Jumpin' Jack Flash
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the song. For the movie, see Jumpin' Jack Flash (film).
| "Jumpin' Jack Flash" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by The Rolling Stones | ||
| Released | 1968 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | 1968 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 3 min 43 s | |
| Label | Decca/ABCKO | |
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Miller | |
| Chart positions | ||
| The Rolling Stones singles chronology | ||
| "She's A Rainbow" (1967) |
"Jumpin'Jack Flash" (1968) |
"Street Fighting Man" (1968) |
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by English rock and roll band The Rolling Stones, released as a single in 1968. The song is seen by many as a return to the Stones' blues roots after vast experiments on previous works like Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request. One of the Stones' most popular and recognizable works, "Jumpin Jack Flash" has been featured in countless films and the Stones live albums Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, Love You Live, and Flashpoint.
[edit] Inspiration and recording
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, recording on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" began during the Beggars Banquet sessions of 1968 (although it would not be released on that album.) On the song's trademark opening, guitarist Richards said:
| “ | I used a Gibson Hummingbird acoustic tuned to open D, six string. Open D or open E, which is the same thing - same intervals - but it would be slackened down some for D. Then there was a capo on it, to get that really tight sound. And there was another guitar over the top of that, but tuned to Nashville tuning. I learned that from somebody in George Jones' band in San Antonio in 1964. The high-strung guitar was an acoustic, too. Both acoustics were put through a Philips cassette recorder. Just jam the mic right in the guitar and play it back through an extension speaker. | ” |
Keith Richards is said to be playing the bass line on this song instead of Bill Wyman.
When played live at the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus Richards played the riff in standard tuning, and ever since the band's 1969 American Tour he played the riff in open G tuning with a capo on the fourth fret.
In his 1990 autobiography, Stone Alone, bassist Bill Wyman claimed to have come up with the song's distinctive main guitar riff on an organ without being credited for it.
While the song is probably as familiar as a rock classic can be, its lyrics have drawn comparatively little commentary. This might be because the dense instrumental mix and Jagger's stylized delivery render them almost unintelligible. They describe frightening scenes of desolation and violence, perhaps a rite of passage for the protagonist named in the title:
| “ | I was drowned, I was washed up and left for dead. I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled. Yeah, yeah, I frowned at the crumbs of a crust of bread. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was crowned with a spike right through my head | ” |
One interpretation of the lyrics relates, as allegory, the lifetime of hardships experienced by the song's protagonist to the lengthy legal difficulties that the Rolling Stones had recently experienced. The opening lyrics of "I was born in a crossfire hurricane" refer to being born in war torn World War II Britain. The title phrase is reminiscent of a figure common in blues, "John the Conqueror," to which it might be an allusion. It is also said that the term is the nickname of Scottish politician Jack McConnell. One story revealed by Richards (during a 2003 interview on on The Rolling Stones Four Flicks DVD) has he and Jagger writing the song after being awoken one morning while staying at Richards' country house to the sound of a man walking past the window. When Jagger asked who the man was, Richards responded "Oh, that's Jack, that's jumpin' Jack," Richards' gardener. The song grew from there. Jack Flash is said to be a slang term for heroin in Britain.
[edit] Release and aftermath
Released on May 24, 1968, "Jumpin' Jack Flash" flew to the top of the UK charts and to number three in the United States. The B-side to both the US and UK single was "Child of the Moon (rmk)." The first Rolling Stones album on which the song appeared was their greatest hits album, Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2), from 1969, one year after the single was released.
Some early London Records USA pressings of the single had a technical flaw in them. About halfway through the song's instrumental bridge, the speed of the master tape slows down for a moment, then comes back to speed.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Jumpin' Jack Flash" at number 2 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In 2004, Rolling Stone named the song the 124th greatest song of all time in its list of the "500 Greatest Songs Of All Time". VH1 placed it at 65 on its show "100 Greatest Rock Songs".
The song's popularity has led it to be used in many films and television shows. In the 1986, the song's title was used for the Whoopi Goldberg film Jumpin' Jack Flash. In the film the song is said to be in the key of B-flat, but in reality it is recorded in the key of B. For unknown reasons, the officially released version plays somewhat slower, thus changing the key from B to in between B-flat and B. Aretha Franklin recorded a cover version of the song, which was produced by Keith Richards, who also played the lead guitar. The recording also featured Ron Wood.
In the Hunter S. Thompson book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Thompson alludes to the live version that appears on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert with the line "I think I busted a button on my trousers". "Jumpin' Jack Flash" is last song played in the film of that book, as the main character, Raoul Duke (played by Johnny Depp), drives out of Las Vegas and into the sunset. This song is omitted from the official motion picture soundtrack as the band allows their songs for use in media, yet does not allow inclusion on soundtracks/compilations.
At the end of the Judging Amy episode Human Touch, Amy and Peter sing the song with Peter playing acoustic guitar.
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is one of the alternate identities of Captain Trips, a character in the Wild Cards series of novels.
Versions of the song were released by many other groups. Some better-known versions are by Leon Russell (from The Concert for Bangladesh), Peter Frampton (from Frampton Comes Alive!), Johnny Winter and Boyce & Hart; there are lesser-known versions by The Four Tops, Bon Jovi, The Moog Machine, Ananda Shankar, Motörhead, Alex Chilton, Guns N' Roses, Rodney Crowell and The Vibrators.
Baseball player Jack Wilson, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, uses the song as his walk-up music.
Sleaze Rock band Vains Of Jenna released a cover of the song in 2005.
A cover version of the song is used as the basis of the final stage in the 2006 rhythm game Elite Beat Agents. In the game, the song is sped up, and is more lively than the original. The final stage shows the agents and all characters from previous levels banding together to ward off music-hating aliens, after the Agents have managed to extricate themselves from certain doom.
