How The Rolling Stones Masked Lyrical Criticism of Their Home Country in a Peppy 80s Track

When you hear the catchy-as-heck “doo-doo-doo-doo” refrain and the whooshing rhythm, you might just believe “Hang Fire” is an upbeat song. The track, released by The Rolling Stones in 1981, even made it to the Top 20 in the US as a single.

Videos by American Songwriter

But when you take a deeper listen to the lyrics, you’ll hear stinging social commentary. The Stones aimed that commentary at their country of origin.

A Good “Hang”

Tattoo You returned The Rolling Stones to the pinnacle of the rock and roll world in 1981. The band hadn’t sounded as focused or as devoted to its particular brand of bruising, old-fashioned rock in years. Most folks listening had no idea these songs that sounded so fresh had generally been lying around in the band’s vaults.

Because Mick Jagger and Keith Richards weren’t exactly thick as thieves at the beginning of the 80s, there was little chance that new songs would be forthcoming. Still, the band was planning to go on a big tour that year. They needed a new album to use as a springboard to live shows.

They decided to go back through the past decade’s worth of records they’d made and look for unfinished tracks. In the case of “Hang Fire”, they’d begun working on it for the 1978 album Some Girls. Work continued on the track when they made Emotional Rescue, which arrived in 1980.

Once they decided to dust it off for Tattoo You, not much embellishment was needed other than a set of lyrics. To make that happen, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards slyly and humorously commented on the state of affairs in their native Great Britain.

Exploring the Lyrics of “Hang Fire”

The United Kingdom was suffering through a severe economic downturn at around that time. Unemployment soared, and the government was criticized for helping to cause the problem. The Stones, who’d long had to deal with tax issues in England, saw the opportunity with “Hang Fire” to deliver some lyrical blows.

Mick Jagger begins the song by setting the scene using the florid terms of a sentimentalist, only to undercut that with the hard truth. “In the sweet old country where I come from,” he sings. “Nobody ever works, nothing ever gets done.”

The narrator locates a path out of the doldrums but decides against taking it. “You know marrying money is a full-time job,” he explains. “I don’t need the aggravation, I’m a lazy slob.” In the middle eight, Jagger makes clear the extent of the deprivation suffered by the unemployed. But there’s no solution in sight: “I’m on the dole, we ain’t for hire.”

With no good options, those who do fall into a little bit of money decide that a quick, long-shot fix is the only choice they have. “Yeah, take a thousand dollars, go have some fun,” Jagger brays sarcastically. “Put it all on a hundred-to-one.”

The Rolling Stones didn’t release “Hang Fire” as a single in Great Britain, perhaps realizing that the listeners there might not see the humor in it. It’s a song that pulls no punches, even though it manages that in the catchiest fashion possible.

Photo by Ron Pownall/Getty Images