Elliot Murphy: Wild Horses

As with every Monday, I feature a cover of a well known song by someone else. Today’s cover song is the interpretation of the Rolling Stone’s song “Wild Horses” by Elliot Murphy. Murphy is joined by Olivier Durand on acoustic lead guitar. This performance was simulcast on Spanish radio and television.

Rolling Stones Original

The first version of “Wild Horses” to be recorded was the Rolling Stones’ version from the 1971 LP “Sticky Fingers.” Written primarily by Keith Richards, he and Mick Taylor both play acoustic guitar with Richards’ guitar being high-strung (i.e., Nashville tuning). Along with the LP’s other single “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses” showed up simultaneously on the greatest hits package “Hot Rocks” on London Records. This occurred because the Stones’ former manager Allen Klein co-owned the songs’ rights with the band.

Flying Burrito Brothers’ Version

While the Stones initially recorded “Wild Horses” in 1969, their friend Gram Parsons asked the band permission to release it first. His band, The Flying Burrito Brothers, released the song in 1970 on their second LP “Burrito Deluxe.” This early version of the song led some to speculate that Parsons and not Jagger and Richards actually penned the tune.