Recorded in 1969 in Muscle Shoals studios, Jagger wrote the riff to this one while filming Ned Kelly in Australia. The song appeared on Sticky Fingers and is a staple of the Stones' canon.

Keith Richards, in his book Life on Jagger’s lyrics writing process:

They started running down Brown Sugar the first night, but they didn’t get a take. I watched Mick write the lyrics. It took him maybe forty-five minutes; it was disgusting. He wrote it down as fast as he could move his hand. I’d never seen anything like it. He had one of those yellow legal pads, and he’d write a verse a page, just write a verse and then turn the page, and when he had three pages filled, they started to cut it. It was amazing!"

The song is thought to have been inspired by soul singer Claudia Lennear, who was also the inspiration behind David Bowie’s “Lady Grinning Soul”.

There are several different ways to interpret this song. The most straightforward is a meditation on white male on black female sex and how power has influenced it. Alternatively it could be more generally about interracial sex or black sex. Finally, as meta-fiction: Mick Jagger plunders the musical history of black people from slave rhythms, to spirituals, to blues, to honky tonk. And further is willing to proudly crow about how tempting and good they are.

The first reading is probably what was intended, but given the rollicking rock, the final is not inappropriate whether intended or not.