MUSIC
The Rolling Stones song that prompted Civil Rights groups to call for a boycott
What is rock ‘n’ roll without controversy? At the birth of the whole thing were Elvis Presley’s thrusting hips, which conservative households across America found to be crass and unbecoming. The Beatles’ hair was too long, and their suits were too tight; they didn’t look like young gentlemen should. Heavy metal embraces the devil, rap music insights violence, and this line by The Rolling Stones is offensive.
But, in this case, there may be a little more cause for concern. The Rolling Stones have never been strangers to controversy; it’s something the band has previously enjoyed revelling in, and while it can be rather comical to watch from afar, there are some instances where you have to wonder whether they might have gone too far. This was very much the case on the 1978 hit ‘Some Girls’, a song which stereotypes various races of women in what Jagger continues to insist was meant as a joke.
The Rolling Stones made a conscious effort to brand themselves as studs; it was a life of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. It was a life they were proud of and one they were happy to write about. The song ‘Some Girls’ leans heavily into the former part of that unholy trilogy, as the track sees the band talk about the women they meet in their lives. The title stems from the fact that the band never took the time to learn any of the girl’s names.
There are a lot of lyrics in this song that turned heads in the ’70s, let alone today, but one in particular was “black girls just want to get fucked all night”. The line, expectedly, offended many people. Jessie Jackson, the American civil rights leader who worked with Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), in particular, took umbrage with the lyrics. He had campaigned against the glorification of sex in rock music for some time, and The Rolling Stones had, in his eyes, taken it a step too far with ‘Some Girls’.
He met with Ahmet Ertegun, the head of Atlantic Records, to discuss the song. Ertegun attempted to explain the provocative line. He started by saying that he has no creative control over the band, so there is no current intention to remove the track from rotation or change the lyrics. “Mick assured me that it was a parody of the type of people who hold these attitudes,” he said, “Mick has great respect for blacks.”
In full, the verse reads, “white girls they’re pretty funny / sometimes they drive me mad / black girls just wanna get fucked all night / I just don’t have that much jam”. Another verse which caused some unrest said, “French girls want Cartier / Italian girls want cars / American girls want everything in the world / English girls are prissy / Chinese girls are so gentle.”
Discussing the controversy, the band said: “It never occurred to us that our parody of certain stereotypical attitudes would be taken seriously by anyone who heard the entire lyric of the song in question. No insult was intended, and if any was taken, we sincerely apologise.”
To include parody in music is complex, hence why so few artists give it a try. For a band like The Rolling Stones to put out these lyrics, as people who had already had controversies with the likes of ‘Brown Sugar’ and ‘Under My Thumb’ and who already had a reputation for gratuitous behaviour, it’s hardly a surprise that the lyrics would be taken literally. The group’s attempt at apologising was half-hearted and barely touched upon why it might have upset people.
Jagger continued to dig himself into a hole when attempting, once again, to explain the song. In an interview, he went on a Donald Trump-esque rant, saying, “Most of the girls I’ve played the song to like ‘Some Girls’. They think it’s funny. Black girlfriends of mine just laughed. And I think it’s very complimentary about Chinese girls, I think they come off better than English girls.”
The initial recording of ‘Some Girls’ went on for 24 minutes as Jagger ranted about various different women, as a joke, obviously, over an instrumental. The majority of it had to be cut, and it’s interesting to wonder what else might have been said if “black girls just want to get fucked all night” was fit enough to stay in.
As a tongue-in-cheek band, given the year the song came out and the phase the Rolling Stones were going through as a band, it could be considered that the whole thing was meant as a joke. However, when that joke upsets a large group of people to the point where a civil rights organisation needs to be involved, it’s worth questioning whether or not it needs telling. Through ‘Some Girls’, Jagger learnt something important that many people could do to take a lesson from; sometimes jokes don’t land. Now, if the band ever performs the song live, controversial lyrics are removed, making it essentially an instrumental piece.
