cocksucker blues
the rolling stones' unreleased
cocksucker blues
from exile on main st .
cocksucker blues
as written by and mick / richards jagger... .
out now is the brand new digital only snog single -' the new cocksucker blues' .
from neil young, we have
revolution blues ,
vampire blues ,
and
ambulance blues .
nodding donkey blues
and
black bart blues
by iron maiden .
down payment blues
and
satellite blues
by ac / dc .
louis armstrong :
gut bucket blues
,
lonesome blues
,
wild man blues
,
potato head blues
,
weary blues
,
keyhole blues
,
s. o. l. blues
,
gully low blues
,
put' em down blues
,
got no blues
( which is an interesting subversion we must say) ,
savoy blues
,
west end blues
,
basin street blues
,
dallas blues
and
st. louis blues
( all from the complete hot five and hot seven recordings )
the simpsons'
moanin' lisa blues
from the simpsons sing the blues .
empty bottle blues
and
apple juice blues
by they might be giants .
we do not have any tags for cocksucker blues lyrics. why not add your own? log in to add a tag
talkin' dust bowl blues
,
dust bowl blues
and
dust pneumonia blues
by woody guthrie from dust bowl ballads .
zombie apocalypse blues
and
system error blues
by rock, paper, cynic .
the white stripes have
300 m. p. h torrential outpour blues
,
catch hell blues
and
instinct blues
.
george harrison' s solo career has produced
p2 vatican blues
,
sue me, sue you blues
and
marwa blues
.
jimmie rodgers: rodgers had quite a few of these including
the brakeman blues
never no mo' blues
blue yodel no. 4 (california blues )
tuck away my lonesome blues
and
those gambler' s blues
bob dylan :
subterranean homesick blues
from bringing it all back home ,
talkin' world war iii blues ,
bob dylan' s blues ,
north country blues ,
black crow blues ,
outlaw blues ,
orange juice blues
( the basement tapes) ,
tombstone blues ,
stuck inside of mobile with the memphis blues again
and dozens of others. most common on his earlier, folkier albums .
dachau blues
and
my human gets me blues
by captain beefheart on trout mask replica .
talkin' alien abduction blues ,
talkin' woody, bob, bruce, & dan blues ,
and
airplane blues
by dan bern .
robert frank and danny seymour’s “cocksucker blues” is about the rolling stones onstage, backstage, and in intimate situations that hardly anybody would want to be filmed in .
fumblin' with the blues
from the heart of saturday night ,
tom traubert' s blues
and
invitation to the blues
from small change by tom waits .
common method of naming things
the (something) blues
. very prevalent in blues music, although there are also many, many non - blues songs with a title like this .
buckingham blues ,
dead car battery blues ,
and
generic blues
by
weird al
yankovic, the latter of which is exactly what it says on the tin .
blues for baby and me
and
i guess that' s why they call it the blues
by elton john .
in cocksucker blues, jagger’s striking contradiction is how his stage and private personas seem almost unrecognisable. as truman capote remarked in an interview with andy warhol about the 1972 tour :
the dead flag blues
by godspeed you! black emperor, one of the occasional non - blues songs with such a title .
desperate man blues
from daniel johnston' s hi how are you and
chord organ blues
from his album yip jump music .
click here to view our stock page for the original film of cocksucker blues, and here to see our complete selection of items related to music, film, and other performing arts .
robert frank. cocksucker blues original format: 35 mm film, screening format: digital betacam, 1972, b / w and colour, original version, (english) 93 min .
derek robinson did two, not related: red rag blues and kentucky blues. both could be puns, with
blues
in the first title contrasting with
reds
( i. e. communists), and
blues
in the second one alluding to the american civil war .
blues from down here
by tv on the radio from return to cookie mountain, which puts the
blues
part right up front .
onan rejoices. dionysus despairs. robert frank, the rolling stones, and cocksucker blues - - a polarizing document for upwards of 35 - years, now - - unreleased, and perhaps unreleasable .
cowboy bebop: the episode title
asteroid blues ,
and the credits song ,
the real folk blues ,
named after the famous album series .
both utah phillips and grandpa jones have a song called
cannonball blues
.
the album i got dem ol' kozmic blues again mama by janis joplin .
