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Highwire (song)

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Wikipedia article




"'Highwire'" is an anti-war song by English rock band the Rolling Stones, featured on their 1991 live album, 'Flashpoint'.John Stewart Bowman Facts about the American wars -- 1998 p716 "But neither that nor another antiwar song, "Highwire," by the Rolling Stones, received much attention. Nor did "Die for Oil, Sucker," by Jello Biafra, formerly of the Dead Kennedys. " Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Highwire" is one of the rare examples of the Stones taking on political issuesin this case, the fall-out from Persian Gulf War.

"Highwire" was released as 'Flashpoint's first single on 1 March 1991. It reached number four in Finland, Norway, and Portugal, number six in the Netherlands, number 10 in Canada, and number 57 in the United States. In the latter country, the single peaked at number one on the 'Billboard' Album Rock Tracks chart for three weeks. An accompanying video directed by Julien Temple was released and depicts the Stones in an industrial set performing the song.

Background



On the song, Jagger said at the time of its release, "It's not about the war. It's about how it started." His brother, Chris Jagger noted "it is a sideways swipe at the policies surrounding the Gulf War". Richards continued, saying, "This is not about the war. It's about how you build up some shaky dictator. You can't build them up, 'cause then you've got to slam them down."

The song's lyrics deconstructs the build-up to the war and criticises the politics behind it:

Personnel



* Mick Jagger vocals

* Keith Richards guitar

* Ron Wood guitar, pedal steel guitar

* Bill Wyman bass guitar

* Charlie Watts drums

Video



The accompanying video showed the band members performing against an industrial backdrop. The video did not feature Bill Wyman, leading to speculation that he had left the band. "Highwire" proved to be his last single release with the band, although his departure was not confirmed until 1993.

Charts



Weekly charts



Year-end charts



See also



* List of anti-war songs

* List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States)

References



Category:The Rolling Stones songs

Category:1991 singles

Category:1991 songs

Category:Music videos directed by Julien Temple

Category:Protest songs

Category:Song recordings produced by JaggerRichards

Category:Songs written by JaggerRichards

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