Constructive Engagement

Last weekend the Rolling Stones gave the world a lesson in how to engage China’s authoritarian government without kowtowing any lower than necessary. Like many Western business enterprises, the Stones were eager to grab a bit of the lucrative Chinese market with a concert tour. They submitted to the government’s conditions, including a ban on five songs: the classics "Brown Sugar," "Honky Tonk Woman," "Beast of Burden" and "Let's Spend the Night Together", as well as the more recent "Rough Justice".

China must be doing a bang-up job teaching English to its people, if it it worries that their morals will be corrupted by a line like "She blew my nose and then she blew my mind". It took me several decades as a native speaker to decipher the more lascivious lyrics of these Stones tunes. Still, you gotta wonder if bureaucratic prudery caused the government to take their eyes off the ball in compiling this list. I mean, how could these guardians of stability have missed “Street Fightin’ Man”?

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

The proscription of five songs didn't put much of a dent into the Stones’ repertoire of salacious material. They managed to include “Bitch” on their set list, and that didn’t come close to exhausting the possibilities. (Think “Some Girls”, “Rocks Off”, “Parachute Woman”, “Stray Cat Blues”, “Midnight Rambler”, “Start Me Up”, "When the Whip Comes Down", “Let It Bleed” -- I could go on, and so could they.)

The irony was not lost on Mick Jagger. Noting that ticket prices were out of reach for most inhabitants of the Chinese capital, he quipped, “I'm pleased that the Ministry of Culture is protecting the morals of the expat bankers and their girlfriends.” Amen.