# Begging You > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Begging_You > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Begging_You.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_You > Source revision: 1347940747 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|1995 single by the Stone Roses}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2016}} {{Use British English|date=January 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox song | name = Begging You | cover = BeggingYou.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = [the Stone Roses](/source/the_Stone_Roses) | album = [Second Coming](/source/Second_Coming_(The_Stone_Roses_album)) | released = {{start date|1995|10|30|df=y}}{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=[Music Week](/source/Music_Week)|page=43|date=28 October 1995}} | recorded = | studio = | venue = | length = 4:52 | label = [Geffen](/source/Geffen_Records) | writer = [Ian Brown](/source/Ian_Brown), [John Squire](/source/John_Squire) | producer = Simon Dawson, Paul Schroeder | prev_title = [Ten Storey Love Song](/source/Ten_Storey_Love_Song) | prev_year = 1995 | next_title = [All for One](/source/All_for_One_(The_Stone_Roses_song)) | next_year = 2016 }} "'''Begging You'''" is a song by English rock band [the Stone Roses](/source/the_Stone_Roses), released as the final single until 2016 before their initial break-up a year later, and was the third single from their second album, ''[Second Coming](/source/Second_Coming_(The_Stone_Roses_album))'' (1994). "Begging You" was released in the United Kingdom and Australia, peaking at number 15 on the [UK Singles Chart](/source/UK_Singles_Chart).{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/25315/stone-roses/|title=Stone Roses|publisher=[Official Charts Company](/source/Official_Charts_Company)|access-date=24 June 2023}} "Begging You" is a loud, cacophonous track with heavy drum beats, soaring guitars, pulsing bass and [apocalyptic](/source/Apocalypticism) lyrics. [John Squire](/source/John_Squire) said that the song was loosely based on material from [Public Enemy's](/source/Public_Enemy_(band)) ''[Fear of a Black Planet](/source/Fear_of_a_Black_Planet)''. The song also contains many references to [Aesop's Fables](/source/Aesop's_Fables). ==Background and composition== "Begging You" was inspired by the group's memory of a dark turn of events in [Manchester](/source/Manchester)'s hedonistic club scene, where ravers would take too many drugs and drugs would become adulterated as "dealers try to maximise profit margins", leading to the emergence of [drug gang](/source/drug_gang)s. [Ian Brown](/source/Ian_Brown) explained, "too many people take one too many". He described the song as "like when you're in a club and everything's beautiful and you're [E'd](/source/ecstasy_(drug)) up, and you've got some voice going in your ear saying how can they get you a gun or an ounce of this and that".{{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Reynolds|year=1999|title=Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture|publisher=[Routledge](/source/Routledge)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWf4J6yn9zAC&q=the+stone+roses+begging+you+reynolds&pg=PA109|pages=108–109|isbn=0-415-92373-5}} Aside from Squire's guitar figure, which has been described as musical punctuation, the music sits at the bottom end, with a "deep, heavy repeated riff" from [Mani](/source/Mani_(musician)) and [Reni](/source/Reni_(musician)). The rhythmic lyrics feature references to [Aesop's Fables](/source/Aesop's_Fables): "The fly on the coach wheel told me that he got it / And he knew what to do with it / Everybody saw it / Saw the dust that he made".{{cite web |last1=Pollock |first1=Dave |title=Stone Roses – 10 of the best |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jun/15/stone-roses-10-of-the-best |website=The Guardian |access-date=15 May 2019 |date=15 June 2016}} ==Cover artwork== John Squire designed the "Begging You" cover with the insides of [floppy disks](/source/floppy_disks). The disks were supposedly used to teach Squire how to use [samplers](/source/Sampler_(musical_instrument)) and [sequencers](/source/Music_sequencer) for the track. Squire found the process too complicated and decided to smash the disks and use them for a piece of art instead. Squire took the insides of the disks and set them in [plaster](/source/plaster). He arranged them in a grid motif and painted the