Have you ever seen Lorraine?
I listened to it closely, and I think Jagger does sing “girl reaction.” 37 years on this planet and this is the first I noticed.
And then…
What are the words to La Bamba?
~VOW
I understand your question is somewhat rhetorical, but here you go.
They’re actually well enunciated in the song.
I always heard “girl in ACtion” which also makes sense in context.
62 years here on the rock. For the last 48 of them, I heard it as “girl reaction.”
On the other hand, switching songs to “It’s All Over Now”: 49 years I’ve heard Mick sing “spent all my money playing her half-fast game”, until a few weeks ago when for the first time ever I clearly heard it correctly: “playing her high class game.”:smack:
I always thought it was “playing her half-assed game” which I doubt would be allowed! But that’s what I always heard and imagined.
It is “half-assed.” That was a minor scandal back in the day.
10CC worth.
Been listening to the Stones all my life, and I always heard it as “girl reaction.”
On the other hand, I never stopped to think about Pearl Jam meaning anything in particular until this thread. Um, thanks, I guess, for fighting my ignorance.
“Girl reaction”? Not “good reaction”?
Huh.
I’m very familiar with the Devo cover, too, but I heard the Stones version first, and I think the Devo cover may just have cemented the way I hear that line. (By the way, that’s one of my favorite covers of all time. It does everything I feel a great cover should do. If you’re not a cover band and are recording a cover for release, please bring a new perspective to the table.)
While we’re on the subject, what’s with that other Stones song, “Get off of McCloud?”
I too always heard “good” reaction in the Stones version. I just assumed Devo used the same words.
If I could, I would like this post.
But is Annie or Fanny supposed to take a load off?
I thought it was “I can’t get no dirty action”
You would 
(totally kidding - just had to go there with your post/username combo)
On the original recording by the Valentinos, it’s “high-class.” I’m pretty sure Mick is singing the same on the Stones’ version, though his mushy elocution makes it impossible to tell for certain. But in this TV performance you can read his enormous lips: “high class” it is.
I remember an interview in Rolling Stone where Mick was asked about the song being banned on some US radio stations, and his answer seemed to acknowledge that it was “half-assed.” But now I think Mick simply didn’t know what the interviewer was talking about, and chose to gloss over the question with a remark about not knowing what was considered rude in America.
Well, they’d often change lyrics to be more suburban-friendly for TV appearances back in the day. Changing “Let’s Spend The Night Together” to “Let’s Spend Some Time Together” for Ed Sullivan was but one example. So I wouldn’t go by what Mick sang on television as proof of the lyric.