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Rolling Stones songs: Citadel
Screaming people fly so fast/ In their shiny metal cars…
Parallel Visions: The Rolling Stones’ Citadel and Bob Dylan’s Shadow
Before Bob Dylan laid down All Along the Watchtower in October 1967, Mick Jagger had already crafted the lyrics to Citadel a month earlier—revealing how two of rock’s greatest minds seemed to channel a shared sense of unrest and surreal imagery at the same moment in time. Jagger’s lyrics, filled with paranoia and poetic tension—“Men at arms, shout ‘Who goes there? / We have journeyed far from here, armed with bibles, make us swear”—evoke a world in chaos, where authority looms and belief is weaponized.
While Dylan’s track leans into myth and biblical allusion, Jagger’s Citadel feels more claustrophobic, a psychedelic fortress haunted by suspicion. Both songs reflect a cultural crossroads—where war, disillusionment, and searching for meaning colored the creative output of the late ’60s, or two artists responding to the same storm in their own cryptic, visionary ways.
Concrete Dreams and Dollar Flags: Decoding The Rolling Stones’ Citadel
Before the music even starts Citadel invites us into a towering world of concrete, chaos, and surreal visions—far more than just another Rolling Stones deep cut. With vivid, almost dystopian imagery, the song paints a picture of a frenzied metropolis, where “Flags are flying dollar bills / Round the heights of concrete hills.” This isn’t just a city—it’s a living, breathing machine of wealth, illusion, and isolation. One might even imagine New York here, its skyline transformed into a citadel of decadence, with money reigning as absolute ruler.
There’s a cinematic depth to this world too. Mick Jagger’s lyrics echo the cold mechanical universe of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), where man and machine clash in a bleak urban future. Add to that a splash of Robert E. Howard’s fantasy tales, and Citadel becomes a layered myth, not just a song.
Amid the surreal haze, a name emerges: Candy. Possibly a nod to Andy Warhol’s muse Candy Darling, whom Jagger had recently met. This subtle Warholian reference hints at a connection to The Factory—a glittery underworld of artifice and broken dreams, mirroring the track’s oppressive glamour.
So, is Citadel just a psychedelic trip? Or is it a bleak love letter to modernity—its fantasy and filth, its beauty and decay? Either way, The Rolling Stones turn the city into legend, and legend into a place you can feel closing in.
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