piece with colours "borrowed" from an [Edgar Degas](/source/Edgar_Degas) painting. ==Critical reception== When ''Second Coming'' was released, ''[Select](/source/Select_(magazine))'' invited several "experts, Roses associates and over-opinionated pundits" to review the album's songs. Radio DJ [Mark Radcliffe](/source/Mark_Radcliffe_(radio_broadcaster)) described "Begging You" as a great song that resembled "the [Mondays](/source/Happy_Mondays) meets [the White Album](/source/The_Beatles_(album))", while presenter [Tracey MacLeod](/source/Tracey_MacLeod) praised the song's [techno](/source/techno) style "only done with real instruments" and felt it was "like a [Steppenwolf](/source/Steppenwolf_(band)) for the '90s", and [Tricky](/source/Tricky_(musician)) described it as "wicked".{{cite magazine |title=Is This What You Wanted |magazine=Select |via=Select Magazine Website |date=February 1995 |pages=66–75 |url=http://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/?p=1681 |access-date=15 May 2019}} Writer [Simon Reynolds](/source/Simon_Reynolds) called "Begging You" the "most thrilling track" on ''Second Coming''. Describing it as a "hyperkinetic [rock](/source/rock_music)/techno fusion of ballistic [blues](/source/blues) riffs and looped beats", and highlighting the churning groove and "turbine-roar" guitar, he felt the song accurately simulates "the panic rush of an E'd-up raver wondering how and why the rave dream's dying all around him". David Pollock of ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' named it among the Stone Roses' ten best songs in 2016, saying "it still sounds fresher than most of its contemporaries", writing: "It is to [drum and bass](/source/drum_and_bass) what [the Beatles](/source/the_Beatles)’ [Tomorrow Never Knows](/source/Tomorrow_Never_Knows) was to [acid house](/source/acid_house)". ''[NME](/source/NME)'' called the song a "high-speed dancefloor dogfight",{{cite web |title=Album A&E – The Stone Roses, 'Second Coming' |url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/album-ae-the-stone-roses-second-coming-765249 |website=NME |access-date=15 May 2019 |date=31 March 2011}} while ''[Louder Than War](/source/Louder_Than_War)'' writer John Robb called it an [indie dance](/source/indie_dance) track with a "disturbed helter skelter, pile driving, neo-[industrial](/source/industrial_music) nature" that made it ideal for remixing.{{cite web |last1=Robb |first1=John |title=Stone Roses 'Second Coming' album re-evaluated |url=https://louderthanwar.com/stone-roses-second-coming-album-re-evaluated/ |website=Louder Than War |access-date=15 May 2019 |date=4 October 2011}} ==Music video== The [music video](/source/music_video) for "Begging You" features a scantily clad female dance troupe wearing masks of the band members' faces, and scenes of the band performing live, intercut with archival film footage of traditional [folk dance](/source/folk_dance)s from various cultures around the globe. ==Track listings== '''12-inch vinyl (Geffen GEFST 22060)''' # "Begging You" (album version) (4:52) # "Begging You" (Chic mix) (5:32) # "Begging You" (Cox's Ultimatum mix) (6:33) # "Begging You" (Stone Corporation Vox) (6:24) '''Cassette (Geffen GFSC 22060)''' # "Begging You" (album version) (4:52) # "Begging You" (Chic mix) (5:32) '''CD (Geffen GEFSTD 22060)''' # "Begging You" (album version) (4:52) # "Begging You" (Lakota mix) (7:48) # "Begging You" (Stone Corporation Vox) (6:24) # "Begging You" (Chic mix) (5:32) # "Begging You" (Young American Primitive remix) (5:25) '''Australian ''Tour Edition'' CD (Geffen GEFDM 22061)''' # "Begging You" (album version) (4:52) # "Begging You" (Lakota mix) (7:48) # "Begging You" (Stone Corporation Vox) (6:24) # "Begging You" (Chic mix) (5:32) # "Begging You" (Young American Primitive remix) (5:25) # "Begging You" (radio edit version) (3:48) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.john-squire.com/discography/new/disco_tsr_singles_begging.html The Definitive Stone Roses Discography entry] {{The Stone Roses}} {{Authority control}} Category:1994 songs Category:1995 singles Category:Geffen Records singles Category:The Stone Roses songs Category:Songs written by Ian Brown Category:Songs written by John Squire --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Begging You](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_You) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_You?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.