Jerry Hall’s favourite song by The Rolling Stones
The power of a great song is that it transcends context. People can talk over and over about the particulars of who or what a song is about, attempting to decipher exactly the situation that inspired the lyrics. But the truth is that a good song gets to the heart of a feeling so that it can extend far beyond its origins. As a prime example of that, look towards Jerry Hall’s favourite The Rolling Stones song.
In the 1970s, Jerry Hall was a muse. At first, the model was dating Bryan Ferry, but in 1977, when the Stones singer came calling, she left him for Mick Jagger. For two decades, they were music’s hottest power couple until they eventually separated in 1999.
During their time together, Hall found her way into plenty of Stones songs. It’s suspected that she’s the inspiration behind ‘Miss You’ as Jagger subtly drops her name in the lyric, “I’ve been waiting in the hall/ Been waiting on your call.” It’s also said that her beauty was the one with the power to “make a grown man cry” in ‘Start Me Up’.
But really, it doesn’t matter who or what a song is about or which songs Hall inspired and which she didn’t. When it comes to her own favourite Stones track, she makes that point evidently clear as she picked out ‘Wild Horses’.
“’Wild Horses’ is my favourite Stones song. It’s so beautiful,” the model told The Guardian. First released by the the Flying Burrito Brothers before the band realised that the track was good enough to make one of their own albums, the Stones finally released the track in 1971. As one of the band’s most tender and emotional efforts, grappling with the feelings of longing and being far away from those you love, it’s always been at the centre of questions over who the song is about.
To Jagger, his memories of the session are less about the context they came about in but of the emotions that spurred the song on. “Everyone always says this was written about Marianne [Faithfull] but I don’t think it was; that was all well over by then. But I was definitely very inside this piece emotionally,” he said. By the time the song was out, he was married to Bianca Jagger, with Jerry Hall perceiving the song to be about her ex-husband’s former partner. when she said, “I don’t mind that it was written for Bianca.”
However, regardless of the various muses that could have gone into the song, the fact that it endures as Hall’s favourite, despite the inspiration, is proof that a good song will transcend gossip. ‘Wild Horses’ sees the band at an emotional best as they navigate big feelings with a gorgeous country charm that makes the song totally timeless. The centre line of “Wild horses couldn’t drag me away,” has endured as a beloved metaphor for love and the desire to always be next to each other.
Even though the song was penned before her time, it was clearly one that Hall connected with. As the Stones continued their world domination during the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, Jagger and his then-wife will have spent plenty of time apart, separated by their busy career schedules. So, while the song wasn’t written for her, Hall’s favourite Stones track still captured her heart as a moving piece she could relate to as she pined for her rockstar husband.
