Ahead of the highly anticipated reissue of 1971’s Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones have released a previously unheard acoustic version of “Wild Horses.”
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“For three days in December 1969, the Stones stopped into Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama and managed to lay down three songs, one of which was ‘Wild Horses,’” writes Jim Beviglia in our Behind The Song feature. “The composition of this plaintive ballad was begun by Keith Richards, whose first child was born in August 1969, causing Keith regret about going out on the road and leaving the boy behind.”
“It was one of those magical moments when things come together,” Richards wrote in his 2010 autobiography Life about the song’s genesis. “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.”
Take a listen to the stripped down version of “Wild Horses” below.
