https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark because of the reasons given; what I looked for, the GA methods of execution and between 1924 and 1972, the method of capital punishment the electric chair. There was no mention of any lynching or shooting by the state. & as explained, ‘they hung an innocent man’ is figurative, while claiming the lights went out in GA is an exaggeration - there was a momentary localized electrical fluctuation tho, like when Old Sparky is operating. Brown Sugar which is played as a rock out/dance around party song…is about raping slaves in the Confederacy both on the ship and the plantation - but that deserves its whole other post.
Ah, but the middle verse is about the plantation owner’s wife (presumably white, for various reasons) enjoying the attentions of a slave: House Boy Knows that he’s doin’ all right. You shoulda heard him just around midnight!
At the time, Jagger and his boys were praising black people (and/or interracial sex) as desirable – a controversial notion in the 1950’s and 1960’s). They had several hits with such controversial content and it was quite intentional, not only because they genuinely liked black people and acknowledged the elements of black music that made Rock n’ Roll what it is, but because they enjoyed flirting with the controversy – q.v. the Penny Lane thread somewhere around here…
whoa there - off on a few points; let’s look at the whole middle verse for context 1st: Drums beating, cold English blood runs hot Lady of the house wonderin’ where it’s gonna stop House boy knows that he’s doing alright You shoulda heard him just around midnight
The Lady of the house wondering when it’s gonna stop don’t mean she’s hooking up with either a slave or the House Boy - for clarity, there were outside slaves & inside ones, including what they’d call the one in charge of the other indoor ones ‘house boy’ [big sign of disrespect as age was irrelevant, and in fact calling a Black man ‘boy’ in any context is part of the whole racial slurring thing]. A good example of this from a recent movie was Samuel Jackson’s role in Django. There is nothing implying any house boy would hook up with the plantation owner’s mrs.; the principle of the Confederacy was subjugation & slavery, not libertine orgies as you’re saying the Stones were promoting. In 1800s Confederacy they were still using big words like miscegenation to forbid interracial sex; rape by plantation owners, OTOH was just part of the deal & accepted. This wasn’t a parity situation of free will - even allowing for the rare possibility of a house boy or 2 being able to get away with it, it wasn’t a widespread practice, like the owner raping female slaves.
You seem to be conflating sex with rape - where there ain’t consent, there is no sex. I’m White-ish, and tend to go for blonds & redheads so typically I don’t hook up with exotic types, but I have for some exceptional examples and would continue to do so. I’m all for every1 being free and able to f|_|ck who they want - slavery whether of men or women, precludes any sexual relationship specially back then in the time period Brown Sugar is referring to - there wasn’t consent available.
The verse about the house boy doin alright means plantation owners would sometimes let them have their pick of the female slaves for an occasional get together, and there again the consent question comes up. I suppose it is possible 2 slaves being held somewhere they didn’t want to be could act on their urges, but being presented with the pick of the litter as an inducement/door prize for the ‘manager’ of the household staff, ain’t him ‘doin alright’.
Finally ‘Lady of the house wonderin where it’s gonna stop’ is about her knowing what her husband is doing to the female slaves, not her enjoying the house boy - I don’t even get how that can be inferred; the juxtaposition with the previous stanza talking about nothing but rape & abuse would suggest stanza 2 expanding on 1, not contrasting it.
I agree tho, that this song would merit its own discussion thread.
Though maybe not a common phrase, I assume that its meaning would be unambiguous. In fact, as WW I started, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey said to a journalist friend “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”.
It was the night the light of justice and civilization was extinguished when corrupt & lazy judges and prosecutors railroaded an innocent man to execution for their own convenience.
No kidding! “Little sister” does the shooting, then lets her brother take the fall, and then rants about the evil sheriff and judge with blood on their hands?