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liddas

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Doxa
This is what I asked and speculated here ten years ago:

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Doxa


Any idea what Angela Davis might think about the song?

I always thought that she might be more offended due to feminist reasons than racial for "Sweet Black Angel"... For Mick all the females seem to be just "little gals"...

- Doxa

Since then I had a chance to see her in one conference in where she was a key note speaker. I really wanted to ask that personally from her, but, you know, I chickened out... she was such a charismatic academic superstar, and so sharp and serious about the subjects in matter, so even in informal circumstances, as people were discussing with her about the relevance of Marxist theory or Herbert Marcuse to recent issues in social injustice or whatever, I just couldn't come up with a question about what she likes of or thinks about one pop song... I guess no one has ever been able to... With her that sounds just so damn irrelevant... She is so serious...

- Doxa

You never know!

My mother is a huge classic music fan and abitué of the Conservatorio of Milano

Years ago she dragged me there to see the viola superstar Yuri Bashmet.

After the concert, we went backstage to greet the Maestro.

A small crowd was ardently discussing with Bashmet the most subtle nuances of the Shostakovich piece that had been performed that night.

"Maestro, I want you to meet my son. He has a huge passion for music"

"Great, what kind of music do you like?"

I didn't know what to say!!

"Ah, he loves the Stones" said my mother.

"The Stones? Great!! I LOVE the Stones!!" said Bashmet with a huge smile.

From there on the conversation moved from Shostakovich to Keith ...

C

What a beautiful experience! I had similar encounters, but not even close to yours with Mr. Bashmet! I know how you must have felt that moment (and possibly even now)

>>Any idea what Angela Davis might think about the song?

>I always thought that she might be more offended due to feminist reasons than
>racial for "Sweet Black Angel"... For Mick all the females seem to be just
>"little gals"...


This ^^^^^^^^


No way Ms Davis would have appreciated the song. It reeks of sexism as much as racism. The only reason the stones were writing a song about Angela Davis, if indeed that is whom it is about, is because she was a cute black chick who Jagger would love to get in bed. Political freedom fighters like Ms Davis don't and especially didn't appreciate that sort of thing in the least bit. It is about servitude and victimization and not only that, the lyrics do not fit her stance or being at all, its all about some cute black chick with a typical empty head. The exact opposite of Angela Davis (well, she was cute) and everything she stood for.

jb

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jbwelda
>>Any idea what Angela Davis might think about the song?

>I always thought that she might be more offended due to feminist reasons than
>racial for "Sweet Black Angel"... For Mick all the females seem to be just
>"little gals"...


This ^^^^^^^^


No way Ms Davis would have appreciated the song. It reeks of sexism as much as racism. The only reason the stones were writing a song about Angela Davis, if indeed that is whom it is about, is because she was a cute black chick who Jagger would love to get in bed. Political freedom fighters like Ms Davis don't and especially didn't appreciate that sort of thing in the least bit. It is about servitude and victimization and not only that, the lyrics do not fit her stance or being at all, its all about some cute black chick with a typical empty head. The exact opposite of Angela Davis (well, she was cute) and everything she stood for.

jb

If it is whom the song is about? There's zero reason to doubt it. They've been clear who it's about.

Can you describe how it's sexist? I don't see it. How is it racist? I don't see it.

I also see that you're speaking for Angela Davis' feelings - so you've talked with her about it? You are friends with her? And just how do the lyrics have to "fit her stance" when they're about her being locked up for so long?

I think the original "controversy" about this song was whether it was titled "Sweet Black Angel" or "Black Angel"


Here's a John & Yoko take on her... makes you appreciate what the Stones did.


[www.youtube.com]

Angela, they put you in
prison
Angela, they shot down
your man
Angela, you`re one of the
millions of political
prisioners in the world.

Sister, there's wind that
never dies
Sister, we're breathing
together
Sister, our loves and hopes
forever keep
on moving oh so slowly
in the world.

Angela, can you hear the
earth is turning?
Angela, the world
watches you.

Angela, you soon will be
returning to your sisters and
brothers of the world.

Sister, you're still a people
teacher
Sister, your word reaches far
Sister, there's a million
different races but we all
share the same future
in the world.

They gave you sunshine
They gave you sea
They gave you everything but
the jailhouse key.
They gave you coffee
They gave you tea
They gave you everything
but equality.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono were poseurs regarding revolution and change. They fit well into what the late author Tom Wolfe called "radical chic". I'm not saying that Lennon and Ono didn't want change in or care about people and the world, but when you look at their antics - for want of a better word - it was about them and what they were doing, "Pay attention to us". But, as I noted earlier, this was part of the seduction of appearing to be a revolutionary in the late 1960s, early 1970s. It was the cool thing to do and pretend to be for many.

