41 Comments

1. jane m:

I always assumed that Carly was poking fun at Beatty. I do think she captured the essence of his oh so obvious vanity as a young Hollywood Lothario.

Aug 11, 2005 - 11:39 am 2. lindenen:

The only good thing about this “song” is that it illustrates how far the Stones have fallen. It’s crushing.

Aug 11, 2005 - 11:54 am 3. Oplyd Oleo:

Unfortunately, Roger’s lyrical link contains one famously misheard lyric. Warren Beatty may well have been a serial cavorter — but in Carly Simon’s fantasy, he actually watched himself “gavotte.”

Aug 11, 2005 - 12:07 pm 4. Orson2:

Speaking of rank disingenuity, the lede in a story on the breaking news of a pending indictment against Jack Abramoff in Miami goes “…involving Tom DeLay” – House Majority leader.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002434736_webabramoff11.html?syndication=rss&source=seattletimes.xml&items=113

Later in the story, it says the indictment never mentions DeLay. Somehow knowing someone “involves” him in fraud???

Never let the facts get in the way of DNC spin in the major media. The same story just made the lede on my local ABC radio affiliate. Sometimes just wishing something makes it so – right? (”Prayer” ain’t just a rightwing ritual.)

Aug 11, 2005 - 12:16 pm 5. Terrye:

Jagger is just turning into one more reason for the baby boomers to be ashamed.

I am so tired of these multi millionaire revolutionaries.

Aug 11, 2005 - 12:17 pm 6. Patrick Tyson:

Where we are regarding that particular mystery:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You‘re_So_Vain

Aug 11, 2005 - 12:27 pm 7. Tory:

I doubt it, Roger. The song says “You call yourself a Christian, I call you a hypocrite.” Paul Wolfowitz is Jewish — not Christian.

Aug 11, 2005 - 12:53 pm 8. Kevin P:

Roger:

The Stones have always stayed clear of most political positions in their music. Some of their tunes have brushed by current events in the past but it was more about internal reactions to the world rather then poli-sci treatments. Sex drugs and rock ‘n blues has made them bohemian millionaires and this song is not the beginning of their Joan Baez phase of their music life. They are the shrewdest buisnessmen in popular music and they saw the sales of the recent Green Day CD and clever Mick saw another hook to boost sales. This is no different then when they mixed a bit of disco into their songs during the dance craze. Critics will praise them for their heightened political stance and Mick and Keith will cash their checks and go back to their mansions, laughing all the way. The Stones will always be great because of Keiths licks and Micks persona. I can’t get into a huff about this song because I can see the sales plan behind it and I admire the way they have been able to ride the changing currents of pop music for decades. Plus Keith will get drunk one night and say that Bush, Mick, and the left are all full of crap and go back to playing the blues.

Kevin Peters

Aug 11, 2005 - 12:56 pm 9. Bruce Wechsler:

Kevin:

Incorporating an annoying disco rhythm for some sales boost is one thing; this is quite another.

These guys are anything but a moral compass for the world. It must have garnered much fan adoration in Toronto, filling a need that I suspect is much greater than any financial one.

They slip down another notch in my book.

Aug 11, 2005 - 1:41 pm 10. Keith_Indy:

Orson2 – that would be the “Tom Delay Game” where by they show you in 6 steps, that any scandal involves Tom Delay in 6 easy steps.

RE: the Rolling Stones, 2 words

WHO CARES

I stopped looking for my world view from rockers a long time ago (like when I was 12.)

Controversy = Marketing = Selling out to the MAN

Aug 11, 2005 - 1:51 pm 11. Ray Zacek:

The Stones have rolled downhill. Sic transit gloria etc.

Aug 11, 2005 - 1:51 pm 12. Canucklehead:

lindenen and Keith_Indy are right.

On another “mega-rockers who are out to change the world” angle, what happened to Bono and Gandalf? Did they escape to the Middle Earth?

Aug 11, 2005 - 2:01 pm 13. calvinist:

If Bush is asked about it I think he should say that while he was raised to respect his elders (George W. Bush – Date of Birth: 6 July 1946) (Mick Jagger – Date of Birth: 26 July 1943), that as a political commentator Jagger is a very good singer.

