many stonefans has said in topics here before,jaggers lyrics is childish,lousy and really bad.but what does lyrics mean to you? must there be tousand words in a song?or could thy say it on fifty?the lyrics on stones songs means likely soo much as the melody to me.i think many of the lyrics on stones songs are real genius.so what,s your opinion about that?

It's very up and down with Jagger's lyrics. But the majority is very good IMO.

JumpingKentFlash

I'm French so I don't get a lot of it. But what I do get I really love, as moving words, that could not express better in a verbal dimension what the Stones music is about.
For me the lyrics that ARE childish/stupid and uninspired happen to be just in tune with the whole song concept. I hate You Got Me Rocking (= stones-by-number) and Mixed Emotions (save for the "you're not the only ship adrift on the ocean" line, that fits in nicely), which sounds like a soap opera to me.

The lyrics on Let it Bleed (album) are great and many of his 70s lyrics are too. I think he's good when he doesnt pretend to be Beatles ('66,'67'68).

Even Dylan has his bad days (Under The Red Sky). Micks lyrics do vary but are generally good.

I'd say Mick is a total genius when writing lyrics. Absolutely top class poet. Those childish lyrics are meant to be just childish/funny, but they are childish in a brilliant way. He's the best lyrics writer in rock/pop by a huge margin, Lennon/McCartney are way behind in every aspect.

I think Mick's earlier lyrics were really great. I particuarly like the lyrics to Sympathy For The Devil and Brown Sugar - songs with some historical value.
Unfortunately i feel his lyrics have declined in recent years and become very simplistic and embarrassing.
I don't like him using words like 'butt' and 'ass' in songs - it sounds very cheap and unimaginative.
His lyrics have simplified as the music has become less creative.

I think Jagger is a hugely underrated lyricist, better than Lennon and at his best a match for Dylan. I love witty lines like " Yeah when you call my name, I salivate like a Pavlov dog" and the way his words are often rhythmic perfectly meshing with the dirty guitars (often not as effective when divorced from the music and just read as poetry as they aren't supposed to be poetry).
He can stretch a good metaphor to breaking point eg. Tumbling Dice and be philosophical or reach levels of profundity without seeming pompous or pretentious like Salt Of The Earth.
Although I'd agree his latter work usually does not seem to try so hard as in the glory years it largely remains sharp, economically expressed, funny, insightful and occasionally moving like New Faces.

I've got one line for you: I'll be your knight in shining armour, Riding across the desert on a fine Arab charger...............(eat your hart out Bob Dylan!)

hi.
i think jagger is one of the best.. just look at all his songs from under my thumb, pain it black, ycagwyw, let it bleed, fingertip file, too much blood, flip the switch, saint of me, terrifying to even to that poor song, indian girl...god the guy can sing about anything..

hi again
plus he is a lot smarter than most of the the singer/songwriters out there..
he and keith are big readers... jagger loves history and economics so he can write about anything...even love songs..Ha!