“Starfucker” When they played the song live after its release, this erected penis popped up on stage.
IT'S A GAS, GAS, GAS!!
MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVES/WEEKLY ROCK POLL POST
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Name: Keno
E-Mail: keno@fairpoint.net
Subject: Poll Post for the week starting Monday, Dec 11
Date: Sunday, December 10, 2023
Time: 11:52:57 PM
Remote Address: 216.245.78.27
Message ID: 321606
Parent ID: 0
Thread ID: 321606
For this week’s Poll Post, where I talk about our 2 new weekly polls that we’ll vote in, I’ll start off as usual talking about the Stones weekly poll, where we’ll enter week 1,269 of voting and week 160 of rating their songs. Here’s this week’s question and the song we’ll be rating: Rate the Stones song “Starfucker", from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest).
“Starfucker” When they played the song live after its release, this erected penis popped up on stage.
"Starfucker" (aka "Star Star" thanks to censors, more on that in a sec) was recorded in November and December of 1972 and then released as the closing song on the LP Goats Head Soup in August of 1973, with it being the only true Hard Rock song on the otherwise mellow album. The Stones were forced to alter the song's title in the U.S. to "Star Star", and the song was banned from airplay in the UK. When first released in the States, several words in the song were edited to where the lyric was unable to be made out as to what was being sang. Even in print, in the official song music/lyric book (that I still have today) that was being sold, they did this, here's a few examples: "Ali McGraw got mad with you for givin' head to Steve McQueen", was changed to ".... for giving it to Steve McQueen"...or: "…you and me, we made a pretty pair, ballin' through the Silver Screen" became "….falling through the Silver Screen" while "… get their tongues beneath your hood" to this day is still shown on some lyrics sites as "get their toes beneath your hook" Yeah, they took a lyric about oral sex and changed it into, well I guess, a lyric about a foot fetish (??... maybe, not sure what else to call it with those stupid lyrics they change it to in print. Finally, the song's closing lyrics "Oh-Yeah! Wooo! Give me a kiss, with a twist, ball me girl!…" weren't even included in the book, and today, the closed is also not noted online at any lyrics sites that I’ve checked out (other than on my site, of course). But no, none of this censoring is what I call "cleaning up the lyrics", LOL! It's more like they’re fucking up the lyrics, to me!... BTW, when McQueen was asked about how he felt about what was written about himself, he noted that he had no problem with his name coming up in the song at all (don't know if his wife Ali felt the same way or not. But John Wayne, who’s name also came up, did have a problem with it, so I've heard. Perhaps it was what was said about him and this woman getting him before he died, since he was in the early stages of cancer at the time and would die from it a few years after. Nobody wants to hear somebody singing about them dying soon.... but then again, MJ and nobody else knew he was sick at the time of the song’s release, either.). But anyway, words like "pussy" was edited out on the early release of the song, while the line about John Wayne was totally blurred out, where you couldn’t understand what was being sang. But most of us knew anyway. I was a young DJ at the time myself when this was released, but I didn't get to play the song on the air until around 1980, when I moved to Telluride and was a DJ on the community station there, where I played it several times, including on my Saturday night prime time show, and I never once got a single complaint in playing it, since deep down nobody really cares about using or hearing a word that they've heard often enough.
Now, one last thing on the censorship of this number - and leave it to the Stones - but this one isn't even the dirtiest Classic Rock song that they ever released, or perhaps even titled for that matter, as "Cocksucker Blues" was (well, lyrics wise for sure, anyway). But yes, the word Starfucker" comes up more in this number than in any other Classic Rock song… The song was looked at as also being a misogynistic song, which I feel was unfair. The Stones just always got that tag put on their songs after in the early '60s when they were releasing songs like "Under My Thumb" and "Stupid Girl", etc. But this tune is not putting down women at all, not even Pamela Des Barres (who digs the song), it's just talking about a person who loves hot sex, and we all know that when a guy is this way, he's just called a "stud". But when a female is this way, she's called a whore or a slut - and that's what's really sexist, as it's like it’s okay only for a guy to be this way. But, if a guy writes about a female who he knows well – and who loves sex, well then, that guy is writing a misogynistic song. Bull, I say! Yes, MJ wrote a dirty song here, no question, but it's kinda like writing a song about the joy of sex for this one gal - and not anything more than that.
BTW, the song IS NOT about Marilyn Monroe, as I see somebody on Quota is claiming this. Back in the day, a few fans claimed it was about Carley Simon, who Mick dated, but it wasn't about her, either. It also wasn't written about groupies in general (but a good guess!... and close). It was written about a groupie, a very famous groupie, that being Pamela Des Barres, who hung out with Mick often enough (and every other famous dude who was willing to do her). Knowing how Bill Wyman was with woman/groupies, you can bet he too had a taste of her, too.
