I’m starting this post having just stumbled on this one, which is irredeemable. Awful. Even though the groove might work. If I had a liberal definition of riff, this isn’t a terrible one. But it is an absolutely terrible song.
There isn’t much to redeem this one, Indian Girl, either. If you last to the end you may rank it lower than She’s So Cold. Maybe.
But those are my worst Stones songs. Post yours in the comments.
Gotta indulge myself here: Played “She’s So Cold” in my first real regular playing out band, RS Zone, in the late 1970s. We were the three-piece house band at a little bar called “Bull & Barrel.” $100, plus, at the end of the night if we did well the owner would line us up for shots (for the road) and give us each a quart of beer to take home. (Consider that I wouldn’t turn 21 until 1981 and the guitarist is a year younger than me – different times.)
I think we chose “She’s So Cold” because it was a new Rolling Stones song and it had three chords so it wasn’t difficult to learn. To this day, those lyrics are stuck in my head and I could probably almost sing it.
Without dwelling on it, my least favorite Stones song is probably “Start Me Up” – as boring as “She’s So Cold” and way more overplayed.
She’s So Cold and Start Me Up are kind of the same song. Both are terrible. Steve’s hierarchy is probably sounder than mine, especially since Microsoft paid the Stones tons to promote their “Start” Button with the latter song. Only Ted William’s cryogenics lab would license She’s So Cold.
She’s So Cold is egregiously misogynist. Some may see this as a plus, especially when shots are involved, but the Stones that were accused of misogyny with Stupid Girl were freakin’ WB Yeats compared to the dudes aping Aerosmith with She’s So Cold. That’s the true measure of their decline, not that they’re totally to blame. They did get older.
I always liked Faraway Eyes, because it’s kind of corn pone with a nice melody, but any reasonable judgment is that you’re absolutely right Gene. It’s either pandering to assholes for humor’s sake, or simply lazy and awful. Lose lose.
I never liked She’s So Cold either, or Start Me Up, or this Indian Girl shit. I’m sure there are really bad songs on albums I never heard – basically all of them since 1982 if not before. I always hated Girl with the Faraway Eyes – if it’s a joke it’s not funny and if it’s not s joke what the hell is it?