- #The rolling stones 19th nervous breakdown series#
- #The rolling stones 19th nervous breakdown torrent#
The cleverest musical trick of "19th Nervous Breakdown" is saved for last: as the chorus is repeated on the fadeout, Bill Wyman plays nerve-shredding descending bass lines that sound like fighter planes swooping in for the kill. Most likely, it was inspired by the jet-setting socialites the Rolling Stones began to hang out with - and date, and sometimes marry - as their fame and notoriety gave them access to upper-class debutantes who wanted some of the debauchery the Stones sang about for themselves. As in many a Stones song, the track's catchiness belies the sheer nastiness of the attitude. Also clever are the slightly more lighthearted bridges, which end in particularly cruel stop-start mimics of how nothing seems to work for the girl in question, climaxing with eerily descending high harmonies that illustrate her repeated descents into mental collapse. A particularly enervating fuzz guitar riff follows, as the Stones chant with increasing authority about how the nervous breakdown's on its way, finally ending with a full-out exclamation confirming that it has arrived. The onset of the nervous breakdowns habitually suffered by the song's subject is deftly mirrored by the song's dramatic pause after the lines instructing her to stop and look around. The unsympathetic sarcasm with which the lyrics are delivered makes it clear that the group does not empathize with the tune's target more likely, they're tired of hearing about these problems, and would just as soon leave her to work out her problems herself.
#The rolling stones 19th nervous breakdown torrent#
"19th Nervous Breakdown" is a torrent of images, put in the mouth of a girl by narrator Mick Jagger, bewailing how the spoiled brat has been the victim of an uncaring, wealthy family and unable to deal with the pressures of the modern, urban world.
The lower-toned of the riffs in the opening instrumental bars, it has rarely been mentioned, is very similar to the one featured in the Bo Diddley song "Diddley Daddy" - a song that the Rolling Stones were undoubtedly familiar with, as they had recorded it in early 1963 as part of an unreleased demo tape (and has been widely available, as part of that tape, on bootlegs since the 1970s). In musical terms, the song brilliantly reflects the neurosis depicted by the lyrics, with edgy, dueling guitar riffs that form the backbone of the track. And, as is the case in much of the Rolling Stones' mid-'60s work, the neurotic character is not the accusatory narrator, but the girl that the song is directed toward.
As the title indicates, it's also one of their most neurotic character sketches.
#The rolling stones 19th nervous breakdown series#
Another in a series of white-hot classic singles reeled off by the Rolling Stones in the mid-'60s, "19th Nervous Breakdown" was a number two hit in both the U.S.