Rolling Stones forced to retire classic song

Chill people.

Brown sugar...how come you taste so good?

Brown sugar...just like a black girl should.

Any chance of getting the thousands of rap songs that refer to black women as bitches and hoes to get retired.? Of course not.

Couldn’t they just re-write some of the lyrics to the first verse that talks about slavery?

Does anybody actually care about this stuff?

Cancel.

Now do "Under My Thumb".

Dave Chappelle stands tall while Mick Jagger and Keith Richards cower

Brown Sugar is an ode to black woman. This SJW crap is absolutely stupid and useless.

I love them

[quote]Brown Sugar is an ode to black woman

Oh fuck off.

It's a terrible song written back when people thought this kind of stuff was edgy and cool. Anyone who doesn't know that something edgy in one decade is going to be offensive in another is a fool. That's how it's always worked.

R11 There's a song written about you called Brown Shit!!

They need to retire themselves.

R13 Nope! Mick Jagger can still really bounce across that stage!!

I don't need to click the link nor read the other replies to already know that this is about "Brown Sugar."

All the people who say Datalounge is witty and intelligent seem to have missed that we've been invaded by morons like r12.

It could have been about "Honky Tonk Woman" which is about some underage kid fucking a prostitute.

r9 No. Only Black men can make respectable odes to Black women. White men just sound like they're fetishizing us and it comes off as creepy and disrespectful.

That said, this is what a worthy ode to Black women sounds like.

Or...maybe an ode to heroin. Which could also be the case for the RS song, also, tbh. :-/

The REAL moron is R16 and R18

Dear R11,

Die in a grease fire, you miserable faux woke cunt.

At any point that you want to stop crying like a baby about "the woke," r20, let us know. Your incessant whining is getting tiresome. Every time someone says something sucks, you start sobbing like a toddler who never learned how to use the potty.

Lyrics and some trivia below

r19 Really not concerned about hurting straight White guys' feelings about that. It's creepy when they take it that far. Being called a "chocolate [whatever the hell foodstuff they can think of]" is not flattering. It's uncomfortable. If the first thing you're drawn to is someone's race, something is wrong with you. Period.

So it’s “how come you taste so good”? Wow. I always thought it was “how come you DANCE so good, just like a black girl should.” Still pretty gnarly overall though, with that and all the “slave master” and “sold in the market down in New Orleans” shit.

The song's been out for more than 50 years; isn't a bit too late?

Yes, slaves were sold in markets in New Orleans. Are we supposed to not mention historical facts now because they're too naughty? Too unpleasant?

R26 It would be nice if these things weren’t CELEBRATED in a song though.

R15 you are one sharp tack

[quote] It's uncomfortable. If the first thing you're drawn to is someone's race, something is wrong with you. Period.

Get over yourself. The first thing anyone notices is appearance. My ex was black and the first thing that caught my attention was the color of his smooth brown skin and his smile. That's what people see first. He loved that I was pale with black hair, and he often said that to me and I always complimented how beautiful his brown skin is, specially naked. 😉

Not everyone turns their private lives into some political schtick for social points, some of us are normal people without an agenda or some boogey man to whine about.

r29 I'm not talking about appearance, genius. I'm talking about race, as a concept, specifically. For example, without even knowing what someone actually looks like, when you find out they're [insert race here] you're interest is piqued by that feature alone. That's weird.

I mean, if you can't figure out that there's an obvious difference between liking certain skin tone and [italic]specifically[/italic] liking someone just because they're a certain race, then you're either being purposely obtuse or slow.

I'm Black, and like most Black people, I represent one of millions of different skin shades that we have. And I've been targeted just for being Black, nothing else. I'm talking about just liking the fact that someone is a specific race, not just their damn skin tone, and I think you know this.

Like this weirdo, for example. I couldn't even finish this video he made me so uncomfortable. He's fetishizing, here. Full stop.

[quote] It's a terrible song written back when people thought this kind of stuff was edgy and cool.

It's not a "terrible song." It's one of the great rock songs of all time. You are truly a moronic asshole.

This came out when I was in high school and I thought it was offensive then.

The inspiration for "Brown Sugar" has been alternately assigned to one of two singers who have been affiliated with Jagger, Claudia Lennear and Marsha Hunt.

