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Rolling Stones songs: Fight
WHEN THE STONES WENT TO WAR Fight isn’t just another loud rock track—it’s Keith and Mick airing their dirty laundry with guitars and venom. Those brutal lines about power and bruises? That’s the Glimmer Twins tearing chunks out of each other. The whole thing crackles with bad blood, making it less a song and more a musical fistfight. As Keith joked later, it was “brotherly love” at its loudest and nastiest.
What I want is power, more power/ What I need is an innocent life…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Apr. 8-June 17 1985; RPM Studios, NYC, USA, July 16-Aug. 17 & Sept. 10-Oct. 15 1985; Right Track Studios, NYC, USA, Nov. 5-Dec. 15 1985 Guest musicians: Chuck Leavell (keyboards), Patti Scialfa and Kirsty MacColl (backing vocals) *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012
If ever a song bled pure tension, it’s Fight. Its snarling lines—“Gonna pulp you to a mass of bruises” or “What I want is power, more power ”—aren’t just rock bravado; they’re a mirror of the storm raging inside the Rolling Stones’ camp. Keith Richards later quipped in his book Life that the track summed up the “brotherly love” between him and Mick Jagger at the time.
The backdrop was ugly. Jagger was eyeing a solo future, eager to work with big names like Nile Rodgers, Jeff Beck, and Pete Townshend. Richards, meanwhile, clung fiercely to the Stones’ identity, fuming that Mick wasn’t giving Dirty Work the sweat it demanded. What finally lit the fuse? Jagger storming out of a rehearsal when things stalled. For Keith, that desertion triggered a scarlet mist of rage—and from it came Fight: a furious, jagged anthem born of betrayal, power struggles, and survival.
The Chaos Behind Fight
Fightisn’t just venom on tape—it’s a snapshot of the Stones under pressure. Mick Jagger spits out a vocal drenched in menace, Keith Richards slashes his guitar like he’s out for blood, and the whole thing seethes with barely controlled violence. The tension in the room is palpable, and maybe that’s why Mick’s delivery feels so sharp and inspired.
Behind the scenes, producer Steve Lillywhite brought his new-wave instincts to the mix. Charlie Watts’s drum sound gained extra bite, while the sessions in Paris attracted curious onlookers—Duran Duran members dropped by and were stunned that the Stones were still recording live, with almost no overdubs.
Ronnie Wood even tried a Parsons Bender for pedal-steel-like effects, though most of it disappeared in the shuffle. In Bill Wyman’s absence, Ronnie held down the bass too, while Chuck Leavell’s organ swirled in the background. The result: raw chaos crafted into a dangerous anthem.
Unleashing the Fury: The Birth of Fight
The story of Fight begins not with calm creativity but with pure frustration. In a surge of rage, Keith Richards struck out a riff reminiscent of Jumpin’ Jack Flash—raw, jagged, and unforgiving. Roadie Alan Rogan quickly laid down a bass line, and Ronnie Wood tossed in some pedal steel. Yet Wood’s bass part was later re-recorded and buried, leaving only fragments of that chaotic session in the final cut.
The real surprises, though, come from the outtakes. One early version bursts with not one but three searing guitar solos, wildly un-Stones-like in their intensity. Another instrumental outtake dials up the organ, bass, and drums, reshaping the track into something heavier and stranger. Compared to these furious sketches, the released version feels almost restrained—a calmer mask hiding the fury that sparked its creation.
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