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The Rolling Stones were never exactly famous for keeping their mouths shut, and Highwire proves they weren’t about to start in 1991. Released as the Gulf War raged, the song finds Mick Jagger taking aim at the uncomfortable mix of politics, oil, weapons, and military power lurking behind the official story. But there’s more going on here than a protest lyric slapped onto a Stones riff. Musically, Highwire hides a fascinating guitar battle between Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood, while Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman keep the whole thing firmly grounded. It’s political Stones with plenty of bite, tension, and attitude.
Get up, stand up, who’s gonna pay/ I wanna talk to the boss right away…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Hit Factory Studio, London, Jan. 7-18 1991
Mick Jagger: vocals, guitar Keith Richards: guitar Ronnie Wood: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Bernard Fowler (backing vocals)
More about Highwire by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
Highwire: A Political Edge
On Highwire the Rolling Stones step into political territory with unusual directness. Mick Jagger, long fascinated by political and social upheaval around the world, turns the song directly toward the wider Gulf War crisis itself. The conflict followed Iraq’s August 1990 invasion and annexation of Kuwait and ended in February 1991. Rather than presenting the crisis as a simple clash between good and evil, the lyrics question the motives behind it, pointing toward oil, arms sales, and the uncomfortable idea that business can outrank morality. Yet Jagger also acknowledges that dictators sometimes need “a slap on the wrist” and warns that “another Munich” is something the world cannot afford. The result is a deliberately uneasy and provocative political statement: skeptical of war and commercial interests, but unwilling to pretend aggression can simply be ignored.
Release and Reception
Included on the live album Flashpoint (although as one of the two studio bonus track along with Sex Drive) Highwire was issued as a single in the United Kingdom and United States on March 1, 1991, with the live version of 2000 Light Years from Home as its B-side. It reached number 29 in Britain. In continental Europe, the track appeared as a maxi single, backed by 2000 Light Years from Home, Sympathy for the Deviland I Just Want to Make Love to You. It became one of the Stones’ comparatively rare notable excursions into explicitly political songwriting.
Mick Jagger (1991): “I thought it would be a good idea for the live album to have something new on it, not just the same old things again. And around Christmas, this is what everyone was talking about, what’s gonna happen in the gulf. War was on everyone’s mind… It comes from the thing where we get ourselves in these situations, boxed into corners, and we have to act one way or the other. There is a lot of division of opinion between the people who are gung-ho, who think war solves everything, and the people on the other side, who say it never solves anything. And in the middle is most everybody else.”
The Guitar Conversation
The recording has an intriguing guitar dynamic. Mick Jagger plays the opening riff, demonstrating his ability to reproduce Keith Richards’ riffs on a five-string guitar in open G. His playing is convincing enough to blur the distinction between student and master. Richards supplies a strong rhythmic foundation, adding expressive licks, while Ron Wood may also be present, although his studio involvement after January 12 has not been confirmed. The track’s central guitar passage is especially striking: three interweaving solos place Jagger on the left, Richards on the right, and presumably Wood in the middle. Instead of becoming cluttered, the arrangement remains remarkably clear, energetic, and dynamic overall.
Rhythm and Production
Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman provide the precise, dependable rhythmic backbone expected from the Stones, while Jagger’s vocal performance can seem less convincing than those of his bandmates. That impression may have as much to do with the song’s construction and production as with the singing itself. Highwire is somewhat self-conscious, but its layered instrumentation gives it considerable momentum and keeps the track sounding urgent decades later. The political message and musical arrangement therefore work in tension: the lyrics question power and profit, while the guitars create a restless, almost confrontational atmosphere.
The Julien Temple Video
Julien Temple directed the Highwire video placing the Stones in a stark industrial setting that resembles a disused factory. The imagery reinforces the song’s hard-edged mood without needing elaborate storytelling. Bill Wyman is conspicuously absent, a detail that fueled speculation about his future with the band. He would later appear in the promotional video for Sex Drive, but his departure from the Rolling Stones was not officially confirmed until 1993. In that sense, the video became an accidental snapshot of a band approaching another major transition, even as Highwire captured the Stones reacting to one of the defining geopolitical conflicts of its era and its aftermath.
Mick Jagger (1991): “I don’t want it to sound like some cheap history lesson. It is about that, though. We built the armaments up to a point where 30 ago it might have been a very low-key affair. These days, it is not low-key. And this scenario of the mad dictator in the Middle East, it’s been talked about for as long as I can remember. One of these days, one of these guys is going to be loose out there with all this weaponry. And eventually these things come to pass… I don’t want to take advantage of this in terms of publicity, just because the new album’s coming out and all. But I think it’s good to be able to make a comment on something everyone is talking about. It’s a valid function of writers and artists everywhere.”
Keith Richards (1991): “This is not about the war. It’s about how you build up some shaky dictator by selling him arms. You can’t build them up, ’cause then you’ve got to slam them down.”
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