"When he wrote it, it didn't suggest to me he was the one, he was the slave owner. It wasn't his point of view," Lennear told NBC News on Wednesday. "I don't think he was celebrating slavery at all. If anything he was celebrating having a sexual encounter with somebody, you know, like, 'Woo, woo,' he scored."

And just as a music fan, Lennear, a member of the The Ikettes who backed up Ike and Tina Turner, said she's sorry to hear the song has been dropped even temporarily.

"I mean, that hook, 'Brown sugar, how come you taste so good now?' That's fun to hear. That's fun to dance to," Lennear said.

[quote]"When he wrote it, it didn't suggest to me he was the one, he was the slave owner. It wasn't his point of view," Lennear told NBC News on Wednesday. "I don't think he was celebrating slavery at all. If anything he was celebrating having a sexual encounter with somebody, you know, like, 'Woo, woo,' he scored."

Huh. I mean, he's very clearly equating his "scoring" with a black woman to a slave owner whipping and raping a slave a century earlier.

The first verse says you should have heard the slave owner "just around midnight." The third verse has Jagger singing that you should have heard him "just around midnight." It can't be more obvious.

Has Lizzo weighed in on this?

Meanwhile, serial woman beater Dr. Dre will be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show in January.

This is a guy who beat the living shit out of multiple women, yet has received nothing but accolades and riches from the music industry and Hollywood, and never been held accountable in any meaningful way.

A song that talks about violence and rape that happened centuries ago gets targeted. A man who actually repeatedly committed actual violence against women gets a free pass for decades.

And last time I checked, Chris Brown was still scoring top ten hits and going platinum.

But yeah, good on you for cancelling an old song. Great job.

R39 White people have to bury their head in shame as the black community get to behave however they see fit. Because they are oppressed, we are expected to turn a blind eye to their toxic “art”.

Oh no, the next Dostoevsky will be rewritten, you Americans are batshit crazy.

R40 Black rappers are the only ones allowed to insult women.

Thanks to your crazyness for the first time in my life I feel so lucky to live on Balkans.

Minorities, women, and gay are sick and tired of being put down by white straight culture. We've dealt with this for centuries and, now that we have social and economic power, we are going to put an end to it.

If you want our money and support, STOP IT!

Why the hell should they get a pass???

Today is when I realized that I never really noticed the lyrics of this song. I mean, I could have told you an approximation of the chorus with the word "dance" instead of "taste" and that's about it.

From Songfacts.com: "In Keith Richards' 2010 autobiography Life, it floats a theory as to what the lyrics "Scarred old slaver know he doin' alright" are all about. Some poor guy at their publishing company probably came up with that transcription for the lyrics, but Jagger was most likely singing "Skydog Slaver," as "Skydog" was a nickname for Muscle Shoals regular Duane Allman because he was high all the time".

Also: "This song gets a mention in the 2002 episode of The Wire, "A Man Must Have A Code." When a group of detectives are listening to a phone call they intercepted, one of them can figure out what's being said while the others are baffled. Asked how he can decipher the mumble, he speaks the opening lines of "Brown Sugar" ("Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields, sold in a market down in New Orleans") and says, "I bet you've heard that song 500 times but you never knew, right? I used to put my head to the stereo speaker and play that record over and over.""

Fuck black women and their "pride."

As a boy I grew up not liking rock very much I was into Broadway. Rock was schlock. Brown Sugar was one of the few I liked because it was the real shit.

it was

"Give the fools their tar tar sauce."

Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields

Sold in the market down in New Orleans

Scarred old slaver knows he's doing alright

Hear him whip the women just around midnight

[Chorus] Brown sugar, how come you taste so good? Uh huh

Brown sugar, just like a young girl should, uh huh, oh (Woo)

Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot

Lady of the house wonderin' when it's gonna stop

House boy knows that he's doing alright

You shoulda heard 'em just around midnight

Ah, get on, brown sugar, how come you taste so good?

Ah, got me craving the, the brown sugar

Just like a black girl should, yeah

Ah, and I bet your mama was a tent show queen

And all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen

I'm no schoolboy, but I know what I like

You shoulda heard me just around midnight

I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, woo

How come you, how come you taste so good?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo

Just like a, just like a black girl should

Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo

Couldn't they just rename in "Brown Sweet 'n Low"?

