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So we had a request ...


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... and we don't do requests. If someone wants us to play a specific song (Dancing Queen, Summer Of 69, Do You Wanna Touch Me) we always say that we play what's in our setlist. End of.

 

Except that this was a private party in a remote village up in the hills (seriously) and they wanted us to play Brown Sugar.

 

So we explained that we'd stopped playing that song around the time of Covid because it was Politically Incorrect.

 

So they explained exactly where we could shove Political Correctness.

 

So we played the song for the first time in well over four years, and obviously with no rehearsal or refresher. 

 

Nailed it. 😎

 

We may do it again ...

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I was at the back with my tablet, and as soon as I heard the opening chords I braced myself for giving the band a lot of subtle help via the sound engineering in case it ended up being a mighty car crash. But yay, it didn't! :D

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Spotify tells me it gets over 100,000 plays a day and it's been played nearly 243 million times. 

 

Does anyone really care whether the narrative aligns with today's world view; life's too short and people are too often offended.  Just read the lyrics (first time), it's storytelling, nothing more.  There's a whole lot worse (and less intelligent lyrically) out there; have a look at 'Stupid Hoe' by Nicki Minaj.

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1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

Spotify tells me it gets over 100,000 plays a day and it's been played nearly 243 million times. 

 

Does anyone really care whether the narrative aligns with today's world view; life's too short and people are too often offended.  Just read the lyrics (first time), it's storytelling, nothing more.  There's a whole lot worse (and less intelligent lyrically) out there; have a look at 'Stupid Hoe' by Nicki Minaj.

Isn't that a song about gardening, covered by Monty Don, from his album, 'Live at Chelsea'?

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Normally the requests I get are physically impossible. Have you seen the size of a double bass scroll?

 

Once when I had a gig with an Elvis tribute, a guy came up to us and asked if we would do a request, and could we please play 'Blossom Ar$ehole' .

Blank looks all round. "Sorry, we don't know that one" .

"You must do. It was one of his greatest ever hits".

"Can you sing us the first few bars?"

"Weel Blossom Ar$ehole what's wrong with me, I'm itchin like  a man on a fuzzy tree ... "

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On 21/05/2024 at 10:02, pete.young said:

Normally the requests I get are physically impossible. Have you seen the size of a double bass scroll?

 

Once when I had a gig with an Elvis tribute, a guy came up to us and asked if we would do a request, and could we please play 'Blossom Ar$ehole' .

Blank looks all round. "Sorry, we don't know that one" .

"You must do. It was one of his greatest ever hits".

"Can you sing us the first few bars?"

"Weel Blossom Ar$ehole what's wrong with me, I'm itchin like  a man on a fuzzy tree ... "

Like the guy at the Stevie Wonder concert.Shouts to Stevie "Stevie play a jazz chord" Stevie plays a couple on his keyboard but the guy shouts back "No! A jazz chord Stevie!" Stevie gets exasperated and shouts out "I dont know any more" The guy goes "Sure you do,You know ''A Jazz Chord,to say, I lovvvvvve you"

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14 hours ago, squire5 said:

Like the guy at the Stevie Wonder concert.Shouts to Stevie "Stevie play a jazz chord" Stevie plays a couple on his keyboard but the guy shouts back "No! A jazz chord Stevie!" Stevie gets exasperated and shouts out "I dont know any more" The guy goes "Sure you do,You know ''A Jazz Chord,to say, I lovvvvvve you"

Or the other guy at the Cliff Richard concert who shouts "Hey Cliff,sing 'Itchy F4nny'.Cliff ignores him so he tries again."Cliff,give us 'Itchy F4nny mate".Cliff loses it and shouts back "I dont do any songs like that.Now stop asking" Guy goes "Sure you do,'Itchy F4nny,we dont talk anymore'.That one!"

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Hm. I always thougth Brown Sugar was a thinly veiled reference to heroin...

 

See also Golden Brown by the Stranglers, Mr Brownstone by GnR, Mr Brown by Bob Marley ad infinitum....

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At the end of my last ever gig with my originals sludge metal band, someone asked us to play Millionaire by Queens Of The Stone Age. At this point we were half packed away plus we don't know how to play the song plus we don't do covers. Plus we were set up two whole tones too low (the song has lots of open string based riffs). Plus we had to get off the stage so the headliner could set up. Apparently none of those excuses were good enough and we were unreasonable. 

