Rolling Stones "Emotional Rescue" Song By Song Discussion

Kinda like what they ended up doing with "Tattoo You".

 

I think the long version of Indian Girl did not make it on the album because it is heavier in content.

Isn't that where her mother gets raped?

 

Interesting point, but if Keith sang it they would have had to place the song elsewhere. Can’t really see a Keith sung “Indian Girl” and “All About You” on the same record.

 

"Let Me Go" is pretty obviously a Bianca song. Maybe I'll become a playboy, hang around in gay bars and move to the West Side of town -- Mick has to reinvent himself and hang around in gay bars, because him and Bianca at that point were still sorta carving up their social lives, deciding who got to keep what from the divorce -- not the houses and property, per se, but their social life -- who got Studio 54, who got their favorite restaurants, who got the Hamptons, and who got to hold court where, and who got to keep which of their socialite friends around. In a lot of ways, THAT stuff was just as difficult for Mick to figure out with Bianca circa 1979, as the money or legal side of the divorce.

 

Indian Girl

I was never much of a fan of this song. I think the lyrics are wonderful, insightful and, obviously quite meaningful. Mick is certainly underrated in the best lyricists discussions.

However, musically I can't say this holds my interest. On passing, without paying any attention to the lyrics, it sounds almost like a joke song. That worked on Far Away Eyes (because it wasn't meant to be taken seriously) but the subject matter here is so much deeper I wish the arrangement could have better reflected the seriousness of this song.

I think it often gets dismissed as a throwaway primarily due to the arrangement and Jagger's (too) lighthearted approach.

3/5

His heart and head were in the right place but musically I don't think they nailed this one.

 

Perfect description... wish I'd written it

RE: Jagger as lyricist - as good as Davies or Townshend when he's not on autopilot

 

Except I disagree. Most of Keith's ballads on the later albums most definitely are not ********, they're quite excellent and often the most heartfelt and emotional songs on those albums.

 

Thanks, I have my moments...

 

I'm pretty much of the opinion that all of Keith's ballads would be better if Mick sang them. Sorry, but I just don't dig his voice enough for ballads. He can pull it off on the uptempo numbers.

 

I feel Keith comes across as more honest and sincere than Mick on the ballads.

 

I love Keith's ballads. Every one of them. I love his voice and I think that it perfectly suits the emotional and heartfelt material. I'll never turn down a classic Keith warbler.

 

To me, Before They Make Me Run is Keith's best sung song. Because it's a song about a guy who is wasted, sung by a guy who is always wasted.

 

Always had a soft spot for “Indian Girl” perhaps because it is such a unique arrangement for a Stones song. Love Jagger’s late afternoon lazy voice, somewhat weary as he recounts the horrors of military action. Was hoping that reading the lyrics would provide more of an actual narrative but maybe his words are intended to emphasize the fog of war instead. I never noticed how early the marimbas can be heard in the song before today, right after the acoustic strumming and tinkling piano that open the song. Is there any other Stones song with mariachis ??

 

Only on their unfilmed and unrecorded South American Cantina jam left off the Ole Ole Blu Ray.

 

I keep coming back to this album as a companion piece to The Clash's Sandinista - also has marimba (on the title track) and hell, Indian Girl is about the fighting in Malaya. And then there are the darker sort of drugged disco pieces on both albums (e.g. the title track and Dance on ER and Magnificent Seven and Ivan meets GI Joe, etc. on Sandinista). There was something in the air.

 

Better than the Keith Ballad on this same album IMO...Which I actually like as well..

 

Anyone of a certain age can recall the Iran Contra affair though I guess we cannot discuss it in detail here, but that’s what was in the air - esp in Nicaragua. And Jagger of course had some personal history in Nicaragua after the earthquake so maybe the place was special to him. One of my faves on Emotional Rescue because of its uniqueness... also agree that it and Boys should’ve been swapped. That’s a great idea.

 

Well Iran Contra was actually about 7 years later so kind of yes kind of no it was more of a reaction to the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza

 

Thanks, there's too many underground rebel operations for me to keep with sometimes. I was trying to recall the timeline. Still, a song ahead of its time.

 

Not sure the two songs could/should be compared, as (to my ears) the presence of steel guitar does not AUTOMATICALLY mean something is "country"... Indian Girl has so many different elements musically while Far Away Eyes is a pure country parody. Indian Girl is a fairly serious political song, while FAE is a humorous lampoon. Just my 2c. Also enjoyed the extended version posted on page 11, which I'd never heard before.

 

Mood and instrumentation aside i have never thought this was at all a country song

 

Like I said before, I virtually ignored side 1 for most of my life. I hadn't listened to this LP in 3 years & before that, likely 20+. I am really enjoying it again as I am spinning it for the 3rd time in a week! I love these threads.

"Indian Girl" is a song I most definitely did not get as a kid; I had never listened to the lyrics until now. I think I would prefer Keef to sing this one for the reasons already mentioned: I just don't buy Jagger's take on a song like this & I love Keith's voice too. The lyrics are surprisingly good...for Jagger, but by no means is he an under rated poet. I really like the music on this one though...marimba, mariachi & steel.

 

Like I said in my original comments about "Indian Girl", read the book Veil by Bob Woodward, it's all about the Iran/Contra hulabaloo and the events leading up to it. "Indian Girl" clearly takes place or was inspired by events in "Nicawawa" as CIA Director Bill Casey was wont to calling it. Of course, Bianca Jagger also came from Nicaragua. Another possible influence on the song, perhaps...as Davido mentioned, Mick and Bianca helped out after the big quake in late '72, perhaps Mick saw some things there that stuck with him over the years.

Musically "Indian Girl" sounds like a country song but lyrically and thematically it is a million miles from yer usual country fare.

 

Never dreamed "Indian Girl" would get two pages, love the song though.

 

I figured the song would get a bit of talk, but I was expecting it to be a bit more negative than it has been. I sorta figured "Indian Girl" was one o' those Stones songs people loved to hate...seems to me it's more of one where ya either love it or hate it.

I'm curious about the response the next song is gonna get...