The emotional ride of The Rolling Stones' “Wild Horses”

It may be the most delicate song in the entire Rolling Stones catalog, with Mick Jagger delivering every single line of “Wild Horses” with an impassioned weight. And there’s good reason for that. By the time this song was written and recorded for 1971’s Sticky Fingers album, the Stones had more than enough personal drama to sing about. Get into it in this episode of the Behind The Song podcast.

Music Producer: Christian Lane
Video Director: Eva Empleo

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About Janda:
Behind The Song podcast host and creator Janda Lane is an on-air host at WDRV-FM in Chicago, where she lives with her husband and podcast partner, Christian Lane, and their two cats, Ollie and Liam.

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[Fast-]

I found you a year ago, and now again! How very grateful I am!! Another beautiful insight into another of my favs!! Merry Christmas, Janda!!

[DonJoyce]

Oh wow! Great analysis of one of my favourite songs! Great job, Janda!

[dereks]

Thanks for this. The insights and back stories are, as usual, great to know. I'm not generally a Stones fan --- when I was growing up in England in the sixties you were, by and large, either a Stones fan or a Beatles fan and I was the latter --- but I've always loved this song. It came along for me at just the right time.

[markkumanninen]

Oh my, I'm speechless. The Fingers is the only Stones album I love. I've told my family they must play Wild Horses at my funeral.

[ArmandoMPR]

The reason why Gram wrote the lyrics in his journal was because he was mapping the song, with chord changes and everything, for his own version. There’s audio of Gram himself saying that he didn’t write it, that it was all done when he first heard it.

Originally, Mick asked Gram to put a slide guitar solo, but he got too high and never got to it. He then asked Mick permission to cover it, which Mick granted. The lead electric guitar overdub on the Sticky Fingers version is played by Keith.

[patriciamorgan]

I was 12. Sticky Fingers was my first "adult" rock and roll album (I had 4 priors in my collection, teeny bopper or soft rock). I think SF was the first I bought for myself, probably with my own birthday money. It felt like a very big deal, because I wasn't even a teenager yet, and it was a big departure from what I'd been listening to. Couple that with the "the bad boys of rock and roll" and the risqué cover art....

My mother had left me in the record department while she shopped elsewhere in the store. I knew what I wanted to buy, but didn't know if I could go through with it. (Had to also factor in my strict, pious grandmother, who lived with us part of the year.) I made the trying and triumphant decision. When Mom returned to see what I'd bought, I only pulled the first few inches of the album out of the bag to show her -- well above the zipper and tight bulging pants. Despite it now being my pride and joy (as it remains all these decades later), the album found its permanent home hiding in the #5 position of my collection, behind the priors, and in front of everything else that was to come later. It was the accidental genesis of a preserved chronological history of my musical evolution. I still love that album today. And, though the adhesive dried up and Warhol's genius element fell off, I still have that zipper.

[GIBKEL]

Can’t knock Mick Taylor as a fill in. What a spot to fill then make his own and leave with nothing but melody.

[Elephant-wili]

This song really hits even harder emotionally now that I know the full backstory thanks to you. The Stones exhibition along with the rest of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was absolutely amazing. Had the good fortune to visit it for the first time this week.🎸

[andrewbrennan]

Sticky Fingers is peak Stones. The Mick Tayloryears are my favourite Stones era.

[katk]

A Wild one is right. Given the timeline, everything was going sideways. Brian, Anita and Keith alone was a wild ride. The last album with Taylor, and I think one of their greatest. Thanks for defining this one, it's dark and will always be a story in itself. Thanks for the really deep narrative. Fantastic!

[janetlynn]

Thanks for these
They are greatly appreciated ❤

[JeffRebornNow]

The song was written in 1969. It was recorded at Muscle Shoals in Dec. 1969. Marianne Faithful was not "devastated" at the death of Brian Jones. She was at that time Mick Jagger's GF. She took too many sleeping pills when she and Mick were in Australia to film "Ned Kelly." When she woke up from her coma and saw Mick standing at her bedside she said, "Wild horses couldn't drag me away." The lyrics Mick wrote as a result of this experience were then crafted onto Keith's music and his original lyrics about the birth of his child were discarded. This is all written out in detail in Tony Sanchez's 1979 book "Up and Down with the Rolling Stones." Sanchez was a good friend of Marianne's and she told him this story herself (when she and Mick returned from Australia, not decades later). I don't know where you got the comment from Jagger that, "It was all over with Marianne at that point, " or even what it means. Not only did she inspire the lyrics of "Wild Horses, " the Stones included her song "Sister Morphine" on Sticky Fingers, without giving her songwriting credit (though she has always gotten a percentage of the album sales and of publishing royalties).

[raugado]

I would say “Angie” comes close emotionally.

[flylippfantom]

I just started playing in open G tuning of this song and, Honky Tonk Woman

[Heather-rn]

Very interesting! Thanks for the info! Wild horses is a very deep subject with me! I dedicated to Jefrey.E. Wilson, rest in peace my love.❤❤❤❤❤ June 20th 2006!😮

[theblackandwhitefilmproject]

I was 17 years old when Sticky Fingers was released. Wild Horses had been playing on repeat a month before release date on Radio Hauraki Auckland New Zealand so there was as a lot of hype. I hung around Direction Records in the city on the day of release. It was about 3pm when copies arrived at the store and I got mine.Still playing it 50+ years later. Yes I removed the zip. IMO remaster versions for CD are compressed and not as clean compared with the original. Nice review!

[davidsavin]

Another great episode, but in the lyric reading, you left out one of the great lines in the song: the end of the last chorus when Mick sings “wild, wild horses, we’ll ride them someday”

[-er-unwt]

Always thought wild horses and sweet virgina where incredibley moving songs.

[ReelHifi]

"I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon and another girl to take my pain away"... Wild horses couldn't drag me away