I know that the song is a tribute to Angela Davis, but I've also read accounts from people who are disturbed by the "ten little nigg**" line as well as Jagger's forced accent during the free de sweet black slave close.

I don't know much about the history of the lyrics and what they might be satirizing etc. Calling on some Stones historians to put the song and its lyrics in context.

They obviously mocked at the "terminology" of the ratsism. What else could they do making a tribute to Angela Davis?

Thanks stickydion, but I'm not sure that holds up completely. Is speaking in broken English e.g.
"Now de judge he gonna judge her
For all dat he's worth.
Well de gal in danger,
De gal in chains,
But she keep on pushin'
Would you do the same?
She countin' up de minutes,
She countin' up de days,
She's a sweet black angel,
Not a gun toting teacher,
Not a Red lovin' school mom,
Ain't someone gonna free her,
Free de sweet black slave,"

satirizing racism? It's not the rascists who are supposedly talking. Just asking here. I like the song, but it's always confused me a bit.

How can it be racist -- the music is beautiful, and you can't understand a word of the lyrics without a crib sheet.

The "rules" of satire are wide. One might assume the accent that in strictly structural sense doesn not comp[ute, but when taking as a whole drives the point home. I mean, it is aprt of the point that it is exactly Mick Jagger saying it and not someone else. Everyone knows that Jagger is anything but a racist when it comes to black and white, so I guess that has to be takebn inconsideration when listing factors. In other words: it is not just the lyrics, the rap, but also JAGGER writing and singing them.

"...no longer shall you trudge 'cross my peaceful mind."

Not sure I follow that post CD, but I do agree that Jagger is no racist. That's not the point of the post. It's just the curious nature of the lyrics and certain word choices.

Regarding your post, what point is Jagger trying to drive home through the use of the accent?

the "ten little niggers" line (thats the word, for Chrissake, whats the point in deleting it when everyone knows what it says?) isnt Jagger singing in the words of HIS character but in the words of the people who would 'enslave' the subject of the song

Jagger also sings "Luxury" in a faux-Jamaican patois. No one seems to get uneasy about mockery or racism in that (if anything, the idea of Mick Jagger singing a song where he claims hes' poor is more offensive!! LOL) . Nor does anyone get upset at his parody of a Southern accent on "Faraway Eyes"

I dont think at the time this song came out that anyone got 'disturbed' at the delivery. These days people just like to go out of their way to be offended



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-02-14 20:46 by Gazza.

I played this song for an African American History class and the class liked the song and was not offended. It did help that I introduced it as a tribute to Angela Davis.

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the "ten little niggers" line (thats the word, for
> Chrissake, whats the point in deleting it when
> everyone knows what it says?) isnt Jagger singing
> in the words of HIS character but in the words of
> the people who would 'enslave' the subject of the
> song
>
> Jagger also sings "Luxury" in a faux-Jamaican
> patois. No one seems to get uneasy about mockery
> or racism in that (if anything, the idea of Mick
> Jagger singing a song where he claims hes' poor is
> more offensive!! LOL) . Nor does anyone get upset
> at his parody of a Southern accent on "Faraway
> Eyes"
>
> I dont think at the time this song came out that
> anyone got 'disturbed' at the delivery. These days
> people just like to go out of their way to be
> offended
>
>
>
> Edited 1 times. Last edit at 02/14/06 20:46 by
> Gazza.
The song came back to mind when someone posted a live version of it the other day. I love the song, always have, it actually reminds me of someone special in my past. I did some googling out of curiousity to see if the lyrics caused any controversy, and found some examples of people who were bothered by the lyrics--though their reasoning seemed shallow--and most who weren't.

As I said, I was just trying to get some context. Deleting the word was a spur of the moment thing, though, you're right, it's the lyric, so a rather silly deletion on my part.

Jagger singing in the words of people who would "enslave" the song? A stretch, I think, but better than anything I can come up with.

LOL..well I gave it my best shot!

