On June 9, 1978, the Rolling Stones released the album Some Girls, which reached number 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The band recorded the album songs, and many more, at EMI’s Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris. Some of these other songs were released later. Among them, the song “So Young” appeared in 1994 as the B-side of a Dutch single.

Some Girls was re-issued on November 21, 2011 as a 2-CD deluxe edition, with the second CD containing songs that did not appear in the 1978 album, most of them with newly recorded vocals by Mick Jagger. The second track in the bonus CD was a new version of “So Young.” Here is the YouTube video from the band’s official channel:

The lyrics can be found on another YouTube video, Lyrics.com, Genius Lyrics, OldieLyrics, and MetroLyrics, with small variations between them.

The song hints that the man has to resist his sexual attraction to the girl, “I tried to take it easy, put my dick back on a leash,” as she is underage, “Come and share my popcorn, it’s not a federal offense” and “I see big trouble comin’, I’m gonna beat a quick retreat.”

So Young
by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger

I met her in a movie house, she was playin’ the arcades
And posing with her hang hair down, lookin’ a little bit unmade
She spoke in broken English, I replied in broken French
‘Come and share my popcorn, it’s not a federal offense

She’s so young, God help me, she’s so young

Her skin was kind of pudgy, got spots all on her face
From wearin’ too much makeup, and she wasn’t walkin’ straight
She drove her daddy’s car, she got a genuine teenage drag
She always find a popper, to be hidden in her stash

She’s so young, God help me, she’s so young
So young, so young
So young, so young

She ain’t never gonna steal my heart away I might not get it back!
She’s so young

Well I took her down to Barney’s, bought her a brand new set of boots
She tried ’em in my arms, and’s lookin’ terminally cute
I tried to take it easy, put my dick back on a leash
I see big trouble comin’, I’m gonna beat a quick retreat

She’s so young, yeah she’s so young
So young, so young
So young, so young

She ain’t never gonna steal my heart away I might not get it back
She’s so young, yeah
So young, so young
So young, so young
She ain’t never gonna steal my heart away I might not get it back
Yeah, she’s so young

So young, so young
So young
I ain’t never gonna give my heart away I might not get it back
She’s so young, so young
So young
I ain’t never gonna give my heart away I might not get it back

Thanks to ‘Tina Willis (For The Children)’ for drawing my attention to this song.

This song and its lyrics were briefly mentioned in a post previously published on Agapeta, 2016/11/12.