The Rolling Stones Make the Super Bowl

Augustin knew temptation
He loved women, wine and song
And all the special pleasures
Of doing something
You'll never make a saint of me
The Rolling Stones “Saint of Me” written by Mick Jagger/Keith Richards

Here is my take on the Super Bowl: the game was sloppily played with Seattle choking. They dropped passes that should have been caught and they were not thinking as passes that were caught the receiver was out of bounds.

However, I didn’t have a favorite and I had no money on the game, I just wanted to see the halftime show with The Rolling Stones.

I was not disappointed. Mick Jagger had the dance and the swagger turned up. However, and this is where the hypocrisy of the ABC network came into play. The editors of the halftime show cut a few words from the Stones’ songs. Here is how Associated Press described it:

Two sexually explicit lyrics were excised from the rock legends' performance Sunday. The only song to avoid the editor was "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," a 41-year-old song about sexual frustration.

In "Start Me Up," the show's editors silenced one word, a reference to a woman's sexual sway over a dead man. The lyrics for "Rough Justice" included a synonym for rooster that the network also deemed worth cutting out.

Now what is so silly is that the commercials where far more sexual with innuendos than the Stones song, if anyone could understand the lyrics.

I also have another bone of contention. The AP reporter obviously is not a Stones fan because he doesn’t realize that the whole Rolling Stones appeal is their very practiced ragged, rough performances.

Jagger, at age 62, is still a force of nature, strutting and dancing across a stage designed as a replica of their famed wagging tongue logo. The band's performance felt ragged _ they seemed just warming up during the opening "Start Me Up," and a three-song set affords no such luxury.

The Stones chose three tough rockers, including the best song from their well-received recent album and one of their most enduring hits.

"Here's one we could have done at Super Bowl I," Jagger wryly said in introducing "Satisfaction."

It was their best, most energetic effort, and ended with Jagger blowing a kiss to the audience. But unlike U2's performance four years ago at the Super Bowl, their set was not an example of a band at its peak rising to the majesty of the event.

Nonsense. The three song set was the Stones in top form, if you didn’t like that you are not really a Stones fan.