Wild Horses

The harmony of 'Wild Horses' is deceptively sophisticated beneath its apparent simplicity. The song's distinctive character comes from three elements: the iii–I opening that establishes melancholy without using the minor key directly, the ♭VII borrowed chord that provides the chorus's emotional climax, and the open-tuning voicings that create resonant drones and overtones impossible in standard tuning. The interplay between Keith Richards' open-G twelve-string and Mick Taylor's Nashville-tuned acoustic produces a rich harmonic texture where strings ring sympathetically, giving the song its signature aching, wide-open sound. The blues influence appears not in blue notes but in the open-tuning approach itself, directly descended from Delta blues slide guitar traditions.

Keith Richards began writing the music as a lullaby for his newborn son Marlon, born in August 1969. The melody emerged from Richards' experiments with open tuning a twelve-string guitar, translating Mississippi Fred McDowell's slide approach into a five-string open mode on a ten-string instrument. Richards brought the riff and chorus line, while Jagger developed the verses — a division of labor Richards compared to how they wrote 'Satisfaction'. Earlier that year, Marianne Faithfull had overdosed on sleeping pills, and upon waking told Jagger 'Wild horses wouldn't drag me away,' though Jagger has stated the song was not specifically written about her.

Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in late 1969 and released on the landmark Sticky Fingers album in 1971, 'Wild Horses' blends Keith Richards' open-tuned twelve-string guitar with Mick Jagger's achingly honest vocals. Its bittersweet melody and unforgettable chorus have made it one of the most covered and enduring songs in rock history.