Meaningful songs #29 - THE ROLLING STONES

This  is the twenty-ninth in an occasional series of songs from my collection, with the intent of introducing music to younger readers that they may gain appreciation of music from the classic years, 1957-1990. 

I have lived long enough to hear the "popular" music industry become ever-more formulaic, lazy, uninspiring and cynical; delivering "units" and "artistes" as interesting and memorable as polished mud.

Meaningful songs that eloquently convey a story, sentiment, or social comment and make it to national consciousness are rare these days. If you agree this song is meaningful, please introduce it to someone young; they might enjoy becoming "musical archaeologists".

Todays song, titled "Sympathy For The Devil", released in 1968, is by a group called The Rolling Stones.

Hear the song here

The release of Sympathy For The  Devil, especially in America, an incendiary and febrile country fighting for social change, racial equivalence and the end of the Vietnam war, was an "edgy" decision, but that's the (early) Stones - edgy!

Mick Jagger sings a song about the influence of "the devil", from the perspective of the devil, with  lyrics sung over a passive-aggressive and then snarling tune that perfectly fits the zeitgeist then; the world was in a mess and the devil was to blame. This song exemplifies the adventurous and dynamic prowess of the early Stones.

If want more about this song start here or here.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
    
Please allow me to introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

I've been around for a long, long year

Stole many a man's soul and faith

And I was 'round when Jesus Christ

Had his moment of doubt and pain

Made damn sure that Pilate

Washed his hands and sealed his fate

 

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name

But what's puzzlin' you is the nature of my game

Stuck around St. Petersburg

When I saw it was a time for a change

Killed the Tsar and his ministers

Anastasia screamed in vain

I rode a tank, held a general's rank

When the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name

Oh yeah

Ah, what's puzzlin' you is the nature of my game

Aww yeah

I watched with glee while your kings and queens

Fought for ten decades for the gods they made

I shouted out, "Who killed the Kennedys?

When after all, it was you and me

Let me please introduce myself

I'm a man of wealth and taste

And I laid traps for troubadours

Who get killed before they reach Bombay

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name

Oh yeah

But what's puzzlin' you is the nature of my game

Aww yeah

Pleased to meet you, hope you'll guess my name

Oh yeah

But what's confusin' you is just the nature of my game

Mmm yeah

Just as every cop is a criminal

And all the sinners saints

As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer

'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me, have some courtesy

Have some sympathy and some taste

Use all your well-learned politesse

Or I'll lay your soul to waste

Mmm, yeah

Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name

Mmm, yeah

But what's puzzlin'' you is the nature of my game

Mmm, mean it, get down

Woo hoo!

Aww yeah

Get on down

Oh yeah

Ba bum bum, ba ba bum

Ah yeah

Tell me baby, what's my name?

Tell me honey, can you guess my name?

Tell me baby, what's my name?

I'll tell you one time, you're to blame

Ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo

All right

Ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo

Ah yeah

Ooo hoo, ooo hoo hoo

Ah yes, what's my name?

Tell me baby, what's my name?

Tell me sweetie, what's my name?

Ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo, ooo hoo hoo

Ah yeah

What's my name

Return to the first article in this series or hear the first song in this series.

Read the next article in this series or hear the next song in the series.

For the index of all songs in this blog click here.

Word of the day - GINORMOUS

The word today is Ginormous

Ginormous is an adjective and from my research means the following:

- To be very large or even enormous

- To be classed as bigger than the norm in size or scale, scope or cost 

That is a ginormous cup of coffee

Some do not accept ginormous as a true word

Ginormous is a contraction of gigantic + enormous first noted in 1942

If someone says you are ginormous they imply you are big/fat

A very successful career or achievement could be a ginormous success

Humongous means the same and may be used in place of Ginormous

If you need more start here or here.

There is an index of words of the day.

PREDICTION : Tesla and Musk and X

I predict either X(twitter), Tesla or Musk will go belly-up before 2026 because Tesla makes little real profit for investors and Musk is always good at selling his dream to raise finance.

Musk is "unusual" and X will have insufficient advertiser funding for as long as his verbal war with them continues and political/public bodies begin to pick on him, as well as whole countries.

Musk accuses X advertisers of blackmail, but he sees X users as customers even though they don't pay his bills. He must remind himself of the truism that "if something is free its users are the product" (to the advertisers). As for Tesla, Musk thinks he is Tesla and demands eye-watering payment(s) from its shareholders (contested in the courts), but new product rarely means profit there

Trouble Brewing as her turns into a crackpot?

Get to know the man a little bit.

