10 Greatest Lyrics Ever (Part 5)

Continued from last post

9) "Saw you stretched out in room ten-o-nine
With a smile on your face
And a tear right in your eye
Couldnt seem to get a line on you
My sweet honey love...

When you're drunk in the alley baby
With your clothes all torn
And your late night friends
Leave you in the cold grey dawn
Just seemed too many flies on you
I just cant brush them off

Angels beating all their wings in time
With smiles on their faces
And a gleam right in their eyes
Thought I heard one sigh for you..."- Mick Jagger, "Shine a Light"


Mick Jagger has written some of the best lyrics of all time, "Please allow me to introduce myself", "I saw her today at the reception", "You're obsolete my baby" and "She said she liked the way I held the microphone" among them. I read once that "Shine a Light" was Mick's song to Keith, a "goodbye, I love you" to a friend he'd given up on saving. Whether that's true or not, I always think about the song like that. In 1971 when it was recorded Keith seemed on the verge of overdosing, and his time left on the Earth not long. The fact that Keith is still alive doesn't make Mick's goodbye any less powerful. "Shine a Light" is the second to last song on an album where all the best songs are goodbyes. "Exile on Mainstreet", released in 1971, was the last great album the Rolling Stones ever made, and the last great one that they ever will make. After this was something changed; though made up of the same parts, somewhere along the way they had left something behind. Like your late night friends leave you in the cold gray dawn. An album of angel's sighs. "Rocks Off", the first song on the album, is the most honest song a band's ever written about losing touch and burning out. Going through the motions comes next, and "Goat's Head Soup", billions more dollars, a million more tours...Roger Waters wrote a whole album about it, but Mick condensed the whole thing into 4 and a half minutes on "Rocks Off". Here's the full lyrics to "Rocks Off",

"I hear you talking when I'm on the street,
Your mouth don't move but I can hear you speak.
What's the matter with the boy?
He don't come around no more,
Is he checking out for sure?
Is he gonna close the door on me?"

"I'm always hearing voices on the street,
I want to shout, but I can hardly speak.
I was making love last night
To a dancer friend of mine.
I can't seem to stay in step,
'Cause she comes ev'ry time that she pirouettes on me."

And I only get my rocks off while I'm dreaming,
I only get my rocks off while I'm sleeping.

I'm zipping through the days at lightning speed.
Plug in, flush out and fire the fuckin' feed.
Heading for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you've kicked before,
I can't even feel the pain no more.

Feel so hypnotized, can't describe the scene.
Its all mesmerized all that inside me.
The sunshine bores the daylights out of me.
Chasing shadows moonlight mystery.
Headed for the overload,
Splattered on the dirty road,
Kick me like you've kicked before,
I can't even feel the pain no more."

So there you are, seconds before the crash, what it looked like from the seat. When he still cared that it didn't hurt, when people could still wonder if a door was really closing. Are they checking out for sure. Every great band goes; not every great band says goodbye. Those are pearls that were his eyes, of his bones is coral made, nothing living left to fade. Have you seen your mother baby? 1971, standing in the shadows, Mick on the stage, Keith strung out. Backstage they're all packed and ready for their next stop on tour. A moment before the last song Mick stops, seeming to be a little disconcerted. He looks over at Keith, swaying, eyes glazed, half shut. Then he looks out at the crowd. Some seconds pass, he looks down, regains his composure, and starts the song. "She would never say where she came from...Yesterday don't matter if it's gone..." Behind him, Nicky Hopkins, tinkling on the piano, tries to cue Keith in that the chorus is coming. "No one knows, she comes and go..." It comes and Keith nails it. Nicky sighs. There are angels in the crowd. "Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday..."



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