---

Peter: So this time we’re doing Some Girls. This is the third Rolling Stones album we’ve done, but this is the first one (most) people like. It’s a crowd favorite!

I picked this one. I know from our off the radar conversations that you are also familiar with it. Any introductory remarks you’d like to make?

Tyler: I figure it’s fair to acknowledge from the jump how downright offensive this album is at times.  It’s as lyrically outrageous as any of the band’s other classics, and really tests the limits of what the fellas can get away with. We’ll get to the details, but I figure a disclaimer up front is fair.  Some Girls: not for the faint of heart.  Or dark, dark humor.

Peter: Right. Very true.

It was controversial at the time, but, yeah, it’s got some super offensive lyrics.

Tyler: And the worst offender is the title track! Those rascals.

Peter: This is one of the only albums we’ve done that people have probably heard! That’s something!

Tyler: We’ve sold out, man.

Peter: It’s true.

We’ll do Dirty Work next.

Tyler: I almost cracked wise about that one too.  Maybe we should!

Anyway.  Some Girls is riddled with verbal landmines.  It also is Goddam fire.

Peter: When we did Their Satanic Majesties Request, I said I thought I probably liked it better than Some Girls. We’re gonna put that to the test!

Tyler: Bold statement then, bold statement now.

I mean, dude—if I may instigate the proceedings—we’re starting off with “Miss You.”  “Miss You.”

Peter: “Miss You” is the Stones doing disco. And it’s great. It’s a classic. The last Stones album we did was Black and Blue and that starts with a very lazy disco/funk jam called “Hot Stuff.” Remember “Hot Stuff?”

Tyler: Do I! “Lazy garbage,” I believe you termed it, with real accuracy.

Peter: Yes!

This is not lazy. Or garbage.

It’s tight. It has lyrics that were written down ahead of time. Went to #1 in the States!

Tyler: Appropriately so.  This one is a personal all-time favorite.  Top five Stones tracks, maybe top three.

That’s such an obvious choice, but it’s just a damn perfect track.

Peter: Wow! Top three? That’s high praise.

Tyler: It has yet to get old for me.  It’s weirdly vulnerable Mick, somehow believable.

Peter: I like it. It’s very good. They have so many great songs though. It’s not in my top ten, but I think it’s undeniably good.

The next song, “When The Whip Comes Down” is terrific. It’s got great “second song on the album” energy. Kicking it up a notch after the opener.

Tyler: It is a great second song, isn’t it!  It surges into gear after the strut of “Miss You.”

It’s also the second of the album’s “New York” tracks.  There’s a fascination with and affection for NYC throughout the LP.

Peter: Yes! It’s funny they recorded this in Paris.

But it’s all New York in the late 70s energy.

Tyler: The sound is so damn lean, despite the multiple guitars.  There are very few frills on Some Girls.

Peter: Yes, good point. We should also point out, people were starting to call them old. And they didn’t like that. They’re trying hard here. And it shows. Also, Keith was coming off his drug bust and was off heroin at this point.

Tyler: Thank the Lord for that.  The world without Keith would have been, and when the time comes will be, a lesser place.

Peter: It’s kind of crazy he’s still with us, but, yes, agreed.

Tyler: I do think we gotta look at the lyrics of “When The Whip Comes Down.”  It’s the first-person tale of a young gay man who leaves Los Angeles for New York—“gay in New York, just a f** in L.A.”—in search of social and sexual acceptance.  He explores his sexuality, “learning the ropes, learning the trade.”  “Learning the trade” is a great little double-entendre they throw in; “when the shit hits the fan I’ll be sittin’ on the can” is perhaps a bridge too far.

Peter: I’ve never even noticed it’s a story! It just kind of vibes by for me. That’s weird. I’ve heard it many times. I do listen to lyrics (in general). Okay, I’m Googling the lyrics.

Okay! Wow!

Tyler: Something else, ain’t it?

Peter: It is! Um… I wasn’t prepared for this moment. I thought I knew a lot about this album!

Tyler: I didn’t know it was recorded in Paris.  Learning as we go, readers!

Peter: This is why they play the games. You never know what’s going to happen!