R49, oh wow, that IS bad

It's a song about sex, like many rock songs are. Sex with a black woman. If that offends the tender, seashell ears of some prissy prunes all they have to do is not listen to it.

They haven't sung the original lyrics if fucking ages. I hate everybody.

Wait til they hear this!!

"I wanna be black ... and have a big prick too."

The song used to be called "Black Pussy".

[R49], oh wow, that IS bad

Why, r49? The song has a point of view from a nefarious slave situation. Lewd, leering, obnoxious, sure...but why is it BAD? Tasteless, unnecessary, sexually fixated...but no more so than thousands upon thousands of other tasteless, unnecessary, sexually fixated, lewd, leering obnoxious "classic" (oh, my sides!) rock songs people have listened to for decades? Ever hear a Wilson Pickett song like Young Girl? Wasn't that what the 60s was all about: LET IT ALL HANG OUT? "Great rock songs...." What an oxymoron!

Hasn't Mick Jagger occasionally substituted "guy" for "girl" in live concerts when singing this?

Wow, that never released version is great. True rock and roll.

He also slurs the lyrics in a way you can't tell if he says "gal" or "boy". Or did he even alternate it? I remember something like that from a live recording. Anyway, my God. The cancel brigade is obnoxious.

70's music - you in trouble, gurl!

I'm surprised it's taken this long given the current cancelation climate.

Book burning for modern times.

Next, Huckleberry Finn

And what about "Look at that Stupid Girl" (Which IS one of their best songs.) They won't be playing it either.

They're free to play the song if they want, they've just chosen not to because they'll get criticism for it and they don't want to deal with that. They're all elderly millionaires, they can weather the storm if they continue to play the song in concerts, but they've chosen not to.

You can still buy as many copies of the song as you want so you can keep lining their pockets.

That's not being cancelled.

And, uh, how about "Under My Thumb"? Wanna bet they've dropped that gem too? Another of their very best songs.

Just like a black cock should....

Who forced them to retire the song?

But rappers can say anything?? We have become such pussies.

The lyrics are horrendous. Basically about white slave owners having sex with their black slave women because they’re “brown sugar.”

R39, complete non sequitur

Considering the new law, wouldn’t this song be banned in Texas?

Raise your hand if you've heard that song over 100 times or more and never had any idea what the lyrics were about.

Now that I see the lyrics I can't unsee them, but I thought the song was about voodoo, about a guy who buys something from a voodoo priestess in a "market down in New Orleans" and then gets with women "down around midnight"

And that "lady of the house" referred to the madam of a brothel

And that Mick bet her momma was a "Cajun queen" and all her boyfriends were just 16, meaning that her mother was hot in high school

Oh well

^^There were a lot of lines, especially at the beginning of the song, where I had no idea what they were saying

Boomers are the only people that listen to this shitty band.

Here’s your one chance Fancy, become a hooker.

Woke white woman are worse than woke black woman

I hear Native Americans want to cancel Ruby Tuesday.

The Stones announce a recall of "Brown Sugar" wherein all customers return the single, or the "Sticky Fingers" album, for the replacement of "Brown Splenda." The album replaces "Bitch" with "Cunt."

Next, the gays:

My Boomer relative was apoplectic with rage after hearing this news item. It shows how out of touch and useless that generation is. Get in the coffin.

"Black girls just want to get fucked all night..." didn't go over well even in 1978.

"Mr. Mick Jagger... where ARE they black girls! I want some names! I want some phone numbers!"

I always thought the song was just a racy homage to how tasty and fun black women are, from the perspective of a rich white Englishman on the road. It seemed silly and antiquated to me, even in the 80s, but the groove is fantastic and it's a classic 70s vibe.

I'm certain that's all Mick really meant when writing it in the first place, but had to throw in some 'historical' garbage to the song to make it more 'racy', which of course is ultimately racist. *sigh*

But while we can maybe agree Mick was misguided in writing the song this way, it's clear at least to me that he wasn't advocating that we enslave black women again.

