Enjoy this site? Please consider making a small contribution to help cover running costs and keep updating it daily. Every bit of support helps! Thank you.
Just when the world assumed World War III between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards would permanently shelve the band, 1989’s Steel Wheels proved that sheer spite can be an incredible creative fuel. Enter Mixed Emotions, the lead single where The Rolling Stones buried the hatchet—or at least paused swinging it—just long enough to craft a stadium-sized pop-rock smash. Masked beneath a shiny radio mix and catchy choruses, Jagger and Richards traded passive-aggressive jabs over driving riffs, effectively turning their bitter mid-80s feud into a chart-topping truce that financed their biggest tour yet.
So button your lip/ And button your coat/ Let’s go out dancing/ Let’s rock’n’roll…
Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: AIR Studios, Montserrat, West Indies, March 29-May 5 1989; Olympic Sound Studios, London, May 15-June 29 1989
Mick Jagger: vocaks, guitar, shaker Keith Richards: guitar, backing vocals Ronnie Wood: guitar Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums Guest musicians: Chuck Leavell (piano, organ), Luis Jardim (percussion), Sarah Dash, Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler (backing vocals), The Kick Horns (brass
More about Mixed Emotions by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
A Pivotal Turning Point for Steel Wheels
Released on August 17, 1989, as the A-side (with Fancyman Blues on the B-side) of the first single to be taken from Steel Wheels, Mixed Emotions was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards while on vacation on Montserrat. A collaborative effort between Jagger and Richards after a period of tension and estrangement, the track was regularly performed during the 1989–1990 Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour and is included on the live albums Live at The Tokyo Domeand Steel Wheels Live. This triumph proved the group was rediscovering a cohesion it had not had for a long time, hurtling along with the wind in their sails, not remotely “adrift on the ocean”.
Studio Tension and the Montserrat Incident
Richards brought his own music to the sessions along with most of the song’s lyrics, the rest being filled in by Jagger in the studio. A sound engineer at AIR Studios, whose name Keith does not mention, recalls the atmosphere that prevailed during the recording of Mixed Emotions when a bigwig figure in the music business, invited by Mick, came to Montserrat to discuss some contract to do with touring. That guest obviously fancied himself for his producing abilities while standing in the studio area listening to the playback alongside Mick and Keith, who had his guitar on. When the visitor suggested rearranging the track, Keith went to his doctor’s bag, pulled out a knife, and threw it right between the bloke’s legs. After reminding the guest that he was writing songs before the man was even a glint on his father’s dick, Keith walked out.
The Lyric Controversy and Misheard Titles
“Let’s bury the hatchet/And wipe out the past…” Contrary to what the words seem to be saying, Mick Jagger has always maintained that Mixed Emotions had nothing to do with his quarrel with Keith Richards, and that it was in no way a response to You Don’t Move Me (on Talk Is Cheap, Keith’s first solo album, released in 1988) in which his “twin” accuses him of having lost the feeling, and of being not so appealing. The Stones singer claims to have been thinking of a girl he used to know when writing this song (but takes care not to mention by name), hence the refrain: “You’re not the only one with mixed emotions/You’re not the only ship adrift on this ocean”. For his part, Keith Richards has always believed that Mixed Emotions contained a reference to the Glimmer Twins’ tempestuous relationship, while others have knowingly and humorously misheard the title as “Mick’s Emotions” or even “Mick’s Demotion.”
Mick Jagger (1993): “A good song this, but it’s very hard to do onstage. You go from the really hard verse to the very melodic chorus, which I like, but you always feel like you’re not going to pull it off, like it’s speeding up.”
Musical Performance and Instrumental Details
From the very first bar the band is powered by an enormous dose of adrenaline, launching the track with chords that call to mind the intro to the Beatles’ I Want to Hold Your Hand. The guitars of Mick (right) and Keith (left) share the two rhythm parts, leaving the lead to Ron Wood, who plays some very good phrases on his clear-toned Stratocaster. Rhythmically, the band is explosive, with Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman (on one of his last recorded bass lines for the group) at their phenomenal best. Sadly, the Stones would never achieve a comparable drums-bass alchemy again following the departure of Bill Wyman—future restaurateur, photographer, collector, writer, inventor, archaeologist, and blues musician! Luis Jardim assists on percussion (mostly a buried tambourine), and Mick is credited with shakers that are equally inaudible. Other instrumental elements suffer in the mix, including The Kick Horns and Chuck Leavell’s keyboards. However, listeners can discover the incredible voices of backing vocalists Sarah Dash, Lisa Fischer and Bernard Fowler, joined by Keith in the refrains. Mick Jagger reconnects with his fantastic vocal performances of the past, though he acknowledged finding it difficult to reproduce the song live.
Chart Success and Visual Legacy
Although stalling at number 36 on the British charts on September 16, a week later it had risen to number 5 on the Billboard pop chart and number 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks on September 2. A comparison of the videos of One Hit (to the Body) and Mixed Emotionsgives an idea of the different atmospheres that prevailed during the production of Dirty Work on the one hand and Steel Wheels on the other: in the first, the Stones display nothing but friction and hostility, whereas in the second, they are all smiles. Today Mixed Emotions appears on all compilation albums, including Jump Back, Forty Licks, GRRR!and Honk, while a 12-inch remix of Mixed Emotions by producer Chris Kimsey was rereleased on the Rarities 1971–2003 compilation, in 2005, along with Fancy Man Blues.
Keith Richards (1989): “I thought about the lyrics’ meaning afterwards. I was coming back from a session, my old lady, Patti, had just arrived, and I drove over to see her. And I told her how strange it felt, because it suddenly occurred to me that there was infinite room there for subliminal subjection. I realized what we’d laid down there had all the ingredients of an interesting autobiography.”
Enjoy this site? Please consider making a small contribution to help cover running costs and keep updating it daily. Every bit of support helps! Thank you.
Stones Data on Substack
