| "Jumpin' Jack Flash" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Picture sleeve used for most singles outside of the UK | ||||
| Single bythe Rolling Stones | ||||
| B-side | "Child of the Moon" | |||
| Released |
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| Recorded | 20 April 1968 | |||
| Studio | Olympic, London | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:42 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Miller[5] | |||
| Rolling Stones UK singles chronology | ||||
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| Rolling Stones US singles chronology | ||||
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| Alternative release | ||||
 One of A-side labels of the original UK single | ||||
| Music videos | ||||
| "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (With Makeup) onYouTube | ||||
| "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (No Makeup) onYouTube | ||||
"Jumpin' Jack Flash" is a song by the Englishrock bandthe Rolling Stones, released as a non-album single in 1968. Called "supernaturalDelta blues by way ofSwinging London" byRolling Stone magazine,[6] the song was seen as the band's return to theirblues roots after thebaroque pop andpsychedelia heard on their preceding albumsAftermath (1966) (which did feature some blues songs),Between the Buttons (1967) and especiallyTheir Satanic Majesties Request (1967).[4][7] One of the group's most popular and recognisable songs, it has been featured in films and covered by numerous performers, notablyThelma Houston,Aretha Franklin,Tina Turner,Peter Frampton,Johnny Winter,Leon Russell andAlex Chilton. To date, it is the band's most-performed song; they have played it over 1,100 times in concert.[8]
One of the band’s most popular songs, it was ranked number 144 onRolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2021.
Written byMick Jagger andKeith Richards,[5] recording on "Jumpin' Jack Flash" began during theBeggars Banquet sessions of 1968. Regarding the song's distinctive sound, guitarist Richards has said:
I used aGibson Hummingbird acoustic tuned toopen D, six string. Open D or open E, which is the same thing – same intervals – but it would be slackened down some for D. Then there was acapo on it, to get that really tight sound. And there was another guitar over the top of that, but tuned toNashville tuning. I learned that from somebody inGeorge Jones' band in San Antonio in 1964. The high-strung guitar was an acoustic, too. Both acoustics were put through a Philips cassette recorder. Just jam the mic right in the guitar and play it back through an extension speaker.[9]
Richards has stated that he and Jagger wrote the lyrics while staying at Richards' country house, when they were awoken one morning by the clumping footsteps of his gardener Jack Dyer walking past the window. Surprised, Jagger asked what it was, and Richards responded: "Oh, that's Jack – that's jumpin' Jack." The lyrics evolved from there.[9][10] Humanities scholarCamille Paglia[11] speculated that the song's lyrics might have been partly inspired byWilliam Blake's poem "The Mental Traveller": "She binds iron thorns around his head / And pierces both his hands and feet / And cuts his heart out of his side / To make it feel both cold & heat." The main riff is similar to their song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
Jagger said in a 1995 interview withRolling Stone that the song arose "out of all the acid ofSatanic Majesties. It's about having a hard time and getting out. Just a metaphor for getting out of all the acid things."[12] And in a 1968 interview, Brian Jones described it as "getting back to ... the funky, essential essence" following the psychedelia ofTheir Satanic Majesties Request.[7]
In his autobiographyStone Alone,Bill Wyman has said that he came up with the song's distinctive main guitar riff, working on it withBrian Jones andCharlie Watts before it was ultimately credited to Jagger and Richards.[13] InRolling with the Stones, Wyman credits Jagger with vocals, Richards with guitar and bass guitar, Jones with guitar, Watts with drums and himself with organ on the track with producer Jimmy Miller adding backing vocals.
According to the bookKeith Richards: The Biography byVictor Bockris, the line "I was born in a crossfire hurricane", was written by Richards, and refers to his being born amid the bombing and air raid sirens ofDartford, England, in 1943 during World War II.
Twopromotional videos were made that May: one of a live performance and another of the band lip syncing in makeup.
