The 1968 Rolling Stones song Mick Jagger wanted to retire: “I was persuaded”
When in a band as big as The Rolling Stones, a few songs tend to wear out their welcome on tour.
Even though many fans may love to hear tracks like ‘Wild Horses’ and ‘Satisfaction’ whenever they attend a Stones concert, it’s easy to see classic bands going through the motions as they try their best to bring an authentic performance to the crowd. While Mick Jagger has never soured on many of The Stones’ classic tunes, he thought that one song never held up as much as he thought.
Then again, the idea of the band becoming world-class songwriters was stumbled upon almost accidentally. To be a sonic force on the same level as The Beatles, Jagger and Keith Richards fashioned themselves into songwriters on their own, creating tracks like ‘As Tears Go By’ and ‘The Last Time’ to work into their set alongside their bluesy covers like ‘I Just Want To Make Love To You’.
After breaking down the door for hard rock on songs like ‘Satisfaction’, Jagger and Richards were leading the way for the dark side of the British Invasion, talking about subjects that were more jaded than what the Fab Four would have sung about on tracks like ‘Under My Thumb’ and ‘Get Off My Cloud’.
As the band started to carve out a name for themselves past their local scene, though, they started to take more than a few cues from their contemporaries as well. In the wake of The Beatles becoming one of the most adventurous bands in the studio, The Stones would end up taking chances whenever they went to record, fashioning themselves into the sounds of baroque pop and psychedelic rock on albums like Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request.
Outside of the music, though, the rest of the world was changing as well, with the protests from the Vietnam War causing riots on the streets of America. Inspired to make something that would comment on the political situation, Jagger offered up ‘Street Fighting Man’ as a supportive anthem for the protestors, thinking there was nothing more for a poor boy to do than play rock and roll or riot in the streets.
Released in 1968 amid widespread civil unrest, the song quickly became controversial. Several American radio stations pulled it from rotation following the assassination of Robert F Kennedy, fearing its title and subject matter could be interpreted as an incitement to violence despite Jagger insisting it was an observation rather than a call to arms.
Although the song would become a killer hit for the band upon release, Jagger would soon start to fall out of love with the song as well. When doing a retrospective of the band’s recording career, Jagger thought that the song sounded far more dated than it should, telling Jann Wenner, “I don’t know if it [resonates]. I don’t know whether we should really play it. I was persuaded to put it in this tour because it seemed to fit in, but I’m not really sure if it has any resonance for the present day”.
Jagger’s uncertainty reflected his reluctance to treat the song as a timeless protest anthem. Rather than believing its message applied universally, he viewed it as being rooted in a very specific political and cultural moment, even if audiences continued to find fresh relevance in its themes of frustration and dissent.
What Jagger thought it lacked lyrically, though, the band more than made for with the instrumentation. Featuring a snarling riff from Richards, the song relies more on the groove than the lyrics half the time, creating the musical picture of marching into battle against those who would prefer to be stifled.
While the idea of political riots may not have been a central part of life anymore, every subsequent generation of rock stars has used the song as a model to rebel against anything keeping them down. From Oasis to Rage Against the Machine, Jagger’s lines about finding freedom in making one’s voice heard have become the model for any aspiring musician with a chip on their shoulder.
Ironically, the song has outgrown its creator’s reservations. While Jagger questioned whether Street Fighting Man still spoke to modern audiences, successive generations have continued to embrace it whenever periods of social unrest emerge. Its enduring appeal suggests that, even if the circumstances change, the desire to challenge authority through music remains as powerful as ever.
