The awful Rolling Stones country song Mick Jagger had “an affinity” with
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that Mick Jagger has always had a unique singing voice. It’s very easy to imitate, whether done lovingly or mockingly, but it’s also very easy to tell when it’s someone doing a bad impression of him and when it’s the man himself. His signature Dartford drawl has always been a staple of the Rolling Stones’ music since the beginning, but the fact that it represents his Kentish roots has always been just as significant to the band’s identity.
However, as ridiculous as he may have sounded at times, it was suitable for the music that the Rolling Stones have produced throughout their career. His affectations were packed with bravado and attitude in equal measure, and if he felt like adding a croon to his trademark style, then he was able make this addition to his voice as well if it felt appropriate for the song.
What Jagger’s voice was unequivocally not suited to was country – at least not an authentic country vocal style. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for me to tell you that Kent and Texas are not the same place, and the authenticity of Jagger’s attempt at being a rootin’ and tootin’ cowboy on their 1978 hit ‘Far Away Eyes’ is genuinely laughable in how inaccurate it is. Throughout the song, every time he tries his hardest to bring a Southern American into play, you can’t help but hear his own inflections influence the sounds that come from his mouth.
Hearing Americans do poor imitations of us Brits might be an annoyance on the ears, but it certainly isn’t a monodirectional gripe – the fact that we also struggle with the nuances of impersonating the range of US accents is not lost on me. However, it has to be said that Jagger’s attempt is especially ropey, and the fact that he chooses to double down on it on multiple occasions throughout the Some Girls track makes for some skin-crawling discomfort.
The vowel sounds are all over the place, and the constant “thank you Lawds” and references to trucking do little but make a mockery of the country twang, yet his commitment to the shoddy accent goes so far that it becomes less of an irritant and more of an element of humour. It’s most likely that Jagger himself was well aware of the humorous aspect of his poor mimicry, and when viewed this way, his vocals on the track end up reflecting a performance typical of the man: full of swagger, bravado and cheekiness.
Jagger himself felt a connection to the song and acknowledged that he was singing from the perspective of a character on the track in a 2008 interview. “That’s the thing about the Stones, they have lots of other kinds of facets which make them kind of interesting,” he said. “Don’t force me to intellectualize it. I just do the characters. I’ve done a couple of songs, even very early, on those songs like ‘Dear Doctor’ and all that – they’re that sort of character. I have an affinity with that country thing, I think.”
While he may claim to have an affinity with “that country thing”, he certainly doesn’t have an affinity for the vocal style that comes with it, and even if he was meant to be doing a slightly mocking pastiche of the Southern American accent, he could’ve perhaps done with consulting a dialect coach first.
