Miracle Worker

Album: SuperHeavy (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • SuperHeavy were a supergroup comprising Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart, white soul singer-songwriter Joss Stone, Indian musician and producer A.R. Rahman, and reggae artist Damian Marley. The band came together after Jagger and Stewart wondered what a band of musicians from different genres would sound like. They announced their formation on May 20, 2011, and released "Miracle Worker" as their debut single on July 7.
  • Each band member is playing a character in the song, which they also portray in the music video. In a Songfacts interview with Dave Stewart, he told the story: "One night I had everybody in the room and I said, 'Hey, why don't we make a song where we try to section and it's about how this crazy mixture of characters meet up.' I wanted to shoot it like in a movie where A.R.'s up in a room somewhere and Damian's coming down the street and he's just been doing some backstreet deal with some ganja, and Mick's coming out of a New Orleans-type of club, and suddenly we all meet and get into a car. If you listen to that one it's quite interesting.

    So everybody came and played their character. Instead of a song song, they were being the character in the movie that we haven't made yet. So that was a great, interesting collaboration."
  • This is one of the more reggae-inflected SuperHeavy songs, reflecting Marley's influence. The group released just the one self-titled album, but had a great time working together.
  • At a pre-release listening at the Jim Henson Studios in Los Angeles, Jagger explained the quintet entered the studio with "ideas, a few guitar riffs and a few snippets of lyrics."

    He added, "It's not my usual sort of way of working. You always want to leave some room for improvisation, but you need to have something, some songs, when you walk into the studio. It evolved very quickly. We sat around with our little pads (writing). We did do a lot of jams but it's all coherent and arranged. We just wrote them quickly."

    In fact, they wrote 29 songs in 10 days together.
  • Jagger and Stewart are friends and they previously worked together on the soundtrack to the 2004 film Alfie, while Stewart produced Stone's LP1 album. Marley joined up with his rhythm section when it was decided they wanted a Jamaican musician, and the quartet met Rahman while recording in Los Angeles.

    "We didn't know what the hell we were doing," Stewart told Rolling Stone. "We were just jamming and making a noise. It was like when a band first starts up in your garage. Sometimes Damien would kick it off and then Joss would sing something on top of it. We might have a 22-minute jam, and it would become a six minute song."
  • The band's name came about after Damian Marley started riffing the term "SuperHeavy," inspired by Muhammad Ali being the Super Heavyweight champion of the world. The became not just the band name, but also their catchphrase.

    "It was Mick who said, 'Why don't we call it SuperHeavy?" recalled Stewart. "We all thought about it for ages and then it sort of stuck."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

Art Alexakis of Everclear

Art Alexakis of EverclearSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer of Everclear, Art is also their primary songwriter.

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Who's Johnny, And Why Does He Show Up In So Many Songs

Who's Johnny, And Why Does He Show Up In So Many SongsSong Writing

For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.