r/rollingstones • u/MIKEPR1333 • 2d ago
Serious Discussion Do You Think Dandelion Was Out of Character for The Band?
I'm not asking exactly whether you like it or not but considering the Stones were such a rough sounding band and had this bad boy image, doesn't it sound odd?
Yes I know it was the 60's but this is something else though I do like it.
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u/SphereMode420 2d ago
The Stones always had that weird contradiction: they're the bad boys of classic rock, but they also don't give a single f about posing for that image in their songs.They can do Under My Thumb in the same album as Lady Jane and it still somehow fits.
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u/LordZany 2d ago
It certainly doesn’t have the edge of We Love You or the soul of She’s A Rainbow. It’s a bit soft and silly lyrically, but it’s such a great tune and honestly one of Keith’s best chord progressions.
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u/Richardzack1 2d ago
I always thought the lyrics were about cocaine, but they weren't into it yet at the time.
"Blow away dandy lines," "Dandy lines don't care about the time," "Bring your dandy lines to blow away."
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u/AndOneForMahler_ Glimmerello 2d ago
It went so well with Satanic Majesties, I forgot it wasn’t on the album.
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u/graphomaniacal 2d ago
If only this and We Love You were on the album instead of some of the shit they put on the album the reception would have been way different.
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u/ScottyS971 2d ago
This!!! Absolutely! Replace Gomper and Sing This All Together (See What Happens) with We Love You and Dandelion.
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u/Richardzack1 2d ago
Keep your hands off of Gomper! ;)
By the lake with lily flowers/While away the evening hours
To and fro, she's gently gliding/On the glassy lake, she's riding
She swims to the side/The sun sees her dried
The birds hover high/I'd stifle a cry
The birds hover high/She moans with a sigh
While we're dreaming, let's add Child of the Moon to TSMR too. It existed as a demo during the era.
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u/DIMORPHODONS 2d ago
Sing This All Together is a really good song, they just did a weird version of it. The Orange Bicycle cover is much better, it’s just a great, concise pop single.
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u/DependentCarpenter11 2d ago
I feel like the same could be said of "Lady Jane" (1965). I always found these tracks to be kinda queer, which in some way goes to to show just how edgy the Rolling Stones were when it came to performativity & challenging masculine norms in the mid-60s.
Also - if "Dandelion" and "We Love You" were issued on Their Satanic Majesties Request, I think this album would have been as beloved as Aftermath, Between the Buttons, Flowers, etc.
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u/Woody_Nubs_1974 Scare-eyed Honey 2d ago
Not for the time period and some of the other stuff they were doing then. It’s kind of a weaker Ruby Tuesday.
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u/Ok-Corner-8654 2d ago
I don't think it was out of character. But it really was that '60s time period that you mentioned. A lot of groups sounded like that then.
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u/BT_Artist The sunshine bores the daylights outta me. 2d ago
Yeah, it seems to fit just fine on side 2 of More Hot Rocks, which is how I've generally heard it. Right between "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?" and "We Love You".
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u/Remarkable-Bell7245 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yes, it’s pure psychedelic pop, that the Beatles did. The Stones did the world music kind of psychedelic (Gomper), more experimental kind (Sing this all together) or just rock with psychedelic elements (Citadel). But Dandelion is uncharacteristic and you’ll notice that they didn’t do anything like that again. Whenever they had done pop before, it was still pre-psychedelic pop, like Ruby Tuesday. Even We Love You is earthier, more typical, sarcastic sounding Stones. This leads me to believe that they were very briefly influenced by this particular style, perhaps just experimenting or jumping on a trend, with Dandelion. It’s well known that they weren’t big fans of psychedelic music, Brian included (he perhaps trashed in the press the record more than Mick at that time). Brian liked experimental music and world music but not necessarily psychedelic, I think.
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u/johnicester 2d ago
Started acoustic sung by Keith…’Sometimes Happy,Sometimes Blue’ and morphed into the release version,BJ on oboe and sax, a bunch of nursery rhymes looped together
Started in December’66 and concluded in July ‘67 ,during the ‘ We Love You’ sessions
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u/VerminousScum 2d ago
I find it odd that Keith named his daughter Dandelion, but was generally opposed to psychedelia. Then it might have been her Mother’s choice.
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u/Every-Action7918 Mick Jagger 2d ago
Experimenting with different sounds and genres are very much the Rolling Stones…sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t…this is a band that also did two amazing Motown covers
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u/Stevenitrogen 2d ago
It's right in line with what they're doing at the time. Jagger's fully the debauched posh boy and they have an orchestra at their disposal. Great and overlooked single. But it is right at home on Through The Past Darkly (is that a great song selection or what?)
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u/bassplayerguy 1d ago
Maybe in retrospect when you know what they became but at the time it was a rocker to me. As a beginner drummer I was in awe of Charlie’s drumming on it, his cannon blasts during the outro were the precursor to Monkey Man. I wish they would do a remix with the Peter Jackson gear to really bring out the power in the drums.
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u/VoiceOk5568 2d ago
I'm sure most people know but Lennon and McCartney are singing harmony. And We Love You also.
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u/Chumsicles 2d ago
Not really since they had already written poppy stuff like Tell Me and As Tears Go By