Music / Emotional Rescue

"Where the boys go, down the disco."

Emotional Rescue is the fifteenth studio album (seventeenth American album) by The Rolling Stones, released in 1980 through Rolling Stones Records. With dozens of songs recorded for the album, the band eventually picked 10 of the songs, and many of those left over later made it onto Tattoo You and the bonus disc on the deluxe edition of Some Girls. Oh, and another song was released as the B-Side to "She Was Hot" from Undercover.

Upon release, it was a chart topper in both the US and the UK (the first time in the UK since Goats Head Soup). However, it received mixed reviews, and it still does to this day.

---

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Dance (Pt. 1)" (4:23)
2. "Summer Romance" (3:16)
3. "Send It To Me" (3:43)
4. "Let Me Go" (3:50)
5. "Indian Girl" (4:23)

Side Two

6. "Where The Boys Go" (3:29)
7. "Down In The Hole" (3:57)
8. "Emotional Rescue" (5:39)
9. "She's So Cold" (4:12)
10. "All About You" (4:18)

---

Principal Members:

• Mick Jagger - lead vocals, guitar, piano
• Keith Richards - guitar, backing and lead vocals, piano, bass
• Charlie Watts - drums
• Ronnie Wood - guitar, vocals, bass
• Bill Wyman - bass, synthesizer

---

Emotional Tropes:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: "She's So Cold"
  I'm the burning bush
• Belief Makes You Stupid: "Send It To Me"
  Oh, I think I had enough of your religion
  It's tough, it's a state of mind, I don't need it
• Break Up Song:
  • "Summer Romance"
  It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through
  • "Let Me Go"
  Can't you get it through your thick head
  This affair is finished -dead
  Hey, let me go
• Capitalism Is Bad: "Down In The Hole" proves that money doesn't come a long way.
  None of your money
  Will buy you forgiveness
  None of your jewellery
  None of your gold
  Your black market cigarettes
  Your American nightclubs
  Ah, they've got nowhere left
  Something for nothing
  All of your friends gone
  Something for nothing
  That's all that you know
• Crossing the Desert: "Emotional Rescue"
  I will be your knight in shining armour
  Riding across the desert with a fine Arab charger
• "Days of the Week" Song: "Where The Boys Go":
  All day Monday, and all day Tuesday
  I played football, there's nothing on the telly
  Now ever since I was just 13 years old
  Well, I always felt shy but I acted so bold
  I never had the money and I never had the class
  But I always seemed to get myself a Saturday night piece of ass!
  Where the boys go, Saturday night
  Where the boys all go, hold me tight
  Where the boys all go, Saturday night
  Where the boys all go
  Saturday morning you can see me at the pub
  And I'm pissing away me money and I can't stand up
• Deliberately Monochrome: The black-and-white album cover.
• Dirty Old Man: The protagonist of "Summer Romance":
  I need money so much, I need money so bad
  And I can't be your mum, don't want to be your dad
  I'm a serious man, I got serious lusts
  Gonna have to do away with this greasy kid stuff
  It's over now, it's a summer romance and it's through
  I can't help myself, I can't help it if I'm older than you
• Face on the Cover: The album cover shows the band members, but shot in thermal imaging, thus making them unrecognisable.
• Ice Queen: "She's So Cold".
  I'm so hot for her and she's so cold
  Yeah, I tried re-wiring her, tried re-firing her
  I think her engine is permanently stalled
• Infrared Xray Camera: The album cover and music video of "Emotional Rescue" were both shot making use of thermal imagery.
• Intercourse with You: "Where The Boys Go"
  Where the boys go, for a little piece of cunt
• It's All About Me: The protagonist "All About You" complains about his girlfriend having this attitude.
• Knight In Shining Armour: The protagonist in "Emotional Rescue". At least that's what the protagonist wants to be.
  I will be your knight in shining armour
  Coming to your emotional rescue
• List Song: "Send It To Me", about a mail-order bride:
  She could be Romanian, could be Bulgarian, could be Albanian, could be Hungarian, might be Ukrainian, could be Australian, could be the alien, send her to me
• New Sound Album: This album is even more dance and disco oriented than it's predecessor. Keith did not approve. Tracks like "Send It To Me" and "Dance (Pt.1)" are influenced by Reggae, even with a guest appearance by Max Romeo.
• Obsession Song: "Emotional Rescue"
  I was dreaming last night
  Last night I was dreaming
  How you'd be mine, but I was crying
  Like a child, yeah, I was crying
  Crying like a child
  You will be mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, all mine
  You could be mine, could be mine
  Be mine, all mine
  I come to you, so silent in the night
  So stealthy, so animal quiet
  I'll be your saviour, steadfast and true
• One-Woman Song: "Indian Girl".
• One-Word Title: "Dance"
• Packaged as Other Medium: The cover looks like a series of X-ray images.
• Perpetual Poverty: "Down in the Hole"
  Cause you'll be down in the gutter
  You'll be bummin' for cigarettes
  Bummin' for nylons in the American zone
• Real Life Writes the Plot: "Indian Girl". Cuban soldiers were indeed fighting in Angola and Granada in the 1970's to help the local population against the right-wing dictatorships that oppressed them, while at the same time trying to spread Communism in those countries.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: "All About Me", though it's also a subversion, because after this rant the singer wonders in the end: "So how come I'm still in love with you?"
  Well, if you call this a life, why must I spend mine with you?
  If the show must go on, let it go one without you.
  Though the laughs may be cheap. That's just 'cause the joke's about you.
  I'm so sick and tired of hanging around with dogs like you.
• Rise of Zitboy: "Summer Romance"
  Yeah, no sympathy from your spotty friends
• Shout-Out:
  • "Indian Girl"
  Mr. gringo, my father, he ain't no Che Guevara
  And he's fighting the war on the streets of Masaya
  Little Indian girl, where's your father?
  Little Indian girl, where is your momma?
  They're fighting for Mr. Castro in the streets of Angola.
  • The Simpsons: In "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation" Homer enlists in a rock summer camp lead by various famous rock stars. "She's So Cold" is played in the scene where Mick Jagger teaches the people at the camp how to dance.
• Singer Name Drop: "Dance"
  Keith! Watcha, watcha doing?
• Special Guest: Reggae artist Max Romeo performs backing vocals during "Dance (Pt.1)" and percussion during "Send It To Me".
• Spoken Word in Music:
  • "Indian Girl": the final lines in the song are spoken:
  Mr. gringo, my father, he ain't no Che Guevara
  And he's fighting the war on the streets of Masaya
  Little Indian girl, where's your father?
  Little Indian girl, where is your momma?
  They're fighting for Mr. Castro in the streets of Angola.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Keith Richards sings lead vocals on "All About You".
• Time Marches On: "Where The Boys Go"
  Where the boys go, down the disco
• Title Track: "Emotional Rescue".
• War Is Hell: "Indian Girl"
  They're shooting down planes with their M-16 and with laughter
  Ma says there's no food, there's nothing left in the larder
  Last piece of meat was eaten by the soldiers that raped her
  All the children were dead, except for the girl who said
  "Please Mister Gringo, please find my father"
  Lesson number one that you learn while you're young
  Life just goes on and on getting harder and harder

---