“cocksucker blues” poses the orphic question of just how far an artist can go too far. today, with the private lives of heralded artists laid out as open books, and subject to presidential - level scrutiny, it’s worth wondering whether that scrutiny will have an effect on the kinds of energies that get expressed and embodied in art. the existence—and the suppression—of “cocksucker blues” is a primordial moment in this historic shift .
moby' s
natural blues
from the album play. it' s actually a remix of
trouble so hard
, a blues song from 1937 .
buddy' s blues
( also known as
the god - why - don' t - you - love - me blues
) from follies .
· south bank show, sun 17, 11. 05pm, itv1. robert frank: storylines is at tate modern from oct 28 to jan 23, with cocksucker blues screenings on dec 3, 4 and 5
a subversion: a blues from chicago transit authority titled
south california purples
.
glenn frey' s
smuggler' s blues
, popularized by miami vice .
a series of hack - and - slash mods for neverwinter nights called underdark blues .
d. b. blues
by w. a. s. p. .
st. james infirmary blues
, a traditional number with varying versions of lyrics .
you' ve got the blues (not me )
by david lee roth .
one game in i' m sorry i haven' t a clue was to improvise a blues song. the title would always be in this form (eg ,
the trichologist' s blues
or
the kerry packer blues
). in one case the song was called
the west indies blues
, but was sung as a calypso .
commissioned by the stones, then made legendary and all but invisible after the band sued to prevent its distribution, cocksucker blues has circulated for years on bootleg video – how i first saw it – and can be viewed in its entirety on youtube, with the usual deterioration in production values. for most of the last four decades, according to the settlement of that suit, cocksucker blues could be shown publicly only five times a year (usually at cinephile events) with frank present .
cocksucker blues is one of those enduring sub - licit channels which not only celebrates the fore, middle and background of this tour, but which also presents itself as one of the very best rock tour movies ever made, and never seen .
in the song “cocksucker blues”, “home is a look in the eye” where the policeman’s truncheon is very plainly more than a mere nightstick, and bad things happen in back - alleys to not necessarily bad people. in cocksucker blues the film, home does not exist. you may think you perceive of it in a bedroom, a concert arena or a look, but these alleyways are never ending, roads unto themselves. any thought of home is lucky to exist as a memory .
johnny cash had several throughout his career, including his hit ,
folsom prison blues .
good ol' screamin jay hawkins gives us a song about real pain with the constipation blues .
beverly hills blues
by bobby mcferrin, with ad - libbed lyrics by robin williams .
' the half of it, dearie' blues
from lady, be good! .
the where - has - my - hubby - gone blues
from no no nanette .
cocksucker blues was one song, and there were others, like dr john (the night tripper)' s
you can never eat too much pussy
. then the idea expanded from an album to a film which this isn' t .
scandalous rolling stones film' (expletive) blues' makes rare screening nov. 15 at cleveland cinematheque
israeli film metallic blues (which is a pun - based title on the color metallic blue) .
the novel shaman blues. makes sense, seeing how it was named after the doors song below .
john zorn: the track
alhambra blues
on
alhambra love songs
( 2009) .
the st louis blues, named for the w. c. handy song of the same name .
the julekalender features a song named
the dæjlig news blues
. the title is in the show' s usual intentional engrish for funny, and sounds like
the daily news blues
even though it' s a mistranslation of something that meant
the good news blues
in the original danish .
it must say something about something that cocksucker blues, the rolling stones’ never - released 1972 tour documentary, which has existed mainly as a salacious rumor for 40 years, was screened at new york’s museum of modern art on thursday night, as part of a stones film retrospective .
although mick jagger reportedly liked cocksucker blues, the rolling stones blocked the release of the film. perhaps it was because the rolling stones were shown engaging in a range of illegal activity in the movie, or perhaps it was because the film captured the alienation and isolation of the band so effectively. whatever the reason, the dispute between the rolling stones and robert frank was resolved with a rather odd court ruling: cocksucker blues can only be shown when the director is in attendance. given practical considerations, this ruling served as an effective ban on the film .
you don’t have a lot of fun sitting down to watch cocksucker blues. it’s a road fable, in some ways a tableaux of a journey. as a film, one that was consigned to the storage room, it’s remarkable that cocksucker blues has had its own life, that so many people have been able to see it, even if that number is but a fraction of those who’d pay for a copy at the borders, or queue up in line outside the movie house, if for nothing else than to see what all of this mystique has been about .
scandalous rolling stones film' (expletive) blues' makes rare screening nov. 15 at cleveland cinematheque | urltoken
yer blues
by the beatles. from the white album ,
for you blue
could count .
in star trek: the next generation, andorian blues gets mentioned. (andorians are aliens with blue skin. )
running at ninety - three minutes, cocksucker blues was scheduled for an 18 november 1972 release; however, after watching robert frank’s rough - cut, jagger demanded that it not be shown, on account of its “heavy scenes”. (7) at the time, jagger was reported to have said ,
i don’t think this is a cover, but it’s a great example of how much jagger and richards understand the blues .
