OverThinking The Classics: The Rolling Stones
Hey there everybody, welcome to another edition of OverThinking the Classics, where I take a song you've heard a thousand times and actually look at what the lyrics mean.
I don't dispute this song is a classic, don't get me wrong. It's a big hit for a reason. And it may very well be that this song isn't from Mick Jagger's perspective. I know that from time to time, songwriters write from the point of view of a character, whether it was someone they know, someone they made up, whatever. This guy in the song might be just a weirdo, or maybe he's just misrepresenting himself. But I gotta say, if I were the lady in this song.... we'd be calling for a restraining order. Let's look at the lyrics.
I'll never be your beast of burden
My back is broad but it's a-hurting
All I want for you to make love to me
I'll never be your beast of burden
I've walked for miles, my feet are hurting
All I want for you to make love to me
Okay, you're not going to commit to her work wise. I get it. You want one thing, and one thing only. You're being upfront, that's fine. Clear boundaries. That's good.
Am I hard enough?
Am I rough enough?
Am I rich enough?
I'm not too blind to see
Well, I think there might be some miscommunication here. It might be that she doesn't WANT someone hard or rough or doesn't care about how much money he has. I think the big portion of this is that he doesn't seem to know or CARE what she wants.
I'll tell ya
You can put me out
On the street
Put me out
With no shoes on my feet
But put me out, put me out
Put me out of misery, yeah
Um, she's done that. Later in the song, you say she'd told you you're not her type.
All your sickness, I can suck it up
Throw it all at me
I can shrug it off
There's one thing, baby
I don't understand
You keep on telling me
I ain't your kind of man
EXACTLY. She's told you she doesn't like you. Coming around and begging her isn't going to change that. It's going to make you look even more desperate than you already are. She said no, my dude. And since you said "keep on telling me", she's told you more than once. She keeps on saying it, she's not into you. That should be enough.
I've walked for miles, my feet are hurting
All I want is you to make love to me
YeahI don't need no beast of burden
I need no fussing
I need no nursing
Never, never, never, never, never, never, never be
Okay, look at this again. He says he's walked for MILES. Which to me, implies she has done her due diligence to get the heck away from him. She might have even moved away deliberately to get away from this dude. So you tell a guy no, he says, "But please?" and you're like, um, still no. So you move away, and dude shows up at your door AGAIN. Not cool. Which makes me wonder if this is a character, because I can't imagine a rich rock star, famous for decades at this point, begging anybody for some sweet lovin. Surely he has, you know, fans for that. And why is he walking? You couldn't get on a bus? Take a taxi? Did she move all the way out the dang boondocks to get away from your desperate butt? This is just... not romantic. This is obsessive. What you want is what you want, but what the lady wants is also what she wants. And she clearly said she doesn't want you, brohaim. No hints, no maybes, no guff. She flat out told you. Might need to move on.
Overthinkingly yours,
Behka
Behka
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