Who is The Rolling Stones song ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ about?
The touring life isn’t always for everyone. There are a lot of upsides that come with seeing the world and going to distant countries that no one usually sees in their lifetime, but being that animated every hour of the day is sure to do a number on someone who considers themselves mild-mannered. Before people knew what that fatigue even was, Mick Jagger captured everything perfectly when penning The Rolling Stones’ classic, ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’.
When looking at the group’s touring lifestyle, everything started to reach a head once they started gaining traction from ‘Satisfaction’. The Beatles had kicked down the door for the British Invasion, and considering their tough look compared to the Fab Four, The Stones were just as in demand with the punk kids over in the States as they were with the girls in the audience.
For all of the great tunes about life as a rock and roll star, the song ‘19th Nervous Breakdown was a bit of a different beast. There had been Stones songs before that tackled the darker subjects of life, but this was one of the first that was practically a cry for help from Jagger out to the rest of the world.
Compared to the first Stones tunes, this was one of the first times where the singer seemed genuinely vulnerable after spending one too many nights in hotel rooms doing whatever he pleased. While The Stones were more likely to write about other people being the problem in their lives, the lyrics to ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ were written about Jagger’s inability to cope with the road.
So, what are the lyrics to ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ actually about?
Looking through the lyric sheet, Jagger is clearly talking to someone who has been on the road for way too long. Compared to most people of his age, the lead singer had seen a lot more of the world in far too few years, and given the fact that he wasn’t able to appreciate everything, it’s easy to see why he would think that some pieces of life are passing him by and he might not have any control over it.
Then again, the fact that the whole has been going on over 19 times should really tell the listener something about what Jagger was going through. The Beatles may have been singing about working like dogs a few months prior, but while John Lennon eventually lashed out through the song ‘Help!’, Jagger was far from in the greatest shape by comparison.
But who helped Mick Jagger write the song?
While most rock stars don’t show those kinds of emotions, Jagger seized on the song title immediately and finished it off with Keith Richards, saying, “We had just done five weeks hectic work in the States, and I said, ‘Dunno about you blokes, but I feel about ready for my nineteenth nervous breakdown.’ We seized on it at once as a likely song title. Then Keith and I worked on the number at intervals during the rest of the tour. Brian, Charlie and Bill egged us on – especially as they liked having the first two words starting with the same letter.”
Although the track will never be remembered along the same lines as ‘Satisfaction’ or many of their other classics, ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’ had started the legacy that came with various on-the-road songs. From Bob Seger’s ‘Turn the Page’ to Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’, every rocker who has talked about life living out of a tour bus probably owes Jagger unintentional royalties for pinching the same idea.
