Citadel

Their Satanic Majesties Request
Track 2
"Citadel" – 2:50




An almost-rocker. I get the feeling this will be the high point of Satanic Majesties. I will therefore force myself to write about the actual song instead of how much stress this album is putting me through.

Opens with a neat little guitar part – Keith got a really nice sound for this track. Then the drums come crashing in and Mick does his great slur-the-words act. That's what he does best as a singer, and helps the listener focus on something other that the words he's singing.

Oh, what the hell. Here they are:

Men at arms shout "who goes there?"
We have journeyed far from here
Armed with bibles make us swear

Cindy and Cathy, hope you both are well
Please come see me in the citadel

Flags are flying dollar bills
Round the heights of concrete hills
You can see the pinnacles

Cindy and Cathy, hope you both are well
Please come see me in the citadel

In the streets of many walls
Hear the peasants come and crawl
You can hear their lovers call

Cindy and Cathy, hope you both are well
Please come see me in the citadel

Screaming people fly so fast
In their shiny metal cars
Through the woods of steel and glass

Cindy and Cathy, hope we both are well
Please come see me in the citadel

Jesus. At least they didn't go as far into Tolkien fantasyland as, say, Zeppelin, but holy crap this is a shitty idea for a song. What ever happened to the smartass cynics who wrote "Satisfaction"?