HA! Shidoobee. New York Inspires Top 40 Success for The Rolling Stones
What is a Shidoobee?
And what does it have to do with New York?
The late 1970s were a different time when it came to the Big Apple. While some still romanced the "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere" feelings, others were not so impressed.
One of those people was Mick Jagger, singer for the Rolling Stones.
As Keith Richards had worked out the guitar parts, Mick was stuck for a lyric beyond the one word...Shattered.
It was in a cab ride in New York City where he found his inspiration. In the back seat he began crafting a stand out song that would make it to 1978's Some Girls album.
Life's just a cocktail party on the street
Big Apple, people dressed in plastic bags, directing traffic
Seems innocent enough. The police of the time wore plastic ponchos so nothing too inflammatory there. Maybe Mick loved New York City.
Work and work for love and sex
Ain't you hungry for success, success, success, success
Does it matter?
Mick is giving us a look into the yuppie lifestyle that would find it's mainstream footing in the next decade. Wondering if the suited up lifestyle really mattered at all, Jagger has venom in his ink at this point.
Pride and joy and greed and sex
That's what makes that town the best
I guess this isn't a love letter afterall.
Don't you know the crime rate's going up, up, up, up, up?
To live in this town you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, toughWe've got rats on the west side, bed bugs uptown
What a mess, this town's in tatters, I've been shattered
My brain's been battered, splattered all over Manhattan
It seems Mick wasn't a big fan of the real Big Apple. And to those fans of the Stones who may have lived so far away from the bright lights and big city, they may have canceled their plans to visit any time soon. But the song ended up being a hit for the band, landing at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
They even played the song right where it was born. The band delivered a particularly memorable performance of "Shattered" on Saturday Night Live