The Stone Roses’ “Sally Cinnamon” Lyrics Meaning
The song “Sally Cinnamon” serves as an ode to a lady named “Sally”. She is the romantic interest of the singer. And the way she has earned the appellation “Cinnamon” is due to her being very sweet, i.e. like “sugar and spice”, from his perspective. And for most of the song he uses various metaphors to point to this idea in addition to how much his disposition has been uplifted since becoming the recipient of her love.
However, the mood is altered at the end. In the end, it is revealed that she apparently has another sweetheart, considering that the singer finds something tantamount to a love letter in her jacket pocket. And it seems that this individual considers Sally to be just as sweet as the singer does himself.
But the twist, if you will, is that this correspondence is actually addressed to Sally from another female. And whereas it has been theorized that this song is actually based on unrequited love, the singer never states how he personally feels about Sally’s affair. But what does seem certain is that she is more independent of his love than vice versa.
Release Date of “Sally Cinnamon”
The Stone Roses originally released “Sally Cinnamon” as a standalone single on 28 May 1987. It was issued under a label called Revolver Records. The track performed impressively, peaking at number 3 on the UK Indie Chart and maintaining an appearance on this list for 39 weeks.
Subsequently, when The Stone Roses started to blow up, they were moved over to a label called Silvertone Records in 1988. However, Revolver Records still decided to re-release “Sally Cinnamon” in 1989, in addition to making a music video for the song. This course of action, specifically the perceived low quality of the music video, didn’t sit well with The Stone Roses at all. In fact they went to Revolver’s office and engaged in a wilding spree. The chaos ended up individually costing them over 3,500 pounds each.
But the 1989 re-release did make it onto the UK Singles Chart proper. It peaked at a modest number 46 and maintained a presence on the list for 7 weeks.
Noel Gallagher’s Inspiration
“Sally Cinnamon” is famous amongst fans of Noel Gallagher (of Oasis fame). Noel stated that he definitely knew he wanted to be a musician after hearing this track.
Indeed the character “Sally” who makes an appearance in the 1996 Oasis song “Don’t Look Back in Anger” was inspired by “Sally Cinnamon”.
Who wrote “Sally Cinnamon”?
“Sally Cinnamon” was written by The Stone Roses’ members Ian Brown and John Squire.
And the entire band produced the song along with Simon Machan.
The narrator in the song is reading a love letter to sally, this and the fact that the letter is written by a woman are the twists in the last verse. Sally does not have another woman. And does not know the narrator.