On another note, I didn't know at all (had no clue until this past Friday) that's there's a new song out by a very young 20 year old female artist who calls herself Slayyyter, and her song is also titled "Starfucker", and it has at least the same lyrics when talking about the person in question, other than where MJ sang "She's a starfucker, starfucker....", this Slayyyter gal sings "He's a starfucker....". How original, indeed! Plus, gosh (!), the young kids of today, and them using such terrible language in their songs! Damn! Just where do they get that from!
But getting back to the Stones song, this was one of the few songs in the 1970s Stones (when Mick Taylor was in the band, anyway) where Keith Richards got to play the lead guitar on instead of Mick Taylor. The reason for this was that as great a lead guitar player MT was/is, he wasn't that great at playing rhythm guitar (and he dislikes playing it, too), while Keith loves to play the part and plays rhythm guitar a lot better than MT ever could! But, Keith had come up with this great riff one day - the one he opens up the song with, and just ended up playing the lead for the entire song. Here's the song's lineup: Mick Jagger – Lead Vocal; Keith Richards – Lead Electric Guitar, Backing Vocal; Mick Taylor – Electric Rhythm Guitar; Bill Wyman – Bass Guitar; Charlie Watts – Drums; with additional personnel: Ian Stewart on the Piano and Jimmy Miller was the Producer. To rate this ditty – just click on the following link to get to the voting page: Stones Weekly Poll.
Last week at the Stones Poll we voted on and rated this one: Rate the Stones song “All the Way Down", from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest).
“All the Way Down” B side single
This one didn’t do so great, as it’s top score was only a 7, taking in 39.2% of the first-place votes. While a 7 may not be a bad rating in other polls for a song, it is for the polls we run here that rate songs. But to see just how low this song’s rating landed it in the song standings, just click on here: Stones Song Ratings & Standings - List Page 5. Plus, for the full, finial results from this poll, just click here: Stone Poll, week 1,268.
Now let’s have a look at this week’s Beatles Poll, where we enter week 658 of voting, and week 92 of rating their songs. Here’s this week’s question: Rate the Beatles song, “I’m Down”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)
“I’m Down” UK cover for this B side single
"I'm Down", is a hard rocking song that was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon/McCartney partnership. It was released as a non-album single, as the B-side to "Help!", in July of 1965. The song came about as Paul's attempt to write a song in the style of Little Richard. While the tune was inspired by 1950s Rock music, Paul sings the vocals in a frenzy - almost in a heavy metal singing style, even if there wasn't any Heavy Metal music/singing yet (officially anyway). But yes, this was the way Little Richard sang, too!
Paul remembers "I'm Down" as entirely his composition, but then years later, he noted that John added a few lyrics to it and made minor suggestions in the writing process. In a 1960s interview, John credited the song to Paul only, but in his very last interview he made on the day he died, he instead noted that he provided "a little help" to Paul on the number. I think why the both changed the story on this song’s writing, was that in '65. most of the early '60s Beatle songs/singles were written mainly by Lennon alone, so they were really just Lennon songs, and here they were trying to give an emerging Paul (song writing wise) some more credit, or if you prefer, extra credit back then, in saying it was just Paul’s song. Of course, in short time that talk wasn't needed anymore, as in the late days of the band, Paul was writing more songs that John was.
Okay, so here's the studio lineup for this ditty: Paul McCartney – Lead Vocal, Bass Guitar; John Lennon – Rhythm Guitar, Electric Organ, Backing Vocal; George Harrison – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocal; Ringo Starr – Drums, Bongos; with the Producer being George Martin.…. To vote in this week’s poll, just click on here: Beatles Weekly Poll.
Let’s now look at last week’s Beatles poll results, which asked: Rate the Beatles song, “Mother Nature’s Son”, from zero (lowest) to 10 (highest)
“Mother Nature’s Son” Opening lyrics and guitar chords
So this one saw a 10 rating for its top rating, with 74.1% of the votes. To see the Beatles song standings and see where this 10-rating landed in the Fab songs’ standings, just click on here: The Beatles Song Ratings and Standings Page . Or, to take a look at the full, finial poll numbers, just go here: Beatles Poll, week 657.
Well, it’s now time to wrap up another Poll Post…. It was sad to hear of the passing last week of Denny Laine - the singer-guitarist from the Moody Blues and remembered more so as being from Paul McCartney Wings. Laine sang the lead on the Moody Blues first hit single, "Go Now". He was friends with the Beatles as the original lineup of the Moody Blues, which he was a part of, opened for the Beatles live shows early on. So, RIP Denny Laine …. But let’s close this out with me talking about something I think is good and not sad, and that’s Dolly Parton’s new 30 song Rock album. Have you heard it? I like it! Yes, 30 rock song covers that Dolly sings, and I must say, she did a great job on them, including her Stones cover of “"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Very good Dolly, and now you can say that you have released more rock songs than the Sex Pistols ever released, and like you, they shouldn’t have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame either, since both of you have recorded so few Rock songs. But at least Dolly is trying, good for her!
I hope all of you have a great week!
Keno
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