ROCKMAN

Yeah, we've all been told in books and articles that the song "is about Angela Davis" even though she is never actually mentioned by name. I think even the Stones knew better. They have plausible deniability on this one if, indeed, they want that. I'm not sure if Mick or Keith ever came out and specifically said "yeah that song's definitely about Angela Davis". After these many years since it's release I think it was very probably inspired by her but the lyrics are generic and vague enough that it could be about any number of black women in prison at the time. It's not even said in the song if the Sweet Black Angel is in the U.S.A. or Great Britain or wherever. There's plenty of room for interpretation. Anyway you look at it though, it's a great f--king song.

And as far as her getting out of prison ..... she obviously had a great lawyer.

SWEET BLACK ANGEL

Exile on Main St. (1972) “This one started as an island-lilt sort of thing when we were in Jamaica. After a while the words ‘Sweet Black Angel’ crept into it, and I realized Mick [Jagger] was writing about Angela Davis, the famous activist who was under arrest at the time. We had never met her, but we admired her from afar. Mick and I made the record and said, ‘That’s very nice,’ but it never seemed to really fit into a Stones show. We played it live only once, and it stuck out like a sore thumb. But anything can happen with the Stones. I’ll throw it in during rehearsal and see what happens. It’s still quite relevant, isn’t it? And that’s unfortunate. This stuff has stayed with us for too long.”

Keith Richards - Harpers Bizarre 2017



ROCKMAN

...just sitting around Stargroves jamming together. What sights and sounds there must have been.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-16 00:47 by TravelinMan.

I was 2years old when Exile came out,so I don’t know the context in which it was written, but were the Stones criticized for the lyrics of Brown Sugar when it was released, and Sweet Black Angel was an attempt to make up for that

Original review of Brown Sugar (Sticky Fingers) from Rolling Stone.
A bit young myself at the time, but don't believe it ever became too controversial until more recent times.
No talk of controversial lyrics in the review, which isn't exactly a great one.

"SIDE ONE
“Brown Sugar”: It begins with some magical raunch chords on the right channel. In the tradition of great guitar intros (“All Day and All of the Night,” “Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown,” and “Satisfaction” itself) it transfixes you: instant recognition, instant connection. Suddenly the electric guitar is joined by an acoustic guitar on the left channel, an acoustic that is merely strumming the chords that the electric is spitting out with such fury. It washes over the electric to no apparent purpose, stripping it momentarily of its authority and intensity. and so, in the first 15 seconds of the albums first cut we are presented with its major conflict: driving, intense, wide-open rock versus a controlled and manipulative musical conception determined to fill every whole and touch every base.
As soon as the voices come on, the acoustic recedes into inaudibility: on “Brown Sugar” wide open rock wins by a hair, but it is a hollow victory. Opening cuts on Stones albums have always been special, fro the early ones — “Not Fade Away,” “Round and Round,” and “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love: — with their promise of rock and roll to come, to the tour de force openings of the later albums — “Symphony for the Devil” and “Gimme Shelter” — which served as overwhelming entrances into a more complex musical world view.
At their best these opening cuts were statements of themes that transcended both the theme itself and the music that was to follow. As I listened to “Sticky Fingers,” for the first time I thought “Brown Sugar” was good, but not that good. I certainly hoped it wasn’t the best thing on the album. As it turns out, there are a few moments that surpass it but it still sets the tone for the album perfectly: middle-level Rolling Stones competence. The lowpoints aren’t that low, but the high points, with one exception, aren’t that high.
As to the performance itself, the chords, harmony, and song are powerful stuff. The instrumentation however, is too diffuse, occasionally undermining the vocals instead of supporting them. But when Richards joins Jagger for the last chorus they finally make it home free."
[www.rollingstone.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-16 03:58 by MisterDDDD.

That was done all of them in a room in a circle at the
same time, because there was this one room away from the
main hall that had no furniture in it, with a wooden floor,
quite high ceilings and plaster walls. We wanted to get the sound of the room.

- Andy Johns, engineer



ROCKMAN

Beyoncé and Rihanna?

mmmmmmmm good work there Al ....



ROCKMAN

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mosthigh
The only live version from Fort Worth TX (early show) 24/06/1972:

[www.youtube.com]

The Sound of this live recording is great but the mix isn't. There are better recordings of that song giving an overall Sound impression.

But anyway the song did not reaslly work live, did it?

"Got a sweet black angel
Got a pin up girl
Got a sweet black angel
Up upon my wall"

Literally on the wall in Nellcote:



.................... Villa Nellcôte 1971 ....... Dominique Tarle

Thanks Rockman!

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2020-09-16 14:05 by Doxa.

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Big Al
Beyoncé and Rihanna?

I was taking Sweet Black Angel in a different direction!!!

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VoodooLounge13

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Big Al
Beyoncé and Rihanna?

I was taking Sweet Black Angel in a different direction!!!

Yeah, I figured you were. Agreed, by the way!