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| England Lost: Mick Jagger releases Brexit-inspired solo songs | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Mick Jagger at 74 has delivered his first solo musical foray into political commentary, with a pair of new songs that deliver grimly mocking takes on the age of Brexit and Trump. | Mick Jagger at 74 has delivered his first solo musical foray into political commentary, with a pair of new songs that deliver grimly mocking takes on the age of Brexit and Trump. |
| The celebrated Rolling Stones frontman released England Lost and Gotta Get A Grip on Thursday, saying he wrote them while stirred by “anxiety [and] unknowability of the changing political situation”. | The celebrated Rolling Stones frontman released England Lost and Gotta Get A Grip on Thursday, saying he wrote them while stirred by “anxiety [and] unknowability of the changing political situation”. |
| The songs represent Jagger’s first solo appearance on any release since 2011 and follows last year’s Stones album, Blue & Lonesome. | The songs represent Jagger’s first solo appearance on any release since 2011 and follows last year’s Stones album, Blue & Lonesome. |
| Both tracks feature a sardonic Jagger half-singing, half-spitting his lines in a primitive rap over programmed beats and burring, blues-rock guitar riffs. | Both tracks feature a sardonic Jagger half-singing, half-spitting his lines in a primitive rap over programmed beats and burring, blues-rock guitar riffs. |
| Jagger said in a statement he rushed to release the songs, which he began writing just a few months ago, while they still reflected the transatlantic political climate that spawned them. | Jagger said in a statement he rushed to release the songs, which he began writing just a few months ago, while they still reflected the transatlantic political climate that spawned them. |
| ‘’We obviously have a lot of problems. So am I politically optimistic? … No,” Jagger said. | ‘’We obviously have a lot of problems. So am I politically optimistic? … No,” Jagger said. |
| England Lost uses a disenchanted, plain-speaking football fan as the narrator for what he said was the “feeling that we are in a difficult moment in our history”. | England Lost uses a disenchanted, plain-speaking football fan as the narrator for what he said was the “feeling that we are in a difficult moment in our history”. |
| It’s a rough, rambling but ready vocal performance, with some blunt one-liners: “I went to see England but England lost / I went round the back but they said piss off.” | It’s a rough, rambling but ready vocal performance, with some blunt one-liners: “I went to see England but England lost / I went round the back but they said piss off.” |
| Jagger then sings he’ll “go home and smoke a joint” after a match he didn’t even want to go to, before adding: “I went to find England and it wasn’t there/ I think I lost it down the back of my chair / I think I’m losing my imagination/ I’m tired of talking about immigration / You can’t get in and you can’t get out / I guess that’s what it’s really all about.” | Jagger then sings he’ll “go home and smoke a joint” after a match he didn’t even want to go to, before adding: “I went to find England and it wasn’t there/ I think I lost it down the back of my chair / I think I’m losing my imagination/ I’m tired of talking about immigration / You can’t get in and you can’t get out / I guess that’s what it’s really all about.” |
| Jagger said: “It’s obviously got a fair amount of humour 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.” | Jagger said: “It’s obviously got a fair amount of humour 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.” |
| If the England Lost music video is anything to go by, it’s clear enough that Jagger – one of the great re-exporters of US folk music to American audiences, whose band made arguably its best album while holed up in France as tax exiles – has misgivings about a Britain turning inward. | If the England Lost music video is anything to go by, it’s clear enough that Jagger – one of the great re-exporters of US folk music to American audiences, whose band made arguably its best album while holed up in France as tax exiles – has misgivings about a Britain turning inward. |
| It features Welsh actor Luke Evans as a polite, well dressed gentleman in a cryptic scenario where he is fleeing a menacing array of compatriots who end up dragging him back from the surf as he apparently tries to swim beyond British shores. | It features Welsh actor Luke Evans as a polite, well dressed gentleman in a cryptic scenario where he is fleeing a menacing array of compatriots who end up dragging him back from the surf as he apparently tries to swim beyond British shores. |
| Gotta Get A Grip is a kaleidoscopic diatribe about a political culture led by “lunatics and clowns” who are content for a public fed “fake news” and “policy shams” to “eat shit [and] cake”. | Gotta Get A Grip is a kaleidoscopic diatribe about a political culture led by “lunatics and clowns” who are content for a public fed “fake news” and “policy shams” to “eat shit [and] cake”. |
| “Gotta keep it zipped / shoot ’em from the hip / beat ’em with a stick”, goes the modus operandi, along with an absurd journey into the modern cult of self-improvement. | “Gotta keep it zipped / shoot ’em from the hip / beat ’em with a stick”, goes the modus operandi, along with an absurd journey into the modern cult of self-improvement. |
| “I’ve tried diversion and I’ve tried coercion/ meditation and medication / LA culture and aquapuncture / over-eating and sex in meetings / induced insanity, Christianity / long walks and fast drives / wild clubs and low dives.” | “I’ve tried diversion and I’ve tried coercion/ meditation and medication / LA culture and aquapuncture / over-eating and sex in meetings / induced insanity, Christianity / long walks and fast drives / wild clubs and low dives.” |
| Jagger, the consummate businessman at the helm of the definitive music industry juggernaut for nigh-on five decades, doesn’t serve up any profound escape routes from the individualist bind at the core of neo-Liberalism, a corresponding populist lurch to the far right, or whatever else. | Jagger, the consummate businessman at the helm of the definitive music industry juggernaut for nigh-on five decades, doesn’t serve up any profound escape routes from the individualist bind at the core of neo-Liberalism, a corresponding populist lurch to the far right, or whatever else. |
| He offered this take on the song’s message: “Despite all those things that are happening, you gotta get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny.” | He offered this take on the song’s message: “Despite all those things that are happening, you gotta get on with your own life, be yourself and attempt to create your own destiny.” |
| The Gotta Get A Grip music video features Jemima Kirke of Girls fame as a cigarette-smoking protagonist, in an array of sweaty nightclub revellers whose attempts to get down seem to turn into a laboured, solemn frenzy. | The Gotta Get A Grip music video features Jemima Kirke of Girls fame as a cigarette-smoking protagonist, in an array of sweaty nightclub revellers whose attempts to get down seem to turn into a laboured, solemn frenzy. |
| The release includes five remixes calling on a cadre of musicians that Jagger says reflects his current playlist, including British rapper and grime artist Skepta and Australian psychedelic rocker, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. | The release includes five remixes calling on a cadre of musicians that Jagger says reflects his current playlist, including British rapper and grime artist Skepta and Australian psychedelic rocker, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker. |
| “Right from the off when I started writing England Lost, I imagined having a British rapper on the track,” Jagger said. “Skepta stepped in at a moment’s notice and I just loved what he did.” | “Right from the off when I started writing England Lost, I imagined having a British rapper on the track,” Jagger said. “Skepta stepped in at a moment’s notice and I just loved what he did.” |
| Jagger said he only began writing the songs in April and “wanted them out straight away”, eschewing the usual “record company preparations and global release set-up”. | Jagger said he only began writing the songs in April and “wanted them out straight away”, eschewing the usual “record company preparations and global release set-up”. |
| “It’s always refreshing to get creative in a different fashion and I feel a slight throwback to a time when you could be a bit more free and easy by recording on the hoof and putting it out there immediately,” he said. | “It’s always refreshing to get creative in a different fashion and I feel a slight throwback to a time when you could be a bit more free and easy by recording on the hoof and putting it out there immediately,” he said. |
| “I didn’t want to wait until next year when these two tracks might lose any impact and mean nothing”. | “I didn’t want to wait until next year when these two tracks might lose any impact and mean nothing”. |