Aug 11, 2005 - 2:24 pm 14. Keith_Indy:

Bono I actually have some respect for, I wouldn’t mention him in the same breath as Sir Geldof.

He’s also remained consistent and fairly non-political in his efforts. He wants to save the world (or is it just Africa) and does more than just mouth off about it. He’s also researched it, and knows the angles and the players. He’s not just superficially saying “I want to fight world hunger and poverty.” He has, what he thinks is a viable working plan to do it.

I can respect that, even if I don’t agree with the way he wants to do it. At least he’s put some thought into it, and is working towards a goal. Not just being “political” for appearances or to assuage his own guilt at being a success.

http://www.data.org/

Aug 11, 2005 - 2:55 pm 15. Keith_Indy:

The other thing I like about Bonos efforts, is he will work with ANYONE who is actually willing to help. Democrat, Republican, doesn’t matter to him as long as you’re part of the solution.

Aug 11, 2005 - 2:56 pm 16. Kevin P:

Bruce:

If I went by lyric content I would have nothing to do with the Stones. The only Stones song that I can recite the lyrics to is “Brown Sugar” and that is only because my older brother’s garage band practiced it so many times that when I hear it on the radio I have to turn it off. The lyrics to the new song are silly but I can’t take it seriously because I know they don’t. Cynical is Micks middle name and it always has been. When I say I admire them it is only because of the muscians in the band and the fact that they have conned the media so completely that I admire how good they are at keeping themselves in the game. Moraly they are a cesspool but as guitarists and conmen they are the tops.

Aug 11, 2005 - 3:05 pm 17. Clive Davis:

There’s a neat summing-up in today’s Daily Telegraph:

“At last someone with real authority has said it: America’s senior policy makers are risibly out of touch. They have no idea how the younger generation lives. Cushioned from the stark realities of life by their vast wealth and insuperable self-esteem, they travel the world in private jets, staying in luxury hotels and socialising only with flatterers and hangers-on.

“Thank goodness we have rock stars such as Sir Mick to administer a much-needed ‘reality check’.”

Aug 11, 2005 - 3:26 pm 18. Coisty:

The Stones have always stayed clear of most political positions in their music

For the most part that is true. However in the early 90s they had a minor hit with an anti-Iraq War song called ‘High Wire’ http://www.lyricsdepot.com/the_rolling_stones/highwire.html. Other songs like ‘Indian Girl, from Emotional Rescue criticised US foreign policy in Central America (remember Mick was married to loony lefty Bianca the Sandinista supporter). Lots of their songs have a line or two that is political but clearly they’ve never been overt. Then there was their Global Warming awareness free concert a couple of years ago that was a subtle swipe at Bush over Kyoto. Jagger is supposedly a big fan of Hayek, a hero to most free marketeers, and though he protested the Vietnam War he told Der Speigel at the time that people who wanted a Marxist-Leninist society were naive.

As to the song ‘Sweet Neo Con’ I’d say it’s about Condi Rice. Jagger has always had a thing for black women and some of the lyrics in his songs – Brown Sugar and especially Some Girls – have been offensive to some blacks.

Aug 11, 2005 - 3:44 pm 19. Peter G.:

The lyrics don’t exactly measure up to “Street Fighting Man” … I’m sure the music won’t either.

Aug 11, 2005 - 4:06 pm 20. Terrye:

lyrics my behind.

One would think that after decades of doing this sort of thing Jagger could do better than ryhming hypocrite and s**t.

Aug 11, 2005 - 4:20 pm 21. calvinist:

Actually they were more political earlier in their career. Sweet Black Angel on Exile on Main Street is a pean to Angela Davis, then on trial for murder for her involvement in the George Jackson jail break shoot out. She was aquited even though the weapons smuggled into the courtroom to kill the jusge were traced back to her.

Aug 11, 2005 - 5:21 pm 22. Kyda Sylvester:

I’m married and have children and all that, but I don’t sort of worry about it because I’m doing what I did before… when I was an adolescent. I only discovered this really by looking at other people in rock and roll… it perpetuates your adolescence, for good or bad. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, because I can’t evaluate it. It feels real nice and I don’t give a shit… I don’t feel responsibilities other people feel. Obviously, being in a rock band makes you more adolescent than if you worked in an IBM company and really had to worry about your future. I don’t worry about the future. I’m living out my adolescent dreams perpetually.

