CENSORED FROM OUR MINDS

One of the albums I downloaded from Amazon was Aftermath.

The American version was my favorite Stones disc when I was 15 or 16, and I’ve always been curious about the UK version.

Back in the 60s, American labels had a nasty habit of altering the track listings of domestic releases by bands like the Beatles and the Stones. They would pull off UK tracks for release as stateside singles, or eventually bundle a bunch of orphaned tracks together to create US-only compilations.

The Beatles loved this practice so much that they resorted to fake dead babies to make a point:



Here are the respective tracklists for the US and UK versions of Aftermath, with original album sides just for kicks:

US version:

Side one
1.Paint It, Black
2.Stupid Girl
3.Lady Jane
4.Under My Thumb
5.Doncha Bother Me
6.Think

Side two
1.Flight 505
2.High and Dry
3.It's Not Easy
4.I Am Waiting
5.Goin' Home

UK version:

Side one
1.Mother's Little Helper
2.Stupid Girl
3.Lady Jane
4.Under My Thumb
5.Doncha Bother Me
6.Goin' Home

Side two
1.Flight 505
2.High and Dry
3.Out of Time
4.It's Not Easy
5.I Am Waiting
6.Take It or Leave It
7.Think
8.What to Do

So the UK version has the US version beat on sheer volume. (Out of Time, Take It or Leave It, and What to Do would later appear on Flowers and More Hot Rocks.)

The US got Paint It, Black (and, yes, the, Stones, were, as, surprised, as, anyone, by, that, interloping, comma) over an alternate mix of Mother’s Little Helper, which I’ll call a wash.

And both the UK and the US got a gobsmacking amount of misogyny. It is truly a thing of wonder to hear Stupid Girl (“She’s the sickest thing in this world…”) turn into Lady Jane (“I pledge my troth to Lady Jane…”), and then end up Under My Thumb (“The way she does just what she’s told…).

Angry much, boys?

My favorite part of the US version has always been the way it ends, with I Am Waiting and Goin’ Home, so the original UK sequencing is going to take some getting used to.

The next Stones album after Aftermath was Between the Buttons, and this was the last time the UK and US releases differed. The UK edition contained Back Street Girl and Please Go Home, which were replaced in the US with the double-sided single tracks, Let’s Spend the Night Together and Ruby Tuesday. (Back Street Girl and Please Go Home ended up on Flowers.)

And thus ends today’s archeological dig…