The Rolling Stones 1971

There are so many good acoustic songs out there but I have to wonder how they cross the line, into rock, and still be acoustic, as rock music almost seems to imply the addition of electric guitars. I do think this one can be called rock music.

As I read the info from Mick and Keith on how it came about, I am 99% sure I read a story in Keith’s autobiography, “Life,” where he talks about having overdosed and being in a hospital bed when the lyrics came to him. Honestly, it doesn’t matter that much, but in a way it does, because when I read that in the book, it made the song all the more dear to me. Now that I read the other stuff I know at least part of what is said in one place or the other is a lie. That said, as much drugs as Keith was doing back then, especially when he was partying it up with Gram, it’s not surprising he can’t remember how the song was written.  When people make stuff up because they can’t remember, it’s called confabulation, and I think this might be a prime example of it.  In any case I love the song and it is one of my favorites of theirs.

From wiki:

“Wild Horses” is a song written by the British rock band the Rolling Stones. It was first released in 1970 by The Flying Burrito Brothers as the Stones didn’t think the demo was worth recording fully. It was subsequently recorded by the Stones for their 1971 album Sticky Fingers when they felt it was worth reconsideration. It was also released on 12 June 1971 as a single, with “Sway” as its B-side.

Rolling Stone ranked the song number 334 in its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list in 2004 and number 193 in its 2021 update.

In the liner notes to the 1993 Rolling Stones compilation album Jump Back, Jagger states, “I remember we sat around originally doing this with Gram Parsons, and I think his version came out slightly before ours. Everyone always says this was written about Marianne but I don’t think it was; that was all well over by then. But I was definitely very inside this piece emotionally.” Richards says, “If there is a classic way of Mick and me working together this is it. I had the riff and chorus line, Mick got stuck into the verses. Just like “Satisfaction”, “Wild Horses” was about the usual thing of not wanting to be on the road, being a million miles from where you want to be.”

Originally recorded over a three-day period at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama during 2–4 December 1969 while Albert and David Maysles were shooting for the film that was titled Gimme Shelter, the song was not released until over a year later due to legal wranglings with the band’s former label. Along with “Brown Sugar”, it is one of the two Rolling Stones compositions from Sticky Fingers (1971) over which ABKCO Records co-owns the rights along with the Stones. It features session player Jim Dickinson on piano, Richards on electric guitar and 12-string acoustic guitar, and Mick Taylor on acoustic guitar. Taylor uses Nashville tuning, in which the EADG strings of the acoustic guitar are strung one octave higher than in standard tuning. Ian Stewart was present at the session, but refused to perform the piano part on the track due to the prevalence of minor chords, which he disliked playing.

Childhood living
Is easy to do
The things you wanted
I bought them for you

Graceless lady
You know who I am
You know I can’t let you
Slide through my hands

Wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away

I watched you suffer
A dull aching pain
Now you’ve decided
To show me the same

No sweeping exit
Or offstage lines
Could make me feel bitter
Or treat you unkind

Wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away

I know I’ve dreamed you
A sin and a lie
I have my freedom
But I don’t have much time

Faith has been broken
Tears must be cried
Let’s do some living
After we die

Wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses
We’ll ride them some day

Wild horses
Couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses
We’ll ride them some day

Wild Horses Lyrics as written by Mick Jagger Keith Richards

Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. This week, Jim wants us to share an “unplugged” rock song.