- Mick Jagger, on tour in 1975

I remember back in the day when a reporter asked Mick if he could picture himself rockin’ & rollin’ with the Stones at age 40 and Mick said something to the effect that if he was still at it by that age he’d probably have to kill himself. So, Mick’s what now? 62? Change of plans, I guess.

Aug 11, 2005 - 5:36 pm 23. Paul:

-The Steel Wheelchairs Tour-

Featuring classic hits such as:

Let’s Take a Nap Together

I Can’t Get No Social Security

You Can’t Always Chew What You Want

Brown Metamucil, How Come You Taste So Good

and many others…

Aug 11, 2005 - 5:51 pm 24. thibaud:

Mick Jagger? Who’s that?

Are you sure you’re not thinking of that rather more intelligent constable from Tennessee? http://www.nostragoth.com/humor/images/donmick.jpg

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:11 pm 25. Kyda Sylvester:

Now that’s funny, thibaud, but Barney’s from Mayberry, NC.

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:18 pm 26. thibaud:

Oh that Mick Jagger, the unapologetic capitalist whose business has been analyzed in FOrtune and the Wall Street Journal.

The guy who proudly announced his band’s absolute refusal to do benefit concerts.

The one who, along with his lead guitarist, relocated to leafy, quiet suburban Connecticut in order to minimize his taxes. What a flaming asshole.

File this one along with “Amnesty International/Gulag-mongering” and “Paul ‘Pee Wee’ Reuben/Adult theatres”, in the folder entitled Cheap (C)PR For Over-the-Hill Brands

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:21 pm 27. Kevin P:

Coisty:

Mick dips his toes into the political fray now and then but my guess is that he is apolitical in nature and if I had to guess what his political nature is I would say he would lean towards indifferent libertarianism. He might go to parties with lefties but he is a rabid capitalist and his actions suggest that he likes his money and he feels little guilt over the fact that he is a millionaire. I think he is serious about crafting popular rock songs that are true to their historical style and that sell at the same time. The ultimate blending of art(and I use art in the most liberal definition of the word) and commerace.

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:23 pm 28. Stacy's Mom:

Mick should avoid political commentary and stick to what he knows best…knocking up ingenues.

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:39 pm 29. thibaud:

Kyda,

While we’re on the subject of N. Carolina TV characters and separations at birth… http://talk.livedaily.com/showthread.php?t=431989

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:44 pm 30. Coisty:

Kevin P:

I think you’re probably right though I do think he has a bit of an anti-American side. Lots of little things make me think that. For instance he was so upset about that Hollywood movie that showed the Enigma code was broken by Americans – for box office reasons – he financed a British movie supposedly telling the true story – though having been educated in part in the UK I’d be surprised if this British film gave the heroic Poles much credit. I can understand him being annoyed by such things but I seem to recall some quote expressing extraordinary anger about it. Given how cheap Jagger is known to be the fact that he would go so far as to finance such a film – not likely to be a money maker – demonstrates how personal it was to him.

Keep in mind that he’s an Englishman making American music for a living in an Anglophone world dominated by America. That can lead to all kinds of petty prejudices and hang-ups. Although he was educated at the London School of Economics, a university known for its leftism, I also suspect he is fairly libertarian. But he’s also a poser concerned about his image. Like when he put out some solo album a few years back that contained a couple of country-style songs he went out of his way, in some interview I heard, to distance himself from the kinds of people who listen to country. The ‘Sweet Neo Con’ song is probably an attempt by a very age and style conscious man to seem relevant.

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:47 pm 31. thibaud:

Mom,

Somehow I have trouble imagining Bianca as an ingenue. More like indementia.

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:48 pm 32. thibaud:

Frankly I always found him to be a ludicrous poseur with a joke of a voice made even more embarrassing by his tone-deaf attempts to mimic the cadences of african-American speech, which suggested a sermon by a Lubbock preacher who’d downed half a pint of Jack.