Okay, I do know that “Just My Imagination” is a cover. It’s not one of my favorites. I would have preferred a Jagger/Richards song here. I guess they preferred this. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there are some really great outtakes/b-sides from this album.

Tyler: Really!  I love this recording.  The vocal harmonies are gorgeous in their way.  And once again we get a Mick that somehow, in some way, seems plausibly besotted with an unattainable woman.

I haven’t heard the outtakes or b-sides, so I can’t speak to whether they’d trump “Imagination.”  As it is, though, I like it on the album as a sort of sweet antidote to the filthy lucre of the rest of Some Girls.

Peter: That’s fair. I always skipped it back in the day. I don’t dislike it, and you’re right that it’s a sort of salve. As far as the b-sides go, there’s a good one called “Everything Is Turning To Gold,” which, I believe, is a Ronnie Wood penned track.

Tyler: Not on the deluxe Some Girls on Spotify.  Catastrophe!

Hoo boy.  It’s that time.

“Some Girls.”

I have a complicated relationship with this song.  The complications are, how utterly absurdly offensive and even racist it is, and how much I adore it.  Conundrum!

Peter: The titular track! This song is pretty offensive. They were trying to be scandalous! It’s a decent tune though.

Tyler: For the uninitiated, “Some Girls” breaks down the social and sexual demands of various female demographics. It does not do so elegantly.  But, I’m sorry, the punchline “American girls want everything in the world you could possibly imagine!” is so great.

It gets real tricky when Mick moves on from nationalities—“French girls,” “Italian girls,” “American girls”—to races.

Peter: Yeah. That’s… not great. It’s another one that’s more “vibey” for me. I just let it roll by without thinking too hard about the lyrics. Which maybe isn’t okay either, but…

Tyler: So hard to draw that line.  In one sense, I’m compromising the shit out of my morals by letting those lines slide. I mean, I’m not even gonna quote them even as I give them a pass.

Peter: Even in that day and age it got some backlash.

Tyler: Is it wrong that I really like the part where Mick admits that he “just don’t have that much jab?”

It’s “jab” or “jam.”  “Jab” is better.

Peter: I thought it was “jam?”

Not sure.

Tyler: Damn.  Gross.

Peter: Yeah!

Let’s move on. I feel icky.

Tyler: “Lies!”

Another very strong rock song.

Now, I don’t think it’s up there with “When The Whip Comes Down,” but they’ve got a similar spirit.

Peter: Yeah. It’s one of the vaguely “punk” songs on this album. It’s spirited.

I don’t know why, but I don’t get into this one. It’s not a bad tune. It’s better than most of Black and Blue, but the bar is higher on this album. It’s another one I always skipped.

Tyler: It’s another surger, after that heavy “Some Girls” lurch.

Peter: True.

This album flows really well.

Tyler: It doesn’t linger, either.  Just under forty-one minutes, and those minutes fly by.  Unlike our beloved Black and Blue, a forty-one minute album that feels like it’s longer than the entire Godfather saga.

Peter: Exactly! This album is such an obvious course correction. They were losing the plot.

Tyler: Left turn coming.  “Far Away Eyes.”

Peter: I don’t like “Far Away Eyes.”

Tyler: I don’t either.

I love old country music.  Not a fan of Mick taking the piss, as they say.

Peter: Yeah. It’s a shame because I really love “Dead Flowers,” an earlier attempt at country. The chorus is okay here, but Mick ruins the verses with his “Southern twang.”

Tyler: I agree that the chorus is decent, and wasted.  As for Stones-gone-C&W, I also enjoy “Country Honk.”

Why can’t Mick just play it straight here?

Peter: “Country Honk” is another great one.

“Far Away Eyes” is like a novelty song.

Tyler: Such a shame.  Everything really trucks along on this album until here.

Peter: Yeah. Big speed bump there. Let’s move on. “Respectable” gets us back on track.

Tyler: This is some straight-up down-to-it rock ’n roll.  Good shit.

Peter: Yeah. Great stuff. It’s got that punk energy that fuels so much of this album.

They played this on SNL.

Tyler: Oh yeah?  I’d watch that.

Peter: It’s fun.

Tyler: They play “Miss You” as the other song?

