Now I know that Rolling Stones lyrics tend to just sound like they have some meaningful background, even if they don’t, but that’s why these questions come up.
The Rolling Stones’ song “Winter” (on the album “Goats Head Soup”) has the following lines :
“I’ve been burnin’ (by?/my?) bell, book and candle
and the Restoration Plays have all gone 'round”.
My first question is what your opinions are on what word is in the first part (“by” makes more grammatical sense, and could be used to inspire Sympathy, but “my” works well with the tone of the song, that of ‘exorcising’ his loneliness). I also wonder if it has anything to do with the second line.
The second part’s always made me wonder more. The song is about missing someone in the heart of a cold winter, presumably in Britain (though the song was written in Jamaica, I think). So is there some tradition akin to Christmas pageants of “Restoration Plays” performed by travelling theater companies?
Exactly what is a “Restoration Play”? I haven’t dug up anything conclusive – would it be a short play telling the story of the Restoration, or one of the plays written during the Restoration? Or is this all just the product of an “ignorant slut’s” fevered mind?
Would it be something performed by Bombay-bound troubadours?