An opening riff that is one of the best known in rock, a guaranteed foot tapper and rock classic from the Stones, ranked No 490 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Not bad for what is today a mainstream song, notwithstanding that its subject matter of interracial sex, oral sex, slave rape, sadomasochism, lost virginity and heroin use make it completely non PC.
And it has an Australian connection.
Hear and see it by clicking on:
Mick Jagger wrote Brown Sugar in 1969 when he was filming Ned Kelly in Australia. It was recorded in 1969 just before the infamous Altamont Speedway concert and was debuted at that concert. However it wasn’t released until the 1971 Sticky Fingers album due to a dispute with their former manager Allen Klein over royalties. Although Richards is also credited in the songwriting, the song is wholly Jagger’s.
