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This is about civil unrest in Europe and America in 1968. There were student riots in London and Paris, and Vietnam protests in America. It was the first Stones song to make a strong political statement.
Mick Jagger got the idea for this in March, 1968 when he went to an anti-war rally at the US embassy in London and saw mounted police wading into a crowd of 25,000. (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)
In the US, this was released in August, 1968, just before the Democratic National Convention. It was banned from Chicago radio stations for fear that it would inspire violence from the protesters.
The original title of this song was "Did Everybody Pay Their Dues?" It had completely different lyrics and therefore altogether a different and rather strange meaning: Jagger sings about an Indian chief and his family. The music however was basically the same (slightly alternative mixes exist) - but the lead guitar over the chorus was omitted on the final mix of "Street Fighting Man." Fairly listenable versions have appeared on various bootlegs. (thanks, christopher - vienna, Austria)
Jagger: The radio stations that banned the song told me that Street Fighting Man was subversive. Of course it's subversive, we said. It's stupid to think you can start a revolution with a record. I wish you could!" (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
Dave Mason did session work on this. He played the shelani, an Indian reed instrument. Mason went on to form the group Traffic, and has played guitar on albums by Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Fleetwood Mac.
Keith Richard's acoustic guitar was overdubbed several times. Says Richards: "Street Fighting Man was all acoustics. There's no electric guitar parts in it. Even the high-end lead part was through a cassette player with no limiter. Just distortion. Just two acoustics, played right into the mike, and hit very hard. There's a sitar in the back, too. That would give the effect of the high notes on the guitar. And Charlie was playing his little 1930s drummer's practice kit. It was all sort of built into a little attaché case, so some drummer who was going to his gig on the train could open it up - with two little things about the size of small tambourines without the bells on them, and the skin was stretched over that. And he set up this little cymbal, and this little hi-hat would unfold. Charlie sat right in front of the microphone with it. I mean, this drum sound is massive. When you're recording, the size of things has got nothing to do with it. It's how you record them. Everything there was totally acoustic. The only electric instrument on there is the bass guitar, which I overdubbed afterwards. What I was after with all of those - Street Fighting Man, Jumping Jack Flash - was to get the drive and dryness of an acoustic guitar but still distort it. They were all attempts at that."
Jagger: "It was a very strange time in France. But not only in France but also in America, because of the Vietnam War and these endless disruptions.... I wrote a lot of the melody and all the words, and Keith and I sat around and made this wonderful track, with Dave Mason playing the shelani on it live. It's a kind of Indian reed instrument a bit like a primitive clarinet. It comes in at the end of the tune. It has a very wailing, strange sound." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2)
In the US, the single was originally released with a picture on the sleeve of police beating protesters in Los Angeles. The music was different on this version, with different vocals and more piano. This single was quickly pulled by the record company and is now a rare collectors item.
The Stones released this the same month The Beatles came out with "Revolution," which was their first blatantly political song.
In England, this wasn't released as a single until 1970.
Rod Stewart covered this on his 1973 album Sing It Again Rod. Rage Against The Machine covered this on their 2000 album Renegades. (thanks, rudi - melbourne, Australia)
Mick Jagger (1995): "I'm not sure if it really has any resonance for the present day. I don't really like it that much. I thought it was a very good thing at the time. There was all this violence going on. I mean, they almost toppled the government in France; De Gaulle went into this complete funk, as he had in the past, and he went and sort of locked himself in his house in the country. And so the government was almost inactive. And the French riot police were amazing. Yeah, it was a direct inspiration, because by contrast, London was very quiet." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
A number of sources claim that this song was inspired by the radicalism of a young student leader Tariq Ali, who was active in revolutionary socialist politics in Britain in the late '60s. In an interview with the April 19, 2007 edition of the Galway Advertiser, Ali, who is now a writer and filmmaker, confirmed this. "Yes, its true. Jagger was/is an artist. He writes and sings what he wants." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)
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NHL Buffalo Sabres Theme Song.
- john, Grand Island, NY
A very early take on this song also featured Blind Faith's Ric Grech on violin.
- Benjamin, Milwaukie (Oak Grove), OR
Is it just me, or are there two slightly different sounding versions of this? I have 2 different ones on my 2 MP3 players! One sounds rather dated like it came genuinely off the vinyl, the other sounds like it's been remastered. Hmm...