Released on 24 May 1968 in the UK byDecca Records and on 31 May in the US byLondon Records,[a] "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (backed with "Child of the Moon") was the band's first UK release in five and a half months – this marked the group's longest gap between releases in the country up to that point.[14][15] A major commercial success, it reached the top of theUK Singles Chart and peaked at number three in the United States.[5][15] It topped the USCashbox chart for one week[16] and theWLS 890 Hit Parade for four weeks.[17] Some early London Records US pressings and Decca single in the UK of the single had a technical flaw in them: at about 2:10 about halfway through the song's instrumentalbridge, the speed of the master tape slows down for a moment, before coming back to speed. The first Rolling Stones album on which the song appeared was their 1969 compilation album,Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2), one year after the single was released. Since then, it has appeared on numerous other Stones compilations, includingHot Rocks 1964–1971 (1971),Rolled Gold: The Very Best of the Rolling Stones (1975),Singles Collection: The London Years (1989),Forty Licks (2002),GRRR! (2012), andStray Cats, a collection of singles and rarities included as part ofThe Rolling Stones in Mono box set (2016).
The Rolling Stones have played "Jumpin' Jack Flash" during every tour since its release. It is the song the band have played in concert most frequently,[18][19] and has appeared on the concert albumsGet Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (recorded 1969, released 1970),Love You Live (recorded 1976, released 1977),Flashpoint (recorded 1990, released 1991),Shine a Light (recorded 2006, released 2008),Hyde Park Live (2013),Totally Stripped (recorded 1995, released 2016), andHavana Moon (2016), as well as, notably,The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (recorded 1968, released 1996), featuring the only released live performance of the song withBrian Jones. Unlike most of that show, Jones is heard clearly, mixing with Richards's lead throughout the song. The intro is not usually played in concert and instead the song begins with the main riff. The open E or open D tuning of the rhythm guitar on the studio recording has also not been replicated in concert (with the possible exception of the 1968NME awards show, no recording of which has ever surfaced). In the performance filmed forThe Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus in December 1968, Richards used standard tuning; and ever since the band's appearance atHyde Park on 5 July 1969, he has played it inopen G tuning with acapo on the fourth fret. Richards is particularly fond of the song's main riff, often crediting it as his favorite among all of his most revered guitar riffs.
In March 2005,Q magazine placed "Jumpin' Jack Flash" at number 2 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.VH1 placed it at number 65 in its show100 Greatest Rock Songs.[20]
It has placed at 144 onRolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[21] and 7th on their list of the band's best songs.[22]
A cover version of the song, performed by Billy Fogarty, was composed to serve as the final mission of theNintendo DSrhythm gameElite Beat Agents, in which the titular protagonists use their dancing skills to rally humanity against alien invaders who plan to outlaw all forms of music.[23]
The opening line "I was born in a crossfire hurricane" contributed the name of theFBI's 2016Crossfire Hurricane investigation intolinks between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia.[24]
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon,[25] except where noted:
The Rolling Stones
Additional musicians
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
Certifications[edit]
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| "Jumpin' Jack Flash" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Cover art, featuring Richards on the right | ||||
| Single byAretha Franklin | ||||
| from the albumAretha | ||||
| B-side | "Integrity" | |||
| Released | 9 September 1986 (1986-9-9) (US) | |||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:26 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jagger/Richards | |||
| Producer(s) | Keith Richards | |||
| Aretha Franklin singles chronology | ||||
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In 1986, the song's title was used in the end credits for theWhoopi Goldberg filmJumpin' Jack Flash. In addition to the Rolling Stones' version of the song, the film featuresAretha Franklin's cover version in whichRonnie Wood and Richards play guitar, and Franklin plays piano. This version is characterised by influences from the popularblack music scene. Only the Rolling Stones' version is on the film's original soundtrack recording.
| Chart (1986–87) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard Hot 100 | 21 |
| USBillboardHot Black Singles | 20 |
| UK Singles Chart[51] | 58 |
| German Singles Chart | 42 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 19 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 48 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 14 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 43 |