Dec 3rd 2023 - Strike 1

Dec 7th 2023 - Strike 2 - USA consumer turns back on EVs

Jan 2nd 2024 - China to take Tesla Crown (and cheaper)

Jan 26th 2024 - Teslas not selling and China is coming

Apr 14th 2024 - Ongoing sales woes and mass lay offs

Apr 22nd 2024 - Stagnant sales - prices/profit have to fall

Jul 12th 2024 - EU beat-up Apple and set sights on X

Aug 05th 2024 - Musk, you may be a billionaire, but you are not British and your comments are just inflammatory and totally not justified. 1000 idiots causing actual mayhem over several days is not a civil war, it's people expressing how miserable their life is after years of successive governments failing to stop illegal immigration into the UK and then having the gall to make everyone pay for the processing, upkeep, housing and protection of these people, who the established British population (white or black or Asian ... ) do not want here. You are not qualified to spout such crap and should get back to making even more money for yourself. Once you have no political or social levers left to pull, the obscene amount of money you have will "buy" you nothing but paranoia, forever thinking "they only like me for my money".  By the way, good luck with your move to Texas, which you will need because Texan's may swallow your desire to swerve taxes, but not bullshit statements you come out with sometimes.

Aug 05th 2024 - Musk the petulant sues past customers as they left X

Aug 08th 2024 - Musk the gullible rumourmonger spreads misinformation

Aug 13th 2024 - Musk with Trump - talk about themselves and what is Musk upto?

Aug 31s 2024 - The whole of Brazil do not want Musky X

Sep 05th 2024 - Trump wants Musk on his messianic team

Oct 11th 2024 - New car and concept not well received and are the wheels coming off?

Oct 20th 2024 - Companies don't need Musk and shareholders don't want corruption

Oct 21st 2024 - Some say Musk buying votes for Trump and is that legal in the US

Oct 22nd 2024 - Musk takes 50/50 life gamble: backing Trump is a folly to regret

Oct 30th 2024 - In bed with Trump and allowing X to drive political meddling is not good

Nov 5th 2024 - All bets may be off - his "friend" Trump won and Elon now Teflon

Dec 5th 2024 - An interesting viewpoint about Elon Musk from Meta/Facebook's number 2

Jan 05th 2025 - Here we go again - Musk meddling in the politics of another country. I don't know why politics in the UK has become a plaything for Musk, but his comments seem irritating and meddlesome in the least and corrosive and inciteful at their worst. This weirdo, is running  a Poll on X asking if (at the time), "America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government?" WTF? Is he proposing liberation by invasion of  America's staunchest ally? The Americans should not let their equivalent of the Roman Emperor Nero and his coterie make America implode under the weight of their hubris.

Jan 15th 2025 - Musk must be cracking-up; he now accuses a Welsh charity of enticing illegals with young children. I know American politics will pander to weirdo's but big business wants a money maker at their wheel, not another weirdo?

Old leaders

You should have quit when you could

Have you ever looked around at many who are "running" the world? 

They are old (70+), monied, vain or despotic, or in the case of the likes of Trump, actually enduring a personality disorder.

Voted into power as "good actors", they often turn into (very) bad actors, refusing to relinquish their power when the time comes, disposing of opponents by any means, such as jail, killing, poisoning, exile or inducing fear; you name it, they will do it to stay in power, no-matter the consequences.

If were a supreme being I would make it a requirement of very high (global) office that such people agree to an explosive implant in the head, that explodes after their agreed period of office unless removed, then, after its removal for polling and voting, another may take it's place if required.

As you can tell, I am fed-up of "leaders" fucking-up the lives of most peoples of the world and seemingly I am not alone; most importantly, even Americans and Texas are questioning their aged leaders and their mantra that money is all you need to become a president.

They are just too old!

Well, well, well; following a shambolic and often incoherent "debate" president Biden proved he is (surely?) at the end of his time in politics, for rambling responses were panic-inducing for Democrats and 45% of polled registered Democrats said he's too old. 

Biden saw his recent performance(s) and tried to persuade anyone still listening that he was good to go, but he was really dead in the water once "non-political" acquaintances such as George Clooney and other big donors and big-hitters amongst the Democrats said he was done. Being an honour-bound man he realised he could no-longer serve America as he should and withdrew from the campaign to be the next president, recognising their need for (mental) stability and statesmanship at the top right now. He remains president until the next president is sworn in.

There are alternatives waiting in the wings and Democrats have options now, though Trump, of course, remains as smug, evasive and "superior" as only he (and his narcissism) can be, but for once is silent, knowing Biden buried himself. For God's sake America - wake up.

