Mick is great at writing lyrics from certain perspective. His songs are either universal love songs, or social commentaries, but usually with some distance. Sometimes he impersonates certain character (Midnight Rambler, Sympathy For The Devil) or uses vague metaphores to address some things from his life. But he rarely writes direct, personal lyrics. I was thinking what his most personal lyrics are and I came up with two examples:

Memory Motel - seems about an actual romance since there are mentioned places from RS 1975 tour.

The Biggest Mistake - I think it's about his relationship with Sophie Dahl (2000-2001).

Any other examples?

Fool To Cry, perhaps.

My apologies in advance franzk because i very much doubt that the following lyric is what you had in mind when you started this thread BUT, from Sparks Will Fly

"I wanna f#*K your sweet ass". Now i'd say that's getting pretty personal

Somethings cooking in Streets of Love.

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franzk
Mick is great at writing lyrics from certain perspective. His songs are either universal love songs, or social commentaries, but usually with some distance. Sometimes he impersonates certain character (Midnight Rambler, Sympathy For The Devil) or uses vague metaphores to address some things from his life. But he rarely writes direct, personal lyrics. I was thinking what his most personal lyrics are and I came up with two examples:

Memory Motel - seems about an actual romance since there are mentioned places from RS 1975 tour.

The Biggest Mistake - I think it's about his relationship with Sophie Dahl (2000-2001).

Any other examples?

Agree 100%

"Brand new set of rules" from "Goddess"

Angel In My Heart.

stupid girl seems to be a dig at christie shrimpton

and respectable seems directed at bianca

and of course shoot off your mouth at keith

isn't your never gonna change off superheavy about one of his daughters?

Wild Horses?

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Bjorn
Wild Horses?

wasn't that a song keith wrote as a lullaby for marlon?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2023-08-28 23:24 by ProfessorWolf.

You don't know what is personal. They could all be fictitious



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-08-28 23:30 by More Hot Rocks.

Sex Drive? ha.

Neighours

Worried About You

Angie

Wild Horses

I Got The Blues

Moonlight Mile

Till The Next Goodbye

Through The Lonely Nights

Miss You

Already Over Me

Probably a load of others that don't seem like it. It's gotta come from somewhere. I doubt Mick writes things like 'Oh I bet that bloke's heart broke from her' and then makes something up.

Following the river

He’s said a lot of the women in the songs are combinations. I think that’s true to an extent but I think it’s also a bit of covering up who he’s actually singing about.
I wish I could give the writer credit who after interviewing him many times observed “ with all his insincerity Jagger is hiding just how sincere he is “
It’s understandable, there’s a lot of emotion in those songs which is why they hit home for the fans.even though we probably don’t realize it most of the time.
It would be weird putting yourself out there like that.

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Bjorn
Wild Horses?

If it's really about Marianne's overdose and breakup as Faithfull claims, then it's quite personal. But over the years Mick seemed to distance himself a bit from it:

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(I)t was (Keith's) melody. And he wrote the phrase wild horses, but I wrote the rest of it. I like the song. It's an example of a pop song. Taking this cliché wild horses, which is awful, really, but making it work without sounding like a cliché when you're doing it.

- Mick Jagger, 1995

And Keith also claimed that it was about Marlon and Anita:

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Yeah (it has to do with Marlon's birth),'cause I knew we were going to have to go to America and start work again, to get me off me ass, and not really wanting to go away. It was a very delicate moment, the kid's only two months old, and you're goin' away. Millions of people do it all the time but still ...

- Keith Richards, 1971

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I wrote this song because I was doing good at home with my old lady, and I wrote it like a love song. I just had this, Wild horses couldn't drag me away, and I gave it to Mick, and Marianne (Faithfull) just ran off with this guy and he changed it all around but it's still beautiful.

- Keith Richards, December 4, 1969, in Muscle Shoals
Studios, Alabama (from Stanley Booth's
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones)

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MrEcho
Angel In My Heart.

Whois Angel in My Heart about? I would say Star Star is his most personal



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-08-29 13:08 by Taylor1.

According to various sources (including Carly), both Memory Motel and Till The Nexy Goodbye were "inspired" by Carly Simon.

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Elmo Lewis
According to various sources (including Carly), both Memory Motel and Till The Nexy Goodbye were "inspired" by Carly Simon.

The latter so much that she claimed she (co-)wrote it

"Evening Gown", "Wandering Spirit", "Gun", "Don't call me up" I assume, of course I cannot prove it.

And I just can't pour my heart out
To another living thing
I'm a whisper
I'm a shadow
But I'm standing up to sing

Shoot Off Your Mouth

School Boy Blues

Old Habits Die Hard?

Once a player……

Both the lyrics and singing on I Got The Blues sure seems personal (and intense). Same for Let It Loose. Already Over Me as well.

Don't Tear Me Up

I Think Wild Horses is a Keith song about Anita.

Sweet Neo Conn was supposed to be about George W Bush and the Gulf War IIRC.

And I think I'm going mad

Life goes by so fast
Time whirls by so fast
You think I whine so
All the women come and go

Think I'm going mad
Think I'm going crazy

All the highs and lows don't mean a thing to me
Don't give a damn

This season that'll pass
Think will be my last
I know my mind's afloat
Sometimes I feel so young and sometimes I feel so old

Yeah you want to see, you want to see all the things
And I'm thinking, they say that your crazy
They say that your insane
I think.... and I think I'm going crazy
And I think I'm going mad

You ought to see my shaking hands
I think I've been drinking lots of cups of coffee
I think I've lost my head
I think I should be sacrificed
I think I should be put to rest
Save yourself
And I think I'm going mad
Think I'm going now
Think I'm going crazy