, we’re never exactly in the villa of warm and fuzzy things, so pile it up, put the blues of the stones, the delta, chicago, all of it, on parade, the content of so much of rock and blues history, and then slap a lurid title on it. a title whose defiance - - 32 - 20 blues, pony blues, bellbottom blues, nah... this is cocksucking blues, that’s my blues, baby - - has a kind of heroism to it, the boast that, yeah, i’ll make a fiver in this alley, and then i’ll muck about in the next, like nothing ever happened, and it won’t always have to be this way. fuckers. tough to even think this was an intended antidote to altamont. and tough to storm the retail chains with such “product” .
after seeing cocksucker blues, robert frank' s documentary about the rolling stones' 1972 tour of america, mick jagger was said to have remarked to the director ,
it' s a fucking good film, robert, but if it shows in america we' ll never be allowed in the country again .
the sailor moon di c north american dub had a large number of episodes titled
something - or - other blues
.
still, it’s not scenes like this which make cocksucker blues an artifact worth treasuring. while voyeurs may savor the footage of keith richards apparently nodding out on heroin, mick jagger snorting a line of cocaine, and a groupie shooting up in a hotel room, it’s actually the most ordinary elements of the film that make eyes go wide .
chances are, if you’ve heard of cocksucker blues, you’ve probably heard about the scenes in which the rolling stones and / or their entourage snort cocaine. or the ones that show people having sex on screen. or shooting heroin. or maybe the one where one man aggressively forces women to strip in front of a group of people .
one of the earliest rock songs that surpassed ten minutes. its blues sound is heavily inspired, but the length was an experiment .
robert frank is gloriously notorious. he is the groundbreaking photographer of the americans; the iconoclastic director of pull my daisy and cocksucker blues; a difficult (almost impossible) interview subject; a rejecter of wealth and celebrity; a man whose ‘sympathies were with people who struggled, ’ who has a ‘mistrust of people who made the rules. ’
uk have
caesar' s palace blues
. an unusual example in that it is also a song with a title only chorus .
bootleg copies of “ (expletive) blues” – or as it’s also called, “cs blues” – have been passed around for years. the film is considered a cinema verite document of rock' n' roll hedonism - - raw and unstaged, unlike
behind the music .
cross road blues
by robert johnson of course, that' s not taking into account more than half of the songs he recorded .
summertime blues
, originally performed by eddie cochran, later covered by many acts, including blue cheer, the who, and rush .
not so funny: the eventual soul and body count. by the end of 1974, taylor had quit the stones, deciding that he needed to leave in order to survive. in the closing credits of cocksucker blues, second cameraman daniel seymour is listed as “junkie soundman. ” it’s supposed to be a joke; he later paid, fatally, for his addiction .
but if you’re wondering just how good a film is cocksucker blues is, and how it measures up to the music the stones were making at this point in their career, have a listen to any of the numerous bootleg recordings of the band’s philadelphia ‘72 shows. if you’re not familiar with them, it should be stated that even the most passionate stones fan is bound to come away incredulous that even they could be that good, just classic adrenaline shows, like an early pistols one - off, or jerry lee lewis’ live at the star club. flash and dazzle inhabits cocksucker blues, and just as deeply, just as truly. but here the dazzle, such as it were, is more inwardly revealed, and subtle, like some disease creeping through you .
sometimes, it just seems like the muses have the fix in. well before you get started, and more still after you’ve pressed on with your endeavor, regardless. on that score, there may be no film in rock and film history more synonymous with foregone failure than robert frank’s cocksucker blues, a polarizing document for upwards of 35 - years, now - - unreleased, and perhaps unreleasable .
the band’s contract with decca expired in 1970, and the stones were ready to break free and start their own label. before they could, though, decca reminded them that they owed the company one last single. irritated, no doubt, the group turned in a track called “cocksucker blues, ” which was of course immediately shelved. (bootlegs, if it need be said, can still be found. )
enter, then the stars - - further mechanization of the rock star’s life - - that come flitting through the film: truman capote, dick cavett and andy warhol. and marshall chess, son of leonard, who serves as producer, a title that seems remarkably nominal as he giggles his way through the backstory of how the song “cocksucker blues” came to be, a wind - up of a titled record company impresario
so long as there’s ever ready material, or just so long as the stones keep touring, it’s probably safe to assume - - safe being the watchword here - - that it’s going to be live from rio or some such fodder, that you’ll find in the future at the local wal - marts as the next stones dvd, and the one after that, ad nauseam. cocksucker blues inhabits its own mythology .
