Malcolm Henry
Since we have no idea what will get people pissed off in the next 16 seconds, The Rolling Stones are taking a tune out of their concert rotation to proactively appease those who will just move on to something else to be offended about.
There is no end to their insufferable actions; so this just saves cancelers some time — and the Stones a lot of headaches — but it ultimately only further empowers these people.
Anyways… ‘Brown Sugar’ is the second-most played Rolling Stones song in their catalog –being plated live 1,136 times, second to only ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,’ according to setlist.fm.
“We’ve played ‘Brown Sugar’ every night since 1970,” Keith Richards told the LA Times.
“At the moment I don’t want to get into conflicts with all of this shit. But I’m hoping that we’ll be able to resurrect the babe in her glory somewhere along the track.”
The Stones have not played the song on their current tour, after acknowledging that the classic has been removed from their setlist.
Here is where it takes a turn in my tone. They probably should have made this move a little earlier… the song is pretty racist. It is certainly out dated…
For those that didn’t have good parents that raised them on The Stones, you may not have heard the tune… but the first verse depicts slaves being sold and beaten in Louisiana, and includes a references to a “slaver” who whips “women just around midnight.”
Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in the market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Its chorus also portrays a non-consensual sex between master and a female slave.
Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot
Lady of the house wonderin’ when it’s gonna stop
House boy knows that he’s doing alright
You shoulda heard ’em just around midnight
In the following verse, it describes the abuse suffered by slaves on a plantation. Mick Jagger ends the tune with the line, “How come you taste so good … just like a black girl should.”
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good, baby?
Ah, come down, brown sugar
Just like a young girl should, yeah
I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
How come you, how come you taste so good?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
Just like a, just like a black girl should
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
Okay… so it is 100% out of date and …. yeah, offensive.
It is also not news that is lost on the band.
“I never would write that song now,” Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1995. “I would probably censor myself. I’d think, ‘Oh God, I can’t. I’ve got to stop. I can’t just write raw like that.’”
Richards says that he hears the song differently.
“I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is,” he said. “Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it.”
Okay, maybe they needed to shelve this one.
Cancelers, you got this one.
