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Rolling Stones songs: Respectable
Well now you’re a pillar of society/ You don’t worry about the things that you used to be…
Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: EMI Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Oct. 10-Dec. 1977; Jan. 5-March 2 1978 *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012
Mick Jagger: vocals, rhythm guitar Keith Richards: rhythm and lead guitar Ron Wood: rhythm and lead guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums
Respectable arrived at a moment when the Rolling Stones were being told—by critics, by culture, even by themselves—that it was time to behave. Instead, Mick Jagger answered with sarcasm, speed, and a snarl. Released in 1978 on Some Girls, the song sounded like a band refusing to age quietly, tearing into high society with the same attitude that once made them dangerous.
On the surface, the track tells the story of reinvention and social climbing, but beneath the noise lies something sharper. Jagger skewers a world where scandal is forgiven once it becomes fashionable, where rock stars, politicians, and jet-set elites mingle freely while pretending the past never happened. It’s satire with teeth.
More than a punk-leaning rocker Respectable captures the Stones at a crossroads. Challenged by a new generation and their own reputation, they chose urgency over comfort—and proved they still knew exactly how to hit back.
More about Respectable by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
A Song That Sneers at Polite Society
Respectable isn’t just a fast, it’s Mick Jagger sharpening his pen and aiming it straight at the strange moment when rebellion becomes fashionable. Released in 1978 on the Rolling Stones album Some Girls, and credited to Jagger–Richards, the song follows a woman who has carefully rewritten her own story, climbing from scandal to status, hoping no one remembers the steps she took to get there. Jagger, who largely had the song mapped out before recording began, remembers everything. With a narrator who refuses to let the past stay buried, the track exposes the hypocrisy of high society, a world eager to forget yesterday’s sins once money, power, and connections enter the room. Delivered at breakneck speed, the message lands like a sneer rather than a sermon—perfect for a band rediscovering its edge.
Social Climbing and Selective Memory
At the center of Respectable is a brutal contrast: who you were versus who you’re pretending to be now. The woman in the song has reinvented herself, trading notoriety for acceptance, scandal for champagne. Yet the narrator refuses to play along with the polite fiction, constantly dragging the past back into the spotlight. The infamous image of the “queen of porn” turned society figure isn’t just about personal reinvention—it’s about how easily morality bends in elite circles. Respectability, the song suggests, isn’t earned through virtue but granted when the right doors open. That idea resonated strongly in the late 1970s, when the Stones themselves were watching former critics suddenly embrace them as cultural fixtures. The song’s sneer isn’t aimed at ambition alone, but at the collective amnesia that allows reputations to be scrubbed clean once power and prestige are involved.
Jet-Set Politics and Personal Subtext
The line “We’re talking heroin with the President” remains one of Jagger’s sharpest provocations. It’s intentionally absurd, collapsing the distance between scandal and authority in a single stroke. The lyric has long been linked to Bianca Jagger’s visit to the White House, where she met Jack Ford, son of President Gerald Ford, reinforcing the sense that politics and celebrity had merged into one surreal social circuit. But the sting may cut closer to home. By the mid-’70s, Jagger and the Stones were deeply embedded in jet-set life, rubbing shoulders with politicians, socialites, and even the Canadian prime minister’s wife Margaret Trudeau. The song hints at an uncomfortable self-awareness: a fear that the band itself was drifting toward the very hypocrisy it mocked. In that light, the lyric becomes less an accusation and more a confession disguised as satire.
Mick Jagger (1993): “It’s important to be somewhat influenced by what’s going on around you and on the Some Girls album, I think we definitely became more aggressive because of the punk thing. On this track, I was banging out three chords incredibly loud on the electric guitar, wich isn’t always a wonderful idea but was great fun here. This is a punk meets Chuck Berry number. The lyric carries no fantastically deep message, but I think it might have had something to do with Bianca“
From Outsiders to VIPs
What gives Respectable its real bite is the Stones’ shifting status. Once dismissed as dangerous outsiders, they were now welcomed into the very rooms that had excluded them. Jagger later admitted the song grew out of his awareness that the band was expected to be “respectable” at this stage of its career. At the same time, punk bands like The Clash, the Sex Pistols, and the Ramones were exploding onto the scene, openly mocking aging rock stars and reclaiming the sneering attitude the Stones had once embodied. Rather than retreat Some Girlsbecame a wake-up call. Respectable stands as a refusal to go quietly, flipping punk’s aggression back on itself while acknowledging the challenge. It’s the sound of a band realizing it had become a target—and deciding to hit first.
Speed, Urgency and Legacy
Musically Respectable reinforces its message through sheer velocity. Keith Richards fought hard to keep the song uptempo, eventually winning the argument and delivering the stinging guitar solo himself. The performance captures a band playing stripped-down and hungry, abandoning studio polish in favor of raw interplay. Jagger adds a third electric guitar, while Bill Wyman’s inventive bass line and Charlie Watts’ snapping backbeat lock the song into a tight, driving groove. Richards, newly out of jail and energized, sounds revitalized, with Ron Wood rising to the challenge on his first full album as an official Stone. The track’s impact extended beyond the studio: it became a fan favorite, resurfaced in live form during the 1997–1998 Bridges to Babylon tour on No Security, and even earned a gritty, punk-flavored video directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. In every form Respectable captured the Stones kicking themselves back into relevance.
Mick Jagger (1978): “Well, I just thought it was funny. Respectable really started off as a song in my head about how respectable we as a band were supposed to have become ‘We’re so respectable’. As I went along with the singing, I just made things up and fit things in. Now we’re respected in society… I really meant us. My wife’s a very honest person, and the songs’s not about her… It’s very rock and roll. It’s not like Dylan’s ‘Sara’. Respectable is very lighthearted when you hear it…
…That’s why I don’t like divorcing the lyrics from the music. ‘Cause when you actually hear it sung, it’s not what it is, it’s the way we do it… It’s not that serious: ‘Get out of my life, go take my wife – don’t come back’… it’s not supposed to be taken seriously. If it were a ballad, if I sang it like: ‘‘Pleaaase taaake my wiiife – you know what I mean? – well, it’s not that, it’s just a shit-kicking, rock and roll number”
Keith Richards (1993): “Mick had this one already to go. This was one of the first times we allowed him to join in on guitar. He’s a really good rhythm player, man; but then, he’s had a good teacher”
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