Some Girls (Rolling Stones song)

"Some Girls" is the title track of English rock and roll band the Rolling Stone's 1978 album Some Girls. It marked the third time a song on one of the band's albums also served as the album's title.

"Some Girls"
Song by the Rolling Stones
from the album Some Girls
Released9 June 1978
Recorded10 October – 21 December 1977
StudioPathé-Marconi, Paris
GenreRock
Length4:37
Label
Songwriter(s)Jagger/Richards
Producer(s)The Glimmer Twins
Some Girls track listing
10 tracks
Side one
  1. "Miss You"
  2. "When the Whip Comes Down"
  3. "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)"
  4. "Some Girls"
  5. "Lies"
Side two
  1. "Far Away Eyes"
  2. "Respectable"
  3. "Before They Make Me Run"
  4. "Beast of Burden"
  5. "Shattered"

Like "Under My Thumb", "Brown Sugar", and "Star Star", the lyrics to "Some Girls" created controversy because of the way it depicted women. The line "black girls just want to get fucked all night" enraged civil rights activists. In its review of the album, Rolling Stone writer Paul Nelson called it "...a sexist and racist horror..." but added "...it's also terrifically funny and strangely desperate in a manner that gets under your skin and makes you care."[1]

Civil right leader Jesse Jackson met with Ahmet Ertegun, chair of the board of Atlantic Records (the record's distributor). The record company refused to edit the song for future releases and the band issued a statement saying the lyrics actually mocked stereotypical feelings towards women.[2][3] When the Stones performed the song in Martin Scorsese's 2008 movie Shine a Light, however, the line was not included.[4]

The song was played at every concert of the Stones' 1999 North American No Security Tour which concentrated on lesser-known songs from the band's catalogue. During the tour, singer Mick Jagger changed the controversial lines, switching "white girls" and "black girls": "Black girls can be pretty funny, and sometimes they drive me mad; some of you white girls just want to get fucked all night but I just don't have that much jam."

Musically, the song is demonstrative of the unconventional uses of steel guitars heard throughout the Some Girls album, including a droning, phased two-chord groove. The original cut of the song ran some 23 minutes and featured verses Jagger came up with as they went along. Harmonica player Sugar Blue provides some virtuosic blues-style solos on the track.

A performance during the band's 2006 leg of the A Bigger Bang Tour was captured for the 2008 concert film Shine a Light and the accompanying live album.

See also

References
  1. Nelson, Paul. "The Rolling Stones: Some Girls". Roling Stone (9 June 1978). Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  2. Peck, Abe (16 November 1976). "Rolling Stones in Hot Water Over Song Lyrics". Roling Stone. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  3. Humorously, Saturday Night Live cast member Garrett Morris commented on the controversy with a mock-editorial on the show's Weekend Update segment: After giving the impression that he was going to openly criticize the Stones, he quoted a sanitized version of the "Black girls just..." line, then stated "I have one thing to say to you, Mr. Mick Jagger... where are these women?!?"
  4. Mauer, Mark (2 April 2008). "Rolling Stones, Scorsese and Black Girls". LA Weekly. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
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