There have been a lot of them released over 60 years or so of the band’s existence, so it’s understandable if some of The Rolling Stones‘ singles, even ones that were hits at the time, don’t get discussed too much these days. “Undercover of the Night,” which made it to the Top 10 in the U.S. in 1983, certainly has sunk below the radar over time.
What is the song about? And how did it reflect the widening chasm between Stones’ leaders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards about the direction of the band? Here is how “Undercover of the Night” came together, and what it all meant.
Mick and Keith at Odds
The Rolling Stones’ output for the period between 1977 and 1986 can be generally characterized as a tug of war between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, as both tried to pull the band’s artistic tendencies toward them. Generally speaking, Jagger wanted the band to stay modern with their sound, while Richards thought they were better served sticking to their blues-rock roots.
On the 1984 album Undercover, Jagger clearly held more sway in this long-standing battle. Richards, who by that time had largely shaken off the personal problems that had caused him to step back a bit on previous albums, became frustrated to find himself in a mitigated position.
Because the band didn’t reach back into their archives of unrecorded material for Undercover, it meant all the songs were fresh. And, for whatever reason, Jagger’s work seemed to win the day how the album ended up sounding. That was certainly true when it came to the lyrical and musical specifics of “Undercover of the Night,” the album’s lead single.
Going “Undercover”
In the liner notes to the Stones’ 1993 greatest hits compilation Jump Back: The Best of the Rolling Stones, Jagger explained how the song derived both from current events and a cult novel:
“I’m not saying I nicked it, but this song was heavily influenced by William Burroughs’ Cities of the Red Night, a freewheeling novel about political and sexual repression. It combines a number of different references to what was going down in Argentina and Chile. I think it’s really good but it wasn’t particularly successful at the time because songs that deal overtly with politics never are that successful, for some reason.”
Jagger came up with the musical backing for “Undercover of the Night” with Charlie Watts when the two were in a room with a single timpani drum. That’s how the walloping drum part came into existence. That set the relentless rhythmic tone for the song, while some cool phasing effects also played into the finished product. Noticeably sparse on the track: electric guitars, more evidence that Richards wasn’t much a part of its creation.
What is the Meaning of “Undercover of the Night”?
Jagger based “Undercover of the Night” on the dangerous scenarios prevalent at that time in Central and South America, where military troops often rounded up the people they perceived as enemies indiscriminately. The violence is shocking: The opposition’s tongue is cut in two / Keep off the street ’cause you’re in danger.
In juxtaposition to that, he describes the lurid nightlife in these settings: Down in the bars, the girls are painted blue / Done up in lace, done up in rubber. These heady pleasures can’t disguise the threat: And people whisper, people double-talk / Once-proud fathers act so humble. For someone in the middle of all this, it can be maddening: The smell of sex, the smell of suicide / All these dreams, things I can’t keep inside.
The best that anyone can do in such a scenario is hide away: Undercover, keep all I say / Undercover of the night. “Undercover of the Night” was an attempt by The Rolling Stones to keep it in the here and now instead of resting on old laurels. And it succeeded in those goals, even if it divided “The Glimmer Twins” in the process.
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