Stones drop Brown Sugar from US tour set list

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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    From Wikipedia.

    "Black Betty" was a common term for a bottle of whisky in the borderlands between northern England and southern Scotland; it later became a euphemism in the backcountry areas of the eastern United States. In January 1736, Benjamin Franklin published The Drinker's Dictionary in the Pennsylvania Gazette offering 228 round-about phrases for being drunk. One of those phrases is "He's kiss'd black Betty." Other sources give the meaning of "Black Betty" in the United States (from at least 1827) as a liquor bottle.
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  • DominicDominic Frets: 16013
    mrkb said:
    That song is full of micro aggressions
    That's a new one ......I read another one this morning .."Black Fishing "
    I 'd love to know who actually makes up all these words.......there's a new one every day 
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  • EricTheWearyEricTheWeary Frets: 16255
    Dominic said:
    munckee said:
    Philly_Q said:


    I wonder how Ram Jam are feeling at the moment ?
    Black Betty is a traditional African American song, Betty is usually thought to be a whip. Made famous by Leadbelly long before Ram Jam. There was a campaign to get the Ram Jam version banned at the time it was a hit, sometimes in these discussions it’s as if being offended by something was invented yesterday. 
    Context and interpretation I guess. 
    I thought black Betty was about a musket?
    I thought it was about the Landmines which are called Black Betties......infamous for being spring loaded so that they jump up off the ground a meter high to explode at chest level rather than just blowing a leg off
    It's a song from rural USA in the 1920s so that seems a bit unlikely I'd have thought. 

    There used to be a clothes shop, essentially for Afro-Caribbean women in West Bromwich, called Black Betty's. Long since shut but I always wanted to know their decision making process in coming up with that name.  
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • ColsCols Frets: 6953
    It’s caused a minor fracas in my covers band; the news story has prompted the backing singer to admit that she feels uncomfortable singing it.

    In fact, many of the set lyrics don’t stand up to scrutiny when viewed through a 21st century prism.  

    Whole Lotta Love?  Explicitly carnal.

    Hey Joe?  All about killing his girlfriend and skipping across the border.  

    Roxanne?  Prostitution.

    Sharp Dressed Man?  That’s about clothes-induced mental illness in females.

    Stand By Me?  Discrimination against the physically disabled.

    Cigarettes and Alcohol?  Advocates smoking, drinking and cocaine consumption.

    The solution to this quandary is to turn up the guitars loud enough to drown out the vocals.  If the audience sing along, that’s on them.


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  • LitterickLitterick Frets: 586
    In his autobiography, Keith does go on a bit about black women.
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  • mudslide73mudslide73 Frets: 3049
    We've been playing it for years - I had no idea what the lyrics were. I'm not normally a lyrics person but seeing them in written form has shown me I've not been paying attention. Is Honky Tonk Women ok? 
    "A city star won’t shine too far"


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  • prowlaprowla Frets: 4896

    The band's veteran guitarist Keith Richards confirmed the decision to the LA Times but said he was confused by people who wanted to "bury" the track.

    "Didn't they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery?" he said.





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  • munckeemunckee Frets: 12255
    We've been playing it for years - I had no idea what the lyrics were. I'm not normally a lyrics person but seeing them in written form has shown me I've not been paying attention. Is Honky Tonk Women ok? 
    Nothing is safe to sing anymore apart from Olivers Army, oh no wait....
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  • mrkbmrkb Frets: 6637
    munckee said:
    We've been playing it for years - I had no idea what the lyrics were. I'm not normally a lyrics person but seeing them in written form has shown me I've not been paying attention. Is Honky Tonk Women ok? 
    Nothing is safe to sing anymore apart from Olivers Army, oh no wait....
    I’m also thinking the lyrics to “Come together” (right now, over me) seem a little suspicious now..
    Karma......
    Ebay mark7777_1
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  • robertyroberty Frets: 10893
    I wrote a couple of "edgy" things 10-15 years ago that I wouldn't feel comfortable singing now. They were meant in kind but the language used was deliberately provocative. I think you mature and realise being edgy is a bit naff. It's up to them if they want to do the song or not
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  • CleckoClecko Frets: 295
    Gandalph said:
    George Orwell springs to mind. 
    Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.


    Why?
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  • CleckoClecko Frets: 295
    FastEddie said:
    Woke makes weak. Why not stand up for your right (to party) to play your own songs. Who cares if it causes the looney left to pee themselves.
    Thank god we'll be around long after you boomers. 
    I hate to break it tae yae, fellae. But one day.... you'll be the boomer ;)
    He won't. 
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  • SnagsSnags Frets: 5327
    The most worrying thing is all the people who never listen to the lyrics in songs.
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  • CleckoClecko Frets: 295
    FastEddie said:
    Woke makes weak. Why not stand up for your right (to party) to play your own songs. Who cares if it causes the looney left to pee themselves.
    Suspect this is a bit tongue in cheek, but 'woke' means aware of injustice in society and demanding of fairness. There is literally nothing about the definition of 'woke' that's negative. Same goes for 'social justice warrior'. Who would't want justice in society?
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  • CleckoClecko Frets: 295
    Snags said:
    The most worrying thing is all the people who never listen to the lyrics in songs.
    Jagger though... I reckon I get one mumbled word in 10!
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    Just wait until people read the lyrics to 'Fucked with a Knife' by Cannibal Corpse.
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  • Dominic said:
    munckee said:
    Philly_Q said:


    I wonder how Ram Jam are feeling at the moment ?
    Black Betty is a traditional African American song, Betty is usually thought to be a whip. Made famous by Leadbelly long before Ram Jam. There was a campaign to get the Ram Jam version banned at the time it was a hit, sometimes in these discussions it’s as if being offended by something was invented yesterday. 
    Context and interpretation I guess. 
    I thought black Betty was about a musket?
    I thought it was about the Landmines which are called Black Betties......infamous for being spring loaded so that they jump up off the ground a meter high to explode at chest level rather than just blowing a leg off
    I think that is a bouncing Betty.
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  • vizviz Frets: 10647
    I honestly assumed it was a song about brown sugar.
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15477
    jeez though, who the fuck was betty to inspire some many weapons? 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • BillDLBillDL Frets: 7042
    For several decades I have found Brown Sugar to be particularly sickening and distasteful.  I now use Sweetex - just like an old man should.

    I've seen a lot of lyrics being subjected to the "cancel culture" over the last few years, even though many people have failed to understand the lyrics as being "anti-" whatever the gripe is, but Brown Sugar's lyrics are right there in your face.  They neither condemn nor glorify the abhorrence of the slave trade, but they do make me wince.
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