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Topic: Undercover LIVE Return to archive
October 26th, 2004 01:48 PM
Stones The only version I have of Undercover live is from the Steel Wheels tour. Are the versions from the later tours much different/better ? And where could I possibly hear them?
October 26th, 2004 02:05 PM
gustavobala hi, stones, the played in 89, 94-95, 99, 2002, see the complete....

www.timeisonourside.com

Undercover of the Night
Composers:Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: January-March & May-August 1983 Recording locations: Path� Marconi
Studios, Paris, France; Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas; & The Hit Factory, New York City
Producers: The Glimmer Twins & Chris Kimsey Chief engineer: Chris Kimsey
Performed onstage: 1989, 1994-95, 1999, 2002



Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts & Sly Dunbar
Bass: Robbie Shakespeare
Electric guitars: Keith Richards & Ron Wood (incl. solo)
Vocals: Mick Jagger
Keyboards: Chuck Leavell
Percussion (incl. timpani, bongos): Charlie Watts, Sly Dunbar + possibly Martin Ditcham, Moustapha Cisse & Brahms Coundoul


Hear the screams in Center 42
Loud enough to bust your brains out
The opposition's tongue is cut in two
Keep off the street 'cause you're in danger

One hundred thousand "disparus"
Lost in the jails in South America

Curl up, baby, curl up tight
Cuddle up, baby, keep all I say
Undercover, keep all I say
Undercover of the night

The sex police are out there on the streets
Make sure the passed laws are not broken
The race militia has got itchy fingers
All the way from New York back to Africa

Curl up, baby, keep all I say
Cuddle up, baby, keep all I say
Undercover, undercover
Undercover, keep all I say
Undercover of the night

All the young men, they've been rounded up
And sent to camps back in the jungle
And people whisper, people double-talk
Once proud fathers act so humble

All the young girls they have got the blues
They're heading on back to Center 42

Keep it undercover, keep all I say
Undercover, keep all I say
Undercover

Keep all I say
Undercover of the night

Down in the bars, the girls are painted blue
Done up in lace, done up in rubber
The Johns are jerky little G.I. Joes
On R&R from Cuba and Russia

The smell of sex, the smell of suicide
All these dream things I can't keep inside

Undercover, keep all I say
Undercover of the night

Undercover of the night



TrackTalk


(I)t's totally Mick's song.

- Keith Richards, 2002

Charlie and I were in a room, some small studio somewhere and there was just one big drum that someone left there, a timpani. And I had a guitar and that's how that started, like bom-pidibom- pidibom-pidibom.

- Mick Jagger, 1984

With something like the track Undercover, Mick wrote that on the guitar and I used to work on it with him. We worked that through many different stages and Charlie and Mick worked on it on their own as well.

- Ron Wood, 1988

Mick had this one all mapped out, I just played on it. There were a lot more overlays on this track, because there was a lot more separation in the way we were recording at that time. Mick and I had started to come to loggerheads.

- Keith Richards, 1993

I'm not saying I nicked it, but this song was heavily influenced by William Burroughs' Cities Of The Red Night, a free-wheeling novel about political and sexual repression. It combines a number of different references to what was going down in Argentina and Chile. I think it's really good but it wasn't particularly successful at the time because songs that deal overtly with politics never are that successful, for some reason.

- Mick Jagger, 1993

When it was written it was always like - it's supposed to be about the repression of violence in our minds, you know, 'cause we have so much of it. It's also about repressive political systems - pretty serious stuff for Top 20 material. It's pretty risky to put out songs like that 'cause nobody's really interested in that kind of thing. I mean, everyone wants to hear about party all night long or just mumbo jumbo. Nobody's interested in anything real... So that was a bit of a departure for us 'cause we hadn't done anything like that since Street Fighting Man.

- Mick Jagger, 1984

(I)n the '80s... (a) lot of the stuff, the material that Mick wanted to do, was not particularly guitar-oriented. We were trying to, like, wedge guitars into places where they're not necessary, like Emotional Rescue and Undercover. Around that time we were doing a lot of material that was not necessarily made for guitars. Mick wanted to get into that dance thing and, you know, Okay, here we go.

- Keith Richards, 1994

Undercover of the Night, Emotional Rescue, these are all Mick's calculations about the market. And they're not the best records we've made. See, Mick listens to too much bad shit.

- Keith Richards, 1997
October 26th, 2004 02:28 PM
marko Fantastic song,i think its their best single of the 1980ies.
It was performed every night during steel wheels tour.
And was TWICE in the USA leg 1994,then once in south america
1995.
I think they did it about 5times during licks,and i guess only twice on No security.

It was little more simple after 89 versions.The not better.
Maybe thats why they don�t play it too often,can�t make it
work.
October 26th, 2004 04:47 PM
Stones Thanks for the information. If they don't want to play Undercover, they should do She Was Hot. I was hoping that they would last time after the practiced it, but it never happened.
October 26th, 2004 06:27 PM
kmc keith was right about "undercover"

no sign on chuck berry in that number.

more lame mick political/current events lyrics. keep him away from newspapers when recording.
October 26th, 2004 06:51 PM
kath i love that song, always have. just the feel of it. he could be saying anything, but the feel of the music and the way charlie plays on it (surprised?), it's a favorite. i've heard the bootleg of the live version from 2002 and it didsn't seem that good. maybe it's better left a studio song.

but i think it's a kick ass song.
October 26th, 2004 09:51 PM
Soldatti Great song, great album too. Very underrated...
October 27th, 2004 04:42 AM
F505 Indeed a fantastic song but only the studio version. Live it doesn't seem to work at all. Maybe too complicated.
October 27th, 2004 06:49 AM
piratekeef I really, really love the Undercover & Dirty Works albums. Great stuff!! I'd love to hear them do songs from these 2 more often. My suggestion: A live debut of "Too Much Blood"
October 27th, 2004 07:25 PM
wkoetke Undercover, the album, is generally lame.

But Undercover, the SONG, is one of the best things they've ever done. The guitars sound just amazing and nasty. That's the biggest element missing from this song (and so many others) live, the nasty snarling guitars.
October 27th, 2004 08:18 PM
mickjaggersgrl its a good song!
October 27th, 2004 10:05 PM
Soldatti
quote:
F505 wrote:
Indeed a fantastic song but only the studio version. Live it doesn't seem to work at all. Maybe too complicated.



Agree.