Almost Hear You Sigh
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| “Almost Hear You Sigh” | |||||
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| Single by Rolling Stones from the album Steel Wheels |
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| Released | 1990 | ||||
| Format | CD, 7" | ||||
| Recorded | August 1987 – May 1988 March-June 1989 |
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| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 4 min 37 s | ||||
| Label | Rolling Stones/Virgin | ||||
| Writer(s) | Jagger/Richards/Jordan | ||||
| Producer | Chris Kimsey & The Glimmer Twins | ||||
| Rolling Stones singles chronology | |||||
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"Almost Hear You Sigh" is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1989 album Steel Wheels.
Written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Steve Jordan, the song was first written and recorded for possible inclusion on Keith Richards' first solo album Talk is Cheap. A year or so later Richards played the track for Chris Kimsey and Mick Jagger while recording in Montserrat from March through June for the Steel Wheels sessions. Jordan's writing credit stems from his work with Richards in 1987 and 1988.
Jagger changed some of the lyrics as evidenced in comparison to popular bootlegs of the Richards-Jordan collaboration, but the mood and melody of the song remain in the Stones track. Charlie Watts adds a thumping bass march to the later song where Richards' sharp, slashing, trademark rhythm guitar is the main percussion on the slightly slower, meandering jam that extended to ten minutes with uncredited piano playing. Richards phrasing after the signature "I can almost hear you sigh" was loose lines like "I can almost smell your hair". Jagger's heart-weary additions are reflected in:
| “ | I can feel your tongue on mine, Silky smooth like wine, I'm living with those memories, That's all that's left of you and me | ” |
Released as the album's third single in January 1990, "Almost Hear You Sigh" made it halfway up the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, going slightly higher in the UK, and number one for one week on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. The fact that the B-side was a Steel Wheels retread, "Break the Spell", and the Stones comeback 1989 North American tour had finished in December, the song got limited radio air play. A video shot in black and white over the band's separate family Christmas vacations is most memorable for being the only video where no group member is shown together on screen.
The song has been performed rarely since its release, being featured only on the Urban Jungle Tour leg of the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour. It has failed to yet appear on any Stones compilation offerings.
