Song by Song: "Gimme Shelter" Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1969

Produced by Jimmy Miller, "Gimme Shelter" was released as a single in December of 1969. According to Billboard.com, over the years, the song has spent a grand total of 99 weeks on the U.S. Billboard chart and peaked at number seventeen on November 27, 1998.

Answer: Let It Bleed

The album was the tenth American studio album and the eighth British one for the Rolling Stones. It was recorded at Olympic in London, England and at Sunset Studios in Los Angeles, CA. The album peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart and at number one on the UK (OCC) albums chart.

Answer: Keith Richards

The song was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. Jeff Giles writes in an October 27, 2017 article on ultimateclassicrock.com that Richards was inspired while watching people run for shelter from a storm. He had been sitting by the window of a friend's apartment in London "when suddenly the sky went completely black and an incredible monsoon came down," Keith Richards said. "It was just people running about looking for shelter - that was the germ of the idea."

The tension in the song may have also been inspired by the guitarist's jealousy over his suspicions that his then girlfriend was having an affair with Mick Jagger. Richards was dating German-Italian actress Anita Pallenberg at the time. Richards began composing "Gimme Shelter" while Pallenberg was off filming "Performance," a 1970 crime drama, with Mick Jagger. In a June 14, 2017 article in The Guardian, Alexis Petridis writes, "Richards spends the best part of six pages claiming he wasn't upset by Pallenberg's infidelity, a claim undermined [. . .] through Gimme Shelter itself. Whatever else it may be, it doesn't sound like the work of a man who wasn't bothered."

Answer: Merry Clayton

Merry Clayton is known for such recordings as "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" (1975), "Emotion" (1980), and "Oh No Not My Baby" (1973). She shares three verses of the song with Mick Jagger, after he sings the first verse on his own. Clayton was recruited to join the track by her friend, record producer Jack Nitzsche.

Answer: Harmonica

Mick Jagger supplied lead vocals and also had a harmonica solo. Keith Richards had a guitar solo on the song. Bill Wyman was on bass and Charlie Watts on drums. Additional personnel included Nicky Hopkins on piano and Jimmy Miller on maracas.

Answer: fade away

On its 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time," Rolling Stone magazine rated "Gimme Shelter" number 38. The Rolling Stones first performed the song live during their American concert tour in 1969, and concert recordings of the song appear on the albums "No Security," "Live Licks," "Brussels Affair," and "Hyde Park Live."

Answer: Assault

"War, children
It's just a shot away.

"Rape, murder, it's just a shot away
It's just a shot away."

"Gimme Shelter" was included in Pitchfork's list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s." It was called the number one Rolling Stones' song by both Rolling Stone magazine and Ultimate Classic Rock.

Answer: a red coal carpet

"Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
Our streets today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way."

During the Rolling Stones' 50th anniversary tour in 2012, Lady Gaga joined in the singing of "Gimme Shelter."

American actor Brad Renfro, who starred in "The Client" in 1994, played a teenager in the 1998 music video for "Gimme Shelter." The video depicts Renfro and his brother fleeing an abusive home.

Answer: a kiss away

"Gimme Shelter" has been covered by Grand Funk Railroad, U2, Kingmaker, Tom Jones with New Model Army, Little Angels, Blue Pearl, and The Sisters of Mercy, among others. The Grand Funk Railroad version peaked at number 61 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The song is often classified as an anti-war song.

Answer: Apocalypse Now

"Apocalypse Now" was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and did not include "Gimme Shelter" on its soundtrack. The song has been included on numerous other soundtracks, including "Adventures in Babysitting," "Air America," "The Gambler" and episodes of "That 70s Show," "The Simpsons," and "Dexter," among others.