Gazza, a footnote--do you think Jagger would dare sing that lyric today? Of course, with the unimaginative setlist they wouldn't do a song like SBA anyway, but I can't imagine him singing that line now. He said he'd never write a song like BS again without "censoring himself". And look what he did while singing Some Girls live. Time marches on, and there's more fear of offending. We're the worse for it, I think. Thanks for your perspective.

No, I dont

Wimp that he is, he changed the lyrics of "Some Girls" in '99 to "White girls just wanna get fúcked all night" and you can bet that "Sweet NeoCon" will never see a performance on a stage in the US (not that I'd complain too much about that from a musical point of view)

The latter day Stones are too conscious of political correctness and of offending Corporate America, who are bankrolling their tours.

Its a long way from 1978 when he answered the criticism of the lyrics of "Some Girls" by people who ignored the fact that the whole thing was tongue in cheek with the glorious riposte of "fúck them if they cant take a joke"...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-02-14 21:28 by Gazza.

He must start drugs again

i seem to recall more sniffing over referring to Angela Davis as a pin-up girl than over any perceived "racism" in the song -
but even that might be someone's retrospective reflection, not so much anyone's reaction at the time.
i think Gazza's spot on about certain lines being the "voice" of the enslavers; so it's not the same viewpoint in every line - that's allowed!
and the use of dialect isn't anything new for Jagger, and there's nothing disparaging about it - au contraire.


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

I would guess, that African-American women would find Some Girls terribly offensive. The racism just seems nasty and gratuitous -- offending people seems to be the sole point of the song.

Brown Sugar on the other hand, is so evocative, and just cooks so hot, that the lyrics come across as dirty and sexy rather than offensive -- just like the blues should!! I have a friend who is African American and went with me to see the Stones at SBC and loved it. I'll ask her what she thinks of Brown Sugar -- maybe I'll buy her the t-shirt.

anyne remmeber the SNL skit where Garret Morris does an editorial on the news, feins anger about the line in Some Girls and finishes up by saying, "I have just one question for Mr. jagger... where are all these black girls?"

>> I would guess, that African-American women would find Some Girls terribly offensive. ...
offending people seems to be the sole point of the song. <<

well but it was equal-opportunity offensiveness! i truly don't see anything worse about that line than the rest of the song.
sure it's offensive - and it's a riot - plus it's a good track! and that's just what the Rolling Stones do,
and you can love 'em for it or love 'em in spite of it, or ... hm, i don't see any other options. :E


"What do you want - what?!"
- Keith

drbryant Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I would guess, that African-American women would
> find Some Girls terribly offensive. The racism
> just seems nasty and gratuitous -- offending
> people seems to be the sole point of the song.
>


theres about 10 or 20 races or nationalities who get lampooned in that song

I dont recall too many Italian or French women taking offence at being satirised as materialistic

Rooster is golden brown and every black girl he spoken to thought'''Black girls just wanna get @#$%& all night..just dont have that much jam''!!!was fun!!!And so thinks roost...Sweet b Angel is a pro Bl Panthers song!

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I dont recall too many Italian or French women
> taking offence at being satirised as
> materialistic
>


cuz they couldn't understand the lyrics

(just kidding)

Hey Gazza, actually Jagger said, "look, just because we've run into a lot of horny black chicks......."

Gazza Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I dont recall too many Italian or French women
> taking offence at being satirised as
> materialistic

You have to admit that there's a big difference between being called materialistic and essentially being called a slut who wants to get fcuked all night.

Shawn20 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Gazza, actually Jagger said, "look, just
> because we've run into a lot of horny black
> chicks......."

The way I heard it was that Jagger (at the behest of Ahmet Ertegun) made an attempt to be politic and handled the controversy by saying: "We're sorry if people mistook our parody of racial stereotypes for anything other than a satire..." (not a verbatim quote, but pretty close). At the same time, his candid response is said to have been: "If they can't take a joke, it's just too @#$%& bad."

In the midst of the delicate situation, Keith--characteristically free of pretense--crashed the party verbally: "I guess it's just that Mick and I have met some extra-horny black chicks..."