It has been touched on before that there are some Stones fans on this site. I have always been interested by the fact that both Jagger and Richards seem to be fans of horseracing (and gambling). Aside from references in interviews, some of their songs definitely touch on racing. Seeing as how they are about to go on tour again, I thought maybe it was appropriate to explore the topic (although I denoted it as \"OT\"-- Off Topic -- and the proprietor is always able to strike offensive material) Anyway, here are some obvious excerpts from songs involving horseracing, anybody else aware of songs where horseracing references appear? Extra points to anybody who knows which song the third excerpt is from (hint, it is not a jagger-richards composition but it is a song performed by them on a somewhat obscure record). the first two excerpts should be very easy for any self-respecting Stones fans.
Well when you\'re sitting back
in your rose pink Cadillac
Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day
I\'ll be in my basement room
with a needle and a spoon
And another girl can take my pain away
********
Take a thousand dollars
go have some fun
put it all down at a hundred to one
hang fire, hang fire,
put it on the wire
********
You bet the horses
and I\'ll pick up the dough
Tumbling Dice has tons of gambling references and uses the term \'Rank Outsider\' while Midnight Rambler has a whole verse about a Midnight Gambler (which is how I feel betting on the internet 8 hours ahead of NYC and 11 hours ahead of SoCal). Satisfaction (or, I can\'t get no Satisfaction) contains the line -- \"you see I\'m on a losing streak.\" There are also songs such as \"Wild Horses\", \"Beast of Burden\", and \"Bitch\" (\"Sometimes I\'m sexy, move like a stud, kicking the stall all night\") with equine references. Finally, Carly Simon\'s \"You\'re So Vain\" with the reference to Saratoga (\"and your horse naturally won\") relates to the Stones in that Jagger is one of the people rumored to be the subject of this song.
I\'m sorry but \"The Race Is On\" by George Jones is probably the best horse racing-related song. I met Keith Richards a few times (work related - we never talked horses!) and he is a SUPER nice guy.
HP
First Excerpt \"Dead Flowers\", also performed live by The New Riders of the Purple Sage.
One of my favorite hard knocking claimers at Churchill Downs in the early
1980s was a big gelding named SWAY, trained by Lynn Whiting for Cal Partee.
Now Sway is one awesome song!! I really hope they play it this time around -- it is one of their few great songs they have never performed live.
Am glad to hear that KR is a nice guy. HP, if you ever work with Keith again, you need to ask him if he plays the ponies and report back to us!
SoCalMan,
We talked about movies. It was a video store in Times Square. At the time (early \'80\'s) it was the biggest store in the country with like 10,000 titles. This is when Betamax was big. He used to come in every month. I don\'t think he plays the horses!
HP
and there\'s Jagger\'s Lucky In Love...
I\'m betting on a filly down at the track
A natural-born winner, that\'s a fact
A hundred yards from the winning post
The horse fell down, must seen a ghost
Thanks, flushedstraight! That is awesome. I never heard of the song, but just looked up the lyrics. Does your moniker come from the last stanza of that song? I am posting the whole song, so people can see what I am talking about.
From yours and HP\'s postings, I am guessing the racing/betting influence in Stones songs comes from Jagger. To me, this may make him a more likely candidate for being the \"You\" in \"You\'re so vain\" Thanks again for the lead -- here are the lyrics for those who do not know it
Lucky in Love
A betting fool, a gambling man
No sooner up you\'re down again
Mama said you won\'t get hurt
Don\'t play the cards, you won\'t get burned
But there\'s a place where I still win
But there\'s no money in this thing
The game of hearts puts me in spades
The only game I got it made
Oh, I\'m lucky in love!
Yes, I\'ve got the winning touch
Lucky in love!
Suddenly, I\'m dangerous
I\'m betting on a filly down at the track
A natural-born winner, that\'s a fact
A hundred yards from the winning post
The horse fell down, must seen a ghost
But there\'s a place where I still win
That is still my sure-fire thing
I will play the jack of spades
You play the queen, I\'ll play the knave
Oh, I\'m lucky in love!
Yes, I\'ve got the winning touch
Lucky in love!!
Suddenly, I\'m dangerous
I know it\'s a mystery when the numbers come up
\'Cause mathematics is Greek to me
But I\'m lucky, I\'m lucky, I\'m lucky in love
Yeah, Las Vegas at night at the roulette wheel
Yeah, Monte Carlo try to cut a deal
Atlantic City, I lose at craps
Back in London try to win in back
And late at night I lay in bed
With a pistol to my head
Swear I couldn\'t take no more
And in she walks right through my door
Oh, I\'m lucky in love!
When I think I\'ve had enough
Lucky in love!
Yes, I\'ve got the winning touch
Suddenly, I\'m dangerous
Yes I\'m lucky, Yes I\'m lucky
Yes I\'m lucky, yes I\'m lucky
Yes I\'m lucky, yes I\'m lucky
Lucky with the ladies
Thank God for the ladies
Otherwise, I\'d go, I\'d go crazy
How about a line of credit
For say, ten thousand dollars?
Eighteen on the red
Put me, put me home to bed
Yes I\'m lucky, yes I\'m lucky
Yes I\'m lucky, yes I\'m lucky
Yes I\'m lucky, yes I\'m lucky
Lucky with the ladies
I\'m sitting here with a full house
I just can\'t believe I\'ll lose out on this
Okay! Okay! Your ten thousand and ten thousand more
You want to raise me, you want to raise me? How about this?
Twenty thousand and twenty thousand more
Okay! You want to see me? Well I got, I got a full house
What\'s that? A royal flush?
Well, ain\'t that a bust, I\'m broke!
For all the interest Jagger and Richard have shown, the biggest racing fan in the Stones must be Ronnie Wood. Up until a few years ago at least he had a stud farm in Ireland.
Quite a few ageing English rockers have got involved with horse-racing - Rod Stewart usually shows up at Royal Ascot while Roger Daltrey owned some horses and was quite often to be seen around Southern racecourses. Roger Waters is also known to support English country sports. Benny Andersson of Abba has also been involved with British horse-racing and, I think, breeds racehorses in Sweden.
George
Dont forget rocker (though not a hard rocker) David Cassidy, who breeds and races lots of NY Breds. Get with the program, New York Breds! (it sounded better when Santos said it after the Derby)
I know Jagger bets because he was one of the \"overseas\" contingent cut off from watching and betting the races at Del Mar some years back the day we had the big power outage.
He even complained about it in a London paper and it made the news over here. According to him, he was quite active then in watching the Del Mar races via the website and betting through his English accounts. This was before the days of TVG and HRTV and even I could get a decent picture on dial-up!