“Brown Sugar,
how come you taste so good?
/ Brown sugar, just like a young girl should "(
"
Brown sugar, how is it that you have such good taste? / Brown Sugar, like a young girl should do it
"
.)
The chorus is one of the best known Rolling Stones.
Along with
Satisfaction
and
Jumpin 'Jack Flash
, his riff is one of those that moves crowds around the world.
Since the start of their tour in the United States, the first since the death of Charlie Watts, the English group has not yet played the opening title of the classic
Sticky Fingers once,
as noted by the
Los Angeles Times
.
Problematic text
Surprised that the Californian newspaper noticed the omission of their 1971 hit from the setlists of this tour, Keith Richards wondered about the place that should take this fifty-year-old song, whose themes are now considered problematic. “
I don’t know. I'm trying to figure out where the problem is. Didn't they understand that this is a song about the horrors of slavery? No, they're trying to bury him. I don't want to clash with all this shit right now
”.
Now is not the time for songs like
Brown Sugar
.
Between slavery, rape and fetishization, the text written by Mick Jagger tells the story of a young black woman from New Orleans reduced to sexual slavery by her white masters.
But the lyrics are two-way, and also evoke heroin addiction, which the Stones were adept at the time.
It is on this ambivalence that the group played so far.
But the fear of being
"canceled"
apparently got the better of the song.
Keith Richards nevertheless wishes to reassure the fans,
Brown Sugar
is not buried
ad vitam aeternam.
"I hope we can give him all his glory at some point on the tour," he
says
.
"
It's such a catch-all
"
Composed in forty-five minutes by Mick Jagger in 1969,
Brown Sugar's
text has been
questioning for decades.
Asked about this by Rolling Stone in 1995, the English singer kicked in touch.
“
God knows what I'm talking about in this song.
It's such a catch-all.
All the dirty subjects at once
, ”he pleaded.
Already singled out several times during their history for their appropriation of black American music, the group formed in south London has apparently wanted to avoid the throes of a large-scale controversy, created by the Black movements. Lives Matter and neo-feminist demands.
At 78, Mick Jagger does not close the door, either, on a return of the song, without evoking any social pressure around this decision: “
We have played
Brown Sugar
every night since 1970, so at one point we said to himself: "We will do without it for now and see how it goes"
", he justified himself to the
Los Angeles Times
.
Before concluding: “
We could decide to put it back.
"