you’ll have your chance at 9: 15 p. m. nov. 15 – when
( expletive) blues
hits the cleveland institute of art cinematheque .
another very short track, it was originally recorded by buddy holly, but most agree that the sound was basically stolen from bo diddley, a highly influential blues man .
filled with moments of beauty and insight, meanwhile, cocksucker blues is left to add new depth to what would otherwise simply be a film about an excessive rock' n' roll junket .
it' s such a time capsule of what life was like behind the scenes in 1972 ,
says susan steinberg .
i' ve always wanted to get it released and seen. what was controversial at the time is now history .
cocksucker blues begins with a black screen that simply reads
except for the musical numbers the events depicted in this film are fictitious. no representation of actual persons and events is intended .
the room bubbled with sarcastic laughter. this was another result of the lawsuit against frank, that he had to put in a disclaimer at the beginning to suggest much of the, shall we say, non - musical sequences were staged. nobody was fooled .
in comes producer marshall chess, who, early in the movie, gives the plotline: mick has already written a song called cocksucker blues, about a gay hooker in london, to fulfill the group' s contractual obligations to decca records, which was run at the time by an old fart named sir edward lewis. apparently, during a meeting, mick gets up and plays a demo of the song to the uptight geezer the lyrics of which are :
if cocksucker blues has a star - - and you could argue that dystopia is its star - - it’s jagger, the anti - hero as hero, and the film’s central consciousness amidst the drifters, gropers and druggers. we listen as he weighs in, for a press - op, on exile on main street: he likes the country stuff, but some of it doesn’t hold together as he’d have wanted. a full - on quality double album can be tricky .
rehearsing at woodstock in 1978 for their tour behind some girls, the stones would revisit the song, and it’s that version, oddly enough, that plays as the introduction to the recent, best ever version of the film, available on bootleg dvd as big cocksucker blues: special definitive edition, courtesy of 4reel productions. here are the stones touring behind their best album, making the finest music of their career, on the road, as traveling bluesmen, which seems fitting .
cocksucker blues made a rare appearance at the brooklyn academy of music this weekend, selling out several days prior. the arts space known for its off - the - radar sensibilities made a perfect home for the contraband film. people in head - to - toe black and thick - frame glasses peppered its seats. the way the room arcs, the only spots left were at the edges of the theater, on a tilted view of the screen. but it didn' t matter .
again, this is a cover, but by looking at the songs they choose to cover, it’s amazing that the greatest band ever was so heavily influenced by blues and r & b .
that the scene was apparently staged only accentuates frank’s interest in revealing emptiness behind the stones’ public image, rather than simply exposing what took place behind the scenes on tour. when cocksucker blues captures jagger performing, he is at his sultriest—writhing and crawling on stage. the band’s sound is wild, almost unhinged. watching the rest of the doc’s footage, though, what emerges isn’t an alluring extension of that energy but, rather, the cautionary tale of a party life bereft of any meaning .
here, for example, are a few other things you see or hear in cocksucker blues: keith richards debating just how many blueberries, strawberries, and apples to order from room service; mick jagger marveling at how good the food is in the american south; richards so high that can’t sit up straight after a show. the juxtaposition is fundamental: by interweaving the provocative and the mundane, frank sucks any remaining glamour from the images and, in its place, injects a biting criticism .
which was exactly the case at tate modern a couple years ago. cocksucker blues may or may not be too abrasive for audiences who like their rock films heavy on libido and cranking with tunes to ever garner an official release, but frank slashed through enough red tape that he was able to secure the occasional screening, provided it was at an exhibition in which his work, rather than the stones’, was the central premise, and he was present, or at least someone who worked on the film .
grinder' s blues ,
poets of the fall' s rockabilly theme song to sci fi platformer rochard, where the asteroid miner protagonist laments that he and his crew are barely skating by .
there have been three movies called st. louis blues. the first was a jazz short in the 20' s that depicted the only film footage of w. c. handy (see the music entry below). the next one was made in the 30' s. it was a musical comedy starring dorothy lamour. the third was a musical bio - pic about w. c. handy made in the 50' s with nat king cole as the lead. because of this last film, the aforementioned 1930' s st. louis blues was retitled to best of the blues for television .
