When you’re a band as productive as The Rolling Stones have been throughout their illustrious career, sometimes good songs get lost in the shuffle. In fact, you might even amass an album’s worth of them after a while.
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The Stones did just that in 1981 with their album Tattoo You. One of their oldest excavation projects on the album was the song “Tops,” a song whose music was first composed and laid down almost a decade earlier.
Going Way Back in the Vaults
Tumult and dissension produced one of the finest albums in the Rolling Stones catalog. The band knew they wanted to go out on one of their acclaimed, money-minting tours at the start of the ‘80s. But at that time in the world of music, it was customary to release a new studio album as a propellant for such a jaunt.
That presented a problem, because the time came and the Stones had no new music in the works to make up an LP. It was a period in the band’s history when Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were at loggerheads about the artistic direction in the band and weren’t all that enthused about writing music together.
That’s when the idea was raised the band should scour their vaults. Each time they had recorded an album for the previous decade or so, they left some songs on the cutting-room floor. And while these tracks weren’t always in a finished state, they were far enough along they usually just needed some final touches (mostly Mick Jagger’s lyrics and vocals).
“Tops” originated all the way back in 1972 with the sessions for Goat’s Head Soup. Although the Stones didn’t credit them as such when the song was released on Tattoo You, Mick Taylor, who was then a member of the band, and Nicky Hopkins, who often collaborated with them during that era, played guitar and piano, respectively, on the track.
Examining the Lyrics to “Tops”
Mick Jagger gets the chance to portray a sleazy Hollywood producer type in “Tops,” beckoning a young girl into believing promises he has no intention of keeping. Before he slides into the role, however, Jagger first gives a cynical opinion of his gender: Every man is the same come on.
He then inhabits that stereotype, throwing a bunch of malarkey at a would-be starlet in the hopes she’ll believe it: I’ll make you a star / I’ll take you a million miles from this / Put you on a pedestal. This guy knows whom to target, going after those from humble origins: You should leave this small town way behind.
The second verse continues in this vein, as he insists she has what it takes to step to the head of the line: You’re such a natural you don’t need no acting school. We know he’s the one who’s putting on a show, however, especially when he denies the very thing he’s likely to demand: Don’t need no casting couch or be a star in bed.
He’s also sure to keep her in her place: Never, never let success go to your pretty head. Jagger is in his element, his voice occasionally switching from a low drawl to a sweet falsetto as his sleazy character puts on all the moves. “Tops” refers to where he promises his companion will end up, but we know she’ll be headed in the opposite direction if she listens to his rap.
Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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