Rolling Stones – "Down Home Girl" (1965)

And every time I kiss you, girl

It tastes like pork and beans

It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten pork and beans, but the dish used to be a regular part of my diet.  

Only Van Camp’s pork and beans would do – I eschewed other brands.

Pork and beans right out of the can were a perfect accompaniment for hamburgers or ham sandwiches.

But after a long night drinking 3.2% beer in Kansas, I wanted more.  So I would dump a can of Van Camp’s finest into a saucepan, add a couple of cut-up hot dogs, grated cheese, ketchup, and garlic salt, and heat the whole mess up.

I’d grab a couple of slices of white sandwich bread and a Dr. Pepper, and eat every bite of my concoction in front of the TV.

Mmmmm . . .

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I recently learned that Van Camp’s pork and beans have a long and honorable history.

In 1861, Gilbert Courtland Van Camp and his wife Hester moved to Indianapolis, where Gilbert got into the wholesale grocery business.  Hester came up with a recipe for pork and beans with tomato sauce.  Gilbert decided to can Hester’s dish and sell it to local grocery stores.  

Shortly thereafter, Van Camp signed a contract to supply canned pork and beans to the Union Army.  Van Camp’s business was relatively small, and one researcher has speculated that he sold pork and beans only to Camp Morton, an army training site located in Indianapolis, rather than supplying the entire Union Army.) 

Note that the current Van Camp’s pork and beans label claims that the product has been “satisfying families since 1861.”

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“Down Home Girl” was co-written by the legendary Jerry Leiber – who teamed with Mike Stoller to write most of Elvis Presley’s early hits– and the not-so-legendary Artie Butler.  (You’ve never heard of Butler, but he was a well-known Brill Building session pianist and arranger.  His many arranging credits include Neil Diamond’s “Cherry, Cherry,” Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Indian Reservation,” Vicki Lawrence’s “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana,” and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”)

The Rolling Stones cover of “Down Home Girl” was released on their second studio album (The Rolling Stones No. 2) in 1965.

It’s hard to picture Mick Jagger having anything to do with a girl who tastes like pork and beans.  But baked beans are part of a traditional full  English breakfast, so maybe that would have been a big turn-on.

Click here to listen to “Down Home Girl.”

Click here to buy it from Amazon.