"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
  2. "Far Away Eyes"
  3. "Respectable"
  4. "Before They Make Me Run"
  5. "Beast of Burden"
  6. "Shattered"

"Some Girls" is the title track of the English rock band the Rolling Stones' 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.

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" was the most controversial. 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 rights 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] Ertegun said "Mick assured me that it was a parody of the type of people who hold these attitudes. Mick has great respect for blacks. He owes his whole being, his whole musical career, to black people" and the band-issued statement declared "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".[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, "Now, Mr. Jagger, there is only one question I want to ask you – Jaggs. And you better have the answer, man, you better have the answer, since you have besmirched the character of black women. Therefore, here is my question, Jaggs. Where are all of these black broads, man? Hey, like, where ARE they, baby? You got any phone numbers for me, baby? Please send 'em to me. Thank you."[4]

When the Stones performed the song in Martin Scorsese's 2008 movie Shine a Light, however, the line was not included.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Nelson, Paul. "The Rolling Stones: Some Girls". Rolling Stone. No. 9 June 1978. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  2. ^ Peck, Abe (16 November 1976). "Rolling Stones in Hot Water Over Song Lyrics". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  3. ^ "The song that pit Jesse Jackson against The Rolling Stones". Far Out.
  4. ^ "SNL Transcripts: Buck Henry: 05/26/79: Weekend Update with Jane Curtin & Bill Murray – SNL Transcripts Tonight".
  5. ^ Mauer, Mark (2 April 2008). "Rolling Stones, Scorsese and Black Girls". LA Weekly. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
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