what is clear, from the content of the lyrics at least, is that the stones never expected anyone to hear what may in fact be one of their landmark blues tracks - - which is to say, one of the landmark blues tracks. “play the chords, ” jagger mumbles - - a bit like lennon’s “sugar plum fairy sugar plum fairy, ” preceding “a day in the life”, only with some dirt and blues got into her. and for three minutes and 30 seconds, one takes up residence in a robert johnson - netherworld. except here, we’re cavorting about the streets of london .
essentially, “cocksucker blues” treats its rough - edged, impulsive footage in a primally eisensteinian way, in terms of the art of editing and its theoretical implications. it’s a work of intellectual montage that poses the question: what does this (what goes on with the band backstage and in private) have to do with that (the performances onstage and on records)? what do sex and drugs have to do with rock and roll? what’s the link between art and trouble, between flagrant discharges of emotional energy in public and in private ?
the title of the film itself actually comes from a never - released song the stones wrote to meet a contractual obligation from decca records, who they hated working with, before leaving the label to start their own rolling stones records. the song
cocksucker blues
was written to be purposefully unreleasable. (lyrics like
where can i get my cock sucked? / where can i get my ass fucked ?
just didn' t fly in the 1970s .) that the theme of unreleasability carried over to the film as well goes without saying .
“cocksucker blues, ” by contrast, is about the stones themselves—onstage, backstage, and in intimate situations that hardly anybody would want to be filmed in. that’s why it’s so rare: soon after its completion, the band, wanting to keep some of their behavior under wraps, went to court to ban the film’s screening, and the court imposed sharp limits on its public showings. the two screenings taking place tonight and tomorrow night at film forum are very unusual occasions. (they’re sold out, but there will be standby lines for both shows. )
demonstrated in one scene by jagger’s then wife, bianca, who sits sullenly in a corner, playing a musical box over and over, there is little to stimulate an intelligent or intellectual mind, and certainly, frank paints a vivid, unattractive and monotonous portrait of the rock world. shot mostly in black and white, with the concert footage filmed in colour, cocksucker blues is aesthetically ugly and barely watchable. in every sense, it is a dreadful and unpleasant viewing experience, that visually bears no resemblance to frank’s other beautifully composed still and moving pictures .
things are loosening up. cocksucker blues was shown on november 15th at the museum of modern art in new york as part of a two - week festival, the rolling stones: 50 years on film. (the festival runs through december 2nd .) frank did not appear at the screening, while the stones had just left the building, having attended the series’ opening the night before and participating in an onstage interview with playwright tom stoppard. the near - collision was the closest thing to an official blessing the stones have given frank’s movie since he made it .
“this is one of the few parts in america where you can eat quite reasonably well, you know? even in the coffee shops in the south they have better food, ” he says. the camera then pans to mick taylor in the back seat, awake moments before, now asleep. in some ways, cocksucker blues is, when you get down to it, a hymn to nodding out, physically, spiritually, any way it comes - - as if one’s just been pressed too hard from too many sides. wither, then, the gradual breakdown .
it is not fair to blame the stones for banning the film; they wanted the movie of their first tour of america since the disastrous altamont festival (the subject of gimme shelter) to be an upbeat affair and to repair the damage to the band’s image. cocksucker blues was hardly a good candidate for that, and even if they had felt secure enough to allow their audience to see that side of their lives, 1972 was not a good time to do that. however, it is unfortunate that this film had to be a fatality of the stones’ quest to improve their image .
the stones may have faced the possibility of arrest had the movie actually been released, but cocksucker blues served the band better as legend than artifact, anyway. mick jagger’s often repeated and possibly apocryphal line about the movie makes that clear: “it’s a good film, robert, ” he reportedly told frank, “but if it shows in america we’ll never be allowed in the country again. ” the movie’s existence on the black market, and the relative lack of information that existed about it as a result, helped support a troublemaker’s image: you thought we were bad, but you have no idea .
filmmaker jim jarmusch, commenting on cocksucker blues, called it
definitely one of the best movies about rock and roll i' ve ever seen... . it makes you think being a rock and roll star is one of the last things you' d ever want to do .
amen to that. one has the feeling these guys are soldiers, waiting for the next battle, the next opportunity to feel alive. in the meantime, there' s the tedium, confusion, boredom, and good old angst & ennui of being locked into a big money, big stadium, big everything rock tour .
