"Some Girls" is the title track of the English
rock and roll band
the Rolling Stones' 1978 album ''
Some Girls''. It marked the third time a song on one of the band's albums also served as the album's title.
Like "
Under My Thumb", "
Brown Sugar", and "
Star Star
"Star Star" (originally titled "Starfucker") is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The song was released as a single for the band's album ''Goats Head Soup'' (1973), with ...
", the lyrics to "Some Girls" created controversy because of the way it depicted women. The line "black girls just want to get fucked all night" enraged
civil rights activists. In its review of the album, ''
Rolling Stone'' writer
Paul Nelson called it "...a sexist and racist horror..." but added "...it's also terrifically funny and strangely desperate in a manner that gets under your skin and makes you care."
Civil rights leader
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...
met with
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist.
Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...
, chair of the board of
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...
(the record's distributor). The record company refused to edit the song for future releases and the band issued a statement saying the lyrics actually mocked stereotypical feelings towards women.
Humorously, ''
Saturday Night Live'' cast member
Garrett Morris commented on the controversy with a mock-editorial on the show's
Weekend Update segment: After giving the impression that he was going to openly criticize the Stones, he quoted a sanitized version of the "Black girls just..." line, then stated, "Now, Mr. Jagger, there is only one question I want to ask you – Jaggs. And you better have the answer, man, you better have the answer, since you have ''besmirched'' the character of black women. Therefore, here is my question, Jaggs. Where ''are'' all of these black broads, man? Hey, like, where ARE they, baby? You got any phone numbers for me, baby? Please send 'em to me. Thank you."
When the Stones performed the song in
Martin Scorsese's 2008 movie ''
Shine a Light'', however, the line was not included.
See also
*
Race (human categorization)
References
{{Authority control
The Rolling Stones songs
1978 songs
Songs written by Jagger–Richards
Song recordings produced by Jagger–Richards
Race-related controversies in music