The Rolling Stones tend to delve into dark and depraved aspects of life in their music. An iconic instance is ‘Sympathy For The Devil,’ where Mick Jagger adopts the persona of the song’s titular character. However, their catalog also contains songs that explore even darker themes.
The Stones have gotten older. But they’ve never been able to give up their curiosity about the darker aspects of life. They will carry it with them until their last performance together because it is an intrinsic aspect of their musical personality. Although their dubious lead characters aren’t exactly meant to be idolised, they do offer a frightening quality. It goes well with the sinister vibe of rock ‘n’ roll.
“Flip The Switch” is a track from the 1997 album Bridges to Babylon. It is arguably the darkest song in their lyrical catalog. Although there is room for interpretation in Jagger’s lyrics, it is evident that the narrator is pleading for death as he awaits his imminent departure.
The song makes it clear that he has made horrible life choices in the past, for which he is currently serving a death sentence. Even though the lyrics never explicitly state what his sins are. Nevertheless, “Flip The Switch” depicts a terrifying image of what goes through the mind of a person on death row, regardless of the circumstances that led to him being in this dangerous situation.
“It’s a very strange lyric, really, about death and about madness and criminality and so on,” Mick Jagger remarked about the song in an interview. Really heavy stuff, but it’s a worthwhile one. It’s a great song to begin a record with.
Among the most peculiar lines in the lyrics are: “I’m not going to burn in hell, I cased the joint, And I know it well, Maybe my carcass, Can feed the worms, I’m working for the other firm.” Additionally, later on the track, Jagger sings: “I got a toothbrush, mouthwash, All that shit, I’m looking down. In the filthy pit, I had the turkey. And the stuffing too, I even saved, A little bit for you.”
The frontman of The Stones sings, “Lethal injection’s a luxury, I want to give it. To the whole jury, I’m just dying, For one more squeeze,” as the protagonist begs to be put out of his misery in the song “Flip The Switch”.
Even though “Flip The Switch” has a very upsetting lyrical theme, The Stones gave the song a lot of energy. It helped to make a fierce opening track to their album. Keith Richards credits Charlie Watts for the song’s genius. He said, “I can go on and on about him, and everybody else yeah, great, really. However, I find that playing with Charlie Watts, who is at the top of his game, is the true joy. And that makes it much easier for me. Then I can really fly.”
