If you like this, please consider making a donation with PayPal. From as little as $5, your support helps to do what I do and pay for its maintenance costs. Thank you! *Donate here
And waitresses with broken noses/ Checkout girls striking poses/ And politicians’ garish wives/ With alcoholic cunts like knives…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 3-Dec. 10 1993; Ronnie Wood’s Sandymount Studios, Kildare, Island, July 9-Aug. 6 and Sept. 1994; Right Track Studios, NYC, Apr. 1994 Guest musicians: Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (organ), Phil Jones (percussion), Bernard Fowler and Ivan Neville (background vocals) *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012
From Songfacts: Chuck Leavell, formerly of the Allman Brothers Band, played piano. He did a lot of work with The Stones in the ’80s.
The only song on Voodoo Lounge that was not produced by Don Was. To be clear – it was not Was. Bob Clearmountain produced it.
Mick Jagger, 1994: “‘Waitresses with broken noses’ – that’s Ronnie Wood’s specialty. He knew every waitress in Dublin, and so I thought I’d put that line in for him. I like that song. I really got into the lyrics on that one. One of the wordy ones.”
This features Mick Jagger on electric guitar (he plays a red Kramer) and Phil Jones on percussion. A member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, percussionist Jones joined the Stones’ camp at the same time as bandmate Benmont Tench, contributing to Voodoo Lounge. He’s also worked on albums by Bob Dylan, The Tragically Hip, and many others.
Here is how the band members explain where the title of the album comes from. Says Ron Wood: “[The title comes from] the granny flat that I built for my mum. Immediately Keith moved in and he did this hand-drawn sign, ‘Doc’s Office and Voodoo Lounge,’ and stuck it in the window.”
Keith Richards explained: “The record company’s screaming at us, ‘We need a title, an angle, artwork.’ Then, suddenly, Mick turns around and says, ‘Your sign.'” He added: “I’m the doc. It’s like a ritual, a fetish… We agonized over (the title). And it was staring us in the face. Finally, it was Mick who said, ‘What about Voodoo Lounge? Why not? Kind of like Beggars Banquet. Right number of syllables.’ I was really pissed with myself, though, after painting the sign and all. I’m usually the one with the cheap ideas, not Mick. His are usually real expensive.”
From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs book: In “I Go Wild,” the main songwriter, Mick Jagger, once again turns thespotlight on those strange creatures that have haunted him ever since he achieved rock star status. Moreover, the doctor has told the protagonist: You’d be okay and if you’d only stay away from femmes fatales and dirty bitches…, working girls and blue stockings, waitresses with broken noses and politicians’ garish wives. He has not taken any notice, however, because he knows that the woman he is mad about has a poison kiss and that without her he is dead meat. This song, which points the finger at the demonic power of femmes fatales with a certain taste for sadomasochism, was the A-side of the fourth single taken from Voodoo Lounge. Released on July 3, 1995, it rose to number 29 in prim and proper Albion some 14 days later. (Ref. I go wild)
