- This is about political corruption in Central America. The US was supporting Nicaraguan rebels (Contras) amid great controversy. It's a rare political song by The Stones.
- A lot of production went into the track. There is a great deal of echo and phasing on the drums and guitars.
- Mick Jagger wrote almost all of this. He said of the song: "I'm not saying I nicked it, but this song was heavily influenced by William Burroughs' Cities Of The Red Night, a free-wheeling novel about political and sexual repression. It combines a number of different references to what was going down in Argentina and Chile. I think it's really good but it wasn't particularly successful at the time because songs that deal overtly with politics never are that successful, for some reason."
- Chuck Leavell, formerly of the Allman Brothers Band, played keyboards. He worked with The Stones throughout the eighties.
- The video portrayed Jagger as a rebel who is shot by Central American forces. It aired on MTV, but was banned by other stations due to it's violence.
- This was the first single from Undercover.
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