Emotional Rescue (song)
"Emotional Rescue" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by The Rolling Stones | ||||
from the album Emotional Rescue | ||||
B-side | "Down in the Hole" | |||
Released | 20 June 1980 | |||
Recorded | 1–19 October 1979 | |||
Genre | Pop rock, disco, dance-rock[1] | |||
Length | 5:39 (LP version) 3:41 (Forty Licks Edit) | |||
Label | Rolling Stones | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jagger/Richards | |||
Producer(s) | The Glimmer Twins | |||
The Rolling Stones singles chronology | ||||
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Emotional Rescue track listing | ||||
10 tracks
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"Emotional Rescue" is a song by the English rock and roll band, The Rolling Stones. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and is included on their 1980 album Emotional Rescue.
Recorded between June and October 1979, "Emotional Rescue" is a disco-influenced number, somewhat similar to the band's 1978 hit "Miss You". The song is notable as one of the earliest songs by the group to show the growing rift between Jagger and Richards. Although Richards plays guitar and added backing vocals towards the end of this track, he is believed to have disliked the disco-like direction in which Jagger was trying to take the band, although this may have been exaggerated by the media.
Composition and writing
Mick Jagger wrote the song on an electric piano and from the beginning it was sung in falsetto (similar to Marvin Gaye's lead vocal on his 1977 hit "Got to Give It Up"). When the song was brought into the studio they kept the electric piano and falsetto lead. With Ronnie Wood on bass and Charlie Watts on drums they worked out the song. They then added the saxophone.[2] Bobby Keys plays the saxophone part.[3] Bass guitarist Bill Wyman plays synthesizer on the record, while Jagger and Ian Stewart play electric piano. Wyman's synthesizer can be heard faintly during the verses on the right channel/speaker and plays a simple pattern of a few notes using a string-synth set up.
Jagger said the song was about "a girl who's in some sort of manhood problems", not that she was going crazy but she's "just a little bit screwed up and he wants to be the one to help her out".[2]
Released as the album's lead single on 20 June 1980, "Emotional Rescue" was well received by some fans. Other fans of the Rolling Stones' work took note of the change in direction and were disappointed by it. Reaching No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 3 in the U.S., "Emotional Rescue" became popular enough to feature on all of the band's later compilation albums.
Despite touring extensively since the song's release in 1980, the Stones had never performed the track in concert until May 3, 2013, when the Stones debuted the song in their set list with a slightly different arrangement, during the band's first show of the 2013 leg of the 50 & Counting... tour, in Los Angeles, California.
Music video
Two music videos were produced to promote the single; one shot on traditional video,[4] directed by David Mallet and one shot with thermal imaging,[5] directed by Adam Friedman.
Personnel
- The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – lead vocals, Wurlitzer electric piano
- Keith Richards – electric guitar
- Ronnie Wood – bass guitar
- Bill Wyman – string synthesizer
- Charlie Watts – drums
- Additional personnel
- Ian Stewart – Wurlitzer electric piano
- Bobby Keys – saxophone
Charts
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] | 8 |
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[7] | 9 |
Canada (RPM)[8] | 1 |
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[9] | 16 |
Germany (GfK)[10] | 15 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[11] | 5 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] | 16 |
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] | 11 |
UK Singles (OCC)[14] | 9 |
US Billboard Hot 100[15] | 3 |
Year-end chart (1980) | Rank |
---|---|
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[16] | 53 |
References
- ^ Song Review by Stewart Mason. "Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones | Listen, Appearances, Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
- ^ a b The Rolling Stones - Off The Record by Mark Paytress, Omnibus Press, 2005, page 297. ISBN 1-84449-641-4
- ^ "Ultimate Classic Rock".
- ^ "Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue.mpg". YouTube. 2012-01-24. Retrieved 2014-03-12.
- ^ "Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue (Full Thermo-Vision Version) - 1980". YouTube. 2011-12-09. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Retrieved 12 February 2018.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "Rolling Stones: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "1980 Talent in Action – Year End Charts : Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 92, no. 51. December 20, 1980. p. TIA-10. Retrieved 5 April 2020.