Have they ever played this song live?, great song!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-04-30 21:10 by steffiestones.

Don't think so , they don't put it on compilations either .
Any thoughts on why this could be ?

i have the long version on the 12" record...love it...

yeah way better then sweet neocon ;-)

I like Highwire too...and think it could even be improved when performed live.

They could revamp it a bit...to pump some new blood into it....maybe FUNK it up a bit.


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

Classic Stones-riff, catchy melody. A truly hidden Gem!

[www.reverbnation.com]

A Steel Wheels leftover basically. I've always liked it. I wish they would have included it on one of the comps. And it would be good to hear it live.

I quite like it when it came out, but never really loved it. sounds ok initially, but after repeated listening it sounds a bit too forced in my book. like a desperate attempt to create another open-g classic Stones riff rocker. its too stiff, it just does not flow like Start Me Up, Brown Sugar and the like. it never really gets off the ground.

a similar and more recent attempt was Don't Stop. it works a bit better, but somehow sound a bit lightweight at the same time.

seems like the days of open g classic riff rockers are over for the Stones.

Good riff, but social commentator Jagger is not.

[thepowergoats.com]

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skipstone
A Steel Wheels leftover basically. I've always liked it. I wish they would have included it on one of the comps. And it would be good to hear it live.

How is it a Steel Wheels leftover when the subject matter of the song occurred 18-24 months after Steel Wheels was recorded?

I loved this song upon release. I realized the Stones had almost no commercial appeal left, when this song wasn't a big hit. I still love this song.

I really enjoy this song, for the guitars. Nice sound. Nothing original in the chords etc. but it has a nice sound. Some good licks from Keith and a great guitar solo. I'm not a fan of Jaggers political lyrics in general but these are so much easier to swallow than the terrible set of lyrics for sweet neo-con.

Cool video too. I remember someone posting some footage of the 'making of' on here a few months ago.

_____________________________________________________

What's your favourite flavour?...........Cherry Red!!

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Mr Jimmy
I really enjoy this song, for the guitars. Nice sound. Nothing original in the chords etc. but it has a nice sound. Some good licks from Keith and a great guitar solo.

yeah, the mass-guitar bridge is nice, more involved than the verses. The lyrics do sound somewhat forced, and for all the criticism they receive for being about "politics" at all, they're rather ambivalent as to actually making a point--as is "Sweet Neo Con," for that matter.

"Stones by numbers" really...but still a glorious noise ;^)

Highwire is one of the least distinguished and most boring songs they've ever done. It was clearly little more than an attempt to get the band press by commenting on the Gulf War and it's obvious that Jagger really doesn't mean anything he's singing in the song.

The last pure and true Keith's song. A commercial failure, maybe the first one in history, which perhaps turns this legend away from writing.

I remember the NME giving it a half decent review because of its social commentary whilst lamenting the fact that only an old boys band was doing this and the young bucks weren't.

I like it but it's far from being a classic.

My personal view on highwire is that it is much better than the songs of the last years as street of love, anybody seen my baby, love is strong,...If you listen to highwire , you hear the typical stones sound that you not can hear on the songs i mention before.

Hey ya gotta dig Mick's...Dennis Hopper Blue Velvet...Microphone shots





ROCKMAN

<The last pure and true Keith's song.>

Hmm, Mick is playing the open G-riff. My guess is that this is a Mick-song.

Really ? This could explain that.

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domingo
i have the long version on the 12" record...love it...

I'm not sure if I have this longer version or not. How long is the 12" version? My longest copy of Highwire runs for 4:45, which is straight from Flashpoint, I believe.

The single version is 3:35.

The Stones could have had a hit with this - if the lyrics weren't so stiff and dorky.

[thepowergoats.com]

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it's_all_wrong
Highwire is one of the least distinguished and most boring songs they've ever done. It was clearly little more than an attempt to get the band press by commenting on the Gulf War and it's obvious that Jagger really doesn't mean anything he's singing in the song.

how is it obvious?

(from Keno's site)

Highwire
(Jagger/Richards)

We sell 'em missiles, We sell 'em tanks
We give 'em credit, You can call the bank
It's just a business, You can pay us in crude
You love these toys, just go play out your feuds
Got no pride, don't know whose boots to lick
We act so greedy, makes me sick sick sick

So get up, stand up, out of my way
I want to talk to the boss right away
Get up, stand up, whose gonna pay
I want to talk to the man right away

We walk the highwire
Sending the men up to the front line
Hoping they don't catch the hell fire
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
Sending the men up to the front line
And tell 'em to hotbed the sunshine
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

Our lives are threatened, our jobs at risk
Sometimes dictators need a slap on the wrist

Another Munich we just can't afford
We're gonna send in the eighty-second airborne

Get up, stand up, who's gonna pay
I wanna talk to the boss right away
Get up, stand up, outta my way
I wanna talk to the man right away

We walk the highwire
Putting the world out on a deadline
And hoping they don't catch the shellfire
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
Putting the world out on a deadline
Catching the bite on primetime
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

Get up! Stand up!
Dealer! Stealer!
Hey!

We walk the highwire
We send all our men into the front lines
We're hoping that we backed the right side
With hot guns and cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
We send all the men up to the front lines
And hoping they don't catch the hellfire
With hot guns and cold cold, cold, cold, cold nights

We walk the highwire
We walk the highwire
With hot guns and cold, cold, cold nights

With hot guns and cold, cold nights


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

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jamesfdouglas
The single version is 3:35.

The Stones could have had a hit with this - if the lyrics weren't so stiff and dorky.

Do you really think the lyrics are THAT important in Stones' songs?
Other than clearly singing the song's title...the majority of Stones lyrics
are indecipherable to the common listener. Of course, as fans of the band, we
know most of the lyrics....but Mick has always been held up as an example of
a singer whose singing can be difficult to understand.

IMO it's all about the music and general sound of the singer's voice....and
if it has interesting/clever lyrics/clever refrain...even better.

Even though I like Highwire...Mick's voice is sort of whiny during the
"we walk the highwire" bit...but I love the rest.

Keno's lyric page says that the song is "anti-war" and "anti-oil"...but to
me it seems more ambiguous.


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

Keef's not even on this one, right?

good tune.

I read in some magazine that Mick said the tune itself was a leftover from the Steel Wheels sessions that they never flushed out. And so he wrote some words to it and took another stab at it and it worked.

The promo has Mick counting it off 1, 2 CHUNK 12 SNAP SNAP....

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martingo
Keef's not even on this one, right?

good tune.

no, i heard that this was the first single without Bill.

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steffiestones

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martingo
Keef's not even on this one, right?

good tune.

no, i heard that this was the first single without Bill.

how do you mean? He was still in the band at the time. I can't recall if he plays on the track, but they'd certainly released many singles before that he didn't play on.

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sweet neo con
Keno's lyric page says that the song is "anti-war" and "anti-oil"...but to
me it seems more ambiguous.

yes. It's hardly anti-war, as it's careful to "support the troops" (this is the period that phrase entered the US language), and it in fact seems to support the war--"another Munich we just can't afford." What's ambiguous is whether he means to be parroting Bush & Co. there ironically, as Bush the Elder did, incredibly, compare Saddam to @#$%&.

And how can one be "anti-oil"? Meaningless.