Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
________________________________________________________________________________

Dirty Work
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards / Ron Wood)

Pathé Marconi Studios (EMI Studios), Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France,
April 8 - June 17, 1985, RPM Studios, New York City, New York, US,
September 10 - October 15, 1985 and Right Track Studios, New York City,
New York, US, November 15 - December 5, 1985

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Ron Wood - electric guitar, backing vocals
Chuck Leavell - organ

Living high, sitting in the sun, sit on your ass till your work is done
You lazy mother, your hands are clean
You pull the strings and you got the clout
There's something filthy living in your mouth
Pushing your buttons, you get away for free
You let somebody do the dirty work, find some loser, find some jerk
Find some dumb ass do it all for free
Let somebody do the dirty work, find some loser, find some jerk
Find some greaseball, yeah
It's beginning to make me angry, I'm beginning to hate it
You're a user, you're a user, I'm gonna shake ya
Let somebody do the dirty work, I never see no grease on you baby
Never roll your sleeves up, do you, never baby
Let somebody do the dirty work, find some @#$%&, find some jerk
Yeah, do it all for free
While you're out having all the fun they'll take the blame when the trouble comes
Let somebody do it, do it
It's beginning to make me angry, I'm beginning to hate ya
You're a user, you're a user, I hate ya, make me crazy, make me crazy
Make me crazy, make me crazy, make me crazy, make me crazy

Let somebody do the dirty work, let somebody do the dirty work
Let somebody do it all for free
Let somebody do the dirty work, let somebody do the dirty work
Let somebody do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it
When you push you make me crazy, push you make me crazy
Sweeping the street, sucking the dirt, taking it hard, taking the hurt
Look at the hungry laughing at me, look at the poor sick in the street
Look at the rich feeding their faces, look at them run the whole place
Making me angry, making me hurt, let them eat shit, let them eat dirt
Make me crazy, make me crazy, make me crazy, make me crazy, dirty work…

Produced by The Glimmer Twins & Steve Lilywhite

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Dirty Work” LP
(CBS 86321) UK, March 24, 1986



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-12-01 17:41 by René.

from [www.timeisonourside.com]:

There are four guitars on that one: Woody and me on the basic track, then we overdubbed two more together.
Most of the time on this album we would go in and do the overdub together. THEN we might say,
Oh, you do your next pass first, whatever. But for most of the tracks we kept the ones where we did the overdubs together.
See, usually people say Nah, you can't do that, have to get a good clean sound -
which means they'd like to keep you separate, concentrated on one thing at a time.
But there are certain things you can get with two people playing together
that you're NEVER gonna do sitting in there alone with the cans on.
If you're there with your mate you forget about what you're doing and just have a good time,
playing licks trying to throw each other off (laughs) - and it's the triumph of the evening if you CAN.
That's what you try to get on a record, a few of those one-offs where you say, I'm NEVER gonna be able to do that again.
- Keith Richards, 1985

A great song. Underrated.

Very nice and DIRTY song.
One of my fav's

Mean Mr.Mustard

Quote
Mean.Mr.Mustard
Very nice and DIRTY song.
One of my fav's

Mean Mr.Mustard

John Lennon thought Mean Mr Mustard was the worst ever Beatles song....he called it "granny pop".

EDIT: My bad - Lennon was speaking about "Maxwells Silver Hammer" - sorry for the confusion



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-11-18 20:05 by Erik_Snow.

Quote
Erik_Snow

Quote
Mean.Mr.Mustard
Very nice and DIRTY song.
One of my fav's

Mean Mr.Mustard

John Lennon thought Mean Mr Mustard was the worst ever Beatles song....he called it "granny pop".

You mean that I am a granny???
Well thanks then.

Mean Mr.Mustard

Quote
Mean.Mr.Mustard

Quote
Erik_Snow

Quote
Mean.Mr.Mustard
Very nice and DIRTY song.
One of my fav's

Mean Mr.Mustard

John Lennon thought Mean Mr Mustard was the worst ever Beatles song....he called it "granny pop".

You mean that I am a granny???
Well thanks then.

Mean Mr.Mustard

I suppose you can say that... but I think John deserves the thanks.....not me

LOL!

Btw, Dirty Work is a great track. Some mean guitar playing in there, as well as some interesting dub/rap-parts.

Quote
Mean.Mr.Mustard

Quote
Erik_Snow

Quote
Mean.Mr.Mustard
Very nice and DIRTY song.
One of my fav's

Mean Mr.Mustard

John Lennon thought Mean Mr Mustard was the worst ever Beatles song....he called it "granny pop".

You mean that I am a granny???
Well thanks then.

Mean Mr.Mustard

No, just grainy.

one of the few passable moments on a putrid album...guitar interplay is good.

great track! i wouldnt call the album very good at all, but "the weaving" on some tracks is outstanding and among the best!

Great track that is buried at the end of an album that gets overlooked. I also like Had It With You..

mid-song solo is great, so is the intro.
mick's singing isnt very good, neither are the lyrics.

