This is an unusually long Stones track, runing 7:14. Mick Jagger's work is done by 2:45, however, as the groove plays out for the next four-and-a-half minutes. The Stones were experimenting with different styles around this time, and "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" has a distinct Santana influence.
This features Bobby Keys on sax, Rocky Dijon on percussion, and Billy Preston on organ. Keys, along with trumpet player Jim Price, joined The Stones on their 1970 European tour after performing on Sticky Fingers. His lengthy sax solo on this track wasn't planned out, but once he got going, he kept blowing while the tape ran and Keith Richards loved it.
Probably best not to read too much into the lyrics of this one, since even Mick Jagger isn't exactly sure what he wrote. As Robert Greenfield recounts in his book Ain't It Time We Said Goodbye, shortly before the album was released, someone realized that the lyrics for this song and a few others had not been filed, making them impossible to copyright. Members of the Stones camp were dispatched to write down the words by listening to the acetate pressings, and on this song, the best they could come up with for one of the lines near the end was "I've got flatted feet, now." Jagger insisted he didn't write that line, but couldn't remember what the real line was, so it stuck.
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