Peter: I think they did “Shattered” and got to do a third song, “Beast of Burden.”

Tyler: Shoulda let Keith take the lead with a run-through of our next song.

Peter: I love “Before They Make Me Run.”

Tyler: It’s a triumph, and kind of the big beating heart of the album.  Am I overstating it?

Peter: It is in a way. It’s very sincere. Pure Keith.

Tyler: Not a single Mick-sung line on Some Girls—and there are plenty of great ones—has quite the gravity as “Another goodbye to another good friend.”

Peter: Yes! Great line.

Mick’s playing a bunch of different characters on Some Girls. Wearing different masks (as usual),  but Keith’s always Keith.

Someone once said “Mick’s a great bunch of guys.”

Tyler: That’s fantastic.

Also fantastic: Keith recovering from heroin addiction.  This song, all about that recovery, is a bonus.

Peter: With his heroin bust hanging over his head, facing possible prison time, and with the future of the band in the balance, he pens a classic.

And it’s no dirge! Defiant, not defeated.

Tyler: Now, I’ve more complicated feelings about “Beast Of Burden.”  For ages and ages, this one wasn’t a favorite of mine.  Can’t put my finger on why.  It was even a bar favorite of a cherished, late friend, but even in those days, I wasn’t convinced.

In these recent weeks, though, somehow, I’ve come around.

Peter: I like “Beast of Burden.” It has a great effortlessness, weightless quality.

Tyler: “Weightless,” yes!  Something about it feels light and spare.

Peter: It only went to number 8 in the US! I think of it as a big hit.

Tyler: That’s a stunner.  I figured it for the same.

It’s got soul, and it’s got more Vulnerable Mick.  A winning combo.

Peter: Bette Midler covered this in 1984 and Mick’s in the video. It’s something.

Tyler: Lord, I hope they had a romance.

Peter: They’re supposed to be a couple in the video but have very little chemistry.

Tyler: The Divine Miss M and the flashier of the Glimmer Twins.  Together at last.

Peter: Indeed. I think “Beast of Burden” is kind of a gateway drug for the Stones. It draws in people who are put off by “Start Me Up.”

Tyler: Man, “Start Me Up.” Pass.

Also pass: “Shattered.”  I just can’t.  “Sex and sex and sex and SEX!”

Peter: Okay we’re going to fight on this one.

It’s Skip and Shannon time!

Tyler: I think comparison to those two is punishment even in jest.

But hey.  Bring it.

Peter: I don’t love this song, but I really admire it. It’s a big swing, for sure, but I think it works really well. I didn’t live in New York in 1978, but I’ve always gotten the impression from people who did, that this song does embody the energy of that scene. And, for that, I admire it. I think they captured a moment here (and on this whole album).

Tyler: I ain’t gonna argue with that.

A British band—a pantheon British rock band—decamps to France and writes a great New York rock album.  Man, those guys are good when they’re good.

Peter: How did they not record this in NYC? Craziness.

Tyler: Maybe they wouldn’t let Keith in.

Peter: Oh! That’s possible.

Tyler: I wish I had better recollection of his memoir.  All I know with certainty is that I adored it.

Peter: Agreed. I wish we could get the next in Dylan’s Chronicles.

Some Girls was a hit both critically and commercially. It was exactly what the Stones needed. Teetering on the precipice of irrelevance, they bought themselves about four more years.

Tyler: And they did it by incorporating—not appropriating—the two predominant popular music genres of the era.  That’s impressive.  Trying on new styles has felled many a musician.

Peter: Exactly!

They could have looked very foolish.

But it (mostly) works.

Tyler: It’s confident, too.

Peter: Yeah. They’re trying hard here and it really shows. This is the opposite of Black and Blue.

Tyler: Still gonna slot this below Satanic Majesties?

Peter: I… This is a better album. No question. Like it’s closer, “Shattered,” I admire it. I kind of prefer the mood in the band, or the times and vibes, associated with TSMR…. But this is a better album.

Tyler: The rock scene in the late ‘60s had real hope behind it.  I think I prefer that energy, too.

But yeah.  Some Girls is the greater piece of work.

Peter: They both captured a moment in time.

---