Anais Gutierrez
On Friday, Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has released two politically charged songs ‘England’ and ‘Gotta Get a Grip’ featuring artist Skepta.
Jagger targets what he sees as the uncertainty and surrealism permeating politics in the age of Brexit and Donald Trump.
No Satisfaction
Mick Jagger released two songs, painting a rather gloomy picture of life in these Trump and Brexit days.
The two political tracks, ‘England Lost’ and ‘Gotta Get a Grip,’ target the political climate and issues such as immigration, corruption, greed, fake news, religion and war.
They are the first songs released solo since 2011 – and follows on from last year’s Rolling Stones album ‘Blue and Lonesome’.
The release also includes five remixes with a collaboration of artists – including Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.
The first song, ‘England,’ features singer Skepta, and it’s a rather pessimistic song. According to Jagger, is told through the metaphor of a soccer fan who has watched England lose a match he did not want to go to in the first place.
“I went to find England, it wasn’t there,’ he sings on England Lost, adding: ‘I think I’m losing my imagination, tired of talking about immigration,” it says.
And ‘Gotta Get a Grip’ is a more upbeat tune but cutting about the political landscape.
“The world is upside down/Run by lunatics and clowns/No one speaks the truth and mad-house run the town,” it says.
Despite this, the singer noted that the message of the song is that regardless of everything that is happening in the world,”you gotta get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny.”
Jagger took to social media to announce the new songs and said he had started writing the songs a few weeks ago. The songs mark his first solo work since 2011.
He also said he was motivated to write the songs because of “the anxiety, unknowability of the changing political situation.”
“It’s obviously got a fair amount of humor because I don’t like anything too on the nose but it’s also got a sense of vulnerability of where we are as a country,” he said.
“We obviously have a lot of problems. So am I politically optimistic? … No,” Jagger added.
Despite his antipathy towards Britain’s current political climate, Sir Mick spoke out in favor of Brexit before the referendum last year.
Speaking to Sky News in April 2016, he said: ‘To me personally, I don’t think it is going to make a huge difference.
‘I think to the country in the short term [leaving the EU] will be detrimental. In the longer term, in a twenty-year term, it might turn out to be beneficial’.
I started writing these two songs a few weeks back and wanted to get them out to you straight away https://t.co/QBa0WdD9Dr #NewMusic #OutNow pic.twitter.com/s0JLpTiizF
— Mick Jagger (@MickJagger) July 27, 2017
Brexit
Brexit is the popular term for the United Kingdom’s intended withdrawal from the European Union.
In a UK referendum on 23 June 2016, 51.9% voted to leave the EU. On 29 March 2017, the British government invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union; although revoking this might be legally possible, the UK is thus on course to leave the EU in March 2019.
The UK joined the European Communities on 1 January 1973.
In the 1970s and 1980s, withdrawal from the EC was advocated mainly by Labour Party and trade union figures. From the 1990s, the main advocates of withdrawal were the newly founded UK Independence Party(UKIP) and an increasing number of Eurosceptic Conservatives.
At the moment, the debate over whether or not to leave the EU has also mirrored much of the political debate happening in the United States. The side in favor of leaving stood on the ground that they wanted to reclaim the UK. This right wing group of individuals wants to protect themselves from increases in immigration as well as refugees.
With Brexit, the EU would lose its second-largest economy, the country with the third-largest population and the financial centre of the world. It would also imply changes when it comes to the free movement status UE members have within the EU.
Back in the studio soon
Keith Richards teased that the Rolling Stones are headed back to the recording studio “very shortly” to record new music, following the release of their 2016 blues covers LP, ‘Blue & Lonesome‘.
In the latest installment of his fan Q&A web series “Ask Keith Richards,” the guitarist said the band will soon be “cutting some new stuff and considering where to take it next,” alluding to their first album of original material since 2005’s ‘A Bigger Bang’.
He also added that the success of ‘Blue & Lonesome'”caught us a little bit by surprise,” which raises the potential of the “inevitable volume two.”
“I don’t think we’re going to sucker into that straight away,” he said.
“But then it wouldn’t take a twist of the arm to do some more of that. It’s such fun to record, and there’s plenty more where that came from. I just think the Stones have used it as a boost to their energy and viability in this day and age and see what we can come up with next.”
In September, the Rolling Stones will release a new book-DVD package, ‘Rolling Stones on Air in the Sixties’, that collects the group’s radio and TV performances from the decade.
Source: IOL
