Watch Mick Jagger and Tina Turner jam on an early demo of ‘Brown Sugar’
When The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers in 1971, the album was quickly regarded as one of their greatest works, and it remains one of their most revered records. However, despite its legacy, the album isn’t immune to criticism, and the opening track ‘Brown Sugar’ has been widely criticised for its insensitive lyrics.
The song is the band’s most controversial work, detailing Mick Jagger’s infatuation with a black woman. The track begins with the line, “Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields”, before Jagger continues to sing: “Scarred old slaver knows he’s doing alright/ Hear him whip the women just around midnight.” Then, Jagger declares his love for “brown sugar” before asking, “How come you taste so good?” It’s an uncomfortable listen that makes many question exactly what Jagger was thinking as he penned the material.
Choosing to write about such a sensitive topic should be done with immense care, but all Jagger does is transform black women into sex objects, even infantilising them by singing “just like a young girl should”. The band have rightly retired the song – which he originally named ‘Black Pussy’ – from setlists. In 1995, Jagger discussed the track with Rolling Stone, admitting he was wrong for writing such offensive lyrics.
He explained: “God knows what I’m on about in that song. It’s such a mishmash. All the nasty subjects in one go… I didn’t think about it at the time. I never would write that song now”. The singer also stated that he would do things differently if he were to write a song like that now. He said: “I would probably censor myself. I’d think, ‘Oh God, I can’t. I’ve got to stop. I can’t just write raw like that.'”
Jagger’s writing process for ‘Brown Sugar’ amazed Keith Richards, who discussed his bandmate’s creation of the song in his memoir, Life, writing: “They started running down ‘Brown Sugar’ the first night, but they didn’t get a take. I watched Mick write the lyrics. It took him maybe forty-five minutes; it was disgusting. He wrote it down as fast as he could move his hand. I’d never seen anything like it. He had one of those yellow legal pads, and he’d write a verse a page, just write a verse and then turn the page, and when he had three pages filled, they started to cut it. It was amazing!”
The song was reportedly inspired by Claudia Lennear, a member of Ike and Tina Turner’s Ikettes who performed backing vocals when the couple supported The Rolling Stones. Lennear and Jagger’s meeting led to a short relationship, and he wrote the song in 1969, two years before its release.
In a backstage video from a 1969 show at Madison Square Garden, Jagger can be seen playing an early rendition of the track to Ike and Tina, with the latter exclaiming, “Brown sugar!” The rare, short clip is an interesting insight into the song’s development, certain to fascinate fans of the band. Almost two decades later, Turner and Jagger performed the song together in Japan in an energetic duet.
Watch the footage below.
