Hey, gang — I need some help with some Stones lyrics. I cued up a bunch of trackssss from across their career — nothing too obscure — and wrote down what I heard, starting right at the top of each tune. But Mick was pretty much incomprehensible, so I stopped transcribing before I hit the choruses. Which was pretty stupid, because now I don’t remember which songs these are. Can you help ID the tunes? Once I get the song names, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to figure out what the heck Mick is yelling about. Thanks.
1.
Yeah, once papa cold when I was crazy spade
Gear New York’s lanky legs
I saved my money, I took a plane
Ever I go seems the same
2.
I’m a little bit clean of mulcher
All my friends are cultures, snot feelers too
3.
When your walrus is rough
Satan’s glove
I been browned in your love
You got a front door blue, yeah
I’m from the same one that you, yeah
Oh, I mock the helm mop blues
4.
Break me five, big me down, me runny, know my way around (assy Choo cha!)
Pig me pile, ping me dan, beat me run-in, beat me on the ground
5.
No git, can’t sleep, wing up, no sleep, sky diver insider, slip brooch, sky dang
Moon bed lover, got no time on feen
One less sucker bare freak on the soul scene
Oh, for bid nay oh, git stand
6.
Made me think of Percy
All the kind of worsen
Make me fer the cattle on thang
Baby, Baby
Doe these the jews in a frown
7.
Reb troll up the cold town bully
Come on bend my hand
Riff so yo you braille buddy
Briss so muss so pram
Bray buss every lane granny you and stay
But I lost a lot of girl over you
2. Monkey Man
6. Tumblin Dice
5. Sky Diver is the key. That must be Casino Boogie from Exile. You could have strapped me to the Marathon Man chair and I wouldn’t have been able to give you that song title without looking it up. And I love Exile.
cdm and Chick — you are both correct! Now have some fun; cue up those trackssss and sing along with my lyric sheet. You’ll find it’s quite accurate!
1. is Street Fighting Man, yes?
7. Turd On the Run?
Meanwhile, what is more misogynistic? For me to be singing along with the lyrics, or to be completely distracted by the 3-D house of body paint knockers in the video?
(Spoken in best Alex Trebek Canadian): Oooh, Oats, no, I’m sorry. “Street Fighting Man” is incorrect.
cdm, you are CORRECT on number seven!
Why is it misogynistic to be doing either of those things?
You’re right, it isn’t. Back to the video!
Robert Fripp sings! Those silly performances those two have been posting help make up the sliver of a silver lining that COVID-19 has brought about.
As for this game, I choose to not decipher the real songs. In some cases, the misheard lyrics are better than the originals.
I for one am very fond of the exclamation “Assy choo Cha!” — which is exactly what Mick shout-whispers in number four above. I think I’ll take to using it, too. Assy choo cha!
… and I prefer my interpretation of the lyrics to track three, as well.
1 is When the Whip Comes Down.
2 is Monkey Man.
3 is Soul Survivor.
4 is Fingerprint File.
5 is Casino Boogie.
6 is Tumblin’ Dice.
7 is Turd on the Run.
Maybe I’ll play Exile tonight!
I had to wait for 2KMan to chime in before posting clues. You can see why. You are CORRECT on all counts! Interesting to me how much hate we been feelin’ for Mick’s blackface routine, while still adoring Exile, which — my prep work for this silly game confirms it — is the blackfacey-est album in their canon. It’s almost comical how thick he rubs the burnt cork on, but — well, we still love Exile. Don’t we?
Assy choo-cha!
Of course we still like Exile. It’s the greatest thing that ever happened!
Been a lot of Stones discussion here lately, even for RTH! I thought I’d call your attention to this thread and particularly one post I found interesting, it begins here:
https://twitter.com/SotoAlfred/status/1403039020444225541
“So…thirty-eight (!) years later what do we think of the Stones’ “Undercover of the Night” as political statement, sound, demonstration of Jagger’s contempt for vowel sounds, etc.”
I hadn’t listened to the song in eons, it was better than I gave them credit for at the time, and I now recognize a large number of studio tricks that provide much of the ear candy in the tune. But it was this post that made me think:
“Probably my favorite Stones single. Crazy to think it was 83 since it basically laid out the template for INXS to become huge stars with around the time of “Listen Like Thieves” and “Kick” a couple years later.”
I never would have come up with this myself, but damn if it doesn’t seem spot-on.
WOW, “Undercover of the Night” IS the template for INXS! Amazing call!
Now, I think I need to find some time to compare the “Undercover of the Night” video to a number of images The Clash was sending out in their final years. Which band was more practiced in guerilla warfare?
Mick also did a west Indian variation on the blackface routine. Sweet Black Angel and Luxury are good examples. He’s generally more understandable when he does this, partly because he uses ‘primitive’ English. It’s totally unconscionable, but I still love those songs. “Make a million for de Texans, twenty dollar me.”
Quick off-topic observation: I heard a Pearl Jam song in the car this weekend and have decided that Eddie Vedder has the single most indecipherable singing voice in rock. He’s just a braying donkey of vowel sounds.