Wild Horses (Rolling Stones song)
"Wild Horses" is a song by the Rolling Stones from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. It was also released on June 12, 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.
| "Wild Horses" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Japanese single picture sleeve | ||||
| Single by the Rolling Stones | ||||
| from the album Sticky Fingers | ||||
| B-side | "Sway" | |||
| Released | June 12, 1971 (US) | |||
| Recorded | December 1969 – February 1970 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Country rock[1] | |||
| Length | 5:38 | |||
| Label | Rolling Stones (RS-19101) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jagger/Richards | |||
| Producer(s) | Jimmy Miller | |||
| Rolling Stones US singles chronology | ||||
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Inspiration and recording
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."[2]
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.[3]
Music video
A music video, filmed in black and white, was produced to promote an acoustic version in 1995.[4]
Release and legacy
Released as the second US-only single in June 1971, "Wild Horses" reached number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
An early, acoustic take of "Wild Horses" was released on the Deluxe and Super Deluxe versions of the reissued Sticky Fingers album on 8 June 2015.
A reworked studio version recorded in 1995 appeared on the album Stripped. This version was released as a single in early 1996.
The song appears on a handful of the Rolling Stones' concert DVDs: Bridges to Babylon Tour '97–98 (1998), Rolling Stones - Four Flicks (2003), and The Biggest Bang (2007).
Jagger's ex-wife, Jerry Hall, has named "Wild Horses" as her favourite Rolling Stones song.[5]
"Wild Horses" figures prominently in the films Adaptation (2002) and Camp (2003). On television, the song was played during Parks and Recreation in the episode "Li'l Sebastian" (S3: E16) as background music to Li'l Sebastian's memorial service, and was used during the Season 1 finale of Bojack Horseman in the episode "Later".
An instrumental version of the song is featured during the end credits of Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones documentary film Shine a Light (2008).
Cover versions
One year prior to its release on Sticky Fingers, Gram Parsons convinced Jagger and Richards to allow him to record "Wild Horses" with his band The Flying Burrito Brothers. He had become good friends with Richards and helped with the arrangement of "Country Honk" as it appeared on the album Let It Bleed. The song was included on the album Burrito Deluxe released in April 1970 on A&M Records.[6]
In 1971, R&B vocal girl group Labelle covered it for their self-titled studio album.
Leon Russell recorded the song in 1974 for his album Stop All That Jazz, and again in 1998 for the multi-artist tribute album Cover You: A Tribute to the Rolling Stones. Russell also played piano on the Burrito Brothers' Burrito Deluxe recording.
Melanie also recorded the song for her 1974 album Madrugada.
The bluegrass band Old & In the Way released a version of the song on their 1975 debut album.
The song was prominently covered by British indie guitar group The Sundays, for the B-side of their 1992 single "Goodbye". This version was featured in the 1996 thriller film Fear, the CSI episode "Crash and Burn", and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Prom". It was further featured on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album compilation. The Sundays' cover was also used in a television advertisement for Budweiser beer in the mid-1990s, featuring slow-motion footage of galloping Clydesdale horses.
Otis Clay recorded the song for the 1997 tribute album Paint It Blue: Songs of the Rolling Stones.
A cover version by Neil McCarthy and Ivo Matos appeared on the 2011 tribute album Paint It Black: An Alt Country Tribute To The Rolling Stones.[7]
In 2009, Susan Boyle recorded a version as the opening track of her album I Dreamed a Dream. Boyle's version reached number 9 in the UK that spring,[8] and number 11 in Ireland during the fall.
Country/Americana singers Buddy Miller and Shawn Colvin recorded the song for his 2016 album Cayamo: Sessions at Sea.
Dave Matthews performed a live duet of the song with Jagger, which was featured on the concert DVD Bridges to Babylon Tour '97–98.
Willie Nelson and the Nelson Family covered the song and issued a video to help the Animal Welfare Institute campaign to protect wild horses in America.[9]
Daniel Letterle covered "Wild Horses" for the film Camp. Aly Michalka covered the song in a Hellcats episode.
On the first season of the American version of The X Factor in 2011, contestant Josh Krajcik performed a rendition of the song solo while playing the piano as his fifth live performance.
Personnel
The Rolling Stones
- Mick Jagger – vocals, percussion
- Keith Richards – twelve string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals
- Mick Taylor – acoustic guitar
- Bill Wyman – bass guitar
- Charlie Watts – drums
Additional personnel
Charts
| Chart (1971) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[10] | 11 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[11] | 28 |
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] | 59 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[13] | 53 |
References
- Dowley, Tim (1983). The Rolling Stones. Hippocrene Books. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-85936-234-4.
'Dead Flowers' and 'Wild Horses' have them playing a kind of country rock.
- "Wild Horses". Time Is On Our Side. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
- Wyman 2002. p. 482.
- "Wild Horses - The Rolling Stones 1995". YouTube. 6 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- Odell, Michael (29 April 2007). "This much I know: Jerry Hall, actor and model, 50, London". The Observer. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
- Einarson, John (2001). Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 166, 179. ISBN 9780815410652.
- "Review: Various Artists, 'Paint It Black: An Alt Country Tribute To The Rolling Stones' » Cover Me". Covermesongs.com. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- "Susan Boyle | full Official Chart History". Official Charts.
- "Willie & The Nelson Family | Animal Welfare Institute". Awionline.org. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5351." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- "The Rolling Stones Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2933." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
- "Swedishcharts.com – The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
