How 'Gimme Shelter' Lyrics Reflect Vietnam and Altamont, and Merry Clayton's Scream

The most interesting thing about “Gimme Shelter” is that its lyrics weren’t written about Altamont—the song was released months before that disaster—but they ended up sounding like a prophecy. Jagger said he was writing about the general climate of violence in 1969: Vietnam body counts on the nightly news, the Manson murders, urban riots. Lines like “war, children, it’s just a shot away” and “rape, murder, it’s just a shot away” were a direct, unsubtle commentary on a country that felt like it was unraveling. The song didn’t need to be about Altamont to become its official soundtrack;