"NEW YORK (AP) — They may not have flashed any body parts — except for Mick Jagger's well-toned stomach — but the Rolling Stones made ABC glad editors were on duty for the Super Bowl halftime show.

The censors had their way with the Stones' lyrics, changing the words to Satisfaction and Start Me Up.
By Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images

Two sexually explicit lyrics were excised from the rock legends' performance Sunday. The only song to avoid the editor was (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, a 41-year-old song about sexual frustration.

In Start Me Up, the show's editors silenced one word, a reference to a woman's sexual sway over a dead man. The lyrics for Rough Justice included a synonym for rooster that the network also deemed worth cutting out.

ABC was the first network to impose a five-second tape delay on the Super Bowl, although it said the changes to the Stones' show were made by the NFL and its producers. The sensitivity no doubt reflects a lingering reaction to Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction two years ago.

The Stones probably didn't mind, either. It brought a little rock 'n' roll danger to the ultimate "safe" gig and — if they're lucky — it distracted attention from their mediocre show.

Jagger, at age 62, is still a force of nature, strutting and dancing across a stage designed as a replica of their famed wagging tongue logo. The band's performance felt ragged — they seemed just warming up during the opening Start Me Up, and a three-song set affords no such luxury.

The Stones chose three tough rockers, including the best song from their well-received recent album and one of their most enduring hits.

"Here's one we could have done at Super Bowl I," Jagger wryly said in introducing Satisfaction.

It was their best, most energetic effort, and ended with Jagger blowing a kiss to the audience. But unlike U2's performance four years ago at the Super Bowl, their set was not an example of a band at its peak rising to the majesty of the event.

Some in Detroit felt the city's rich musical history was snubbed when the Stones were selected, even if the Super Bowl had Motown-themed halftime shows twice in the past 25 years. This year's Motown tribute came before the game."

blah blah....and on it goes.
Hows the line "it distracted attention from their mediocre show."?
Hard to get a fix on how they really were with so many conflicting views.

kyle m

Have you ever lent somebody $20 and never seen them again? It was probably worth it.

how @#$%& sad is it that a rock n roll band get their lyrics censored ?

i'm ashamed

unlike u2,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,im still laughing cracker.

john scialfa

Funny is this our time of neo-conservatism. The Stones is like a time capsule back to the 60's, and somehow it feels that nothing has really changed in 40 years! They cencored The Stones in US television then and they do it now. Well, at least they let "Satisfaction" untouched this time

Did the 60's really ever happened? Are we back in the 50's? It's no wonder that Jagger looks forever young, and refuses to "grow up". Some things just don't change!

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-02-06 13:58 by Doxa.

What did they cut exactly ???

Doc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What did they cut exactly ???


Cum

Cock

this is the same review as in cbs news

that is this is the opinion of an AP writer spreading across different media

not very professional

one is supposed to get facts not opinion from a press agency source (and verify the facts also)

here it is another (not derivative) source


In 3 songs, Stones say a lot

February 6, 2006

BY JIM DEROGATIS POP MUSIC CRITIC

When the Rolling Stones performed on his show in 1967, Ed Sullivan was wary of giving network air time to such lewd hell-raisers, and he famously made them change the lyrics of "Let's Spend the Night Together."

There is no small irony in the fact that four decades later, rock's one-time baddest of the bad boys are viewed as safe, non-controversial entertainment for half-time at the Super Bowl, which is still reeling from a glimpse of Janet Jackson's breast in 2004.

This year, the show got all the controversy out of the way long before kick-off. After pundits pointed out that the median age of the Stones is 62, the NFL abandoned its plan to ban anyone over 45 from dancing in the middle of the tongue-shaped stage.

And when other critics wondered why the producers tapped a bunch of Brits rather than homegrown talent from one of America's greatest music cities, Aretha Franklin quickly was recruited to sing the national anthem, with Aaron Neville and Dr. John helping her out and giving a nod to hurricane-battered New Orleans.

As for the Stones, they delivered a succinct but fiery three-song set that found them doing much more than simply going through the motions.

"Start Me Up" was a predictable opener, and you knew they had to close with "Satisfaction." But if you remember what the song is really about, the latter takes on added resonance in the midst of the year's biggest orgy of advertising excess.

"When I'm watchin' my TV/And that man comes on to tell me/How white my shirts can be ... I can't get no satisfaction," Mick Jagger sang with a bit more sneer than usual. And the tune ended in a wonderfully raucous jam with Ron Wood and Keith Richards playing a minute of sheer punk-rock dissonance and clatter.

In between, the Stones bettered Paul McCartney at last year's show by playing an actual recent song -- "Rough Justice," the strongest from the 2005 album "A Bigger Bang" -- and they even poked a little fun at themselves.

"Here's one we could have played at Super Bowl I," Jagger said in introducing "Satisfaction," originally released in 1965.

The group's biggest cop-out was something that only a hardcore Stones fan noticed, but it was undeniable: Jagger emphatically went mute and cut off the last word of the one mildly licentious line in "Start Me Up." (You know, the one about the dead man.)

Well, at least the Stones are consistent: They were willing to bend for Sullivan in '67, and they happily censored themselves in 2006, lest they offend anyone watching Super Bowl XL -- several hours of men violently hurling themselves at each other in the name of good, wholesome family entertainment.

HEY KYLE!
I was there...
they were great (of course I always think that).
Only those whe know the real lyrics would have noticed and that was IF they could hear! I could not hear for sure what the "dead man" did instead of the real lyric.
How are things "down under"??

lots of hypocrisy in this censorship-grip.....you can hear vagina, penis, breast, bitch on t.v. all the time.....but ya can't hear cock........what a truly screwed-up and hypocritical way of doing things



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-02-06 17:29 by Leonard Keringer.

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-23 01:36 by cirrhosis.

Well to be honest the U2 performance from a couple of years back was really great, if you like the band or not!

I thought the stones performance was great to. Too bad the mix was terrible on my tv and probably of everybody else.
What i don't understand is this. Some revieuws say, and i agree to a certain extend, that the band was just warming up. I would figure, and maybe they did i don't know, that they would play for a good half hour or more back stage just to warm up and get all fired up to the performance. But i also good be that be that they thought "hey we've been doing this for more than forty years we don't need that because we can turn it on when we want to".

Cheers,
Wuudy

Did they actually edit the two words out?

On TV it looked like Jagger just did not say the words. Someone at the rehearsal also said he just dropped the mic instead of singing the two words.

Does anyone know if the words were actually sung and then edited in the 5 second delay?
This sounds like a bunch of BS by the media.

Here in Europe the words weren't cut out. He sang all the "dirty" words.

Cheers,
Wuudy

How could anyone possibly dare to criticise the greatest half-time sideshow the world has ever seen or heard?

Still, at least he didn't draw any cartoons.