THE ROLLING STONES - “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”
(#251, 22nd June 1968)
There are vowelsounds here undreamed-of in prior pop: “hurricaayuhn”, “hahhhihg”, “doooouuwn”, the way Jagger gulps three times at “drowned”, more desperate each one. “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” may have one of the classic Stones riffs but it’s the stupendous vocals that hog my attention. Jagger is demented, theatrical, electric, camp and - as ever - very funny at the same time.
The way the song starts reminds me of blues lyrics, but Jagger’s - or Jack’s - boasts of hardship are grotesquely amplified grand guignol claims. Not parody - he’s singing with complete conviction, but he’s located the thread of bravado in the blues and pulled at it hard. For all their roots in playing blues and R&B, Jagger never acted reverent to them, on the hits at least, and the Stones would have been a worse band if he had. Now his attitude is a mix of love and gleeful insolence, he heaps upon Jack the most fearful horrors and then dismisses them with a flick of the tongue, “Well it’s awl-right now, in fact it’s a gas.” Whatever happened before doesn’t matter, Jack is badder and better than the worst the world can throw.
Take that, and party: the so-what attitude is crucial to lots of great pop - which “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is. The jangly outro is the best kind of indulgence, and the other Stones squeezing into backing-vox corsets to chorus “Jumpin Jack Flash! It’s a gas!” makes me grin too. Nothing I know of their later records sounds so light or so delighted. 9
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Brian on August 18th, 2006
I loved this song at 13 years old. I love it now.
Looking back it represents the “Stones” coming back in from the dope induced comma of ” Their Satanic Majestys Request ” ( an acid trip )and ” Between The Buttons ” ( a smokers groove ).
Back to the blues, booze, barroom , school of hard knocks & dirty socks. This riff revitalized , and set the sonic amplitude for, alot of the later riff driven Stones that we know - right up to ” Start Me Up “….
FT's Stevie on August 18th, 2006
I remember singing this song years ago at King ov Korsika Karaoke and you called me a rockist for doing it!
This should clearly be a 10.
FT's rosie on August 18th, 2006
I seem to remember this as coming out after a period of Stones inactivity, and it being a perfectly terrific comeback.
All the more so, looking back, as the Beatles were looking shopsoiled. The Stones were just entering their best period.
I still think the Beatles were right to call it a day and I feel a bit embarrassed to see the Stones still performing!
Brian on August 18th, 2006
I read a passage attributed to Jagger , abou the tinme The Beatles werre calling it a day, where he said that if the Beatles really wanted to continue they would have ” just got another bass player “. Good point, methinks. Insert Heather Mills jokes here ” ….”
FT's Doctor Mod on August 18th, 2006
Brian–That’s one of the best Beatles/Stones anecdotes ever!
Good advice not taken–alas….
Tom on August 19th, 2006
Stevie you were a rockist for doing it!
One of the better things about doing Popular (from my point of view) has been ‘getting’ the Stones for the first time.
intothefireuk on August 19th, 2006
There’s an amazingly rough shambolic feel to this that for me the Stones never quite captured again - I love the slightly out of tune jangly bit at the end. Is this also when Jagger started adopting the pout and exaggerated postures he would become famous for (and much imitated) ?
ITF
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 19th, 2006
re the postures, i would guess no — i think he’d been doing that since 65 or 66 at least (though his style may have become even MORE mannerist and self-parodic at this stage)
blount on August 19th, 2006
tina turner perhaps a turning (HAW) point for jagger there. he definitely amped it up around this point though - more mannered, more makeup, the “stupid faggot dancing” that disturbed lennon and the hell’s angels.
Chris Brown on August 20th, 2006
I may have suggested this before, but I think the Stones are easily the best band I don’t own any records by (though I almost downloaded this track to give my comments here a bit more verisimilitude).
It really is Jagger par excellence isn’t it? From that “One-two!” at the start onwards. Slightly reminds me of that yelp that begins ‘Get Off My Cloud’ - until relatively recently I didn’t have much idea of the chronology of their career and I could have imagined these two being released consecutively. That seems to underline the retrograde thing here; perhaps in a way you could draw a line to ‘Lady Madonna’ because they share that musical back-to-basics idea but are both still slightly surreal lyrically. This is clearly the better record though, because it sounds less affected (even if it isn’t).
One other little thought - if you were foolish enough to try and listen to them all consecutively, this would be quite a dramatic segue after Cliff, Louis and Gary Puckett.
Chris Brown on August 21st, 2006
UPDATE: You’ve cost me £14:95! I finally gave in and bought a Stones CD. According to the notes, this was the first of their releases produced by Jimmy Miller.
Oh, and on the “inactivity” thing - this was their first (and only) UK single of 1968, which was pretty inactive by the standards of the day; of course there was also an album at the end of the year, but no 45s pulled from it at the time. Also, the previous three singles had failed to top the chart, which was then their longest run of “failure” since they started having Number Ones.
FT's Lena on August 21st, 2006
Does this song have anything to do with the “Jack be nimble” rhyme?
Brian on August 22nd, 2006
Doc Mod - that Jagger quote/paraphrase came from ” The Beatles , The Dream is Over”. It’s the second book of ” Off The Record ” by Keith Badman.
That should satisfy the academics in the crowd.
John Vincent on August 25th, 2006
Re: Jumping Jack Flash
Check out the tracks on the apocryphal new Stones’ album
‘Forty Winks’
All the best,
John Vincent
FT's richard thompson on June 9th, 2008
The Beatles were supposed to be getting together in 1971 with Klaus Voorman on bass replacing Paul, this is the stones at their best, they took themselves more seriously after this, when they went to France.
DJ Punctum on June 9th, 2008
“Jumping Jack Flash” not serious in the time of riots?
This was featured on the 1968 half of yesterday’s POTP, at #4, en route to the top. A quite brilliant chart, overall, though scuppered by one of the worst top threes ever:
3. Bobby Goldsboro - Old Shep
2. Engelbert Pumpernickel - A Man Without Love and NOT EVEN THE ORIGINAL RECORD SOME CRAPPY SEVENTIES REMAKE
1. Union Gap - Officially Worst Number One Single Ever
The galvanising effect of “JJF” was therefore similar to that of “GSTQ.”