the third fallout new vegas dlc is old world blues. the dlc mentions it as an in - universe term for extreme, crippling nostalgia to the point that you can' t really operate in the here - and - now — though a good karma ending has it evolve into a more positive term, with greater respect for the potential of old world blues to turn to new world hope (an evil karma ending solidifies the old meaning and pairs it with new world misery) .
defenders rally with claims of dionysian splendor and excess, bacchanalia, the ubiquitous proclamations of sexdrugsrockandroll, the stones doing what the stones do best. trust neither camp. in some ways, cocksucker blues is “worse” than its detractors insist - - but for reasons that will make your heart come crashing down in your chest, rather than tinted prints and poor sound. as a film, it’s a bleak journey, shocking in ways even its boosters probably weren’t prepared to be shocked. no need to abandon all hope as such as we begin, but if you’re skittish, probably best if you can do with leaving some of that behind. and reservations too. temporarily, like .
cocksucker blues is named after a notorious stones recording – just piano and singer mick jagger, in x - rated lonely - boy agony – that the band submitted as a final fuck - you single to their original, despised british label, decca. (it was rejected .) the song, heard early in frank’s movie, is blunt and drab. so are the open sex and flagrant drug use that follow. the main shock is how little pleasure or high anyone gets from the action: the groupies, who are basically paying their fare for a place in the stones’ orbit; the druggies, who speak the kind of slurred disconnected nonsense that only other users think is hip and wise; and most of all, the stones themselves .
mick jagger, left, and keith richards at nellcote, richards' villa on the french riviera where the rolling stones recorded
exile on main st .
- - the classic stones disc that led to the tour documented in robert frank' s film
( expletive) blues .
( dominique tarle )
loses his car keys and maybe his mind. “i used to do that—when i was younger, i did a lot of stuff. but i also went to school, worked hard. i thought i’d be stuck forever in jersey, so i waitressed at the local diner and did drugs. i didn’t know there was anything else. then i began listening to wfmu free - form radio, and it told me there was another world. i heard patti smith, queen when they were nobody, the ramones when there were two people in the audience, the new york dolls with andy warhol at the next table, went to see them at cbgb’s and max’s kansas city, and then the edge felt more normal. that’s why i have such a reaction to ‘cocksucker blues. ’ i lost a lot of friends to drugs. it disturbs me to see it. ”
there is hardly such thing as an underground movie anymore — except, perhaps, for the ones that have to go underground because they aren’t allowed to be shown. the rough, grainy, outlaw king of those is “c—sucker blues. ” not because you can never see it, but because on the rare occasions when you can, it [ … ]
alternately titled “schoolboy blues, ” this was recorded when the stones were leaving decca records to start their own label, but decca demanded one more single to fulfill the contract. the stones recorded this as that single knowing that decca could never release it. the funny thing is, it’s actually quite a good song, if you don’t mind the profanity. a story about a young boy looking for sex in london and the acoustic guitar makes it quite haunting .
if you like yaya' s (which stones fan doesn' t recognize it as their best playing ?) you have to get the stones live stuff from 72... .. cock sucker blues has some of that on the tape... .. it' s part of the holy grail of the stones that mick and keith won' t release because mick taylor proves to be the best part of the show... .... sad and true .
there is hardly such thing as an underground movie anymore — except, perhaps, for the ones that have to go underground because they aren’t allowed to be shown. the rough, grainy, outlaw king of those is “c—sucker blues. ” not because you can never see it, but because on the rare occasions when you can, it has acquired the aura of an unholy testament: the ultimate down and dirty peek behind the curtain of 1970s rock & roll excess. it’s the time capsule that keeps on giving because it’s still semi - buried .
groupies, scalpers, hangers - on, pool players, drugs, the press all feature heavily in this world, so you’d think the action would be bouncing off the walls, but stasis dominates. an expressive stagnation, blues conjured from the ordinary, like the activities one dreams up to pass the time, which was really what exile on main street was all about. realizing that there was a vast, fascinating rift between what was taking shape as a tour film and the music played on the tour itself, frank did all he could to contrast extremes in his final cut: there’s sex, there’s drugs, there’s music, and in the instances when there isn’t some sense of boredom, the everyday ordinary, you can be sure the doldrums follow in the next scene .
cleveland, ohio - - the rolling stones have been the subject of countless films. there’s one mick and keith do not want you to see .
robert frank' s unvarnished documentary chronicles the rolling stones' 1972
exile on main st .
tour. not just the show – the drugs, the sex, the debauchery and the backstage boredom that leads to such excess .
