This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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
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
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar, edited by holybias11
Shattered Lyrics as written by Mick Jagger Keith Richards
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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well yea...actually new york is a pretty sexy place....
This song was the Stones' response to the Punk Rock sound of the late 70's. Of course, they adapted to the changing scene in rock music and the Stones wound up with one of the best punk songs ever. typical Stones -- they would bend with the times and then become masters of new music trends. Jagger and Richards loved N.Y. City even if it did have this dirty underbelly they sing of.
What?? No comments? Song is obviously about New York City....anyway...it's a true original, a sound all it's own.....they came up with another good song!
yes...i live about 45 min away from the Big Apple! I'm surprised there arent more comments about this song, because it is sooo good.
gets the feel of fiscally and morally bankrupt NYC in the late 70's back when it was synonomous with getting mugged.
The Stones are good about writing what a pain it is to be a rock star without making you dislike them. Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta indeed.
today you are in more danger from rent than a mugger in nyc
Its about life in the city, the hardships and lifestyles of the people. It, like most stones stuff has a faantastic tune and beat, you either love it or hate, it put my friend off the secound disc of forty licks, which I find hilarious. Its a brillliant song, specially from their 80s stuff. "Pride and Joy and Greed and Sex, thats what makes our town the best!"
@productofthe80s you're an idiot. This song like the album was released in 1978! And as for saying you either love it or hate it that's just stupid. And as for it putting off your friend who cares?!?
rolling stones = extreeeeme love to the 387356 power
My friends they come around they Flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter, flatter Pile it up, pile it high on the platter.
sup, BS?! BRILLIANT. fake people are dumbbb.
I remember listening to Howard Stern list songs that were recommened to not be played on the radio after 9/11. This wasn't one of them but maybe it should have if you consider the brains splattered all over Manhattan line. Just an observation---I would never make light of what happened that day. Anyways--a great song.
great song SHADOOBEE...I kept singing that to this girl and she got really annoyed
@heyjude55 Not quite the same but my kids got pissed I kept singing it and they were yelling at me haha!
@heyjude55 - on that topic, what does Sha oobie mean ( sorry to correct you, I like Sha-Doobie better, lol¸)