In one of the threads With sssoul mentioned that the title "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was a sort of pun on the wording in British passports. This gave me an idea to start a thread where we could list other references Stones did in their songs and on their albums (not only lyrics and titles also photos, images etc.). I'm sure there are many of them. Maybe more than we assume. Since this is an international message board some things may be obvious for some users while other may have no clue about them (like I had no idea of TSMR reference before I read With sssoul's post). So write everything even if you think that everyone knows it.

I shall start. The title "Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2)" is a reference to the expression "Through a Glass Darkly" which is a title of a 1961 Ingmar Bergman film inspired by the Bible quotation "For now we see through a glass, darkly." (New Testament 1 Corinthians 13:12).

"Infamy" is a direct lift from a famous line in the 1960s British comedy film, "Carry On Caesar"...

Kenneth Williams (playing Julius Caesar) - when confronted by his would-be assassins, shouts "Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it Infamy!"

I always thought the title of "Laugh, I Nearly Died" was influenced by a line from a song (called "Jump") on one of the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore albums ("Derek and Clive - Live") which goes "Laugh? We Nearly Shat!"

interesting - to me "laugh? i nearly died" seems like a pretty common phrase but ... interesting!
i think it was Erik Snow who once noted that the photo of Mick with the empty boots on Past Darkly
seems to allude to an illustration to some A A Milne work in which Pooh (or one of the characters)
is gazing at Christopher Robin's empty boots - neither of us could find that illustration
but i feel like i remember it too, and of course the connection between Brian and Milne -
Cotchford Farm - would resonate in that. (there's also a tradition that empty boots are featured
at leaders' funerals, so that would be another layer of resonance to both the photo and the illustration.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-29 23:28 by with sssoul.

Great start Gazza and sssoul!

One more from me: cover art and album title of Metamorphosis (altough not really official Stones record) is a reference to a short story "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka (and here you have also a reference in my nickname ;-))

the bell, book & candle in Winter have a lot of history on them: [en.wikipedia.org]

and of course Goya's paranoias in Back of My Hand might refer to his Disasters of War drawings: [eeweems.com]
(although those aren't the only freaked-out works Goya did)

i reckon you don't mean for us to list allusions to other pieces of music, right?
if we include those we'll be here for years & years & years :E

with sssoul Wrote:
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> i reckon you don't mean for us to list allusions
> to other pieces of music, right?
> if we include those we'll be here for years &
> years & years :E


Yes, that would be too vast area.

BTW: I was wondering one day if the cover of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out bears a reference to something. It's so original and unusual for the Stones that it looks like it was inspired by something (paiting? photography? no clue at all...). Any ideas?

And speaking about GYYSO and inspirations... I have a strange feeling that the creators of Shrek characters were inspired by this cover when they created Donkey character:-). But it's only my speculation. Anyway, it would be funny if someone who's good at Photoshop made a parody of this cover using Shrek characters;-)))

franzk Wrote:
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> with sssoul Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > i reckon you don't mean for us to list
> allusions
> > to other pieces of music, right?
> > if we include those we'll be here for years &
> > years & years :E
>
>
> Yes, that would be too vast area.
>
> BTW: I was wondering one day if the cover of Get
> Yer Ya-Ya's Out bears a reference to something.
> It's so original and unusual for the Stones that
> it looks like it was inspired by something
> (paiting? photography? no clue at all...). Any
> ideas?
>


Yep. Its inspired by a line from Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna"...

"Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule.."...look closely.

Speaking of Ya Ya's...the tittle of that album. Is it a reference to the Blind Boy Fuller song 'Get Your Yas Yas Out'?

Sohoe Wrote:
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> Speaking of Ya Ya's...the tittle of that album. Is
> it a reference to the Blind Boy Fuller song 'Get
> Your Yas Yas Out'?


yes. Can't remember where I read about this, but it certainly is.

GOT LIVE IF YOU WANT IT! is an obvious allusion to Slim Harpo's "Got Love If You Want It".

The cover of WANDERING SPIRIT is an homage to a Dali painting of his wife Gala.

Well there is a big difference in that Mick has his back to himself whereas Gala is facing herself (and not seated on a bed) -- but I still think this is the inspiration for that image:

[www.moma.org]

After all "There Is Nothing New Under The Sun"

__________________________

When the album was first released I heard that "Tattoo You" was a loose acronym for "Tits and Ass To You." Probably not the literary or Biblical reference you were looking for, franzk!

You all probably know these:

Blinded by Love (Steel Wheels) make a blatant reference to Edward VIII proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson in 1936 and then abdicating his throne as King of England.

"Hot Stuff" refers to New York city almost filing bankruptcy in 1975-1976 before it was saved by U.S. government loans.

"Between the Buttons" was a communication problem where Andrew Loog Oldham asked Charlie to do artwork for the new album and the title would be between the buttons. Andrew only meant that the title would be placed between the buttons of the cover photo.

iamwaiting Wrote:
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> When the album was first released I heard that
> "Tattoo You" was a loose acronym for "Tits and Ass
> To You." Probably not the literary or Biblical
> reference you were looking for, franzk!

but is that actually a phrase? I don't get it...

well i guess the bilical and historical references in sftd are all over that one, but i don't know if there's a specic phrase per se...

