Under Mao's Thumb

You’d think Mick Jagger wouldn’t need the money, so I gues the only other reason he and the other Stones are agreeing to appear in concert for the first time in the People’s Republic of China would be-well, okay, tons more of it, you kow what they say, the more you have the more you want? A case could be made that they are doing this out of appreciation and respect for their millions of fans, and to spread the gospel of rock and roll. If that is the case, I guess I don’t blame them, but it irks me.

This is not the first time they have had the chance to appear in China, the first time was in the late 1970’s. Then, however, it was the Chinese whpo pulled the Oiental carpet out from under their feet. Remember, this was just a little more than a decade after the “Cultural Revolution”, and its slingering effects were still manifest on what passed for Chinese culture, which is still playing catch-up. It was greatly feared that the Stones would infect the people with decadent Western cultural and spiritual values.

So, I guess that the Stones appearrance can be considered a significant achievement, although there are songs they have agreed they will not perform. They are:

Let’s Spend The Night Together

Brown Sugar

Honky Tonk Women

Beast of Burden

These are considered, at least by the Chinese, I guess, as the Stones most sexually explicit songs. But hell, the Stones have always been sexually explicit, it’s their natures, and these are some of their best numbers. It’s enough to –uh, ahem – make a grown man cry.

But it’s not all dark, as in fact, two numbers that are considered among the Stones darkest compositions:

Under My Thumb

Sympathy For The Devil

Have evidently been approved.

One things for sure, they better not ever play those two in Havana.