Rolling Stones RETIRE 'Brown Sugar' after criticism over slavery lyrics: Keith Richards says song is about 'horrors' of the trade but he's tired of fighting with people 'trying to bury it' and band will not play it anymore

Daily Mail ^

[algore]

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have announced the Rolling Stones will stop performing hit song Brown Sugar, amid discomfort about the 50-year-old classic's references to slavery.

The band, currently on the road for a 13-date U.S. tour, have not played Brown Sugar - one of their most recognizable songs - since kicking off in St Louis on September 26.

The 1969 song has been a staple of their live show since it came out 50 years ago, and is the second most played song in their catalog after Jumpin' Jack Flash, with 1,136 known performances, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

The last time the Stones played it live was August 30, 2019 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida.

Jagger, asked about the song's absence from their recent set lists, told The Los Angeles Times they had decided to give the song a break.

Keith Richards, who wrote the song with Jagger during a 1969 recording session at the famed Muscle Shoals studio in Alabama, said he was taken aback by the recent discomfort about the lyrics, since it was always a grotesque story about slavery, rape and sexual violence.

'I'm trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is,'

'Didn't they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery?

'But they're trying to bury it. At the moment I don't want to get into conflicts with all of this s***.

'But I'm hoping that we'll be able to resurrect the babe in her glory somewhere along the track.'

It was originally titled 'Black P****,' but Jagger decided before releasing it that the title was too 'nitty-gritty'.

The original phrasing was: 'Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good? / Ah, got me feelin' now for brown sugar, just like a black girl should.'

[algore]

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold,

And she's buying a stairway to Heaven

When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed With a word she can get what she came for*

______________________

*Unless it's Brown Sugar

[Steely Tom]

Lou Reed, you’re next.

[janetjanet998]

what about “paint it black”

[Eddie01]

and the colored girls go...

[dfwgator]

Some Girls

“Black girls just want to get ______ all night!”

[dragnet2]

The Stones has so many hits, no one will miss that one.

[Jim W N]

My understanding was it was about Jagger’s midnight tryst with a black lady who might have been his girl at the time, I’m not sure. Never heard about the “slavery” thing, but the Left just keeps on regardless of the truth of the matter.

[Trumpisourlastchance]

Under My Thumb will be banned. Male domination of women.

[Jim W N]

Probably my favorite Stones song.

[Eddie01]

Rolling Stones

CANCELLED

[Quentin Quarantino]

They should retire and “spend some Time together”.

Are they going to quit performing the disco one about Black girls just wanna get ******** al night?

Love the Stones but they’ve become a bit stale and too trendy.

They should have the nerve that Clapton or Chappelle have.

Disappointing.

[Fester Chugabrew]

Practiced that tune in a garage band back in the day. Probably played it more times than the Stones. Sure seemed like it.

[gr8eman]

...which is exactly why they invented RETIREMENT!

[gundog]

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
Sold in a market down in New Orleans
Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright
Hear him whip the women just around midnight

[Fiji Hill]

Here's the first verse of "Brown Sugar":

Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields;
Sold in the market down in New Orleans.
Scarred old slaver knows he's doing all right.
Here him rape the women just about midnight.

[untenured]

Sorry, that’s ridiculous, and I say this as a longtime fan of the Stones.

The first lyrics are “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.”

It’s not about Mick Jagger’s girlfriend. The song is a half-century old, but the lyrics are what they are.

[dfwgator]

Last year, the Rolling Stones album “Some Girls” was attacked by black leaders as being racist and it seems that time has not diminished the furor over it, as it was recently the subject of a speech delivered by the Reverend Jesse Jackson at an event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s desegregation decision. Here to comment is Update’s token sociologist, Garrett Morris. …

[Polite applause for a bespectacled Garrett Morris who looks dapper and dicty in a suit and tie.] Garrett Morris: [dignified, dripping with snooty condescension] Now, I’d like to speak about the subject of a certain Mick Jagger – of the Rolling Stones. … And I’m going to talk about the song he sang — a song in which he sings these very words: “Black girls – just want to have sex – all night long.” …

Now, Mr. Jagger, there is only one question I want to ask you — Jaggs. … And you better have the answer, man, you better have the answer, since you have besmirched the character of black women. Therefore, here is my question, Jaggs. [pause, takes off eyeglasses, suddenly drops the pose, pleading] Where are all of these black broads, man? …[huge cheers and applause] Hey, like, where ARE they, baby? You got any phone numbers for me, baby? …Please send ’em to me. [puts glasses back on, dignified again] Thank you. … [enthusiastic applause]

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

I guess this one's next on the chopping block:

Foxy Shazam: I Like It

[proxy_user]

There’s no point to Stones music unless it’s bad. Let’s cue up Dead Flowers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPInSfh6H4

If that’s not decadent, I don’t know what is. Mick Taylor is flying, and I don’t mean the guitar playing.

[dragnet2]

But they're trying to bury it. At the moment I don't want to get into conflicts with all of this s***.

Even with Richards brain, he can clearly see this.