Respectable by The Rolling Stones on AllMusic

There is little doubt that this punk-informed, Chuck Berry-like guitar rocker takes some inspiration from Mick Jagger's ex-wife Bianca, who had at one point met with President Ford's son Jack at the White House. Yet one can't but wonder if the Rolling Stones are also pointing the finger in their own general direction. After a few years during the mid-'70s of self-admitted complacency, the Stones -- and Jagger in particular -- heard the wake-up call of bands like the Clash, the Sex Pistols, and the Ramones. In 1977-1978, these new bands burst out of the gate with sneering energy and attitude to spare, supplanting the Stones' one-time rightful -- though long-surrendered -- throne as the snotty bad boys of rock & roll. Such bands saw the Stones as a big fat target for punk rock's vitriolic disdain for aging jet-set rockers. So, if after cavorting across Canada in the company of Maggie Trudeau, the prime minister's wife, and helping his partner Keith Richards ease out of a heroin trafficking charge -- all in the same year -- Jagger sings "...we're talking heroin with the president/Well it's a problem, sir, but it can't be bent," one must suspect that he worried that the bandmembers themselves were becoming bigger whores than the "queen of porn...the easiest lay on the White House lawn." "Respectable," and much of Some Girls, saw a return to form for the Stones, eschewing the support of the studio musicians that had affected many of the band's releases in favor of a raw, as-is presentation of the band. Jagger himself picks up the third electric guitar (not an acoustic to be heard on this track) and churns away between Keith Richards' and Ron Wood's alternately hard-rocking chords and twangy licks. Bill Wyman plays a fantastically musical bass line, particularly inventive for a simple 12-bar upbeat blues. Charlie Watts snaps his trademark backbeat. The music is effervescent; Richards sounds ebullient to be out of jail, clean, and playing Berry licks again, and his enthusiasm seems contagious with the rest of the band -- Wood especially seems to rise to the challenge of playing next to Richards on Wood's first full record with the group. While not exactly punk rock on the order of the Dead Boys, at least the Stones gave themselves a kick in the ass, bringing a sense of urgency back to their music.