“Gimme Shelter” and “Like A Rolling Stone” are my top 2 “Rock and/or Roll” songs of all time.
The back story of Merry Clayton singing background is compelling and tragic.
She was called near midnight to come to a LA studio to record her vocals. Although pregnant, she went and gave a performance of a lifetime that truly blew Jagger away. If listening closely, you can hear him exclaim “Wow”.
Afterwards, she lost her baby from the exertion of her vocals.
Yup,I read that she lost her baby shortly after the session.I'm no obstetrician but I wonder if that wasn't just a sad coincidence.
As for "woo"...some time ago I found an isolated vocals version of Gimme Shelter on the web which is really awesome.On it,you can hear Jagger clearly go "woo".
First time I heard Gimmie Shelter was in the PX at Fort Knox as I was in BCT at the time.Being an Army recruit and hearing that song...Yikes! It's still as vivid for me today as it was almost 50 years ago.