Album: Some Girls (Deluxe Edition)
Year: 1978
. . .
One of the ironies surrounding the controversy surrounding the song “Some Girls” was that the Stones had actively tried to avoid controversy by not including one of the greatest songs from the Some Girls sessions, a raunchy rockabilly romp called “Claudine.”
In 1976, the singer/actress Claudine Longet shot and killed her boyfriend, the Olympian skier Spider Sabich, but got off with 30 days — to be served on weekends — and a fine due to sloppy police work and the judge believing her story that it was accidental — he was showing her how it worked. This proto case of Responsible Gun Ownership was a huge deal at the time, and inspired Mick Jagger to write the utterly unsparing “Claudine.”
Claudine’s back in jail again
Claudine’s back in jail (again)
Claudine’s back in jail again
ClaudineClaudine’s back in jail again
Claudine’s back in jail (again)
She only does it at weekends
Claudine
Oh, Claudine
“Claudine” features such a brutal set of lyrics that one might be excused in thinking that Ms. Longet — who was married for a long time to crooner and TV host Andy Williams — had been, er, “approached” by Mr. Jagger at some point and turned him down with extreme prejudice. One thing is for sure: she and Andy Williams were present for the aftermath of the event that caused Mick to change a key lyric in “Sympathy For The Devil” from “who killed Kennedy?” to “who killed the Kennedys?”
Now only Spider knows for sure
But he ain’t talkin’ about it any more
Is he, Claudine?There’s blood in the chalet
And blood in the snow
Washed her hands of the whole damn show
The best thing you could do, Claudine
I remember reading about the shooting and trial when it happened — and in fact, SNL ran a bit called “The Claudine Longet Invitational Ski Championship” involving her shooting all the skiers — and I remember reading about the song a couple of years later, but I didn’t hear it until 1994. It was the opening track on The Missing Years, the bootleg I bought at a record swap in Las Vegas that also contained “Blood Red Wine.“. Then as now, I loved how it comes roaring out of the gate with Ian Stewart’s smoking boogie-woogie piano and Charlie Watts in full forward motion, sometimes rolling on his snare, sometimes smacking it hard.
“Claudine” is a groove song: it doesn’t change all that much once it gets going.
Shot him once right through the head
Shot him twice right through the chest
The judge ruled it was an accident
Claudine
Accidents will happen
That offhanded “accidents will happen” just kills me every time. Meanwhile, Keith finally shows up, whacking his guitar, drawing ugly noises from it with half-chords, half-licks, and popping in and out of the mix as Mick continues piling it on mercilessly.
Now I threaten my wife with a gun
I always leave the safety on
I recommend it
ClaudineNow she pistol whipped me once or twice
But she never tried to take my life
What do you think about that
Claudine
I’m not going to lie: “Claudine” is maybe the meanest song the Rolling Stones ever recorded, which is probably they sat on it until the Some Girls Deluxe Reissue in 2011 instead of putting it on any of the records that drew from those sessions. Which is too bad, as it’s way better than any of the songs on Emotional Rescue and most of the songs on Tattoo You. Which is why it was so heavily bootlegged over the years: it was too good to be buried completely.
Claudine Longet is still alive: she turns 80 next year, and history has not recorded what her reaction is to this song, That might be because as part of the out of court civil suit settlement with Sabich’s family in which she was never to discuss any of it. Then again, it’s also possible that she never heard it, as weird as that might seem, as maybe she really didn’t give a fuck about what Mick Jagger had to say about the killing.
“Claudine”
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