March 8: eight women sung by the Rolling Stones
RUBY TUESDAY
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
“Goodbye Ruby Tuesday / who could name you / when you change with each new day / and yet I will miss you.” The verses of this splendid song, with a melody enriched by Brian Jones' flute, paint the feminine portrait of a free, self-determining woman: “'there's no time to waste', I heard her say / grab your dreams before they they slip away.” It is a portrait of the end of the relationship between Keith Richards and Linda Keith. She had a “crush” on a certain Jimi Hendrix, apparently after having him try Richards' Fender Stratocaster in a hotel room.
FACTORY GIRL
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
We are in '68, and you can feel it. The Stones release “Beggars Banquet”, their most political album. The portrait of a female worker, waiting outside the factory at the end of the shift, could not be missing. The theme is that of sensitivity to the social issues of the time, including the exploitation of the popular classes in work relationships. The fresco is about a humble girl, in contrast to the sexy models and icons known as the band's muses. Jagger sings: “I'm waiting for a girl with curlers in her hair / I'm waiting for a girl who has no money anywhere / We ride the bus everywhere.” A girl with knees that are too big, weighed down by fatigue.
WILD HORSES
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
A poignant love song, dedicated to the end of an overwhelming and passionate love. Musically you can hear the country imprint due to the association with Gram Parsons in that period. It seems that the initial inspiration was the birth of Marlon, Keith's son, who composed the melody and its central verse “Wild Horses couldn't drag me away”. According to other hypotheses, those words were the first spoken by Marianne Faithfull after waking up from a coma due to drug intoxication. The text written by Jagger therefore seems to have been addressed to Marianne Faithfull, but the interested party denied this hypothesis. Which remains strongly rooted in the collective imagination of Rollingstonian fans, leaving a space of mystery open.
YOU GOT THE SILVER – ALL ABOUT YOU
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
Two compositions that share some characteristics.
The first, most obvious, is that they are both sung by Keith Richards. The second reason is why, according to genre historiography, both would be dedicated to Anita Pallenberg. There remains a big doubt about the second song, since Richards states in his biography (“Life”) that a song is never inspired by just one thing and that “All About You” would rather focus on the stormy relationships with Jagger: but frankly it doesn't seem completely convincing. The first song dates back to 1969: some time before Keith “stole” his girlfriend, model, actress, sexy icon of the Sixties from his partner Brian Jones. There are those who claim that the composition of “You Got The Silver” had the hand of Anita herself, whose dazzling beauty was immortalized in numerous shots, including the memorable ones of Dominique Tarlé at Villa Nellcote, during her French exile of the Stones on the French Riviera. “You Got The Silve” is an acoustic ballad from “Let it Bleed”. In the adoring lyrics, Keith sings, dazzled by the beauty: “Hey, honey, what's in your eyes? I saw them flashing like airplane lights” and again “you have my heart, you have my soul, you have the silver and the gold”. “All About You” comes many years later, when the tumultuous relationship with Anita was over, sunk by both of them's drug abuse which Keith was trying to free himself from, and marked by wounds that were hard to heal. Like that chilling story of a gunshot that killed a 17-year-old boy who “dated” Anita in his bedroom: it seems he was playing Russian roulette. The text is very bitter, apparently it tells of a finished relationship. Is it really entirely dedicated to Jagger? .
SWEET BLACK ANGEL
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
From the Stones' absolute masterpiece – “Exile On Main Street” – we can extract this pearl of rare beauty, like the woman to whom it is dedicated. This is Angela Davis, a feminist civil rights activist from the African American movement in the USA. She was imprisoned and wrongly accused of murder, and later acquitted. John & Yoko – Plastic Ono Band will also dedicate a tribute to her, recording “Angela” included in the album “Some time in New York City” which will be released in the same year. The protagonist of “Sweet Black Angel” represents a revolutionary icon. With his thick mane of beautiful “Afro” hair.
LADY JANE
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
We are still in the compositional spring of the Jagger/Richards duo. The first albums consisted mainly of blues and rock and roll covers, but the original songs gradually increased in number. In this very sweet piece Brian Jones adds some dulcimer parts that evoke ancient atmospheres. According to some, we would be in 1200, at the court of King Henry III, among wives and lovers. Lady Jane may be inspired by the King's third wife, but perhaps not. For others, the references to a historical novel by DH Lawrence are more evident: “John Thomas and Lady Jane” (a sort of first version of the much better known “Lady Chatterley”. Whatever the inspiration, it is a ballad centered on torments of love, not too far from certain atmospheres of the Beatles' friends and rivals. Lady Jane appears as the dominant woman to whom the protagonist offers himself as a servant of love. The other lovers give way.
MEMORY MOTEL
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
Persuasive and wonderful song that takes us to a motel overlooking the ocean on Long Island. Mick is on tour: usual stories of fans, trips, concerts, groupies. And also of melancholy and lonely nights spent in the motel (shall we pretend to believe him?). He knows and loves a singer and guitarist. A true “road girl”, a free spirit who moves from one location to another aboard her pick-up. The text talks about a breathtaking starry night, spent on the beach with a “girl with hazelnut hair and a slightly upturned nose. According to gossip, the protagonist of the song could be the American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, who also recorded “You're so vain”, a song in which Jagger himself participated as a backing vocalist. But this is just speculation, probably without foundation.
MISS YOU
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
1978: new musical genres such as disco and punk are going crazy.
And, unlike other classic rock bands, the Stones take up the challenge and are not caught unprepared. With the album “Some Girls” they confront new musical trends. And the song “Miss You”, a genre crossover, is a perfect example. The song – which uses Sugar Blue's killer harmonica riff – makes us breathe the atmosphere of the legendary Studio '54 in New York, of which Bianca Jagger was an icon (her famous entry on horseback during the celebration of a birthday of hers). For many (it always remains a hypothesis, without certainty) the verses full of regret that lament the lack of their beloved would be inspired precisely by the crisis of the relationship with his first wife Bianca. Mick will not take long to console himself in the arms of the beautiful Jerry Hall, her future wife, at the expense of poor Brian Ferry to whom she was engaged.
(bonus tracks) SOME GIRLS
Music and lyrics by Jagger-Richards
It is certainly not a piece for mimosa sprigs and attracted several, even very heavy, criticisms from feminist circles. It is a song with a strong ironic imprint, in which Jagger makes fun of certain clichés and stereotypes. One of those songs that must be read in their context and can only be understood in it, because the words are one with the music and with the singing which almost appears like a theatrical “play”, at times playful: “some girls they give me diamonds / others buy me clothes / others give me children I didn't ask for”. And then we move on to an overview of what “certain girls” – according to the text – “want”. There is something for everyone: for the French women who want Cartier or for the Italian women who prefer cars, for the English women who are too modest and unbearable on the phone or for the black girls who would be unstoppable in wanting to make love all night until poor Mick's resources were exhausted.
Texts by Fabio Ruta, author of “The Rolling Stones”, Edizioni Underground?, which we reviewed here.
