Midnight Rambler.
There is simply no other rock song, post beatles, that comes close..I mean the studio version, not the live one. The contrast with the live version shows what great control and production can do.
The boys are at the top of their game, every part fusing into a snaky, seething, menacing whole. The relentless guitar riff, the harmonica deep and resonating, the sinewy slide guitar, held together by Charley's flawless drumming, beautifully restrained. They avoid going too fast, Charley simply doubling up on the high hat after about 16 bars to increase the tension, and the incredible studio production with just the right amount of echo accentuating the rests and stops as the thing slows down. Mick's hissing and stuttering vocals give the piece a sense of danger and unnervingness that was a premonition of the whole post hippy, pre- Altamont era.
And the lyrics! This is why rap just leaves me cold...

" did you hear about the midnight rambler?
one you never seen before..

Sighin down the wind so sadly
Listen and you'll hear him moan
Talkin bout the midnight rambler
everybody got to go"

This is the definition of rock and roll. the mystery, the danger just under the surface. Even thirty odd years later, I have to pull over if it comes on the radio, my nerves tingling as the echoing harmonica fades out...Elton john? Austen Powers??
Please. anyone who thinks that the sixties and early seventies were like this simply was not ther. It was dangerous and that's all.