I saw the Rolling Stones in concert in 1965. Yes, I’m that old. But Keith Richards is even older.
I’m sometimes quite puzzled by certain television commercials. Recently there was an ad — I can’t recall what it was for — that used a non-Beatles version of the old Beatles song “Getting Better.” I think it changed the lyrics just a tiny bit, from
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better,
A little better all the time
to something like
I have to admit it’s getting better.
It’s getting better all the time
The commercial is obviously intended to push whatever product the buyers of the ad are selling. But does it really paint a positive picture? Am I the only person in the audience who’s so old that the next line comes automatically, unbidden, irresistibly into my head?
I’ve got to admit it’s getting better,
A little better all the time. (It can’t get no worse.)
Is that really the subliminal message that the designers of the advertisement want to be sending?
But what about this one that I’ve encountered even more recently:
Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and taste.
Been around for a long, long year, stole many a man’s soul to waste.
Pleased to meet you. Hope you guess my name.
Come on! Come on! Come on! What’s my name? What’s my name?
It obviously takes as its musical theme an old Rolling Stones song, in a version apparently by Motörhead. Here are the full lyrics to the original Stones song, which was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It’s called “Sympathy for the Devil”:
I’m a man of wealth and taste.
I’ve been around for a long, long year,
Stole many a man’s soul to waste.
Had his moment of doubt and pain.
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate.
Hope you guess my name.
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game.
When I saw it was a time for a change.
Killed the czar and his ministers;
Anastasia screamed in vain.
Held a general’s rank,
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank.
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah.
Ah, what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah.
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made.
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me.
I’m a man of wealth and taste.
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay.
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah.
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby.
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah.
But what’s confusing you
Is just the nature of my game, mm yeah.
And all the sinners saints,
As heads is tails.
Just call me Lucifer,
‘Cause I’m in need of some restraint.
Have some courtesy,
Have some sympathy, and some taste.
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah.
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah.
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down.
Oh yeah.
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name?
Tell me baby, what’s my name?
I tell you one time, you’re to blame.
Tell me, baby, what’s my name?
Tell me, sweetie, what’s my name?
I dunno. Strangely, I’ve always rather liked the song. It’s a catchy tune with a good beat, too. But do the sponsors of that ad really want their audience to associate the Acura with the Bolsheviks’ murder of the family of Tsar Nicholas, with the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, with Satan, and with the crucifixion of Christ?
I’m not sure that I consider those really good things with which to link oneself in the public mind. But then, maybe that’s why I’m not earning a huge salary as an advertising genius. (I also hate the ads for the Sonic fast food chain. I never eat at Sonic. And, so long as its current ad campaign continues, I probably never will.)
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