Shattered

Album: Some Girls (1978)
Charted: 31
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  • 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 a shattered
    Shattered

    Friends are so alarming
    My lover's never charming
    Life's just a cocktail party on the street
    Big Apple
    People dressed in plastic bags
    Directing traffic
    Some kind of fashion
    Shattered

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

    All this chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter 'bout
    Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta, I can't give it away on 7th Avenue
    This town's been wearing tatters (shattered, sha ooobie shattered)

    Work and work for love and sex
    Ain'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 a shattered, yeah (shattered)

    Pride and joy and greed and sex
    That's what makes our town the best
    Pride and joy and dirty dreams and still surviving on the street
    And look at me, I'm in tatters, yeah
    I've been battered, what does it matter
    Does it matter, uh-huh
    Does it matter, uh-huh, I'm a shattered

    Mmm, I'm shattered, unh
    Sha oobie, shattered, unh
    Sha oobie, shattered
    Sha oobie, shattered, shattered

    Don't you know the crime rate is going up, up, up, up, up
    To live in this town you must be tough, tough, tough, tough, tough!
    You got rats on the West Side
    Bed bugs uptown
    What a mess this town's in tatters, I've been shattered
    My brain's been battered, splattered all over Manhattan

    Sha oobie, shattered, shattered, what say
    Sha oobie, shattered
    Sha oobie, shattered
    Sha oobie, shattered

    Uh-huh, this town's full of money grabbers
    Go ahead, bite the Big Apple, don't mind the maggots, huh
    Sha oobie, my brain's been battered
    My friends they come around they
    Flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter
    Pile it up, pile it up, pile high on the platter Writer/s: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 17

  • Paulie from Minneapolis, Mn UsaLove this song and it's lyrics hve stuck with me. I just watched a Kojak re-run "The Queen of Hearts Is Wild."
    Kojak threatens an abusive gangster: "If you come near her again, I'm gonna splatter your brain.. all over Manhattan." Jagger's lyric "My brain's been battered, splattered all over Manhattan" was recorded eight days after this episode originally aired October 2, 1977.
  • Matt from Richmond, VaI recently heard this song. It is performed live on the recent re release of Tatoo You. I reminded me so much of New York City, in the days before Rudy Giuliani. Post Giuliani, it just does not fit. But after DiBlasio, it is making a strong come back.
  • Anita from WestRegarding the word in the song, 'Shattered', Mick says 'shmackta' NOT 'shmatta'. The next line he says, 'I can't give it away on 7th avenue'. (sex) The preceeding verse he's talking about himself and 'sex, sex, sex and look at me, I been tattered, I'm a shattered'.
    The transcription in the lyrics (tab) here at Songfacts are amateur-ish and someone didn't use headphones OR catch the personal pronouns.
  • Brian from Walingford, CtYet through it all, it is the opening phasey guitar lick that brings you into the song. Mick is great and all ... but Keith is, as they say, they heart and soul of the Stones. I recall Mick playing the intro lick to this on SNL and screwing it up horribly. Anybody find the SNL performance on video?
  • Dejan from Belgrade, SerbiaThe spot is amazing too.
  • Reed from New Ulm, MnYet another great stones song! who doesn't love Mick..? i mean really.
  • Susan from Toronto, CanadaMick Jagger said that when he lived in New York City when he wrote this song, the city was particularly a mess because--among other problem--there was a garbage strike, and the city's sidewalks were piled high with uncollected garbage.
  • Ray from Bonneville Salt Flats, Ut"Turn the bass way up on this song, it's truly amazing. Bill Wyman is possibly the best base player ever.
    - Bill, Erie, PA"

    Wyman's bass on this song is great. Not the best in the world, but very, very good in his subtle but rock-solid way. (I'm a bassist myself.) Most polls rank him in the top 50, but behind bassists like Les Claypool, Jack Bruce, Flea, John Paul Jones, Larry Taylor and Phil Lesh.

    The foundation underlying Jagger's lead vocal on this song is an outstanding piece of mixing and synergy.
  • Susan from Roberts Creek, CanadaMy bad. Bertrand didn't quote me verbatim. I went back and looked at what I said, which was put on the site timeisonourside.com, and it says, "(* 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..." )"
  • Susan from Roberts Creek, CanadaHey, "Bertrand", from Paris, lifted my comment from another site, verbatim! I don't mind being quoted, but one should mention it if you're quoting someone else!
  • Craig from Melbourne, AustraliaOthers credited on this song are "1 Jew, 1 WASP, 1 Moroccan.
  • Mark from Worcester, MiI saw the Stones a couple of years ago. real great seats, but they were a couple hundred bucks...I was shattered...uh-huh...my friends came too...they were shattered...uh-huh...does it matter? I like this song a lot, and I don't take offense at all. I mean c'mon. Mick Jagger campaining against greed? What's he going to promote next; abstinence? Heh...hey I love the guy and he sounds great, but nobody should take him to seriously. Just my opinion.
  • David from Youngstown, OhOne of the Stones' most underrated songs. The Sha-Doobie part at the end is interesting in that the background vocals goes Sha-Doobie, Shattered at times and Sha-Doobie, Shattered, Shattered at other times. You think you've got the tempo by singing along "Sha-Doobie, Shattered, Sha-Doobie, Shattered, Sha-Doobie, Shattered, Shattered." Then further in the song it changes. And Mick's part at the end while this is going on is just incredible. An absolute classic!

  • Bill from Erie, PaTurn the bass way up on this song, it's truly amazing. Bill Wyman is possibly the best base player ever.
  • Ben from Nyc, MsThis song has a large number of meanings amny of the, pretaning to modern American Society
  • Ace from Kansas City, MoI remember the performance on "Saturday Night Live" like it was yesterday. A bunch of my friends and our girlfriends were watching, and when Mick licked Woody's lips, the girls all shrieked in disgust. I also remember Woody just shaking his head and raising his eyebrows, then carrying on. Mick's voice was so hoarse you could barely understand him. I read some comments by the cast members of the show stating that the band over-rehearsed that week, which accounted for the state of Mick's voice.
  • Simon from Brno, Czech RepublicIn this song Ronnie Wood showed his instrumental skills: he played a bass drum,pedal steel guitar,lead electric guitar and bass. And he sang backing vocals.
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