I was in the gym today between sets of pullups when this, one of the greatest and most unstoppable of all Stones songs, came on the radio, loud.
I just re-watched the video, which I love. To me, the way Jagger and Richards are in this video exemplifies what it is to be a man and what it is to be cool.
The song comes out of the gate as hard as any song and that's how Mick comes out of the gate in the video. Look at his face when he jumps down from the stage in this crazy loft/studio they're shooting in.
Jagger and Richards weren't talking to each other when this was shot and were close to hating each other's guts, and it shows. Their sparring scenes and the whole boxing theme of the video are intense.
They're not young here but they've lost nothing of their power and genius.
Their faces aged in the best way a man's face can age: accruing character and depth from years and decades of a life of joy and ferocity.
Many of the great rock stars have aged terribly. I can't look at Neil Young's boomer head as it is right now. His face betrays the terrible dryness of someone who was once a great artist and, as his powers of inspiration waned, succumbed to all the nasty flaws of his generation, becoming distracted by something as thin as mere ideology.
But looking at Jagger and Richards as they are here gives me chills.
Do yourself a favor and crank this up, as loud as the speakers can take.
You fell out of the clear blue sky
To the darkness below
The smell of your flesh excites me
My blood starts to flow
So help me God
I just re-watched the video, which I love. To me, the way Jagger and Richards are in this video exemplifies what it is to be a man and what it is to be cool.
The song comes out of the gate as hard as any song and that's how Mick comes out of the gate in the video. Look at his face when he jumps down from the stage in this crazy loft/studio they're shooting in.
Jagger and Richards weren't talking to each other when this was shot and were close to hating each other's guts, and it shows. Their sparring scenes and the whole boxing theme of the video are intense.
They're not young here but they've lost nothing of their power and genius.
Their faces aged in the best way a man's face can age: accruing character and depth from years and decades of a life of joy and ferocity.
Many of the great rock stars have aged terribly. I can't look at Neil Young's boomer head as it is right now. His face betrays the terrible dryness of someone who was once a great artist and, as his powers of inspiration waned, succumbed to all the nasty flaws of his generation, becoming distracted by something as thin as mere ideology.
But looking at Jagger and Richards as they are here gives me chills.
Do yourself a favor and crank this up, as loud as the speakers can take.
You fell out of the clear blue sky
To the darkness below
The smell of your flesh excites me
My blood starts to flow
So help me God
same old shit, sixes and sevens Shaft...
