Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers (1971)
The opening song of the ten tunes on the Rolling Stones 1971 masterpiece, Sticky Fingers, is Brown Sugar. What a rocker! Jagger actually wrote this killer tune, and Keith, if I remember correctly, writing in his engaging 2010 memoir called Life, noted that with Mick having brought it to him almost completely finished, all that Keith said he had to do was to clean it up a bit. With the most attention-grabbing upfront riff that’s got the Stones fans cutting the rug and all that groovy action, rip this joint, 1970s people, having a good time at a party, shake your hips, let it loose, setting themselves free after a long hard week at work, in the shackles, chained to the wheel.
The powerful Sway is the second track on the album. I have heard that Mick Taylor and Mick Jagger wrote this great song. I think it was at Mick Jagger’s country estate in England, and that Keith wasn’t there. (Naturally, due to the power dynamics, this song is credited as a Jagger/Richards composition on the album notes.) What makes the Sticky Fingers album achieve the status of a work of art, is that all of the tracks achieve a depth of emotion beyond the ordinary. Sway does this in abundance. The tone and rhythm of the music, combining with the poetry of the vocals It’s just that devil life, got you in its sway enact a form of ethereal transportation for the…
