The “awful cliche” behind one of The Rolling Stones’ most beloved songs
‘Wild Horses’ is by far one of The Rolling Stones‘ most tender offerings. Originally written as a dedication to Keith Richard’s newborn son Marlon, the acoustic number was eventually re-written by Mick Jagger, who adapted it to reflect his feelings about his failing relationship with Marianne Faithful. While Richards always maintained that the song spoke about something undying and universal, Jagger was a little more cynical, claiming that it was built on “an awful cliche”
Due to legal difficulties with the band’s manager at the time, The Stones had to wait two years to release ‘Wild Horses’, by which time it had already been released by Gram Parson’s Flying Burrito Brothers. There’s some debate about the origins of the lyric “wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” with Marianne Faithful claiming it had been the first thing she’d said to Mick after pulling him out of a drug-induced coma in 1969. However, others have claimed that it was written for Jagger’s future wife Bianca, which is unlikely considering they didn’t meet until 1970.
Either way, Jagger was always quite critical about ‘Wild Horses’. In 1995 he gave an interview for Rolling Stone in which he explained how the track came about: “It was his melody,” Jagger said of Richard’s influence. “And he wrote the phrase ‘wild horses,’ but I wrote the rest of [the lyrics].” Jagger would go on to offer his opinion about the track: “I like the song,” he began. “It’s an example of a pop song. Taking this cliché ‘wild horses,’ which is awful, really, but making it work without sounding like a cliché when you’re doing it.”
For Richards, however, the song held some mystical importance. “It was one of those magical moments when things come together,” he wrote in his 2010 autobiography Life. “It’s like ‘Satisfaction.’ 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.”
Of course, ‘Wild Horses’ wouldn’t be the same without the jangly 12-string guitar line. In that same memoir, Richards explained that the song “almost wrote itself. It was really a lot to do with, once again, fucking around with the tunings. I found these chords, especially doing it on a twelve-string to start with, which gave the song this character and sound. There’s a certain forlornness that can come out of a twelve-string. I started off, I think, on a regular six-string open E, and it sounded very nice, but sometimes you just get these ideas. What if I open tuned a twelve-string? All it meant was translate what Mississippi Fred McDowell was doing – twelve-string slide – into five-string mode, which meant a ten-string guitar.”Make sure you take a moment to revisit ‘Wild Horses’ below.”
