This is a guest post by Marjorie Clayman.
It’s been a weird year. Grand in many ways. Here’s an example. So, Mr. Brown here, he asked me to guest post on this site you’re looking at, and I thought, “Wow, what an honor!!”
Shortly thereafter, I was playing on Google+ and I got invited to a hang-out with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. I hadn’t even circled them! How did they know where I was?? Anyway, I agreed to hang out with them because, well, who wouldn’t. Unfortunately, I found out they were not very happy with me.
See, a while back, I wrote a post about how the Beatles had been really ahead of their time because they wrote 20 songs about Social Media engagement. I had written it as a kind of funny joke-type post. Well, as it happens, the Rolling Stones really did write songs about Social Media because they really were that far ahead of their time. I had no idea.
In order to fix this great pain I have caused, I thought I would record here, on Mr. Brown’s site (they didn’t want to be on my site cuz the Beatles were there) my conversation with the Rolling Stones, which mostly was about the 10 songs they really did write about Social Media (they insisted in a follow-up that the Beatles wrote 2 songs for every 1 of theirs).
Oh yeah, and MJ = Mick Jagger, KR = Keith Richards, and MC = me.
1. Can’t Get No Satisfaction
MJ: Right, so the first song we wrote about Social Media was actually Can’t Get No Satisfaction.
KR: Can’t get no…
MJ: You know, we just knew that people would never be satisfied online, no matter how much they achieved. Oh, you got your post tweeted out by God? Well, that’s still not good enough, probably. You do try to get satisfaction, but it just never works, does it?
2. Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
MJ: Sometimes we found a song someone else had done and thought, “Aye, that has to do with Social Media!” – that was what happened with Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.
KR: Yeah, you know, it’s ironical, because uh…because…uh…because a lot of people do beg, don’t they?
MJ: Right, people beg to have their posts tweeted out, people beg for attention. The Rolling Stones would never do something like that, so we covered this song and made it our own. You shouldn’t beg, by the way. It makes you look silly.
3. Waitin’ On a Friend
KR: Yeah, we wrote Waitin’ on a Friend because that’s what Social Media is all about isn’t it?
MJ: Well, you don’t get money off of friends unless you sell ‘em, mate.
KR: Yeah, but having friends online is really nice, you know. It makes it fun and sweet and *sniff*
MJ: Are you crying?
KR: Naw.
4. Paint It Black
MJ: Well, Keith’s turn to being morose reminds me that we wrote Paint it Black because we knew that people online would have the tendency to see the dark side of everything and exhibit the darker sides of their nature. It’s really a shame, isn’t it, because positivity could spread really fast online.
KR: Maybe we should have written Paint it White to give people the idea.
MJ: Go wipe your nose, Keith.
5. Wild Horses
MC: Well, not every song you guys wrote could have been about Social Media. I mean, how would Wild Horses relate, for example?
MJ: Cor, you’re daft though aren’t ya? Wild Horses couldn’t tear me away. That’s the Social Media experience, isn’t it? Everyone says, “Ohhhh, I hate it.” But they’re still tweeting that, aren’t they?
MC: So you knew about Twitter in 1969, eh?
KR: I saw into the future.
MC: OK.
6. Time Is On My Side
MJ: Did you know that we wrote Time is on My Side about Social Media? Very few people get this connection but it’s really true. We wanted people to take their time growing their strategy, their plan, their presence…
KR: And their egos. Heh heh heh.
MJ: Well….yeah. That’s true. But mostly the first things I said.
7. Pleased To Meet You
MJ: We were really shocked that people applied such a mean and dark translation to Pleased To Meet You (Sympathy for the Devil)...we really meant it as a reminder to introduce yourself to new people in the online world, and the “guess my name” part was ironical again. Your name should be close at hand when you’re online, shouldn’t it?
KR: Yeah…
MJ: I wasn’t asking you.
KR: Right.
8. Under My Thumb
KR: We wrote Under My Thumb because the keys are always going to be under your thumb. Heh heh heh.
MJ: Keith, I think there’s a guitar over there that needs tuning.
KR: Where?
MJ: Right, so we really wrote Under My Thumb to reflect the power struggle that goes on in the online world, right? You always want to beat the person above you and manipulate them in some way. It’s crap that people spend their time that way. Anyway, we thought if we would really talk about controlling someone and getting them to do everything you want, it would make a point to people. But people just said, “Oh yeah, great idea, mate. I think I’ll try that.”
KR: People are SO stupid.
MJ: Yeah, really they are.
9. Honky Tonk Woman
MC: Well, okay, what does Honky Tonk Woman have to do with Social Media? I mean, there can’t be a connection there, right?
KR: Oh you’re an ignorant twat. That’s about two things we knew would happen in the online world. First, unprofessional and profane behavior. And second, uh…
MJ: Second was the rumor-mongering aspect of Social Media. You know, “People say…” that part. All about online rumor-mongering.
MC: Of course it is.
MJ: I don’t like you.
MC: I know. That’s cool.
10. Mixed Emotions
MC: So what’s song number 10 in this line-up, gentlemen?
MJ: Well, the last song we wrote about Social Media *specifically* was Mixed Emotions. And there’s a lot of meaning in there. For example, we knew people would often have mixed emotions about Social Media. You love it, you hate it. It’s so much work but so much fun. But also it’s, you know, we say “You’re not the only one,” so it’s…
KR: It’s a reminder that you’re not an island, you’re a person in a big group of people and you should pay explicit attention to what people are doing around you. I mean what are you thinkin, you’re the only one with a bad day or an irritation in your life? Toughen up and look out for other people for a change how about it ya great waste of life?
MJ: Uh, yeah. That about sums it up.
Alright, so, those are the ten songs Mick and Keith say they wrote about Social Media. Once they got going, though, I really felt like they may have written more. It was just too hard to keep Keith’s attention throughout the interview.
So I need your help now. What other songs did the Rolling Stones write about Social Media? Did they actually write about it more than the Beatles? What do you think?
About the author: Marjorie Clayman works for her family-owned agency, Clayman Advertising, Inc., where she represents the third generation! Margie is the resident blogger at MargieClayman.com, and can be found on Twitter at @MargieClayman.
image: Melvin Starbrook
image: pietroizzo
In his book 
About Danny
[...] The Ten Songs The Rolling Stones Wrote About Social Media originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog – The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license. [...]