Beatles had ever been. Who else could have come up with a bluesy soul groove as deep as this outtake bootleg and never release it. But then the Stones were quite notorious for throwing away beautiful unfinished tracks, such as "Waiting On A Friend", which they apparently never got around to completing for Goat's Head Soup in 1973 ,when the original backing tracks were cut, where it might have offended such stellar songs as "Dancing With Mr. D".

But "Stuck Out All Alone" is fully realized, an almost perfect cut. Keith Richards plays like he heard "(Sitting On The) Dock Of The Bay" in a dream, woke up, went out to find Steve Cropper's muse and found the ghost of Robert Johnson instead. Bill Wyman supplies a fat bass line that guards Keith's heels, while Charlie Watts does just what he does so well, swinging and tapping modestly and winningly.

To make a case for the Stones editorial wisdom, the fragile angularity of the song might have just barely fit on Let It Bleed and I have to admit it would have been out of place on Sticky Fingers. Yet Mick Jagger sings so soulfully you have to wonder whether the real reason this track was never released because it plain scared the shit out of him.