DUTC#35 September 17, 2023

Feature Song: “Wild Horses”

 I know that I just featured a Stones song (DUTC#32 – “Sympathy For The Devil”) a few weeks ago, but I keep finding these intriguing covers of one of my favorite bands from my, shall we say, “formative” years, so there you go. As such, consider this the second installment of what is turning into a mini feature of a group; there are two more queued up over the next couple of months, so stay tuned. Sugar Lime Blue are also not new to this blog, as I featured them in DUTCs 6 and 10 doing amazing covers of “Dear Mr. Fantasy” (Traffic), and “Can’t Find My Way Home” (Blind Faith).

The song, “Wild Horses,” has an interesting back story as many of the Stones’ early songs do, which makes sense given the era during which they were being written. While most will know this as a Stones song, they were not the first to record it. That honor belongs to The Flying Burrito Brothers who recorded it a year earlier (1970) for their album; Burrito Deluxe. As the story goes, Mick and Keith had become friends with Gram Parsons when he was touring with The Byrds, and they happened to be “sitting around” when they began working on this song. After doing a demo of the song, the Stones didn’t think it was worth recording; however, they changed their minds shortly after and it appeared on their 1971 album, Sticky Fingers.

They began working on the song in 1969 and, according to some sources, this was a dramatic year for them, which is really saying something, as the previous six years were not exactly a “walk in the park.” They had started working on Let It Bleed; however, absent from these sessions was guitarist, Brain Jones, whose “perpetually stoned state rendered him useless when he was present.” The band auditioned then 20-year-old guitarist, Mick Taylor, and hired him. Jones, who had founded the Stones was asked to leave the band, and one month later he was found drowned in his swimming pool. Marianne Faithful, Jagger’s girlfriend at the time, was greatly impacted by Jones’s death and she and Jagger flew to Australia, missing the funeral. Later that year, Richards became a father for the first time.

With all these events in the background, the prospect of getting back to play for American audiences was a blessing, but it came with drawbacks, as Richards was having a hard time thinking about leaving his newborn. This separation anxiety was on his mind when he picked up his 12-string guitar and found himself strumming a forlorn, minor-key chord progression and, as he was shaping the chorus, two words suddenly presented themselves: “Wild Horses.” As Richards has stated: “It was one of those magical moments when things come together, you just dream it, and suddenly it’s all in your hands. Once you’ve got the vision in your mind of wild horses, I mean, what’s the next phrase you’re going to use? It’s got to be ‘couldn’t drag me away.’” Once Richards passed on what he had done to Jagger, the rest of the song came together; as he was also dealing with his own separation anxiety when Faithful left him. Although Jagger has claimed that the song is not about Faithful, it is hard to ignore the tenderness in his voice as he sings, not to mention lines like: “Graceless lady/You know who I am;” or, “You know I can’t let you/Slide through my hands.” If any more proof is needed as to who the song is about there is: “I watched you suffer/A dull aching pain/Now you’ve decided/To show me the same.”

Given all of this, it is not the easiest song to cover unless you can channel some of that pain and longing into your voice and both The Flying Burrito Brothers and Sugar Lime Blue do exactly that. Enjoy.

The Flying Burrito Brothers “Wild Horses” 1970

The Rolling Stones “Wild Horses” acoustic version 1971

Sugar Lime Blue “Wild Horses” 2018

Los Angeles 2023