Am I the only one who feels that the song Emotional Rescue has like...a dark sort of urgency to it? Like a certain dark sleaziness or something? People say it's just a dumb, fun disco track, but it seems, idk..gritty...Like it'd fit for example in a movie set in early '80s NYC, when NYC was full of crime and hookers and dirt. It has this urgent, dark, buttomed out sort of feel, almost dreary...Like someone has come to a lowpoint and that's what the song is about.

The song is so good they named the album after it and the album rules this land.

Emotional Rescue: A big hit that the band seems to disown. This is an epic dance groover. Nifty dreamy talk-sing section where Mick goes on about romantic knighthood in the Arabian desert! This one screams for inclusion on their upcoming tour. Dust this one off boys

Jumacfly wrote on Feb 17^th, 2011 at 11:29am:


Damm straight my brother!

That's Ronnie on bass too.

Some Guy wrote on Feb 17^th, 2011 at 12:11pm:

What about 45 and rainy?

Some Guy wrote on Feb 17^th, 2011 at 8:24am:

THE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL FOR ME IN 6TH GRADE !NEVER GET TIRED OF CRANKIN IT.

This album has been my summer tradition for years and years. Somebody once said this album does more for you before noon than most albums do all day. Fucking truer words have yet to be spoken.

Now turn it up.

They need to play it on the next tour.

Ian and StonesFan, good points.  I have a slightly different take to add to your observations.
IMO, its that Jagger haziness, lazy ennunciation that gives it an edge. I never saw it as just a simple disco-ish song with cute lyrics, or a tongue and cheekiness. Its a fun song to sing, but the edginess opens up other meanings for me.
What if this is Mick masking real romantic longing by trying to make it, and later claiming it to be, jokey. The tone of the song, and the reaction we get from it, as described by StonesFan, belie that claim. We've all been obsessed at one time in our lives, preoccupied with the hopeless longing for someone we can't have (well, most of us). You're right, Ian, it sounds almost like Jagger is dreaming, fantazing because its all he can do. Jagger often tries to make light of songs, themes like this and most people take that claim at face value because he's Mick fucking Jagger - he couldn't possibly want to ride an arab charger across the desert for a woman...., or feel that kind of protectiveness and hurt about a woman who has evidently rejected him.....the words reflect a genuine weakness and that's not easy to express, so make the song a "joke". But there[i] is an urgency to the song, a hopelessness that comes from heartbreak, dissapointment etc.....
StonesFan1990, your take on the song is excellent in that it dismisses the notion that the song is nothing but bouncy fluff, which denies its vulnerability.

Fucking A

A day without Emotional Rescue is like a day without sunshine.

Bitch wrote on Feb 21^st, 2011 at 9:40pm:



Yeah, thats exactly it.
He can't have her, is not with her, but he is still protective and devoted  in spite of it all....but he's making these promises from afar...that's why he sounds so defeated and hopeless..she's not listening.

Some Guy wrote on Feb 17^th, 2011 at 9:18am:


Yeah and I don't get it. Do they remember that this song was number 3 and very popular on the radio.?
In fact, this is the last Stones song I remember, even more than SMU, having a broad appeal, among non-Stones fans. Everybody I knew loved that ooh-ooh part and spoken work part,....it grooved.
I played at a Stones tribute show years ago, and the next band to play, two guys and two girls, played this song. All they had to do was play that opening riff, and the room just went nuts....singing along, dancing. It was the biggest hit of the night.