Decades ago, Garrett Morris did a skit where he pretended to be an outraged black man about this song stating: "Mister Jagger, you have recently released a song that states that black girls like to 'f*ck all night' I have one question for YOU. Where DO you find them... I want names, addresses... telephone numbers!"

Without reading it I thought it was going to be "Under My Thumb"...

Under my thumb It's the squirmin' dog who's just had her day Under my thumb

A girl who has just changed her ways

It's down to me, yes it is

The way she does just what she's told

Down to me, the change has come

She's under my thumb

I guess misogyny isn't as problematic as racism these days. Or maybe it was that Brown Sugar was both. Also, hard to find a Stones song that isn't sexist etc. Stupid Girl et. al.

[quote] The lyrics are horrendous. Basically about white slave owners having sex with their black slave women because they’re “brown sugar.”

The lyrics are no worse than a lot of rap songs. And actually you can hardly understand what he's saying the words are so slurred,

R82 see R80

Rolling stones is a great band. esp live. Definitely go see them if you ever get the chance.

Mick at his advanced age is fitter most of you. He can jump around on stage for 3 hours no problem.

I'm still trying to find out who forced them.

[quote] Garrett Morris did a skit where he pretended to be an outraged black man about this song

No he was talking about the song “Some Girls” on the album of the same name.

"Lady Marmalade," you in trouble girl.; you, too, "Lola." /s

Uh oh. Will DC cease to call itself Chocolate City?

Never knew they had a song called "Brown Sugar." I'm also a millennial who don't listen to the Rolling stones.

But also, who the fuck wants to listen to a song titled "Brown Sugar" by a bunch of inbred bland pale unattractive British white men, when you could hear the R&B version of "Brown Sugar" by a sexy ass chocolate black man with a well sculpted inshape toned body, and who sings it in a sultry sexy way?

Just sayin!

if you're not listening to them, you're missing out. they make great timeless rock songs!

New young cunts have no taste in anything.

Up until sometime in the '80s, it wasn't cool to care what the lyrics to a song were (with a few political exceptions), you were just supposed to appreciate that a song rocked out and not be an egghead about it. In that climate, people wrote all sorts of sketchy shit that got massive airplay, like "Sweet Home Alabama" or "Island Girl" or "Cat Scratch Fever" or "I'm Turning Japanese."

Eventually the culture changed and people got tired of that kind of stuff. That happens. No one's playing covers of "My Dingaling" or booking Lucas to sing about his lid being off, either. That's just how it goes.

Will dude looks like a lady be banned next?

I notice that the posters slamming the song are silent about all of the crass, exploitative hip-hop/rap songs that denigrate Black women.

White targets are always easier.

R87, it's been said in this thread twice already. Nobody forced them - they decided to retire the song just to be safe from further scrutiny.

[quote] Garrett Morris did a skit where he pretended to be an outraged black man about this song.

That was a funny bit. He said that the line in the song went "Black girls just want to make love all night." Actually, the lyric went "Black girls just wanna get fucked all night" but of course he couldn't say that on television. But after semi-quoting the lyric, he said with a deadly serious expression on his face something like "Well, let me ask you this, Mr. MICK Jagger", and then ends with a beseeching look on his face. pleading: "Where can I find these girls?"

Ban it all you want. Can't stop me from playing it. Loud.

So many cranky old Boomers who are desperate to be persecuted.

Who is "forcing" the Stones to do this? No one. They decided themselves. Can you still buy this song? Yes. Can you play this song? Yes. Is this song all over the place? Yes.

This is just like when the old men at Fox got themselves all weepy over some Dr. Seuss books. No one is coming for your LP Records, grandpa. Jack off thinking about raping slaves all you want.

I had no idea this was about slaves. New Orleans, voodoo and black women - yes - but not the rest! Kinda blows my mind that a song that I’ve heard so many times was so unfamiliar to me…

Oh please. I was at the gym today where they were playing rap on the speakers. It was APPALLING. Rape, murder of women, homophobia (Eminem) drugs, more murder. So bad! How can anyone connect with music like that?

R99 sounds like a gem. Gotta be a woman.

@ R100, I also had never picked up on the slave angle and was sort of embarrassed too given how often I'd listened to it.

