On paper, it looks such a natural step from their previous number one - Jagger, no longer content to just 'Paint It, Black', now wants to take things to a logical conclusion by assuming blackness himself under the persona of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash'. In actual fact, what the stats DON'T reveal is the whole Sgt Pepper aping charade of 1967's 'Their Satanic Majesty's Request' , an album that saw the Stones dabble in cod psychedelia only to come off a poor second best. After such a serious misstep, points had to be proved and on 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' Jagger is in the mood to prove them.Bill Wyman has since repeatedly claimed to have written, but recieved no credit for, the main riff here, but in truth it's always sounded a sawn off variation of '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' to me. And unlike that song, it's not the be all and end all power source of 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' - from Brian's chunky acoustic intro, there's a loose and shambolic feel pervading the whole song from Charlie's off the beat drum beat to the droll drawl "it's a gas" backing vocals, a garage band jam barely holding it together yet with Jagger's yowling, ringmaster in a circus of horrors, daring it to fall apart as he recounts with ambivalence ("but it's alright now") the freakshow life endured by Mr Flash.
"I was raised by a toothless, bearded hag, I was schooled with a strap right across my back" - drawls Jagger, none of it true of course but by self mythologising his own character, both he and the band draw a line in the sand that's the equal of Robert Johnson meeting the devil at the crossroads - 'Satanic Majesty' was then, but now we're going to show how Satanic we can REALLY be. The later 'Sympathy For The Devil', 'Gimmie Shelter' and Midnight Rambler' would be the culminating explosions of this darker turn of face, but 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' lit the fuse and it fizzes quite superbly.
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