– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Sticking your tongue out is the ultimate sign of Rock and Roll.

But why? This man has something to do with it.

Meet John Pasche. He designed the most famous tongue in history

I was at the Royal College up to 1970,

doing three years at a design course there. Well I was in my last year

and the college got a phone call from the Stones' office saying,

'would a student go along and talk to Mick Jagger about a forthcoming, um, tour.'

I think the tutor was quite a sort of fan of my work, so I got the gig.

Mick said he wanted something related to more touring.

We shared an interest in sort of 1930s, 1940s tour posters,

particularly French ones. I took, um,

a couple of weeks working on the poster and brought it back to Mick. He said,

well, he said, I quite like it, but, uh, I think you can do better.

And you can imagine. I thought, 'oh God I've blown it.

John drew up another version, and this time the band loved it.

His poster was a triumph and before long another project was on the cards.

They had a sort of small logo in mind for their new record label.

I got a letter and then a call asking if I'd go and meet Mick Jagger at

his house in Cheyne Walk. So I went along there and had a meeting with him.

He wanted, um, something to stand alone, something like the,

um, Shell logo on the petrol stations at the time.

And he showed me a cutting that he found in the local, um, news agent.

The image was of the Indian goddess Kali with her tongue sticking out.

And I think it was that moment that was the real spark. It represented,

I suppose, anti-authority, it's like kids sticking their tongue out,

it's rebellious. It kind of fitted what the Stones represented at that time.

I went home and, um,

got out my sketchbook and pencils and tried to draw a disembodied tongue.

I did three or four different angles of it. One of the, uh,

rough designs seemed to be much better than the rest of them.

That's the one that I was going to recommend to Mick when we had our next

meeting. Now,

some people say to me that it was inspired by Mick Jagger's mouth,

but in fact it wasn't.

I always saw it as basically a woman's mouth because I wanted to use, um,

a very strong red, obviously to grab attention.

The tongue had its first big debut on the inside sleeve of the Rolling Stones'

Sticky Fingers album,

but before long it was stamped everywhere.

These rebellious red lips became a global icon.

I sometimes get emails from people, particularly one, which,

um, some guy had, um, made his girlfriend

have it tattooed on her bottom and sent me a photograph,

which I thought was going a bit too far but, um,

that's Rolling Stones fans for you.

It's obviously interesting to see how many people wear the t-shirts.

When I see somebody walking down the street and I'm together with my wife,

I just give her a nudge and that's enough to say, 'oh, yes, I've clocked that.'

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
tongue /tʌŋ/ A1	noun - the muscular organ in the mouth used for tasting and speaking
rock /rɒk/ A1	noun - a hard piece of mineral material verb - to move back and forth or to sway
roll /roʊl/ A2	verb - to turn over or cause to move by turning noun - a rotating cylinder or a series (e.g., a roll of film)
design /dɪˈzaɪn/ B1	noun - a plan or drawing produced to show the look of something before it is made verb - to create a plan or drawing for something
poster /ˈpoʊstər/ B1	noun - a large printed picture or notice for display
tour /tʊr/ B1	noun - a series of concerts or performances in different places verb - to travel from place to place for a purpose such as performances
logo /ˈloʊɡoʊ/ B2	noun - a symbol or design adopted by an organization to identify its products
icon /ˈaɪkɒn/ B2	noun - a pictorial representation or a person who is very well known and admired
rebellious /rɪˈbɛljəs/ C1	adjective - resisting control or authority; disobedient
goddess /ˈɡɒdəs/ B2	noun - a female deity
spark /spɑrk/ B2	noun - a small particle of fire or a minute amount of something that can start a larger event verb - to set off or ignite something
represent /ˌrɛprɪˈzɛnt/ B2	verb - to stand for or symbolize something
stamp /stæmp/ B2	verb - to imprint a design or mark on something, usually by pressing noun - a small piece of paper showing payment of postage
global /ˈɡloʊbəl/ B2	adjective - relating to the whole world; worldwide
tattoo /tæˈtuː/ B2	noun - a permanent design made by inserting ink into the skin verb - to mark the skin with a permanent design
photograph /ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf/ B2	noun - a picture made using a camera verb - to take a picture with a camera
t‑shirt /ˈtiːʃɜːt/ B1	noun - a casual shirt with short sleeves and no collar
meeting /ˈmiːtɪŋ/ B1	noun - a gathering of people for discussion or decision verb - to encounter or come together with someone
album /ˈælbəm/ B1	noun - a collection of recorded music tracks released together
sticky /ˈstɪki/ B1	adjective - tending to stick to surfaces; adhesive