864 The Rolling Stones Under Cover
I now have a music page
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This is one of the best Stones’ songs from the 80s. And in true Stones fashion, it was controversial, since it appeared to glorify violence. It probably does so, it depends entirely on one's reading of the video, which is a mini movie (great song, though).
Myself, I don't l care too much for this sort of music video, I prefer live recordings of an artist and their song. In this case, instead of it glorifying violence I rather take it as a critique of criminal activities of the government and gangsters in South America (maybe I'm too easy on the Stones) ...
The promo opens on a hotel complex. American tourists are having a good time grooving to the Stones’ music while militiamen patrol the rooftops and streets. Jagger as the journalist (white knight in a Panama hat and very bad stick-on mustache) watches as Keith and his gang of masked vigilantes or maybe revolutionaries or maybe death squad or maybe just a rock ‘n’ roll group on the spur of some internal wranglings (take your pick) sneak into the hotel and kidnap one of the hotel guests or rather kidnap Mick Jagger watching Mick Jagger on TV. Journo Mick watches kidnapped Mick being spirited away by Keith and co. who all drive off in what looks like a military vehicle straight past a bunch of soldiers kicking the shit out of people down on their luck.
Journo Mick makes his way to kidnapped Mick’s hotel room where he finds a woman hiding under the bed covers (ya see what they did there?). Anyway, one thing leads to another, and journo Mick and his girl under the covers watch an execution and then go off (via the police department) to rescue kidnapped Mick. A shoot-out ensues in a candle-lit church—nothing worse than what any five-year-old could see on The A-Team—and kidnapped Mick is saved. Poor old journo Mick dies from a bullet wound.
What it’s saying, what it’s actually about, is none too clear. It’s a dilettante’s take on Burroughs and the criminal activities of government’s and hoodlums in South America. At worst, it might make a viewer go, “Wow, South America looks a fun place to have a party.” At best, it would get the kids talking about politics and shit.
Anyway, this is a rollicking story on Dangerous Minds … I have an essay THE ROLLING STONES in my book en.light.en.ment
“How to stay relevant. It’s a question we all face at some point in life. Mick Jagger was thinking about staying relevant. It was 1983. Punk had come and gone. New Wave was still a thing. Electronica and the New Romantics were still fashionable. Where did a rock ‘n’ roll band like the Stones fit into the mix?
"Jagger was going through what Keith Richards calls “Lead Vocalist Syndrome.” The point where a band’s singer thinks he/she is bigger, better, and more important than the rest of the group.
did Richards really want to shoot Jagger?
Richards was a naughty boy, what with all his gunplay
"Richards had
quit heroin. He was clean. After years of fucking around, Richards was back and
wanted to take up his fair share of the burden Jagger had been carrying. But
Jagger had control of the Rolling Stones and wasn’t going to give Keith an
inch. “Shut up, Keith, that’s an idiotic idea,” was how Jagger dismissed
Richards."
“Undercover of
the Night” is a classic Stones’ track. A brilliant vocal, a great guitar riff,
and a memorable hook. It was Jagger’s song, as Richards later recalled:
“Mick had this
one all mapped out, I just played on it. There were a lot more overlays on the
track because there was a lot more separation in the way we were recording at
the time.”
Undercover
of the Night
The
Rolling Stones
Hear the screams from Center 42
Loud enough to bust your brains out
The opposition's tongue is cut in
two
Keep off the streets 'cause you're
in danger
One hundred thousand disparos
Lost in the jails in South America
Curl up baby
Curl up tight
Curl up baby
Keep it all out of sight
Undercover
Keep it all out of sight
Undercover of the night
The sex police are out there on the
streets
Make sure the past laws are not
broken
The race militia has got itchy
fingers
All the way from New York back to
Africa
Curl up baby
Keep it all out of sight
Curl up baby
Sleep with all out of sight
Curl up baby
Keep it all out of sight
Undercover
Undercover
Undercover
Keep it all out of sight
Undercover of the night
All the young men they've rounded up
Sent to camps back in the jungle
And people whisper, people
double-talk
At once their fathers act so humble
All the young girls they have got
the blues
They're heading on back to Center 42
Keep it undercover
Keep it out of sight
Keep it undercover
Keep it out of sight
Undercover
Keep it out of sight
Undercover
Keep it out of sight
Undercover of the night
Down in the bars, the girls are
painted blue
Done up in lace, done up in rubber
The john's are jerky little G.I.
Joe's
On R&R from Cuba and Russia
The smell of sex
The smell of suicide
All these things I just can't keep
inside
Undercover
Keep it all out of sight
Undercover of the night
Undercover of the night
Undercover of the night
Undercover of the night
Undercover
Undercover, undercover the night
Songwriters: Keith Richards / Mick Jagger