Rolling Stones – Sad Sad Sad

Out of all of the tracks on Steel Wheels…this one sounded like the old Stones. The open G chord that Keith Richards made famous is in full display on the intro.  This is the first track from Steel Wheels, an album that brought The Stones back together.

With the album Dirty Work, the Stones did look like it could be over. Jagger and Richards were not getting along. They took shots at each other in the press. Jagger released two albums, She’s The Boss and Primitive Cool. Keith Richards also released a solo album…a very good album  Talk Is Cheap.

Keith and Mick finally took time out to talk to each other and get the band back together. Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Ron Wood joined them and this would be Bill’s last album and tour. Bill has had musical projects since then and he has rejoined the Stones onstage a few times.

The song peaked at #14 in the Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1989. Mixed Emotions was the big hit off of the album.

Charlie Watts helped write this, but as was custom for The Stones, it was credited only to Jagger/Richards.

From Songfacts

The horns were played by the Brass ensemble The Kick Horns.

Ron Wood played bass. Bill Wyman, The Stones bassist, had to deal with the press after announcing his engagement to 18-year-old Mandy Smith, and was not available. Wyman and Smith divorced soon after their marriage.

Sad Sad Sad

Fling you out into orbit
No one’s gonna hear you shout
And fools ain’t gonna follow
You don’t need to sleaze about

Now you’re sad sad sad
Sad sad sad
Sad sad sad
But you’re gonna be fine

The elephant’s in the bedroom
Throwing all his weight about
And I’m locked in the bathroom
Your screams are gonna drown me out

Now you’re sad sad sad
Sad sad sad
Sad sad sad
But you’re gonna be fine

Oh, yeah

I got a cold chill
I get a cool thrill
Are you ready for the gilded cage?
Are you ready for the tears of rage?
Come on baby, don’t let them drown you out

Sad sad sad
Bad bad bad
Sad sad sad
But you’re gonna be fine

Sad sad sad
Sad sad sad
Sad sad sad
But you’re gonna be fine

You’re gonna be fine
You’re gonna be fine
You’re gonna be fine fine fine fine
You’re gonna be fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine

Ooh, yeah
Ooh, yeah
Ooh, yeah
Gonna be fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine
Fine fine fine fine

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Rolling Stones – Sad Sad Sad”

  1. Saw The Stones for the first time on the Steel Wheels Tour- The Stones were great of course. I remember the tickets cost something like $30 which at the time was the highest I had ever paid for a concert…. also I remember this fella and his girlfriend sitting in front of us. Before the concert- and into the opening act- Living Colour- all he did was drink and drink heavily… by the time The Stones came on- he had already thrown up a couple of times and spent the concert with his head leaning on his girlfriend/ wife sleeping.

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    1. I wish I could have seen that tour if only because of Bill being with them. LOL yea another concert causality…it’s like why bother to go in?
      $30….wouldn’t that be great now! Then the Eagles started to charge $100 because Streisand did it. That only added to my dislike.

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  3. Looks like the Stones were on both of our minds this morning, Max.

    I still remember when “Steel Wheels” came out. I had been a bit underwhelmed with some of their previous ’80s output like “Undercover of the Night” (though I admit it’s groovy), “She Was Hot” and “One Hit (to the Body”). Overall, I felt these songs didn’t match the “Tattoo You” album.

    “Steel Wheels” felt like a return to better form, so I definitely wasn’t sad, sad, sad! 🙂

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  6. It definitely has the familiar Rolling Stones sound and feel to it. I completely missed out on this phase of their career. I was busy getting my own career off the ground at the time, and thought I’d already seen them at their best, in 1981. Little did I know how much they had left to offer!

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  7. I’m in minority who liked the mid-’80s Stones experiments. Didn’t know this one but it seems to me “Mixed Emotions” was on there, wasn’t it? That was a good song, I bought it as a single… probably first thing by them I’d purchased since the 70s.

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    1. Yea Mixed Emotions was the big hit off of it. I liked it but this one sounded more like them to me….or the old them.

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    1. Yea I know…it just doesn’t look right on him. I always thought Tattoo You was their last great album. Nothing against any since…but as far as classic…but that is just me.

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    1. I remember…I would go to Chess King…a clothing store back then and I got one kinda like that. Mine was made like a tuxedo tail…kinda…the wonderful 80s. I guess it was “in”

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