When the Whip Comes Down
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| "When the Whip Comes Down" | |
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The Glimmer Twins | |
| Some Girls track listing | |
10 tracks
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| Official audio"When the Whip Comes Down" (Remastered) on YouTube |
"When the Whip Comes Down" is a song by the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from their 1978 album Some Girls.
"When the Whip Comes Down" was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, although Jagger handled the song's lyrics.
Background
Quite unusual, even for the late 1970s, the lyrics deal openly with the perspective of a gay man:
Yeah, mama and papa told me I was crazy to stay/ I was gay in New York, I was a fag in L.A./ So I saved my money and I took the plane/ Wherever I go, they just treat me the same.
In a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone magazine to mark the release of Some Girls, Jagger responded to questions regarding the song's lyrics: "...There is one song that's a straight gay song—"When the Whip Comes Down"—but I have no idea why I wrote it. It's strange - the Rolling Stones have always attracted a lot of men... I don't know why I wrote it. Maybe I came out of the closet {laughs}. It's about an imaginary person who comes from L.A. to New York City and becomes a garbage collector... I sure hope the radio stations will play [it]."[2] The lyrics could be taken to imply that the singer becomes a male prostitute:
Yeah I go to
53rd Streetand they spit in my face/ But I'm learning the ropes, yeah, I'm learning a trade/ The East River truckers is churning with trash/ I've got so much money but I spend it so fast.
Yeah, some call me garbage when I'm sweeping up the street/ But I never roll and I never cheat/ And I'm filling a need, yeah, I'm plugging a hole/ My mama's so glad I ain't on the dole.
"When the Whip Comes Down" was recorded at the
The song is seen by some Rolling Stones fans[
Classic Rock History critic Matthew Pollard rated it as the Rolling Stones' 7th best deep cut, saying that it "demonstrates the squalid grandeur of their rock and roll appeal."[3]
A recording from a live show at the
When the Whip Comes Down is also the name of a 16-track Nine Inch Nails bootleg album taken from their performance at the Woodstock '94 music festival.[citation needed]
Personnel
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals, electric guitar, backing vocals
- Keith Richards – electric guitar, backing vocals
- Ronnie Wood – electric guitar , backing vocals, pedal steel
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar
- Charlie Watts – drums
References
- ^ Janovitz, Bill. "When The Whip Comes Down by The Rolling Stones - Track Info | AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
- ^ Cott, Jonathan (29 June 1978). "Mick Jagger: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Pollard, Matthew (28 December 2023). "10 Rolling Stones Songs That Are Fan Favorite Deep Cuts". Classic Rock History. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
