Jagger's career has spanned over 50 years, and he has been described as "one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of Rock & Roll". Jagger's distinctive voice and performance, along with Keith Richards' guitar style, have been the trademark of the Rolling Stones throughout the career of the band. Jagger gained press notoriety for his admitted drug use and romantic involvements, and was often portrayed as a countercultural figure.
In the late 1960s, Jagger began acting in films (starting with Performance and Ned Kelly), to mixed reception. In 1985, he released his first solo album, She's the Boss. In early 2009, Jagger joined the electric supergroup SuperHeavy. In 1989 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. In 2003, he was knighted for his services to popular music.
While continuing to tour and release albums with the Rolling Stones, Jagger began a solo career. In 1985 he released his first solo album She's the Boss, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bill Laswell, and featuring Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck, Jan Hammer, Pete Townshend and the Compass Point All Stars. It sold fairly well, and the single "Just Another Night" was a Top Ten hit. During this period, he collaborated with the Jacksons on the song "State of Shock", sharing lead vocals with Michael Jackson.
For his own personal contributions in the 1985 Live Aid multi-venue charity concert, he performed at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium; he did a duet with Tina Turner of "It's Only Rock and Roll", and the performance was highlighted by Jagger tearing away Turner's skirt. He also did a cover of "Dancing in the Street" with David Bowie, who himself appeared at Wembley Stadium. The video was shown simultaneously on the screens of both Wembley and JFK Stadiums. The song reached number one in the UK the same year. In 1987 he released his second solo album, Primitive Cool. While it failed to match the commercial success of his debut, it was critically well received. In 1988 he produced the songs "Glamour Boys" and "Which Way to America" on Living Colour's album Vivid. Between 15 and 28 March he had a solo concert tour in Japan (Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka).
Wandering Spirit was the third solo album by Jagger and was released in 1993. It would be his only solo album release of the 1990s. Jagger aimed to re-introduce himself as a solo artist in a musical climate vastly changed from that of his first two albums, She's the Boss and Primitive Cool.
Following the successful comeback of the Rolling Stones' Steel Wheels (1989), which saw the end of Jagger and Richards' well-publicised feud, after acquiring Rick Rubin as co-producer in January 1992 Jagger began recording the album in Los Angeles over seven months until September 1992, recording simultaneously as Richards was making Main Offender.
Jagger would keep the celebrity guests to a minimum on Wandering Spirit, only having Lenny Kravitz as a vocalist on his cover of Bill Withers' "Use Me" and bassist Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers on three tracks. Following the end of the Rolling Stones' Sony Music contract and their signing to Virgin Records, Jagger signed with Atlantic Records (which had signed the Stones in the 1970s) to distribute what would be his only album with the label. Released in February 1993, Wandering Spirit was commercially successful, reaching No.12 in the UK and No.11 in the US.
In 2001 Jagger released Goddess in the Doorway spawning the hit single "Visions of Paradise". In the same year he also joined Keith Richards in the Concert for New York City, a charity concert in response to the 11 September attacks, to sing "Salt of the Earth" and "Miss You".
He celebrated the Rolling Stones' 40th anniversary by touring with them on the year-long Licks Tour in support of their career retrospective Forty Licks double album.
In 2007 the Rolling Stones made US$437 million on their A Bigger Bang Tour, which got them into the current edition of Guinness World Records for the most lucrative music tour.[35] Jagger has refused to say when the band will retire, stating in 2007: "I'm sure the Rolling Stones will do more things and more records and more tours. We've got no plans to stop any of that really."
In October 2009 Jagger and U2 performed "Gimme Shelter" (with Fergie and will.i.am) and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert.
On 20 May 2011 Jagger announced the formation of a new supergroup, SuperHeavy, which includes Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and A.R. Rahman.[38] Jagger has featured on will.i.am's 2011 single "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)". It was officially released to iTunes on 4 February 2012.
On 21 February 2012 Mick Jagger, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck, along with a blues ensemble, performed at the White House concert series before President Barack Obama. When Jagger held out a mic to him, Obama sang twice the line "Come on, baby don't you want to go" of the blues cover 'Sweet Home Chicago', the blues anthem of Obama's home town.
Jagger hosted the season finale of Saturday Night Live on 19 and 20 May 2012, doing several comic skits and playing some of the Rolling Stones' hits with Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, and Jeff Beck.
