This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Everywhere I hear the sound
Of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For fighting in the street, boy
Well, now what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock and roll band?
'Cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for street fighting man, no
Hey, think the time is right
For a palace revolution
'Cause where I live the game to play
Is compromise solution
Well, now what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock and roll band?
'Cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for street fighting man, no
Get down
Hey, said my name is called Disturbance
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king
I'll rail at all his servants
Well, now what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock and roll band?
'Cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for street fighting man, no
Get down
Of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For fighting in the street, boy
Well, now what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock and roll band?
'Cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for street fighting man, no
Hey, think the time is right
For a palace revolution
'Cause where I live the game to play
Is compromise solution
Well, now what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock and roll band?
'Cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for street fighting man, no
Get down
Hey, said my name is called Disturbance
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king
I'll rail at all his servants
Well, now what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock and roll band?
'Cause in sleepy London Town
There's just no place for street fighting man, no
Get down
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Street Fighting Man Lyrics as written by Mick Jagger Keith Richards
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave, Abkco Music Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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one of the great protest songs of all time.
Song was written after JAgger marched in Vietnam rally.
Intresting note: This song was actually banned at a chicago vietnam rally for fear of causing a riot. Definitley a rally starting kind of song.
I thought the king lyric was right. It's quite funny trying to imagine Mick Jagger as a street fighting man...now Keith Richards...thats another story! By the way: this song is great!
Keith Richards fucked up tuning with the engaging rhythm is the backbone of this song. This is one of the most original rock songs of the 60s.
Purportedly, the inspiration for this song is Tariq Ali, a strident British Pakistani.
Wikipedia: "The song is about political strife, and Jagger allegedly wrote it about Tariq Ali after Jagger attended several of Ali's demonstrations. In 1987, Ali released an autobiography of the 1960's entitled Street Fighting Years, which gives credence to the theory that the song was inspired by Ali's public demonstrations. "
i love this song
Hell yeah! Rolling Stones, Street Fighting Man! G7!!!
You just hit G8......<br /> <br /> <br /> ......."If you like pina coladas!"
Just heard this song for the first time today, and I have to say, it's punk as fuck, without all the trappings of playing too fast or sounding like a snotty kid from the suburbs. I can imagine that guys in bands like The Clash and The Damned secretly cranked this up when none of the excessively "true" believers of punk were around to deride them for it. Rock and roll will outlive mankind!
This reminds me of Stokely Carmichael's slogan, "Burn, Baby, Burn."
At this time, the US military was killing 500 innocent civilians per week in Vietnam. The whole world knew it. The only people in the dark were dim witted, red stated, fried-pork-rind eating American dunces
The British were fed up. At the time this song came out, hundreds of thousands marched on the US embassy in London and Jagger was there.
My dream: To throw Molotov cocktails into mansions while this song is blasting in the background
The actual lyric is "kill the queen" and man, this was so written before the Brixton riots, etc. There's PLENTY for a "street fighting man" to do in London these days.
Actually, listening to it, it's "I'll kill the king"