Rolling Stones – I Think I’m Going Mad

A drummer I played with before was a huge Rolling Stones fan. He and I would cruise around together as teenagers and listen to The Beatles and Stones endlessly. He pointed out this song for me and I fell in love with it. He met me in school when he saw me wearing a John Lennon shirt and we started to talk. He didn’t know I played and I didn’t know he was a drummer…and we needed one.  and we needed a drummer…so it fit rather well.

The song was the B side of the single She Was Hot released in 1984. I Think I’m Going Mad was an outtake from the Emotional Rescue album from a few years before. It was recorded in January-February 1979, November-December 1982 & June-August 1983 at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas; Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France; and The Hit Factory, New York City.

I liked this ballad better than the A-side She Was Hot off of the album Undercover. The single She Was Hot/I Think I’m Going Mad peaked at #44 on the Billboard 100, #42 in the UK, and #46 in New Zealand in 1984.

I Think I’m Going Mad is like a cross between Fool To Cry and Beast of Burden. It was written by Jagger/Richards. 

The A side…She Was Hot… I will admit…I DO like the video! The song is a run-of-the-mill Stones song in my opinion.

I Think I’m Going Mad

Think I’m going mad and I think I’m going mad
Life goes by so fast, time whirls by so fast
And I drink my wine and so all the women come and go
Think I’m going mad, think I’m going mad, think I’m going crazy
All the highs and lows don’t mean a thing to me, don’t give a damn

Every season that’ll pass, think gonna be my last
I know my mind’s afloat, sometimes I feel so young and sometimes I feel so old
Think I’m going mad and I think I’m going mad, think I’m going crazy
All the highs and lows don’t mean a thing to me, don’t give a damn, think I’m going

Yeah, you want to see, you want to see all the kids all laugh
And I’m thinking, I think I’m going crazy
I think and I think I’m going crazy
All the highs and lows don’t mean a thing to me, don’t give a damn

And I think I’m going crazy, think I’m going crazy
I think I been drinking lots of cups of coffee
I think I lost my head
And I think I should be sacrificed
Think I should be put away
Save yourself pretty baby
And I think and I think I’m going
And I think I’m going mad
And I think I’m going mad
Think I’m going nuts
Think, think I’m going crazy

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, 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. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

28 thoughts on “Rolling Stones – I Think I’m Going Mad”

  2. Pingback: Rolling Stones – I Think I’m Going Mad – MobsterTiger

  4. The work of The Rolling Stones during the late 70s and throughout the 80s is mostly a mystery to me. I remember well the Steel Wheel album and the song Mixed Emotions, but that is pretty much about it. Thanks for sharing your story and these songs.

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  7. you’ve been noodling around in bands for longer than I realized. Great story! As for this song, the sax near the beginning was a decent surprise, it sounds ok all in all but doesn’t really go anywhere if you know what I mean. ‘She Was Hot’, hadn’t heard that in a long, long time and it was never high on my list of their songs, this listen kind of reminds me why. Not their strongest time span the mid-’80s!

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    1. I liked this song but not She Was Hot as much…I love the video though. I didn’t like Undercover very much at the time…the album sounded like it was influenced by a dance club.

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      1. Strangely I liked the song ‘Undercover of the Night’ – I know most Stones fans did not – but other tracks I heard from it weren’t great , and I don’t think many figure ‘Dirty Work’ was a brilliant record either. they did rebound some though with ‘Steel Wheels’. Those mid-’80s albums, you may be right – maybe they’re chasing trends too much and getting away from being themselves on them.

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      2. As I was saying…Mick going into too many dance clubs for ideas…it showed.

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      3. Yeah, the 80s era Stones were more troughs than peaks. The Glimmer Twins were still looking at the Mirror ball scene rather than just doing the good ol’ Rock and Roll.

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  11. Max, I’m much more interested in the first song, and in the fantastic video. From wiki, about the video:
    “A memorable music video was produced for the song, featuring actress Anita Morris who semi-comically tempts each member of the band. The version of the song used in the video includes an extra three-line verse at the 32 second mark which has never been included in any commercial release of the song. The audio is also noticeably sped up in the video by approximately eight percent or a 1.3 semitone increase in pitch. As with its predecessor, “Undercover of the Night,” the music video for “She Was Hot” was directed by Julien Temple, and was also edited for broadcast on MTV. ”
    I couldn’t help but notice some possible cameos in that jumble of tempted men, including possibly George Harrison as the guy with the pipe? Wish I could find more info about the cast.

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  12. Its a nice enough ballad but as was noted in the above comments it doesn’t go anywhere. That said, the longer it goes on the more of a slow groove it has! As a Stones fan I guess I can find enough to keep me interested.

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  13. I have to agree with you “Think I’m Going Mad” is better than “She Was Hot.” I remember the latter from the time it came out, along with “Undercover of the Night.” Back then I felt both of these songs were reasonably enjoyable, but they just don’t hold up well to me today.

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    1. No they don’t…it’s something about the B side that I liked. Not my favorite Stones song to say the least but I like it…it grew on me. She Was Hot…was alright but it wasn’t their best stuff.

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