Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, becoming identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. They then found greater success with their own material, as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Get Off of My Cloud" (1965), and "Paint It Black" (1966) became international number-one hits. Aftermath (1966) â their first entirely original album â is considered by The Daily Telegraph to be the most important of their formative records. In 1967, they had the double-sided hit "Ruby Tuesday"/"Let's Spend the Night Together" and experimented with psychedelic rock on Their Satanic Majesties Request. They returned to their rhythm and blues roots with hit songs such as "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1968) and "Honky Tonk Women" (1969), and albums such as Beggars Banquet (1968), featuring "Sympathy for the Devil", and Let It Bleed (1969), featuring "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter". Let It Bleed was the first of five consecutive number-one albums in the UK.
Jones left the band shortly before his death in 1969, having been replaced by guitarist Mick Taylor. That year they were first introduced on stage as "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World". Sticky Fingers (1971), which yielded "Brown Sugar" and included the first usage of their tongue and lips logo, was their first of eight consecutive number-one studio albums in the US. Exile on Main St. (1972), featuring "Tumbling Dice", and Goats Head Soup (1973), yielding the hit ballad "Angie", were also best sellers. Taylor was replaced by Ron Wood in 1974. The band continued to release successful albums, including their two largest sellers: Some Girls (1978), featuring "Miss You", and Tattoo You (1981), featuring "Start Me Up". Steel Wheels (1989) was widely considered a comeback album and was followed by Voodoo Lounge (1994), a worldwide number-one album. Both releases were promoted by large stadium and arena tours, as the Stones continued to be a huge concert attraction; by 2007 they had recorded the all-time highest-grossing concert tour three times, and as recently as 2021 they were the highest-earning live act of the year. From Wyman's departure in 1993 to Watts' death in 2021, the band continued as a four-piece core, with Darryl Jones playing bass on tour and on most studio recordings, while Steve Jordan became their touring drummer following Watts' death. Their 2016 album, Blue & Lonesome, became their twelfth UK number-one album.
The Rolling Stones' estimated record sales of 200 million make them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The band has won three Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Billboard magazine and Rolling Stone have ranked the band as one of the greatest of all time.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rolling_Stones
Studio albums
The Rolling Stones / England's Newest Hit Makers (1964)
12 X 5 (1964)
The Rolling Stones No. 2 / The Rolling Stones, Now! (1965)
Out of Our Heads (1965)
December's Children (And Everybody's) (1965)
Aftermath (1966)
Between the Buttons (1967)
Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
Beggars Banquet (1968)
Let It Bleed (1969)
Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main St. (1972)
Goats Head Soup (1973)
It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974)
Black and Blue (1976)
Some Girls (1978)
Emotional Rescue (1980)
Tattoo You (1981)
Undercover (1983)
Dirty Work (1986)
Steel Wheels (1989)
Voodoo Lounge (1994)
Bridges to Babylon (1997)
A Bigger Bang (2005)
Blue & Lonesome (2016)
Hackney Diamonds (2023)
Brown Sugar
The Rolling Stones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sold in the market down in New Orleans
Skydog slaver knows he's doin' all right
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown sugar, just like a young girl should
Drums beatin' cold, English blood runs hot
Lady of the house wonderin' when it's gonna stop
House boy knows that he's doin' all right
You should have heard him just around midnight
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown sugar, just like a young girl should
Brown sugar, how come you dance so good
Brown sugar, just like a black girl should
I bet your mama was a Cajun Queen
And all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen
I'm no school boy but I know what I like
You should have heard them just around midnight
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good
Brown sugar, just like a black girl should
I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
How come you, how come you dance so good
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
Just like a, just like a black girl should
Yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" is a song about the twin legacies of slavery and racism in the United States. The opening lines of the song, "Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields/ Sold in the market down in New Orleans" evoke the brutal history of the transatlantic slave trade and the selling of human beings for labor. These lines also establish the song's setting in the American South, a region that has been defined by racial conflict and discrimination since the arrival of the first slave ships.
The next verse introduces the character of the Skydog slaver, a powerful and sadistic figure who controls the lives of the enslaved people under his command. The mention of his "whipping the women just around midnight" suggests that sexual violence was a common occurrence on slave plantations. The juxtaposition of this brutality with the sweet and seductive refrain of "Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good?/ Brown Sugar, just like a young girl should" underscores the dehumanization of the enslaved people and the commodification of their bodies.
The song's final verse highlights the intersection of race, gender, and class. The singer of the song, a white Englishman, appropriates the music and culture of Black America for his own pleasure, singing about "just like a black girl should." The reference to the singer's "Lady of the house" reminds us that the economic exploitation of enslaved people created a class hierarchy that benefited white elites. The song's sexualized and objectifying language reinforces the idea that Black women were viewed as subhuman and sexually available to white men.
Line by Line Meaning
Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields
The song is about the transatlantic slave trade that saw Africans transported from West Africa to North America to work as slaves on cotton farms.