Jagger performed in 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief with the Rolling Stones on 12 December 2012. The Stones finally played the Glastonbury festival in 2013, headlining on Saturday 29 June. This was followed by two concerts in London's Hyde Park as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations, their first in the Park since their famous 1969 performance. In 2013 Mick Jagger teamed up with his brother Chris Jagger for two new duets to mark the 40th anniversary of Chris' debut album.
Born Michael Phillip Jagger on July 26, 1943, in Dartford, England, he initially met future musical collaborator and Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards while the pair were five years old at primary school, although they would lose contact with each other shortly thereafter. In the intervening years, Jagger discovered a love for music, especially early rock & roll (forming a high school band, Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys), as well as developing an interest in business, attending the London School of Economics.
In 1960 in his late teens, Jagger happened to bump into Richards once again (while the two were waiting on a train platform), and when Richards noticed Jagger had several blues records under his arm, they became friends again and started up the Rolling Stones shortly thereafter. The band (which also included second guitarist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts), merged the rock & roll of Chuck Berry with the raw blues of Muddy Waters, creating a style that would be infinitely copied by others in its wake. By the late '60s, the Rolling Stones were rivaling the Beatles as the world's most popular rock band (with their second guitarist slot rotating from time to time), issuing such classic singles as "Paint It Black," "Time Is on My Side," "Get Off of My Cloud," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," and others. In 1968, they began a string of albums that would go down as some of rock's most quintessential and enduring albums ever recorded -- 1968's Beggar's Banquet, 1969's Let It Bleed, 1970's Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, 1971's Sticky Fingers, and 1972's Exile on Main Street.
During this time, Jagger also tried his hand at acting in movies, landing roles in such flicks as Performance and Ned Kelly (both from 1970). Jagger also became a renowned playboy and jet setter among other celebrities. As a result (as well as the Stones' escalating drug abuse), the quality of the Stones' music began to suffer -- while they remained one of the world's top concert draws and beloved bands, they issued albums of varying quality from the mid-'70s through the early '80s. Around this time, Jagger and Keith Richards conflicted over the musical direction of the band. Jagger wanted to move the band in a more pop and dance-oriented direction while Richards wanted to stay true to the band's rock & roll and blues roots. By 1984, Jagger had begun recording a solo album where he pursued a more mainstream, dance-inflected pop direction. The resulting album, She's the Boss, was released in 1985. Jagger filmed a number of state-of-the-art videos for the album, which all received heavy airplay from MTV, helping propel the record's first single, "Just Another Night," to number 12 and the album to platinum status. "Lucky in Love," the second single from the album scraped the bottom of the Top 40. In the summer of 1985, Jagger and David Bowie recorded a cover of Martha & the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" for the Live Aid organization. The single peaked at number seven on the U.S. pop charts; all the proceeds from its sale were donated to Live Aid.
Around the same time the Rolling Stones released their 1986 album, Dirty Work, Jagger released the theme song from the movie Ruthless People as a single and told Richards that the Stones would not tour to support Dirty Work. For the next few years, Jagger and Richards barely spoke to each other and sniped at the other in the press. During this time, Jagger tried to make his solo career as successful as the Rolling Stones, pouring all of his energy into his second solo album, 1987's Primitive Cool. Although the album received stronger reviews than She's the Boss, only one of the singles -- "Let's Work" -- scraped the bottom of the Top 40 and the record didn't go gold.
Following the commercial failure of Primitive Cool, Jagger returned to the fold of the Rolling Stones in 1989, recording, releasing, and touring the Steel Wheels album. Steel Wheels was a massively successful venture and after the tour was completed, the Stones entered a slow period, where each of the members pursued solo projects. Jagger recorded his third solo album with Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The resulting solo album, Wandering Spirit, was released in 1993 and received the strongest reviews of any of Jagger's solo efforts. The album entered the U.S. charts at number 11 and went gold the year it was released. A year after the release of Wandering Spirit, the Stones reunited and released Voodoo Lounge, supporting the album with another extensive international tour. During the '90s, Jagger also resumed his movie acting career, with roles in Freejack (1992), Bent (1997), and The Man From Elysian Fields (2001).
In 1997, the Stones regrouped for another new album, Bridges to Babylon, and a subsequent tour of stadiums worldwide. 2001 saw the release of Jagger's first solo album in nearly ten years, titled Goddess in the Doorway, which included guest appearances from such rock big names as Pete Townshend, Bono, Lenny Kravitz, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot, Joe Perry, Wyclef Jean, and Rob Thomas.
