Mixed Emotions

Composers: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: March-June 1989
Recording locations: Air Studios, Montserrat, Virgin Islands & Olympic Studios, London, England
Producers: Chris Kimsey & The Glimmer Twins        Chief engineer: Christopher Marc Potter
       Mixer: Chris Kimsey        Performed onstage: 1989-90, 2016

Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass: Bill Wyman
Electric guitars: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Ron Wood
Lead vocals: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Sarah Dash, Lisa Fischer & Bernard Fowler
Piano: Chuck Leavell
Organ: Chuck Leavell

Keyboards/synthesizer Matt Clifford
Brass: The Kick Horns
Shakers: Mick Jagger
Percussion: Luis Jardim
 

Button your lip, baby, button your coat
Let's go out dancing, go for the throat
Let's bury the hatchet, wipe out the past
Make love together, stay on the path

You're not the only one with mixed emotions
You're not the only ship adrift on this ocean

This coming and going is driving me nuts
This to-ing and fro-ing is hurting my guts
So get off the fence now, you're creasing your butt
Life is a party, let's get out and strut, yes

You're not the only one with mixed emotions
You're not the only ship adrift on this ocean
You're not the only one that's feeling lonesome
You're not the only one with mixed emotions

You're not the only one

You're not the only one

Let's grab the world by the scruff of the neck
And drink it down deeply and love it to death
So button your lip, baby, button your coat
Let's go out and dancing, let's rock and roll, yes


You're not the only one with mixed emotions
You're not the only ship adrift on this ocean
You're not the only one that's feeling lonesome
You're not the only one with mixed emotions

Mixed emotions - mixed emotions, yeah

You're not the only one

You're not the only one - y
ou better stick, stick it together, yeah
You're not the only one
- you better stick, stick, stick it together
You're not the only one
- I want to paddle, yeah, paddle (...) with my feet
You're not the only one - yeah, fooling around, kicking and dancing
You're not the only one - you, you, you, the only one
... (...)
Whoo!


 

TrackTalk

I wrote this very early on in the session with Mick in Barbados. People always accuse me of intending some sort of pun here, you know "Mick's demotion", but it isn't true.

- Keith Richards, 1993


I thought about (the lyrics' meaning) afterwards. I was coming back from a session, my old lady, Patti, had just arrived, and I drove over to see her. And I told her how strange it felt, because it suddenly occurred to me that there was infinite room there for subliminal subjection. I realized what we'd laid down there had all the ingredients of an interesting autobiography.

- Keith Richards, 1989


A good song this, but it's very hard to do onstage. You go from the really hard verse to the very melodic chorus, which I like, but you always feel like you're not going to pull it off, like it's speeding up.

- Mick Jagger, 1993

Back to TrackTalk Menu.

Back to Steel Wheels.

Back to Main Page.