How Emotional Rescue Got Its Name — and Jagger's Falsetto Peak

The Rolling Stones’ 1980 album Emotional Rescue took its title from the album’s opening track, which also happens to be the most famous example of Mick Jagger singing in a full falsetto voice. Jagger said the phrase “emotional rescue” came to him as a tongue-in-cheek description of the kind of romantic savior role he was writing about — a love song wrapped in a disco-tinged groove.

The title track is the one: Jagger pushes his voice into a high, almost breathy falsetto for the chorus, a deliberate contrast to his usual rasp. He later admitted it was a studio trick — he recorded the part after a long night and found that singing higher gave the song a desperate, pleading quality. The falsetto became a signature moment on the album, and the phrase “emotional rescue” stuck as a title because it captured the album’s mix of swagger and vulnerability.