Un Jagger glacial et de mauvais poil... A moins que ça ne soit l'interviewer qui n'en soit la cause...
The Mick Jagger interview by Dean Goodman
This phone interview with Mick Jagger took place on Oct. 20, three days after I spoke with Keith Richards. We began on a good note as I congratulated him on his recently announced film deals and jokingly offered to serve as a consultant if he develops a journalist character who happens to be a Stones fanatic. But when it came to the nitty gritty, I was totally unprepared for Mick to contradict Keith on virtually every point, such as the "No Security" track listing and the roles in the band. Our argument over whether Keith played "All About You" is absurd, and it looks as if I'm being too light on him, but I didn't want to waste precious minutes. In some ways, Mick confirmed some of my impressions: he lives in real time -- hates thinking too far back or forward; also, he's a compulsive contrarian. If you took him outside on a sunny day and pointed out the blue sky he would say, "Naaaaah, I don't really think it's that blue." Still for all that, he remains polite to a fault, likes a good laugh and an intelligent chat (not that I could be of too much help in that regard).
Dean: Who came up with the name No Security and where does it come from?
Mick: I think I did. I was looking at this picture on the front ... and it's this couple out of the crowd and they look kinda like `Us and the world.' It looks like the life holds no security for anyone. I don't know, it's something in their faces.
Do you get excited about live albums or do you consider them a necessary evill for the fans?
I don't think it's an evil. I spent a lot of time thinking about whether one could do something that was different from the others, and I just thought that the song choice was kinda key to this: to put out slightly unusual songs. There's some well-known songs, but none of them have been out on live albums at least for 20-odd years, which is quite a long time.
That's right, because Virgin prohibited you from using stuff from the previous albums, right?
No! They would have been happy if it was a load of more well-known ones. The only thing that Virgin cared about was that I got it done quickly so it would come out in the autumn. That's all they worried about.
I know you like to profess ignorance about your old records, but everyone considers "Ya-Ya's" the benchmark --
-- Oh, I know about that one, I know what's on that one --
-- or side 3 of "Love You Live" --
I have no idea what's on that one!
That was the El Mocambo --
-- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are those unfair comparisons for No Security?
I have to put them on and listen to them. I think you'd be surprised probably when you put them on and you listen to the playing that you might be surprised to compare favorably this year's playing with then. I think you might. But maybe you might not. I don't know. I'd have to A & B this.
Keith said he would have liked to put "All About You" on this album. What would you have liked?
All About You? What's that?
That's one of his solo songs from Emotional Rescue.
Oh, yeah, but he never did that one
Yes he did, throughout the U.S. tour.
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But I assume no one's brave enough to yell at Charlie. Is he the hardest to persuade to go on tour?
He's the most enthusiastic.
Really??! So who's the least enthusiastic then?
I don't know!
Are you doing a show at Wembley on Dec. 31, 1999?
No. I think Wembley is closed then. They're more or less tearing it down...
So you're not doing anything special on that particular day?
Well, we might do. But I don't think it will be at Wembley becasuse there won't be a Wembley.
Is there some cool old Stones stuff that's ready to join the set list?
Sometimes you dig things out, like Sister Morphine was one of them, I suppose you could say.
How about, say, "Around and Around"?
Yeah we tried that in rehearsal. It sounded like too many (laughs) stops!
Turd on the Run?
Nah, once it starts, that's it. It could be all right for a club gig, that one.
She Said Yeah?
No, bit low on everyone's compass.
People focus on the fact that you do a lot of old stuff, but the reality is that you drew on virtually every album for the Bridges to Babylon tour.
That wasn't really trying either, being very careful about it, not over-careful anyway. It just worked out that way. You can sometimes end up picking too much of one period without even thinking about it. You get involved in it, but then you've gotta back up and say, `Wait a minute, we're stuck in one five-year period, here.'
Are there any songs you now dread playing, like Miss You?
Nah, if I really dread them then we drop them basically.
On balance how did the Bridges to Babylon tour compare with the others in terms of vibe and happiness?
It was a really good vibe, the tour, really. It had a few ups and downs: I had laryngitis twice and Keith broke his ribs. That was, like, not very good, but we kinda got over it... Hey listen, let's do one round-up question.
Are there any misconceptions about the Stones that annoy you? People always talking about your combined age, etc?
I think people should really just listen and watch rather than worry about the history, y'know? I think that's a load of old bollocks.
So finally how would you rank No Security in the pantheon of Stones live releases?
It's this year's, don't know anything else. Very nice talking to you.
Take care, Mick.
Bye.
