Driving Me Too Hard

Composers: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: November 2022-March 2023          Recording locations: Henson Recording Studios, Los Angeles, USA;
Metropolis Studios, London, England; Sanctuary Studios, Albany, Bahamas; & MixStar Studios, Virginia Beach, USA
Producer: Andrew Watt          Chief engineers: Paul Lamalfa & Marco Sonzini
Mixer: Serban Ghenea            Never performed onstage




Line-up:

Drums: Steve Jordan
Bass: Ron Wood
Electric guitars: Keith Richards (incl. solo), Ron Wood & Mick Jagger
Lead vocals: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger & Andrew Watt
Pianos: Keith Richards & Matt Clifford
Rhodes electric piano: Matt Clifford
Organ: Matt Clifford
Percussion: Mick Jagger & Andrew Watt
 

You’re driving me too hard
You pushed it way too far
Every time I give a little bit
You muscle in and take it all

You’re driving me away
Why don’t we just take a break?
Where I'm heading to, you'll never know
Morocco or a corner bar - hey

Look what you’ve done to me
You’ve emptied my eyes
And twisted my sanity
And all you had to do was cry

You’re driving me too hard
You threw me off my guard - yeah
I can’t seem to shake your grip on me
You never want to show your cards

You’re driving me to ground
I don’t know why I stick around
I guess that you've become a part of me
Well that'll have to do for now

So look what you’ve done to me
You’ve emptied my eyes
And twisted my sanity
And all you had to do was cry

(Driving)
Driving me too hard (Driving)
I like to take it slow
You’re driving me too hard (Driving)
Sometimes I love to take it slow - yeah, yeah
The door is never closed - yeah 'cause (Driving)
I'm leaving it ajar - yeah, 'cause you're (Driving)
Driving me, driving me too hard (Driving)
Yeah (Driving)


 

TrackTalk
 

In the song Driving Me Too Hard we found this in some of the previous sessions but it wasn't finished. And so we kind of revived the riff and idea and then Keith and I finished it in the studio late in the day. So that was good fun doing it.

- Mick Jagger, September 2023


Keith forgot he came up with this until we went, Keith, this is really nice. We didn’t have a good take with Charlie on it so I suggested we redo the song at Henson in LA. It has a traditional Stones feel. People like that.

- Mick Jagger, c. August 2023



Mick and I finished off the song together in the Bahamas, sitting down on the floor with a piece of paper, and that old fashioned process brings a different flavour as well. Mick does a great vocal and I love the thick, droning sound on the guitars. It’s almost Irish.

- Keith Richards, c. August 2023


The last song written and finished for the record was Driving Me Too Hard. The lyrics weren’t finished. And Keith was like Oh, I’m going to go back to my house and get these lyrics done. And I threw it out: You guys are both right here. Why don’t you take a couple of hours and write it together? You know the deal, Jagger-Richards. So I sat with them just as a buffer, playing guitar, and those guys just bounced back and forth making each other crack up laughing, and they wrote these lyrics sitting next to each other, truly together. Mick sang it 30 minutes after that, and Keith did the backgrounds. It was so special to watch — like, folklore-level Jagger-Richards.

- Andrew Watt, September 2023



This is the one I want to play at the Grand Ole Opry at Nashville. I’m using the B-Bender pedal steel guitar, which gets the sad yearning sound that is at the heart of all good country music.
- Ron Wood, c. August 2023


It's got a lovely riff and it's got a lovely hanging melody.

- Keith Richards, September 2023


I like Keith’s guitar on Angry, Tell Me Straight and Driving Me Too Hard. There’s a different kind of feel on Driving Me Too Hard; it’s almost country.

- Ron Wood, August-September 2023

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