It was definitely a great surprise the other evening to hear The Rolling Stones‘ 1982 hit, “Hang Fire,” in the the trailer for  The Bounty Hunter, the Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler movie which opens in theaters today.

“Hang Fire” made really made me happy as a kid and I snatched this single up for myself, preferring this infectious Jagger-Richards rock-and-roller to “Start Me Up,” also from Tattoo You. Of course, as a kid, I was paying zero attention to the lyrics, way too young to understand (or care) that the song found the band slagging their British homeland where “nobody ever works, nothing ever gets done.” In fact, it was only yesterday that I looked up the lyrics and also discovered that Mick is singing “Put it on the wire” at the end of the chorus. Yeah, that clarifies absolutely zilch. But 28 years later, “Hang Fire” is still one of my top five Stones songs of the ’80s (not that the decade offered many highlights).

As diehard fans of the band know, Tattoo You was comprised of songs written for earlier albums, but for various reasons had left unfinished. “Hang Fire” was a holdover from the sessions for 1978’s Some Girls. Released as the third single from Tattoo You (the band’s last LP to reach #1 in the U.S.), “Hang Fire” peaked at #20 on May 8, 1982. Hear here:

Purchase The Rolling Stones – “Hang Fire” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.