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Not even the Stones play it anymore. 

 

Jagger said he wasn't even sure what he was thinking when he wrote it and certainly wouldn't have written it today.

 

The world moves on, there are better songs. Some even have more than 3 chords. 

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Posted (edited)

Couldnt disagree more with everything said negatively about Brown Sugar, and that Jagger, who dont forget was one of the greatest proponents of the Blues, but who has become a puppet of the establishment, is now buckling under the woke political pressure too is appalling, silly man.  What, so no one is gonna look at any Picasso anymore? etc etc.

Brown Sugar is a stunningly original piece of well written hard hitting rock and the lyrics tell a story. Thats it they tell a story. We have become so caked in this modern idea that nobodys feelings are to be hurt by anything that anyone says that we have become blind to what makes us human.. ie Flawed. Flawed and endlessly capable of all sorts of healthy crap. Yet the modern narrative is to try to pretend that we are not like that, that we must be fluffy, safe, gentle, and ultimately.......dead. 

Edited by diskwave
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9 minutes ago, diskwave said:

Yet the modern narrative is to try to pretend that we are not like that, that we must be fluffy and safe and gentle. Its nonsense.

 

The modern narrative is to accept the world moves on, regularly, unending, and to try and grasp on to the past is futile and leaves you bitter, old and resentful.

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Mick Jagger had his own doubts about it thirty years ago:
 

Quote

Interviewer: This is one of your biggest hits, a great classic, radio single, except the subject matter is slavery, interracial sex, eating pussy . . .

Mick Jagger: [Laughs] And drugs. That's a double-entendre, just thrown in.

I: Brown sugar being heroin?

MJ: Brown sugar being heroin and --

I: And pussy?

MJ: That makes it . . . the whole mess thrown in. God knows what I'm on about on that song. It's such a mishmash. All the nasty subjects in one go.

I: Were you surprised that it was such a success with all that stuff in it?

MJ: I didn't think about it at the time. I never would write that song now.

I: Why?

MJ: 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."

-- interview in Rolling Stone magazine, 1995

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4 hours ago, diskwave said:

Jagger, who dont forget was one of the greatest proponents of the Blues, but who has become a puppet of the establishment


I once tried to park outside Tesco on the high street but Mick Jagger pointed out it was a clearway between 8:00am and 4:30pm, Monday through Saturday and, as it was 2:45pm on a Thursday, I was not allowed to park there.

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10 hours ago, Doctor J said:

I once tried to park outside Tesco on the high street but Mick Jagger pointed out it was a clearway between 8:00am and 4:30pm, Monday through Saturday and, as it was 2:45pm on a Thursday, I was not allowed to park there.

 

What is it with Jagger and Tescos? The man's obsessed. Wrote both Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Shopping Late at Tescos and You Can't Always Get What You Want (From the Deli Counter) about the place.

 

15 hours ago, TimR said:

The modern narrative is to accept the world moves on, regularly, unending, and to try and grasp on to the past is futile and leaves you bitter, old and resentful.

 

The world moves on with Putin, Trump, Gaza, Houthis, Boko Haram. Think I'll chill out and stick Brown Sugar on.

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20 hours ago, TimR said:

The modern narrative is to accept the world moves on

 

 

No this is incorrect .

 

The modern narrative is to change the past, so that it adheres to today's standards. So for example, books which are edited and have content changed or removed (Flemming; Dahl; Blyton etc).

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Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

 

 

No this is incorrect .

 

The modern narrative is to change the past, so that it adheres to today's standards. So for example, books which are edited and have content changed or removed (Flemming; Dahl; Blyton etc).

 

Books have always been edited. The dictionary is changed every year. Words added and removed. Check out the revisions and versions of the Bible.

 

No one has removed Brown Sugar. You can still buy it, listen to it, play it.

 

Last time I played it at a gig, along with some other Stones numbers, we were asked if we could play some modern music. 5 years on we have a completely different set of material.

 

Brown Sugar was written in 1960s. It's nearly 60 years old. It's a bit like expecting me to have been listening to songs recorded in the 1920s when I was a teenager. 

 

 

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