But it always sounded like "Da-da-da-sold in a market down in New Orleans...something something something doing alright. Getting down with the women just about midnight" -- and so I also thought New Orleans, voodoo, hot black woman.

If it makes you feel any better, I've been asking friends if they knew what the song was about/lyrics were, and I'd say around two-thirds of them were also shocked that it was about slavery and had a similar sense of "something about a black woman in New Orleans" but never bothered to google the actual lyrics.

I remember some years ago really listening to the lyrics of that song and going, whoa. Do people realize what this is about? How are they getting away with this? Not that I cared. But there was swagger in the way Mick sang about English blood running hot etc.

In general it’s amazing to me how few if any of the 60s and 70s groupies are complaining about the behavior of all the bands in those days.

F ing babies the woke , the woke are dead asleep, wah wah wahhhhh crybabies shut the f up

White men have never had respect for anyone else's humanity. And this trashy song is a perfect example of that.

Fuck the Rolling stones!

"Louie, Louie, Louie, Louieee. Louie, Louie, Louie, Louiiii. Louie, Louie, Louie, Louieee. Louie, Louie you're gonna cry."

Back in the day "we" also thought Brown Sugar was about heroin.

R75 Woke men of any color are even worse than woke women. They are such obnoxious pussies or should I say dicks. Because, ok for women, they are really target of misogyny in songs, not only songs from 70s, because rappers are even worse, for them they are bitches, so I understand they sometimes have enough of it.

But those woke men are too big pussies to even mention rappers, cause they are kissing their asses, but some song from 70s, oooh that is the big problem. While they praise Tyler who a few years ago still happily rapped about rape at the concert: I fucked a pregnant bitch...

[quote]F ing babies the woke , the woke are dead asleep, wah wah wahhhhh crybabies shut the f up

You're so fucking stupid you're incoherent, and you're the one crying about the Stones being "cancelled."

Absolutely insane how fucking idiotic this place has become. Over 100 replies and there are, what, maybe 7 or 8 from real people?

Been listening and loving that song for decades. Frankly, I never paid attention to the lyrics - nor had any idea whatsoever what it was 'about'.

Brown Sugar is easily among the Rolling Stones 10 best songs. This is just stupid. Mind you I wouldn't see them live if they gave me free tickets. I had seen them several times in the mid 1970s and they were excellent. But I saw they later in 1981 and they sucked. I saw them again in 1989 because a friend begged me to go with him and they sucked again. Mick was constantly off key like a parody of himself and Keith kept fucking up his guitar licks. It was as if they didn't want to be there. They made The Replacement look professional by comparison. Charlie Watts was the only constant reliable musician (RIP).

A lot of their music has a dark, edgy side. What now...cancel all of their songs and the band itself? The Stones were always known as the "bad boys" with a dirty side. Early in their career, they were controversial and parents winced as the kids listened to them. Looks like the "parents" have returned as millennial wokesters.

They're not cancelled. Nothing has been cancelled.

I don't know why any of you choose to get upset over a lie you've told yourselves.

What's next? Paint It Black?

You Americans really love Prohibition, don't you. The first one ended badly.

Given how popular the song is/was, the epic arrangement and hook, seems like they could just change the lyrics. Remember back in the 60s and one of their first performances on the Ed Sullivan show they had to change their song "let's spend the night together" to "let's spend some TIME together", which Mick sang, sneering and rolling his eyes.

How about:

Gold coast cruise ship bound for happy fields

Always open bar there down in New Orleans

Scarred old alkie knows he's doing alright

Hear him beg the women just around midnight

Etc.

R116 It's those Puritans you drove out who came here.

R117, your mention of old alkie I take umbrage with. Offended!

HISSSSSSSSS!

They need to re-record this with Lizzo.

r120: Thats kind of a brilliant idea

I didn't either r103. I always thought it was about a black prostitute, but never really thought about slavery.

The truth is "forced" is a silly way to put it. The Rolling Stones just decided it was time to retire this particular song. Though it is also funny to think that suddenly people care about racism and it's all so new and unclear. Kids, I don't want to shock you, but there was a little bit of talk about racism in the 1960s. Yes, people born before 1990 actually cared about race and racism. Strange but true.

Yeah. Not clear "who" if anyone "forced" this. I'm guessing this is Murdoch-related website.