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ProfessorWolf
i don't think the song has any specific overall meaning
but here's my best guess on some of the lyrics
When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on
i assume about the "old men" sending the "young men" to fight in vietnam
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon
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georgie48Quote
ProfessorWolf
i don't think the song has any specific overall meaning
but here's my best guess on some of the lyrics
When the old men do the fighting and the young men all look on
i assume about the "old men" sending the "young men" to fight in vietnam
And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon
I always looked at it in a more "cruel" way, sort of the world upside down.
young men indeed sending old men to war (to clean up their own caused mess ...)
and the mother's meat from tubes of plasticon is merely that the girls eat their mother's meat after that their dead mother's remains had been put through a rince machine and then wrapped in plastic tubes.
Pretty cruel, I agree, but when I heard the lyrics for the first time in 1971, I think it was, (coming down to London to see the movie Performance) and connecting it to the mood in the room where Jagger (Turner) was singing to that bunch of gangsters, I thought it was quite obvious.
The whole song is filled with "cruelty"
... that black man drew his knife ...
... drowned that Jew in Rampton ...
descriptions of people:
... smaller piece of stick ...
... a part that's not screwed on ...
... the misbred grey executive ...
... daughter licks policemen's button clean ...
Mick's mind must have been somewhat in a nasty mood in those days ... which is not so strange considering all the sh*t that had happened to him and the Stones as of 1967 ...
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Javadave
Growing up outside Washington D.C., I first remember hearing this version by the original line-up of local favorites The Nighthawks:
[m.youtube.com]
Mark Wenner-Vocals, Harmonica
Jimmy Thackery-Guitar
Jan Zukowski-Bass
Pete Ragusa-Drums
I’d agree that it was written for the scene it was used for in Performance.
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NathanLaze
... that black man drew his knife ...
wasn't it Meredith Hunter at Altamont??
...eating eggs at Sammy's...
Sam (Sammy?) Cutler was the Stones' 1969 tour promoter, isn't it ?
.. drowned that Jew in Rampton ...
wasn't it Brian in his pool ?
...And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon...
food in tubes is usually for spacemen in the spaceship
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rayrad
rampton is a high-security mental hospital - i.e. prison
with the subject matter of 'performance, it could possibly (?) refer to samuel mitchell, the 'mad axeman' - friend of the kray twins - who served time there
and was subsequently murdered at their behest and his body dumped in the english channel
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TheflyingDutchman
I don't know what this song is all about, but the version with Cooder on slide is one of the best studio songs with Jagger on vocals I have ever heard.
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Rocky Dijon
Sammy's Restaurant in San Antonio has been around since the 1940s. The song is a mean-spirited observation that everyone has something to hide. The Spanish-speaking gentleman called Kurt is a suggestion of a German who went to South America after the war. Fixing your business straight is as much about former mobsters going legit as it is about a respectable man with a homosexual past. The Soft Machine reference always amused me. Jagger likely was referencing William S. Burroughs, but Marsha Hunt was married to Mike Ratledge, bass player for the contemporaneous British rock band, The Soft Machine. That band started in Cambridge. Rampton is a suburb of Cambridge. Coincidental? Maybe. The important thing is that Mick paints himself a Satanic figure laughing in his grave, content to know these hypocrites all work for him, and satisfied that he has no illusions about himself and nothing to hide unlike everyone else.
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rayradQuote
NathanLaze
... that black man drew his knife ...
wasn't it Meredith Hunter at Altamont??
...eating eggs at Sammy's...
Sam (Sammy?) Cutler was the Stones' 1969 tour promoter, isn't it ?
.. drowned that Jew in Rampton ...
wasn't it Brian in his pool ?
...And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon...
food in tubes is usually for spacemen in the spaceship
too early, some of those references, aren't they?
MFT was written in 68 - way pre altamont, brian's death and sam cutler tour managing the band
rampton is a high-security mental hospital - i.e. prison
with the subject matter of 'performance, it could possibly (?) refer to samuel mitchell, the 'mad axeman' - friend of the kray twins - who served time there
and was subsequently murdered at their behest and his body dumped in the english channel
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ProfessorWolfQuote
Rocky Dijon
Sammy's Restaurant in San Antonio has been around since the 1940s. The song is a mean-spirited observation that everyone has something to hide. The Spanish-speaking gentleman called Kurt is a suggestion of a German who went to South America after the war. Fixing your business straight is as much about former mobsters going legit as it is about a respectable man with a homosexual past. The Soft Machine reference always amused me. Jagger likely was referencing William S. Burroughs, but Marsha Hunt was married to Mike Ratledge, bass player for the contemporaneous British rock band, The Soft Machine. That band started in Cambridge. Rampton is a suburb of Cambridge. Coincidental? Maybe. The important thing is that Mick paints himself a Satanic figure laughing in his grave, content to know these hypocrites all work for him, and satisfied that he has no illusions about himself and nothing to hide unlike everyone else.
thank you for that
very informative
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NathanLaze
so what about the "circus"
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Rocky Dijon
The Soft Machine reference always amused me. Jagger likely was referencing William S. Burroughs
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dcbaQuote
Rocky Dijon
The Soft Machine reference always amused me. Jagger likely was referencing William S. Burroughs
Yes this. It's obvious Jagger was reading some Burroughs at the time... or Marianne did and Mick pecked through the book(s).
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georgie48Quote
rayradQuote
NathanLaze
... that black man drew his knife ...
wasn't it Meredith Hunter at Altamont??
...eating eggs at Sammy's...
Sam (Sammy?) Cutler was the Stones' 1969 tour promoter, isn't it ?
.. drowned that Jew in Rampton ...
wasn't it Brian in his pool ?
...And the young girls eat their mothers meat from tubes of plasticon...
food in tubes is usually for spacemen in the spaceship
too early, some of those references, aren't they?
MFT was written in 68 - way pre altamont, brian's death and sam cutler tour managing the band
rampton is a high-security mental hospital - i.e. prison
with the subject matter of 'performance, it could possibly (?) refer to samuel mitchell, the 'mad axeman' - friend of the kray twins - who served time there
and was subsequently murdered at their behest and his body dumped in the english channel
Unlike songs like Street Fighting Man (Did everybody pay their dues) and As Tears Go By (As time goes by), the lyrics of MFT were like originally penned in 1968. So some assumptions like Brian's death or Cutler as tour manager can be put aside.
Even the original production of Performance dates from 1968. So references of the lyrics to a period following that year should not be taken seriously.
Nevertheless, the lyrics are a real challenge ...
I personally think the "Ry Gooder" version is a masterpiece