 

Both of these old boys are living up to my assertion that old leaders should be retired from politics, but not assassinated as some seem to desire. That's not to say they should not be retained as future advisors.

Looking to the future, my wish would be more women in true power roles and that Donald Trump finally blows himself away whenever he debates with President elect Kamala Harris. He has to be careful because any whiff of misogyny, mansplaining or belittlement because of her sex, or ethnic origins (it should only matter that she is a life-long American) will go against him. The girl's gonna blow him off the park, whilst Trumps current response is to merely try to keep the spotlight on him.

You just lost your job!

Usually a hard job done well

THE ORIGIN OF THIS ARTICLE ....

People in the United Kingdom expect standards and protocols to be upheld, but can be so petty at times as to take your breath away with the triviality of their "concerns" or complaints, but in this case I expect this officer to be dismissed following his abuse of a person already prone and acquiescent at Manchester airport.

The "victim" may well have behaved terribly prior to these scenes (aggression in baggage hall with other passengers from their incoming flight QR023 from Qatar), for no bystanders seems willing to step-into the fray to defend him, yet what you see here is, to my mind, an officer venting his anger at what had presumably gone before. He lost control of himself and behaved like a thug. Whatever triggered that officer could have killed someone, for a booted kick to the head with a stamp are not always inconsequential.

I defend UK police, for they are often between a rock and a hard place, but this appears to be someone who should (re)join a para-military group, the army, or take up a cage fighting career.

This is not acceptable policing!

THE FOLLOWING DAY ....

Obviously, the "family" has appointed legal representation, just in case there's cash to be had and obviously called for "calm in the (racial) communities", which will keep their article hot, but we have learned there is more to this story than the (bit of) footage that was selectively released, for there was indeed a serous altercation (officer hospitalised with broken nose) involving third parties and the victim. The BBC gathered more details, indicating police were called to an ongoing incident, possibly involving theft, which also shows the overly assertive officer roughly handling another person in their group. The officer had obviously reached the end of his tether with this incident and issued his lesson in induced aggression. I still believe he should, at least, be removed from a public facing role as he has been suspended pending a criminal investigation of his action(s).

THE TRUTH IS OUT ....

As with many "sensational" media pieces we must be sceptical about what is and what is not being shown. In this case the 2 "victims" in the first video turn out to be the instigators of their own suffering. In common parlance they got what they deserved. Muhammed Fahir Amaaz (head kick) and Amaad Amaaz (fat lump) both attacked police officers and were happy to dish-out their feral violence, but (obviously) their family were not happy with the corrective therapy that followed their fun; they have though lowered their public indignation level by sacking their original "legal" representative, allowing a new damage limitation representative to say the family, "had real concern for any police officer injured".

The thing is, police are (mostly) people and not monsters, so if you smash them in the face they naturally want to respond; but training and the uniform stops this. Usually!

I still believe the "offending" officer's behaviour was unacceptable (for one wearing the uniform), but his treatment of his attackers is understandable in the context of this incident and an extended period away from the "front line" would be good. Soldiers are granted R&R so why not overstressed police officers?

solicitors

 THE INEVITABLE AFTERMATH ....

A second officer at this incident has been suspended (reason unknown) and the two instigators of the police response to their original assaults have now submitted assault complaints against the Manchester police force. They have their new parasitic legal representative valiantly implying that the police are not allowed to defend themselves against sustained and serious assaults upon themselves. The hubris in their action is breath-taking in the light of the video evidence of them "kicking-off" for reasons as yet unknown. Sky News seem to have the best information.

Muhammed Fahir Amaaz (L) and Amaad Amaaz (R)
with legal representative Akhmed Yakoob (from
Maurice Andrews Solicitors in Birmingham)

Lawyer, Mother and sons (L+R) - angels in new suits?

 Maurice Andrews Solicitors , Maurice Andrews Solicitors in Birmingham , Maurice Andrews ,  Solicitors in Birmingham, 

Word of the day - SARDONIC

The word today is Sardonic

Sardonic is an adjective and from my research means the following:

- To speak scornfully or be cynically sceptical about a subject

- To express truths or opinions by clever and disdainful mocking

- To be critically truthful without intended humour

There is no humour in being sardonic

Sardonicism is a the frequent use of sardonic speech

If someone says you are sardonic they suggest a "dry" cynical wit

A sardonic sense of humour is measured, deliberate and often acerbic

If you need more start here or here.

There is an index of words of the day.