Why a Rolling Stones Song Was Kept Out of ‘Moulin Rouge!’
The Rolling Stones‘ songs are in so many movies, but Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! is not one of them. A controversial Rolling Stones track was going to serve as a villain song in the movie. That wasn’t in the cards. However, the connection between The Rolling Stones and Moulin Rouge! did not stop there.
1 song by The Rolling Stones was kept out of ‘Moulin Rouge!’ for non-artistic reasons
The soundtrack of Moulin Rouge! includes songs from many different genres, including pop, soul, and Broadway music, but it’s at its best when it recontextualizes classic rock songs as show tunes. The film includes hits by The Beatles, Nirvana, Queen, David Bowie, Elton John, U2, Kiss, Joe Cocker, Paul McCartney & Wings, and The Police. In a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly, music supervisor Anton Monsted revealed that several songs were kept out of the final cut of the film, including The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb.”
Specifically, the villainous Duke (played by Richard Roxburgh) was going to sing the song. “Under My Thumb” is a horribly misogynistic song about a man who is happy that he has abused his girlfriend into submission. Considering how controlling the Duke behaves towards Satine (played by Nicole Kidman), “Under My Thumb” would have fit his character perfectly.
Monsted revealed why The Rolling Stones’ classic track was nowhere to be found in Moulin Rouge! “That was always an idea that was in early drafts of the script and the lyrics just worked beautifully, but we couldn’t come to terms on the rights deal to license the song,” said Monsted. “It wasn’t a moral objection and it wasn’t a creative objection from anywhere; it was just the terms of the music license and we couldn’t quite get there with [Rolling Stones’ former manager] Allen Klein. So, that was one that had to go.”
Other songs by the band wound up in another version of ‘Moulin Rouge!’
However, Luhrmann and company eventually exacted their revenge. In 2018, Moulin Rouge! became a stage musical. “I knew Baz was trying to get a Rolling Stones song into the movie, originally,” music director Justin Levine said. “So that was something that was really important to me that I would try and see if we could make that happen.”
The stage adaptation of Moulin Rouge! includes a medley called “Sympathy for the Duke” that combines “Sympathy for the Devil,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and “Gimme Shelter.” This redux of Moulin Rouge! has a lot more of The Rolling Stones than anyone might have expected.
How The Rolling Stones’ ‘Under My Thumb’ performed
“Under My Thumb” is one of The Rolling Stones’ biggest songs, but it was not a single. Therefore, it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune appeared on the album Aftermath. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 50 weeks.
The Official Charts Company reports “Under My Thumb” did not chart in the United Kingdom either. Meanwhile, Aftermath was No. 1 in the U.K. for eight weeks, lasting on the chart for 24 weeks in total.
“Under My Thumb” is a classic and it almost made it into one of the most acclaimed musical films of the 2000s.
