byrdsongs, xl

The friendship between Gram Parsons and Keith Richards has been chronicled and analyzed elsewhere with much more precision and skill than I can do here. It’s not a story that interests me much, though it’s kinda cool that, technically speaking, the Burritos’ cover of Wild Horses was released before the Stones’ original.  Does this then actually make the Burritos version the original? …It’s also interesting that Parsons lends some backing vocals to Exile on Main Street (Sweet Virginia, I believe).  I think Gram was attracted to the Stones because they represented the rock star archetype, aspects of which he aspired to himself but would never be able to achieve as a committed country music purist.  I guess you could say Parsons had a split personality, wanting the fame, the debauchery, and the riches of the Rolling Stones lifestyle, but never being able to give himself over to the type of music they made. That’s my interpretation, anyway, and it makes Parsons both more and less appealing to me.  As far as his rendition of Wild Horses goes, it’s surprisingly un-countrified.  Perhaps this is the reason it sounds so tentative. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable performing outside his c&w comfort zone.  But there is admittedly something sweet about his lack of self-assurance on the song, a shy, lovelorn quality that’s disarming...

Still, I prefer the way Mick takes the song and goes for broke with it, even though I’ve probably played Sticky Fingers and heard the song several thousand times. But Parsons’ version is nice enough, and all the more affecting in that it’s the song that closes Burrito Deluxe and in a way punctuates his tenure with the Flying Burrito Brothers. And their music became much less compelling after his departure...

PS - Apologies for the screwed up graphics here.  I couldn't fix it after 20 minutes and gave up.