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:56 pm 33. Kyda Sylvester:

thibaud (I wonder if everyone in Mayberry has a celebrity look-a-like) and Stacy’s Mom, you’re sending me out with a couple of good laughs.

Kevin, this should clear it up for you:

Well, I’m left of Reagan, I can tell you that. But one sort of questions 60s American liberalism now, in retrospect. I think liberals made a lot of mistakes in foreign policy, and some of the right-wing people have scored major succeses. The British Labour governments never HAD a foreign policy. Reagan never had one either, I don’t think. That dictator we supported in Nicaragua was definitely – I mean, anyone could tell that guy had to go. So if the Americans had wanted to be in control of that – which they were paying these people to be – they should have said, OK, your time is up, we’re gonna put somebody else in. A centrist government, a left-wing coalition, whatever. Same thing with the shah of Iran. We were supposed to be in control of events in those countries – and we just never really, in actual fact, were.

- Mick Jagger, 1983, asked about his ideological allegiance

Aug 11, 2005 - 6:59 pm 34. thibaud:

It’d be very interesting to check with the iTunes folks to see where exactly this dinosaur ranks today in terms of downloads. I’d guess that it’s signifcantly lower than almost any of his contemporaries. Manilow probably ranks higher.

Aug 11, 2005 - 7:05 pm 35. madawaskan:

I thought Mick’s song Sweet Neo-Con was about Condi Rice?

The Freepers are saying-he uses the same How come? question or phrasing that he used in Brown Sugar…..

Special…

Sweet Neo-Con how come your always wrong..?

Gee if it has the same melody maybe he can “master-sue” himself for plagiarism.

Aug 11, 2005 - 8:27 pm 36. Patrick Tyson:

If I could stick a knife in my heart

Suicide right on the stage

Would it be enough for your teenage lust?

Would it help ease your pain?

Ease your brain?

If I could dig down deep in my heart

Feelings would flood on the page

Would it satisfy ya?

Would it slide on by ya?

Would you think the boy’s insane?

He’s insayayane.

I said I know it’s only rock and roll. . .

…and hype!

Kevin P! Green Day!

http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2005/05/start_me_up_too.php#comments

Aug 11, 2005 - 10:26 pm 37. Chris W.:

“I’ll bet you think this song is about you…”

Aug 11, 2005 - 11:15 pm 38. Captain Hate:

“Hope I die ‘fore I get old”

Has anybody laid out the boomer quandry any better? At least the Stones haven’t sunk so low as to have Kerry play guitar with them; not that I would care except the MSM would be all over something that “edgy”.

Aging rockers: STFU and go away.

Aug 12, 2005 - 3:37 am 39. ed:

Hey, they’ll go away when people stop paying attention. that’s how pop culture works. And they’ve already pretty much sold out this tour and have a record coming out that will probably sell millions, so you can count on them being around for a long while yet. Deal with it.

Aug 12, 2005 - 8:38 am 40. Kevin P:

Patrick:

The reference to Green Day was not a sign that I am a fan. In regards to most pop music that comes out today I have either heard it all before or it just bores me. Even some of the newer bands that are pretty good don’t drive me to listen or buy because if I look into my LP collection I already have something similar or better. The “hope I die before I get old” is telling because one of the purposes of pop music is to reject the music of young peoples elders(me) and create something they can call their own. Even if it is just a re worked version of something from the past. Green Day is simply a power pop band and there hooks and even their look is borrowed from the past. But for the young people buying there CD’s it is all brand new. And as far as their new political lyrics they are simply borrowed from the placards that you can read at any anti-war protest. Dylan was a poet. Whether one agreed with his politics or not it is hard to claim that he is not a writer. Green Day’s lyrics are tired agit-prop that rhymes. No one will be reprinting their lyrics 20 years from now.Mick saw what was selling and decided to toss a little politics in to help sales. I don’t admire him personally but his marketing skills are a wonder.

Aug 12, 2005 - 11:51 am 41. moondoggy:

My sweet neocondoleeza…nope… my sweet neocondi….unh unh….my sweet neocon…that’s it! Yep it’s about Condi.

Aug 14, 2005 - 4:39 am

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