Mick Jagger Said 1 Risque Rolling Stones Lyric Was a Joke
TL;DR:
- Mick Jagger wrote a Rolling Stones lyric about dreams.
- He was asked whether he had ever been to a psychiatrist so he could discuss his dreams.
- Jagger said the risque line was a joke.
The Rolling Stones‘ Mick Jagger was asked about one of the songs from the album Exile on Main St. He related the song to discussions of dreams by Geoffrey Chaucer and William Shakespeare. Subsequently, he said the lyric in question was a joke.
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger had a lot to say regarding a line about dreams from 1 of his songs
During a 1978 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger was asked about the line “I only get my rocks off while I’m dreaming” from The Rolling Stones’ “Rocks Off.” “I don’t dream more than anybody else,” he said. “But dreams are a great inspiration for the lowliest rock ‘n’ roll writer to the greatest playwrights.”
Jagger discussed how some famous writers related to their dreams. “Chaucer was a great one for dreams,” he said. “He was a great one for explaining them and making fun of the astrological explanations. He used to take the piss out of most of them, but some of them he took seriously.
“Shakespeare, too, knew a lot about early English witchcraft and religion, and Chaucer had some sort of similar knowledge,” he added. “Today we have psychiatrists to interpret dreams.”
Mick Jagger took his dreams seriously even though he did not like to jot them down
Jagger was asked if he’d visited a psychiatrist. “Never, not once,” he replied. “I’ve read a lot of [Carl] Jung, and I would have gone to see him because he was interesting, do you know what I mean?” For context, Jung was a famous psychiatrist known for his interpretations of dreams and myths.
“Anyway, dreams are very important, and I get good ideas from them,” Jagger revealed. “I don’t jot them down, I just remember them — the experiences of them — they’re so different from everyday experiences. But the line in ‘Rocks Off’ is really a joke.”
How The Rolling Stones’ ‘Rock Off’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom
“Rocks Off” was a promotional single that never charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The track appeared on the album Exile on Main St. The album topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks, staying on the chart for a total of 57 weeks.
The Official Charts Company reports “Rocks Off” didn’t chart in the United Kingdom either. Meanwhile, Exile on Main St. topped the U.K. chart for a single week. It lasted on the chart for 16 weeks altogether.
“Rocks Off” was never a hit but it provoked interesting discussion about dreams.
