Shattered

Composers: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards
Recording date: October-December 1977 & March-April 1978         Recording location: Pathé Marconi Studios, Paris, France & Atlantic Studios, New York, USA
Producers: The Glimmer Twins        Chief engineer: Chris Kimsey
Performed onstage: 1978-79, 1981-82, 1989, 1994-95, 1999, 2002, 2005-07, 2012-13, 2018, 2021, 2023-24


Probable line-up:

Drums: Charlie Watts
Bass drum: Ron Wood
Bass: Ron Wood
Electric guitars: Keith Richards & Ron Wood (incl. solo)
Pedal steel guitar: Ron Wood
Lead vocal: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards & Ron Wood
Congas: Simon Kirke
Percussion: Hassan & Mick Jagger
Handclaps: ---
 

Uh-huh, shattered
Uh-huh, shattered

Love and hope and sex and dreams are still surviving on the street
Look at me, I'm in tatters

I'm shattered
Shattered

Friends are so alarming and my lover's never charming
Life's just a cocktail party - on the street
Big Apple people dressed in plastic bags directing traffic  (shidoobee, shattered)
Some kind of fashion  (shidoobee, shattered)

Laughter, joy and loneliness and sex and sex and sex and sex
Look at me, I'm in tatters

I'm shattered
Shattered

All this chitter chatter, chitter chatter, chitter chatter
About shmatta, shmatta, shmatta* - I can't give it away on 7th Avenue
This town's been wearing tatters, uh-huh  (shidoobee, shattered)
(Shdoobee, shattered)

Work and work for love and sex - an't you hungry for success, success, success, success?
Does it matter?  (shattered)

Does it matter?

Ah look at me, I'm shattered
I'm shattered
Look at me, I'm shattered
Yeah

Pride and joy and greed and sex, that's what makes that town the best
Pride and joy and dirty dreams are still surviving on the street  (shattered)
Look at me, I'm in tatters, yeah  (shattered)

I'm shattered
What does it matter?  (shattered)
Does it matter? Uh-huh  (shattered)
Does it matter? Uh-huh
I'm shattered
Mm-mm, I'm shattered

Huh shibodee, shattered
Huh shibodee, shattered
Shibodee, shattered, shattered 

Don't you know the crime rate's going up, up, up, up, up?  (shibodee, shattered)
To live in this town you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough  (shibodee, shattered)  (shibodee, shattered, shattered)

We've got rats on the west side, bed bugs uptown  (shibodee, shattered)
What a mess, this town's in tatters, I've been shattered  (shibodee, shattered)
My brain's been battered, splattered all over Manhattan  (shibodee, shattered)

Shidobee, shattered, shattered
What I say?
Shidobee, shattered
Shidobee, shattered
Shidobee, shattered

This town's full of money grabbers   (shibodee, shattered)
Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots, uh-huh   (shibodee, shattered)   (shibodee, shattered)

Shidoobie, my brain's been battered   (shibodee, shattered, shattered)
My friends they come around, they flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter   (shibodee, shattered)   (shibodee, shattered)
Pile it up, pile it up, pile it high on the platter  (shibodee, shattered, shattered)

 
(* Susan Kauffmann writes: "The word "shmatta" is Yiddish for "rag", but is specifically used to refer to old, worn clothing.  It evolved to refer to the clothing industry (even high end), thus, if you were involved in the clothing industry, you were in the "shmatta business".  Seventh Avenue in Manhatten is the heart of the Fashion district, which is what the song is referring to..." )
 

 
TrackTalk

That's more like Keith's song. I wrote lyrics.
- Mick Jagger, 1995


That's one of Keith's and me in combination.
- Mick Jagger, 1995


In Shattered, Keith and Woody put a riff down, and all we had was the word shattered. So I just made the rest up and thought it would sound better if it were half-talked.
- Mick Jagger, 1978


Shattered, how I remember it, is Keith had the riff and this line, sha-doo-bie, and I came up with all the melody and the lyrics, all that stuff about New York, after the track was cut.
- Mick Jagger, 2002


(The guitar sound) was the MXR Phaser - the 100 model - and I damped (putting the base of the hand on the base of the strings to stop them from ringing) the guitar. That's what gives it that sound.
- Keith Richards, 1982


We aren't using a pull-string or a lot of slide right now, but Ron plays pedal steel, a bit on Shattered and Far Away Eyes. Country music's a part of the way we do that kind of thing, and it comes through even if it's done with straight guitars sort of pulling up against each other.
- Keith Richards, 1982


Shattered, how I remember it, is Keith had the riff and this line, sha-doo-bie, and I came up with all the melody and the lyrics, all that stuff about New York, after the track was cut.
- Mick Jagger, 2011


And also that element of (early rap) was in Shattered... So it's like a kind of punk beat with this guitar riff that Keith does, and me, it's sort of... what I do is a sort of semi-rap thing. You know it's half talking... I was obviously very influenced by (early rap)...
- Mick Jagger, 2011


Maybe it's just my bad enunciation (laughs) running away with me. And it's also because I like the sound of words, the way the NOISES come out. In Shattered, where you have sha-dooby, I wanted that to be heard, because it's as much a part of the song as the words. Van Morrison and Dylan do that kind of thing. Everyone does it, actually.
- Mick Jagger, 1978, being told he "swallows up" words


Yeah, I think (Shattered is) really good, it's kind of unusual.
- Mick Jagger, 1984



Back to TrackTalk Menu.

Back to Some Girls.

Back to Main Page.