Quote
Christian
here are the lyrics (at the bottom of the page)
[www.rollingstonesnet.com]

Toe chart worry? That makes even less sense than "break your heart whirl". I give up. Thanks for the link though.

>> What do you think?

I think thematically this song is closest to Sway,
the line "Did you ever have the feeling baby that you
been here before?" being an echo of "Did you ever wake
up to find, a day that broke up your mind, destroying
your notion of circular time?"

Both songs describe the psychological state known as
derealization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derealization),
most commonly associated with excessive drug use, wherein
everything just feels completely unreal after awhile.

That is why the chorus is self-contradictory. While the
singer is not "lying" or "jiving", neither is he "signifying",
that is, making any kind of sense whatsoever. He's just totally
fukcing out of it.

You may or may not know the feeling.

And so that's why the verses are also self-contradictory
and non-sensical. The singer is both looking out the
window and standing by the door. The girl is both
riding a motorcycle and dead. Both the singer and the
girl are laying on the ceiling...

Obviously, Jagger's extremely slurred delivery gives further
emphasis to this theme.

Think of the song as a sort of "Derealization Blues".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-27 09:52 by twenny revlights.

>> neither is he "signifying", that is, making any kind of sense whatsoever. <<

but signifyin' (in blues culture) doesn't mean "making sense"
it means (roughly) exaggerating/doubletalking

>> but signifyin' (in blues culture) doesn't mean "making sense"
>> it means (roughly) exaggerating/doubletalking

I don't think so. I think in the blues sense "signifying" does mean
making sense, in that it means getting your point across with tricky
language that may fool some but not others (which now that you mention it
very much describes Jagger's writing style in this song and in many others).

This from the blues dictionary:

"Signifying refers to the act of using secret or double meanings of words
to either communicate multiple meanings to different audiences, or to
trick them. To the leader and chorus of a work song, for example, the term
"captain" may be used to indicate discontent, while the overseer of the
work simultaneously thinks it's being used as a matter of respect."

So I think it is true that the blues definition of "signifying" does come
very much into play here, and I appreciate, sssoul, you pointing it out,
but I don't think it changes what I wrote, except to add another purposeful
contradiction to the song. The composer is making sense of his "not
making sense" experience, just like in Sway. He's signifying by trickily
claiming that he's not.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2010-05-27 10:42 by twenny revlights.

I Think it's Mick on piano, at the top of the tune. Then Nicky comes in, but what do I know? I still think it's weird that those old lyrics predict that Jagger would revisit this material.

>>but I do miss your quick repartee
and the smile and the looks on your face<<

I thought it was:
and the smile that lights up your face

>> and the smile that lights up your face <<

yep!
and i think it's "When you ride your motorcycle, baby, in your graveyard world"