The Rolling Stones retired one of their most popular rock songs due to lyrics that depict the horrors of slavery.
The Stones have not played …
The Rolling Stones retired one of their most popular rock songs due to lyrics that depict the horrors of slavery. The Stones have not played the 1971 hit « Brown Sugar » on their current tour and said the blues classic has been removed from their setlist. « You picked up on that, huh?, » Keith Richards,77, responded to the LA Times when asked if the Stones had cut the second-most-performed tune in their catalog amid a climate of heightened cultural sensitivity. « I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is. Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it. » The first verse of the hit song depicts slaves being sold and beaten in Louisiana, with references to a « slaver » who whips « women just around midnight. » The famous chorus portrays a non-consensual sex encounter between the violent master and a young female slave, while possibly also alluding to heroin use. In the next verse, the song describes the abuse suffered by slaves on a plantation.