Sold in the market down in New Orleans
Once in North America, slaves were sold like any other commodity in markets such as the one in New Orleans.
Skydog slaver knows he's doin' all right
Slave traders such as Skydog knew what they were doing and saw nothing wrong with it.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight
Slaves were often punished harshly, including being whipped, for not meeting their quotas, running away, or for other perceived wrongdoing.
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good?
The singer is using the metaphor of brown sugar to describe his attraction to black women, comparing their sweetness to that of sugar.
Brown sugar, just like a young girl should
The singer's expectation of what a young black girl should be like is based on stereotypes of innocence and sweetness.
Drums beatin' cold, English blood runs hot
This line refers to the influence of African rhythms on rock music, which originated in England. The English may have adopted these rhythms, but they are derived from the music of African slaves who were brought to North America.
Lady of the house wonderin' when it's gonna stop
This line refers to the mistress of the house, who is probably aware of her husband's affairs with slaves but feels powerless to stop them.
House boy knows that he's doin' all right
This line refers to a male slave who is performing his duties successfully and thereby avoiding the harsh punishment that awaits those who do not meet their quotas.
You should have heard him just around midnight
The male slave in the previous line may have engaged in sexual activity with the female slaves around midnight, when most of the other people on the plantation were asleep.
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good, now?
The singer is again expressing his attraction to black women as being irresistible, like the sweetness of sugar.
Brown sugar, just like a young girl should (yeah)
The 'young girl' stereotype is again perpetuated in this line, as is the link to sweetness and innocence.
Brown sugar, how come you dance so good, babe?
The singer is praising the dancing abilities of black women, suggesting that they are natural performers.
Brown sugar, just like a black girl should, yeah
The phrase 'just like a black girl should' reinforces stereotypes around the behavior and attributes that are expected of black women, rather than acknowledging them as individuals with their own unique qualities.
And I bet your mama was a tent show queen
The singer is making assumptions about the mother of the woman he is singing about, suggesting that she may have performed in traveling shows or circuses that were common during the time of slavery and beyond.
And all her boyfriends were sweet sixteen
This line suggests that the woman's mother had relationships with much younger men, further objectifying and sexualizing black women.
I'm no school boy but I know what I like
The singer is suggesting that he knows what he finds attractive, even if it may not be socially acceptable or morally right.
You should have heard them just around midnight
The singer is again alluding to the sexual activity that may have taken place between male and female slaves on the plantation, emphasizing the taboo nature of interracial relationships at the time.
Brown sugar, how come you taste so good, baby?
This line is a repeated refrain, re-emphasizing the singer's attraction to black women as being linked to their sweetness.
Brown sugar, just like a young girl should, yeah
The concept of black women as inherently youthful and innocent is again perpetuated in this line.
I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, woo
This is an exclamation without any specific meaning, emphasizing the passionate and sensual nature of the song.
How come you, how come you dance so good?
This line is a repetition of an earlier phrase, which once again praises black women's natural ability to dance.
Just like a, just like a black girl should
The repeated phrase reinforces the idea of a narrow set of behaviors and attributes that are expected of black women, further erasing their unique identities and personalities.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Abkco Music Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@kennadyyoung8237
â@@WriterandPhotographer
Here's what Mick said it's about. What is it you're saying it's about?
"After noting that the lyrics could mean so many lewd subjects,[17]Â he again noted that the combination of those subjects, the lyrical ambiguity was partially why the song was considered successful. He noted, "That makes it... the whole mess thrown in. God knows what I'm on about on that song. It's such a mishmash. All the nasty subjects in one go... I never would write that song now."Â
Of course anything with "brown" in it from the time period is frequently associated with H. There's a ton of songs that have the "drug" question hanging over them "Golden Brown" "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" "Black Hole Sun". They're art open for interpretation and sometimes even the writer doesn't understand what bubbles up from the unconscious.
There's a line in the first verse of "Windy" by The Association about a rainbow thats interesting. I always thought the song was Wendy. My band did a grungy rock version of it and I saw it was actually Windy and that line about the rainbow... I thought hmm thats suggestive from such a sugary little pop song..we'll never know but it's fun to speculate.
@hotboxinglyfe
Rogan brought me here
@thatguybrooke
Its like they already know what's up or something đ€ đ€· đ hmm
Lpl
@shiza237
True dat.
@wesleyoneal1176
Yep
@GaryKavanagh-m4e
Same
@biggiehwan
Same
@Veeveeskitchen
Who else is here to listen to the lyrics for the first time?
@waynereeves7375
Yeah. Me. I read the lyrics for the first time. It's a disgusting song. Let the free market reject it. I won't buy it
@ìšë°ìĄ°ë°ìŽë
I bought it vinyl 30yrs
@ìšë°ìĄ°ë°ìŽë
slavery is still going on around the world but......we need to stop listening to this song
FTW666GFY