Recently, Asunder Press asked readers to interpret the song, "Dead Flowers," written by Mick Jagger and Kieth Richards and covered by many more. Here are the responses and the lyrics to the song...

Dead Flowers
Well, when you're sitting there
In your silk upholstered chair
Talking to some rich folks that you know
Well I hope you won't see me
In my ragged company
You know I could never be alone

Take me down little Susie, take me down
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flower by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave

Well, you're sitting back
In your pink Cadillac
Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day
I'll be in my basement room
With a needle and a spoon
And another girl can take my pain away

Take me down little Susie, take me down
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flower by the mail
Send me dead flowers to my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave

Take me down little Susie, take me down
I know you think you're the Queen of the Underground
And you can send me dead flowers every morning
Send me dead flower by the US mail
Say it with dead flowers at my wedding
And I won't forget to put roses on your grave
No I won't forget to put roses on your grave

Best literal and figurative interpretation
"Upon quick read, a think she's his junk connection, or at least somebody it was fun and encouraged by,a comrade one sometimes has where both people egg each other on in same way; to succeed, to love, to get wasted, to get laid. y'know, so she's his wastoid connection, and he'll always be sentimental about that. I suppose in a quite literal way, heroin or morphine is "dead flowers" , the poppy of course."
-Kris Nelson, bookseller

The meaning and then some
It's the Stones being their dark self.
Brian Jones was face down in a swimming pool, Keith was swacked out of his gord and Mick was off snorting the proceeds from the evening's gig off the chest of a rich little wanna-be with a hard body and flowers in her hair.
Amazing how many of those peasant dresses girls wore in the 60's were bought with Daddy's money. When the shit got tough, how many of them joined the establishment they railed against? Pity how folks like Oliver Stone and his ilk have fucked the corpse of '60s nostalgia for all it's worth. Those days weren't that rosy, gang.
All that free love gave us the AIDS epidemic, all the anti-war protesters ended up causing emotional damage to people their age and didn't harm the bastards responsible. Hippies were notorious for lacking hygiene or hair care products.
Like Bono said, "You glorify the past while the future dries up." The music of the '60s was brilliant in parts, but people never mention the 1910 Fruitgum Company or any of the lesser lights. There was crap on the radio then, just like now. The Stones, God bless 'em and their Steel Wheelchair Tour. They ought to retire.
That said, "Dead Flowers" is obviously about how underpaid florists have gotten a raw deal in society.
-Barry Benintende, newspaper editor

Testimony from personal experience
Perhaps due to personal experience (several of them, actually), I've always interpreted this ditty pretty literally. It's a somewhat spiteful rant at a too-good-for-a-drunken-poet ex-girlfriend that you still have feelings for. She wanted to slum with you (the brilliant drunken writer type) to feel cultured but now thinks you're a piece of shit and says so at every opportunity, but you still harbor some bizarre attraction to her in spite of and maybe even because of her venomous personal attacks (metaphorical "dead flowers").
Anyway, you don't really give a shit because you have substances ("needle" and "spoon") and other women, but you still want the girl and call her when you're drunk, which leads to further dead flowers. These could also be very real dead flowers that she returns to you after you deliver them to her porch in an
inebriated stupor.
One of my favorite tunes. The Uncle Tupelo cover is
great shit if you've never heard it. You can get a version
on Kazaa or Morpheus.
- Matt Rhodes,

The gospel according to Susie
All I can say is that I am not the Queen of the Underground. And I don't send dead flowers anymore...
- Susie McGowan, Creative Services Supervisor

And then there is always this presentation, courtesy of Readneck...

'Dead Flowers'