No bass on Had It With You

My favourite track in DIRTY WORK. When the album was rumoured as "Keith's album" and, you know what, compared to EXILE (true! At least before it hit the stores...) I think that the title track was the only one that had something common with the masterpiece. Great guitars (and nice to read that they were ancient art weaving even live in studio), a good groove plus Jagger's vocals have a nice 'Exilean' spark - and nothing like that senseless, breathless, forced barking and howling he made all over the album. The song also funnily changes from a rock song to a dance track, like "If You Can't Rock Me".

With "Too Tough" and "Too Tight", "Dirty Work" has been my favourite rockers of their post-TATTOO YOU-days.

- Doxa

This song did not do much for me. It had potential, but those loud drums killed it, and the lyrics I always thought were pretty dumb.

I liked the song 'Fight' a lot better than DW, but still, that over-amped connon-like backbeat kills it. I wish they would re-record this album, because I think these could be good songs with better production. I otherwise agree with T+A's statement on the album in general.

At least Bill's on this one.
He's on, what, three out of ten tracks on DW?
Brian did more on Beggars Banquet than Bill did on DW.

I dig the "Dirty Work" track; especially the guitars - but also Jagger does a great job - always surprised of it's energy whenever putting it on.
Agreed to a lot of Doxa's post above.....well there are 2 other tracks of DW which I find just as strong....or maybe even stronger; the first and the last track of the album.
Funny that Doxa mentioned "Too Tight".....that's also one of my favourites of the last 25 years; they're really rocking on that one....and Keith has a great sound on his guitar / amp

Quote
Erik_Snow
I dig the "Dirty Work" track; especially the guitars - but also Jagger does a great job - always surprised of it's energy whenever putting it on.
Agreed to a lot of Doxa's post above.....well there are 2 other tracks of DW which I find just as strong....or maybe even stronger; the first and the last track of the album.
Funny that Doxa mentioned "Too Tight".....that's also one of my favourites of the last 25 years; they're really rocking on that one....and Keith has a great sound on his guitar / amp

yeah, one hit, dirty work and sleep tonight are THE 3 tracks on DW

<yeah, one hit, dirty work and sleep tonight are THE 3 tracks on DW>

IMO, Had It With You and Fight should also be mentioned.

Quote
DandelionPowderman
<yeah, one hit, dirty work and sleep tonight are THE 3 tracks on DW>

IMO, Had It With You and Fight should also be mentioned.

Very good, I agree - but it's the guitars that make 'em good;
I don't think that both Jagger's vocals AND the song itself (melodywise/lyricwise) are strong enough to compeat with those "other 3", at all.
But they run in on 2nd place (together with Harlem Shuffle).....and save the album from being completely one for the shelf. Harlem Shuffle is a more successful effort than Fight and Had It With You, IMO, BUT it's lacking the guitars
Allthough I much more often listen to the outtakes of 1985/86....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009-11-17 13:17 by Erik_Snow.

I see your point, Erik. But that is the case with most of the standard blues/12 bar stuff anyway. IMO, Jagger delivers with both punch and humour on Had It With You. Fight is a ballsy, stones-by-numbers rocker, but I love Jagger's contribution on that track as well. And you are right, the guitars (Keith) are awesome.

An let's not forget the hilariously well played harmonica track on Had It With You

...has always been my favourite track on that record. Great guitar and a rare example of a song where the 80 production works, IMO. Btw. I much prefer it to the often mentioned One Hit (to the Body).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-11-17 13:53 by Greenblues.

a good one..... it would be good LIVE.
honestly I've always liked the DW album.
not sure why it gets a bum rap on this forum.

this song was one that would always stick in my head after
listening to the album.

Maybe I have a soft spot for DW.


IORR............but I like it!

<Maybe I have a soft spot for DW>

I've always loved the album, too Some of Keith finest guitar work in there...

Quote
DandelionPowderman
<Maybe I have a soft spot for DW>

I've always loved the album, too Some of Keith finest guitar work in there...

true. some of keith best guitar stuff EVER! just imagine what a hell of an album this could have been...with a good production, a focused jagger and everything in another decade...;-)

it´s great, i rellay love it. I would like to have a DWDelúxe with Breakin´ & all the other gems

i´m one of these guys who do happen to like DW - both the album and the song. but in a way i understand also these, who don´t like its drum-sound, its production and on most of the songs the way Jagger sings. For me One hit is one of my favourite stones songs (though it´s a rather long list))), i really love it, and Fight, Harlem Shuffle, Too Rude, DW, and of course Sleep tonight and even Hold back i actually like. As stated before, the guitars and the overall raw sound of the album (even if it also marked by the typical 80-years production) are it strong points....

Excelent guitar weaving....
Excelent guitar solo
Excelent harmony vocals at the end.........

The problem of DW was the production, and MJ trying to sing as a Heavy Metal bad singer shouting all the time,and drums sounding as horse races......

Anyway there are gems on it, little pieces of gems

Whe ia played with my old band Bordes Libres, we use to do Paul Weller's From The Floorboards Up/, which remind me a lot Dirty Work guitar festival, and that's why i enjoyed it (because Weller's snobism is not for me........... now is doing classic R&R as if he had invented it.............)