One of my favorite Stones songs, it closed outside one of “Beggar’s Banquet” in the days we listen to music on record albums. It is an underrated and rarely played gem (The Stones have never performed it live.) Mick Jagger slithers thorough lyrics that mix the everyday with the surreal, winding up with descriptions of his bandmates with both a sneer and a grin:
Oh the singer, he looks angry
At being thrown to the lions
And the bass player, he looks nervous
About the girls outside
And the drummer, he’s so shattered
Trying to keep on time
And the guitar players look damaged
They’ve been outcasts all their lives
Keith Richards throws off shards of guitar licks that further the edginess of the song with Nicky Hopkins pounding the keys like a madman. The lyrics run long and dense sounding like they’d spent plenty of time listening to Dylans’ mid-60’s albums.
Lean closer and the song pulls one into a cinematic social scene where you’re not sure who is real and who is not. Be careful because you don’t know who’s going to turn violent.
Oh the gangster looks so frightening
With his luger in his hand
But when he gets home to his children
He’s a family man
But when it comes to the nitty-gritty
He can shove in his knife
Yes he really looks quite religious
He’s been an outlaw all his life
If only Mick could finish the damn jigsaw puzzle and make sense of it all.
#Songoftheday #spreadinghappiness #rollingstones #jigsawpuzzle #
YouTube: https://youtu.be/5O8wa3vY1pM?si=Pc7AcMq27Kyh3JI0
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4FzDrD5KndBVrFaVwZToen?si=39194cdd1d9c4221