864 The Rolling Stones Under Cover

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This is one of the best Stones’ songs from the 80s. And in true Stones fashion, it was controversial, since it appeared to glorify violence. It probably does so, it depends entirely on one's reading of the video, which is a mini movie (great song, though).

Myself, I don't l care too much for this sort of music video, I prefer live recordings of an artist and their song. In this case, instead of it glorifying violence I rather take it as a critique of criminal activities of the government and gangsters in South America (maybe I'm too easy on the Stones) ...

The promo opens on a hotel complex. American tourists are having a good time grooving to the Stones’ music while militiamen patrol the rooftops and streets. Jagger as the journalist (white knight in a Panama hat and very bad stick-on mustache) watches as Keith and his gang of masked vigilantes or maybe revolutionaries or maybe death squad or maybe just a rock ‘n’ roll group on the spur of some internal wranglings (take your pick) sneak into the hotel and kidnap one of the hotel guests or rather kidnap Mick Jagger watching Mick Jagger on TV. Journo Mick watches kidnapped Mick being spirited away by Keith and co. who all drive off in what looks like a military vehicle straight past a bunch of soldiers kicking the shit out of people down on their luck.

Journo Mick makes his way to kidnapped Mick’s hotel room where he finds a woman hiding under the bed covers (ya see what they did there?). Anyway, one thing leads to another, and journo Mick and his girl under the covers watch an execution and then go off (via the police department) to rescue kidnapped Mick. A shoot-out ensues in a candle-lit church—nothing worse than what any five-year-old could see on The A-Team—and kidnapped Mick is saved. Poor old journo Mick dies from a bullet wound.

What it’s saying, what it’s actually about, is none too clear. It’s a dilettante’s take on Burroughs and the criminal activities of government’s and hoodlums in South America. At worst, it might make a viewer go, “Wow, South America looks a fun place to have a party.” At best, it would get the kids talking about politics and shit.

Anyway, this is a rollicking story on Dangerous Minds … I have an essay THE ROLLING STONES in my book en.light.en.ment

“How to stay relevant. It’s a question we all face at some point in life. Mick Jagger was thinking about staying relevant. It was 1983. Punk had come and gone. New Wave was still a thing. Electronica and the New Romantics were still fashionable. Where did a rock ‘n’ roll band like the Stones fit into the mix?

"Jagger was going through what Keith Richards calls “Lead Vocalist Syndrome.” The point where a band’s singer thinks he/she is bigger, better, and more important than the rest of the group.

did Richards really want to shoot Jagger?

Richards was a naughty boy, what with all his gunplay

"Richards had quit heroin. He was clean. After years of fucking around, Richards was back and wanted to take up his fair share of the burden Jagger had been carrying. But Jagger had control of the Rolling Stones and wasn’t going to give Keith an inch. “Shut up, Keith, that’s an idiotic idea,” was how Jagger dismissed Richards."

“Undercover of the Night” is a classic Stones’ track. A brilliant vocal, a great guitar riff, and a memorable hook. It was Jagger’s song, as Richards later recalled:

“Mick had this one all mapped out, I just played on it. There were a lot more overlays on the track because there was a lot more separation in the way we were recording at the time.”

Undercover of the Night

The Rolling Stones

Hear the screams from Center 42

Loud enough to bust your brains out

The opposition's tongue is cut in two

Keep off the streets 'cause you're in danger

One hundred thousand disparos

Lost in the jails in South America

Curl up baby

Curl up tight

Curl up baby

Keep it all out of sight

Undercover

Keep it all out of sight

Undercover of the night

The sex police are out there on the streets

Make sure the past laws are not broken

The race militia has got itchy fingers

All the way from New York back to Africa

Curl up baby

Keep it all out of sight

Curl up baby

Sleep with all out of sight

Curl up baby

Keep it all out of sight

Undercover

Undercover

Undercover

Keep it all out of sight

Undercover of the night

All the young men they've rounded up

Sent to camps back in the jungle

And people whisper, people double-talk

At once their fathers act so humble

All the young girls they have got the blues

They're heading on back to Center 42

Keep it undercover

Keep it out of sight

Keep it undercover

Keep it out of sight

Undercover

Keep it out of sight

Undercover

Keep it out of sight

Undercover of the night

Down in the bars, the girls are painted blue

Done up in lace, done up in rubber

The john's are jerky little G.I. Joe's

On R&R from Cuba and Russia

The smell of sex

The smell of suicide

All these things I just can't keep inside

Undercover

Keep it all out of sight

Undercover of the night

Undercover of the night

Undercover of the night

Undercover of the night

Undercover

Undercover, undercover the night

Songwriters: Keith Richards / Mick Jagger