Forty years ago this June, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” by the Rolling Stones stormed singles charts the world over. It also features in the new Martin Scorcese movie about the band, Shine A Light. So with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and co. peering down at me from billboards across town, I ask myself, “What does this song mean?” With its menacing beat, razor-sharp riff, demented vocals, and harrowing lyrics–”I was born in a crossfire hurricane / I was schooled with a strap right across my back”–Jack Flash is, for me, a visceral commentary on its historical moment. Or, better still, on the historical moments to come. It was actually recorded in March ‘68. Within two months, Martin Luther King had been assassinated, Paris was aflame as French students battled the de Gaulle government, and Vietnam War protests ignited fighting in the streets of London.

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