mick & the boys found it so embarrassing that they stopped it from being released – even though they were the ones that commissioned it in the first place .
it’s one thing to have sympathy for the devil; coming off like one is another story .
it remains out of print, though occasional archival screenings have been permitted – hence the screening at the cinematheque, 11141 east boulevard, cleveland .
frank’s 93 - minute doc features cameos by andy warhol, truman capote and stevie wonder .
admission is $ 15; $ 12, for cia members; $ 10, ages 25 and under. advance tickets available at www. brownpapertickets. com. call 216 - 421 - 7450 .
use of and / or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our user agreement (updated 5 / 25 / 18) and privacy policy and cookie statement (updated 5 / 25 / 18) .
© 2018 advance local media llc. all rights reserved (about us). the material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of advance local .
community rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site .
subscribe to the all - new rolling stone! everything you need to know from the authority on music, entertainment, politics and pop culture .
sign up for our newsletter and go inside the world of music, culture and entertainment .
according to frank, the agreement states that the film may not be shown until march 7th, 1979. it may then be shown only four times a year, and during the first year only a version edited by the stones may be shown .
the agreement, with both parties participating in how and when the film may be shown, still does not seem to answer the question of who actually controls it. the stones, who have sought to keep the film out of circulation since its completion in 1973, have maintained they hired frank to make it for them. but frank’s attitude is less clear. he did show the film in california in 1975 and 1976 and several times in canada without reaching an agreement with the stones. however, a copyrighted article in the montreal star, based on an interview with frank, stated that he showed the film on those occasions to generate enough public interest so that the stones would be persuaded to release the film .
also at issue was the inclusion of a number of scenes that the group found objectionable. in the star article, frank detailed some scenes that he said the public might find “revolting. ” these included keith richards being injected and mick jagger snorting powder. both richards and jagger have a great deal to say about frank, and stones’ attorneys are reportedly contemplating legal action against frank and the star in connection with the article .
another controversial scene involves a couple having intercourse at 30, 000 feet while the stones cheer them on. one source indicates that the scene was staged; former rolling stone reporter robert greenfield, who wrote the book s. t. p. about the ’72 tour, reported that frank approached a groupie and said, “we want a chick to fuck someone on the plane for the movie. ”
things might have remained at an impasse had keith richards not been arrested on drug charges in toronto last february. a week later, legal papers were served on frank at his home in mabou mines, nova scotia. an affadavit filed by jagger said the film subjected the stones to “scorn and ridicule” and that frank had distorted events through editing and included in the film events which are private to the rolling stones. ”
frank told the star he felt the stones instituted legal action because the film could hurt richards’ trial (december 2nd in toronto). they finally reached an out - of - court settlement may 17th. according to frank, the stones (besides allowing eventual release of the film) agreed to pay $ 100, 000 to cover all legal fees .
reached at his home, frank was reluctant to talk. “it’s settled, that’s all. i haven’t really thought too much about where i’ll show it. i guess i’ll show it in montreal, maybe the pacific film archive [ in berkeley ]. i think it’s good. ”
we want to hear from you! send us a tip using our anonymous form .
© copyright 2018 rolling stone, llc, a subsidiary of penske business media, llc. powered by urltoken vip
“look to your left, look to your right, ” metropolitan museum of art curator jeff rosenheim said saturday when he introduced one of these rare events in new york as part of the museum’s robert frank film series. “one of you might be robert frank. ” (frank never did make himself known. )
go inside the rolling stones’ 1969 tour in behind - the - scenes photos .
as fans filed into the museum’s theater, exile on main street ‘s boozy “casino boogie” played on the house stereo, and rosenheim speculated from a podium as to why the stones tried to ban the film. his theory: they weren’t worried about being allowed back into the states as jagger told the director, but disliked the film because it took fans behind the curtain, revealing the depression and loneliness behind the glamour of the road .
after displaying blown - up slides of the exile on main street cover art (also shot by frank), rosenheim warned, “i hope you are all ready for misogyny, boredom and ecstasy — stupor and exhaustion. ” and with that, the film began .
early scenes depict the band in a dingy rehearsal space, jamming on “you can’t always get what you want. ” the black - and - white camera shows a table of leftover cocaine lines and hangs on charlie watts, whose eyes are intense as he pounds away on his kit while a rail - thin mick jagger shouts the last few choruses in his direction .
the documentary portrayed the tour as tumultuous. a shirtless (and toothless) richards plays a boogie - woogie piano vamp with track marks covering his left arm. bill wyman looks a zombie in his appearance on the dick cavett show .