'rip this joint' comes to mind as "short fat fanny" is a Little Ricahard song.
also the coda there "let it rock" from the archtype classic from Chuck.
the Handsome Girls version of 'let it rock' still absolutely stuns me. every time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-31 05:38 by Beelyboy.

I read in a Keef biography that "Tatoo You" was originally just "Tatoo" and the "You" was added by the execs. Keef didn't like that, by the way.

I also read somewhere that one Stone's song that Mick wrote is a word for word passage from Moby Dick..?

AND, didn't Mick and Keef used to have an apartment on Main St. in London? (Exile on Main Street).

and there is our prodigal son...

Thomas - tables turning now, her time to cry -

smile: and Let It Bleed is a fairly clear allusion to ...
oops, never mind, franzk said it's not musical allusions he's looking for, didn't he.

>> "Tattoo You" was a loose acronym for "Tits and Ass To You."

i'm with cc: is that an expression?? sounds like someone meant Little T&A but got garbled.
(someone here once said he/she had a friend who had heard an early rendition of Satisfaction
with the line "trying to make some girl pregnant" - which seems pretty clearly a figment based on
someone explaining to a ten-year-old that "trying to make some girl" = "trying to get into some girl's pants" -
which is only slightly similar, as misunderstandings go, but since i'm undercaffeinated ... )

>> "Tattoo You" was originally just "Tattoo" and the "You" was added by the execs <<

by Mick, i believe (and i've never heard of Keith & Mick sharing a flat on any Main Street).

Voodoo Lounge: Keith had rescued a little kitten from a rainstorm, brought it into the studio,
named it Voodoo, and created a little "rest area" for it. at some point he added a sign to the "rest area",
reading "Voodoo's Lounge". then when they were looking for a title for the album it was apparently Charlie
who said "how about that". which also isn't the sort of General Cultural Reference franzk is looking for,
but it's true (or supposed to be true) anyway



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-31 12:01 by with sssoul.

Ten little niggers sitting on a wall (Sweet Black Angel)

>>>>>>>>

Ten Little Niggers
By Frank Green
(1869)

Ten little nigger boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self, and then there were nine.

Nine little nigger boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself, and then there were eight.

Eight little nigger boys travelling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there, and then there were seven.

Seven little nigger boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in half, and then there were six.

Six little nigger boys playing with a hive;
A bumble-bee stung one, and then there were five.

Five little nigger boys going in for law;
One got in chancery, and then there were four.

Four little nigger boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one, and then there were three.

Three little nigger boys walking in the Zoo;
A big bear bugged one, and then there were two.

Two little nigger boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up, and then there was one.

One little nigger boy living all alone;
He got married, and then there were none.

Here's one I learned about only a few weeks ago, but is very enlightening on Micks true obsessions:

Lady Jane
I think it is a reverence to D.H. Lawrence novel "lady Chatterley's lover". There were three versions of this novel that are completely different. The second version of the book had the title "John Thomas and Lady Jane".
John Thomas and Lady Jane are the terms for the male and female genitalia that the game keeper uses in the final version of the novel.

do interstitial remarks on bootlegs count? on the so-called Honeymoon Tapes
during one of Keith's attempts to get his companion Stroker to shut up,
Stroker replies "Peachy's gone south" - which is a quote from The Man Who Would Be King
(a Kipling story, the film of which Keith has called one of his favourites).

ahem, that was pretty obscure in more ways than one! how about this:
on the b-stage in Austin Mick says "i can see the whites of your eyes now";
here's what he's referring to: [www.bartleby.com]

speaking of Little T&A: "the pool's in but the patio ain't dry" is a Lenny Bruce line;
apparently it's in his autobiography and/or in a routine he did entitled The Palladium.

update: okay, so i've just listened to Lenny Bruce doing The Palladium, and what he says is:
"the pool isn't in yet, but the patio's dry."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-31 12:14 by with sssoul.

Here's an obvious one from 100 years ago:

Mary and I we were sitting on a gate

I always assumed this referred to L. Caroll's "Alice through the looking glass", where Alice meets the White Knight. The White Knight is singing a song to comfort Alice:
I'll tell thee everything I can;
There's little to relate.
I saw an aged, aged man,
A-sitting on a gate.
"Who are you, aged man?" I said,
" And how is it you live?"
And his answer trickled through my head
like water through a sieve.

between the buttons is a reference to the button on jagger trousers

nah kiddin'

I don't get it, Gazza... are you saying that mick is actually austrian by birth or what's the reference there?

well..we all know by now that the Rolling Stones are a master race, that they will conquer the world and last a thousand years.....

oooh right, yeah... well at least THEY managed to conquer england right away AND to invade the U.S....



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2007-12-31 18:06 by therollingmanu.

La Mano Nera Wrote:
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> I also read somewhere that one Stone's song that
> Mick wrote is a word for word passage from Moby
> Dick..?

I don't think so. Well, you may have read it somewhere, but I've never heard such a song.

He means the legendary BEGGARS BANQUET outtake "Blow Me, Mama" which opens with the line, "Call Me Ishmael."