- Peter Griffin, Quahog, RI
Does anyone else notice a "clicking" noise in the Rage Against the Machine cover?
- Sam, Seattle, WA
That's pretty amazing that just in 5 years this song went from something that was banned from some radio stations to something that was covered by Rod Stewart.
- Paul, Cincinnati, OH
when this song is played at the end of "V For Vendetta" i nearly cried in the theater.... it was so beautiful. so poetic. and it kicks in right at the end of one of most poetic scenes in history of film making (or atleast i think so lol) just perfect
- Aaron, Chicago, IL
this was the first stones song in which keith uses open tuning---which by the way is fun to play
- gary, ny, NY
This song appears as the end-credits music for the 2006 comic-book-adaptation movie V for Vendetta.
- Joshua, Twin Cities, MN
Whoops: "The lyric is actually "...*fighting* in the street", of course. I cut-and-paste from the page for Bruce Springsteen's "Racing In The Street", which borrows the same line from Martha and the Vandellas.
- Joshua, Twin Cities, MN
The second line of the first verse is a takeoff on Martha And The Vandella's "Dancing In The Street": "Summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street." Ironically, in 1985 Mick Jagger would cover "Dancing In The Street" with David Bowie.
- Joshua, Twin Cities, MN
The picture sleeve for the London 909 U.S. single is extremely rare. It's value is estimated at $10,000.00 on Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" 2002 edition.
- Rick, San Juan, United States
I'm posting this to clear up the facts about the "Street Fighting Man" picture sleeve mentioned a few times above. There is so much misinformation about it AND the song that I thought I would pass on the research I've done using a powerful magnifying scope and a broad, longterm research project about this and other protest songs from that era.
First - the pictures on the sleeve........they are taken from the Hollywood Strip riots in Los Angeles in late 1966. A magnified examination of the the cops uniforms and unit patches reveals that they are from the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. There is at least one California Highway Patrolman as well. In the picture on the front of the sleeve there are a couple of "protest" signs visible - these are protesting the halting of the kids congregating on the "Strip" not the Vietnam War. In fact, most Vietnam war protests during the 60's were relatively peaceful up until the debacle at Kent State in 1970. The picture on the back is emblematic of who was engaged in these "riots" - the young man and the woman are not dressed for a protest but for a night out on the town (along with the thousands of other kids the cops were trying to drive away from the street!). BTW - Stephen Stills wrote the definitive song about the Strip riots, "For What it's Worth", a hit for Buffalo Springfield in 1967. Brian Jones plays tamboura and sitar on the 45 and he taught the open tuning to Keith that he uses on his acoustic guitar. Since "SFM" was recorded in March 1968 it probably wasn't written as a result of the London riots at the US Embassy later that month. Keith and Charlie had the basic guitar/drum riff down for the tune (as "Everybody Pays Their Dues") before they ever went into the studio - the tune was more probably inspired by the huge student riots in Paris the year before - events that shook all of Europe and were much in the news in the UK.
- Chester, Port Townsend, WA
Motley Crue recently covered this on their latest album
- Liam, Campbell River, Canada
Here's the details on the guitar sound, taken from Guitar World Acoustic:
Richards used a cheap cassette recorder with a wired microphone, which he dropped in the soundhole of his Gibson Hummingbird acoustic. He then overloaded the input stage of the recorder to get an overdriven sound, but with the dryness of an acoustic tone.
This song was also recorded in an alternate tuning, Open D (low to high, D A D F# A D), which is a common tuning for blues slide guitarists.
- Logan, Abilene, TX
I think Stewart's version stinks. The Stones should steal "Maggie May" as recompense.
- Phil, Rochester, NY
rage against the machine covered it on renegades.
- rudi, melbourne, Australia
Rod Stewart covered it as his first song on his first album, the rod stewart album in the states and as an old raincoat wont ever let you down in Brittan.
It features a distorted accoustic guitar Richards got when he miced his accoustic with a cheap tape recorder. it talks about this in Guitar player magizine...I give more details when I find the issue.
- Richard, St. Louis, MO
covered by oasis and released as a b side to "all around the world" in 1998
- simon, newcastle, England