In addition to his work with the Rolling Stones and solo releases, Jagger has guested on albums by a wide variety of other artists -- the Jacksons, Peter Tosh, Carly Simon, Dr. John, and Living Colour, among others (the latter he helped discover and produced part of their hit debut album, Vivid).
Out of Focus
Mick Jagger Lyrics
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I saw a beautiful morning
Shining on the hill
And I grabbed the cat by the tail
The future with my finger nails
But now I live in fear
It's all out of focus
It's all out of focus
It's all, baby, so unreal
I saw towering spires
I heard beautiful chimes
I heard them peal
I saw visions of grace
I saw a heavenly place
Then it disappeared
Maybe I lied a little bit too much
Maybe I cried a little bit too much
I saw the future just shatter like glass
It's all out of focus
It's all, baby, so unclear
It's all out of focus
And nothing is revealed
I was walking in clouds
Yeah and talking so proud
But I did not hear
Voices singing so loud
Saying you're tumbling down
To the streets of tears
Maybe I lied a little bit too much
Sometime I cried a little bit too much
I saw the future just shatter like glass
It's all out of focus
It's all, baby, so unclear
It's all out of focus
It's all, baby, so unreal
Sometime I lied a little bit too hard
Sometime I cried a little bit too hard
I saw the future just vanish like glass
It's all out of focus
It's all, baby, so unclear
It's all out of focus
And nothing is revealed
The lyrics of "Out of Focus" by Mick Jagger seem to describe a man who once saw a beautiful world full of possibilities and opportunities. He saw a glittering dawn and towering spires, heard beautiful chimes, and saw visions of grace in a heavenly place that suddenly disappeared. Despite his attempts to grasp the future with his finger nails and grab the cat by the tail, he now feels that everything is out of focus and unclear, and he lives in fear. He has lied and cried too much, and the future, which he once saw as shatterproof, has disappeared.
The song seems to be a comment on the disillusionment or loss of innocence that can come with growing up or experiencing a particular life event. The man in the song was once optimistic and full of hope, but now he is frightened and unsure of himself. The future he once saw as bright and clear is now opaque, uncertain, and distorted, like objects seen through a fogged-up lens. The song reflects the idea that sometimes we can get so caught up in our dreams and illusions that we forget to live in the present moment and appreciate what we already have.
Line by Line Meaning
I saw a glittering dawn
I saw a beautiful, peaceful sunrise
I saw a beautiful morning
I saw a lovely, serene morning
Shining on the hill
The sun was illuminating the hill
And I grabbed the cat by the tail
I foolishly took hold of something I couldn't control
The future with my finger nails
I was clinging desperately to ideas about the future
But now I live in fear
But now I live in constant anxiety over what's to come
It's all out of focus
Everything is unclear and hard to understand
It's all, baby, so unclear
Everything is incredibly confusing and hard to decipher
It's all out of focus
Everything is blurry and undefined
It's all, baby, so unreal
Everything feels surreal and unrealistic
I saw towering spires
I saw impressive, tall buildings
I heard beautiful chimes
I heard lovely, melodic sounds
I heard them peal
I heard the bells ring loudly and clearly
I saw visions of grace
I saw beautiful, peaceful scenes
I saw a heavenly place
I saw a place that seemed ethereal and divine
Then it disappeared
But then those visions faded away
Maybe I lied a little bit too much
Perhaps I was dishonest to those around me
Maybe I cried a little bit too much
Perhaps I was overly emotional
I saw the future just shatter like glass
I witnessed my hopes for the future completely shatter, leaving me broken
It's all, baby, so unclear
Everything is so hard to understand and see clearly
And nothing is revealed
None of the answers or reasons behind what's happening are being made clear
I was walking in clouds
I was blissfully unaware of reality, living in my own fantasies and delusions
Yeah and talking so proud
I strutted with confidence, even though I was clueless about what was really going on
But I did not hear
But I didn't listen to the warnings or advice of others
Voices singing so loud
There were many people trying to get through to me, but I refused to listen
Saying you're tumbling down
They were warning me that I was heading towards a downward spiral
To the streets of tears
Leading me towards a place of sadness and despair
Sometime I lied a little bit too hard
There were times when I was excessively dishonest
Sometime I cried a little bit too hard
There were times when I was overly emotional and cried excessively
I saw the future just vanish like glass
My dreams and hopes for the future disappeared in an instant, like glass shattering
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: MICK JAGGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind