The decision by the Rolling Stones to remove their 1971 song Brown Sugar from the set list for their upcoming American tour has drawn both...
The decision by the Rolling Stones to remove their 1971 song Brown Sugar from the set list for their upcoming American tour has drawn both praise and criticism.
Read by some as a surrender to the “woke brigade” and by others, as a reasonable response to the accusation the lyrics glorify “slavery, rape, torture and paedophilia”, the decision highlights the changing ethical considerations musicians must navigate in order to maintain a social license.
Brown Sugar was recorded in Alabama in late 1969 and released on the Rolling Stones’ 1971 album Sticky Fingers. The song is emblematic of the Stones’ energetic rhythm and blues sound and has been a mainstay of their set list for decades.
The lyrics explore the sexual exploitation of a Black woman by slave traders and slave owners in America’s south, presenting a sexualised view of a marginalised group.
“Brown Sugar, how come you taste so good?
Brown Sugar, just like a young girl should.”
Contemporary and informed audiences would also recognise “brown sugar” as a reference to heroin.
Through the course of the song, the singer moves from observer to an agent of this sexualisation.
“And all her boyfriends were sweet 16
I’m no school boy but I know what I like
You should have heard them just around midnight.”
While some interpretations of the song would like to see it primarily as a celebration of a drug counterculture, any pretence the phrase...