in an infamous scene, a roadie has sex with a reluctant - looking groupie on a plane while the band bangs on percussion instruments. the met audience collectively gasped once, at a scene where a young groupie sits on a hotel room bed and injects her arm with heroin .
how ‘won’t you be my neighbor? ’ has given birth to mr. rogers fever
still the musical performances were electrifying though gritty, the camera sound natural and unmixed. the band duets with stevie wonder on a motown - style medley of “uptight” and “satisfaction. ” between songs, a john belushi - sized horn player takes a swig from a whiskey bottle and spins back to his mic .
mark halperin, a 59 - year - old fan, said he saw the stones on the same tour when he was in college and sees the film as an early predictor of reality tv. “everyone was trying to be outrageous as possible, ” he said, “as long as there’s a camera in your face. ”
mick jagger, ronnie wood, keith richards and charlie watts of the rolling stones .
frank, now 88, is a swiss - born photographer and filmmaker whose jarring hyper - realist portraiture – a product of unusual cropping, light and focus – made him a beat - culture hero. jack kerouac wrote the introduction to the 1959 american edition of frank’s book, the americans; that year, frank directed kerouac, allen ginsberg and other beat figures in the improvised curio, pull my daisy .
they are hardly innocents. guitarist mick taylor is seen passing through one hotel room, looking for pick - me - up. guitarist keith richards, then well into his storied romance with heroin, appears in a painfully extended after - show scene in a deep - sleep heap on an arena - locker - room bench. he does not look like he’s just taking a nap, waiting for jagger to finish entertaining atlantic records boss ahmet ertegun next door .
mostly the stones are seen drowning in boredom, dragging their disheveled court behind them with condescending resignation. in one sequence, the band members ditch the tour plane for a car ride through the south to the next gig. a stop at a roadhouse, for drinks and a few rounds of pool with the locals, is a rare good time away from the mayhem. but jagger is relieved, he says at one point in the car, to just be away from “the 39 people” that follow him everywhere. (how times change: when the stones arrive next month for their shows in brooklyn and newark, that will probably be the size of the catering crew. )
after rejecting frank’s account of the ’72 tour, the stones quickly replaced it with ladies and gentlemen, the rolling stones, shot at shows in texas and released in 1974. that movie had a lot more music and was a lot more fun. but it lacked frank’s sordid, honest context and wicked humor. the latter, in particular, puts the truth and evolution of touring in perspective, especially at this calendar distance. in ’72, to the local hotel staffs in the huge then - uncharted space between new york and los angeles, the stones were exotic animals. to the stones, common sense was everyone else’s second language. of special delight: a negotiation on the phone with room service over an order for a bowl of fruit .
they were wrong, a truth best seen as i did at moma: large and loud .
this is the first section of content free from copyright claims from eagle rock. i hope they don' t come crying again .
some parts of this page won' t work property. please reload or try later .
this fly - on - the - wall documentary follows the rolling stones on their 1972 north american tour, their first return to the states since the tragedy at altamont. because of the free - form... see full summary »
jermaine fowler and omari hardwick of sorry to bother you take us back in time to the worst jobs of their careers .
want to share imdb' s rating on your own site? use the html below .
a concert film taken from two rolling stones concerts during their 1972 north american tour .
originally filmed in december 1968 ,
the rock and roll circus
was originally intended to be released as a television special. the special was filmed over two nights and featured not only... see full summary »
for the first time ever in their 50 year long career, the rolling stones played in havana, the capital of cuba. the movie shows how music can work as tool of social improvement .
a look at the creation and impact of the 1972 rolling stones album
exile on main st .
rocknroll concert doc following the stones on their 2016 tour, culminating in their historic stop in havana, cuba .
a harrowing documentary of the stones' 1969 tour, with much of the focus on the tragic concert at altamont .
the rolling stones' shows in tempe, arizona and east rutherford, new jersey during their 1981 us tour .
the rolling stones historic and triumphant return to hyde park was without doubt the event of the summer. over 100, 000 delirious fans of all ages packed into the park for two spectacular... see full summary »
cocksucker blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by the still photographer robert frank chronicling the rolling stones american tour 1972 in support of their album exile on main st.
cocksucker blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by the still photographer robert frank chronicling the rolling stones american tour 1972 in support of their album exile on main st.
cocksucker blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by the still photographer robert frank chronicling the rolling stones american tour 1972 in support of their album exile on main st.