The Rolling Stones: Wild Horses Meaning

Song Released: 1971

Wild Horses Lyrics

Childhood living is easy to do
The things you wanted I bought them for you
Graceless lady you know who I am
You know I can’t let you slide through my hands

Wild horses couldn’t drag me away
Wild, wild horses, couldn’t drag me away

I...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   greta

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   Aug 4th 2010 !⃝

   This song was started by Keith Richards who wrote the first few lines for his son Marlon, about the pain of leaving him as he was about to leave on a tour. It was taken over by Jagger, who wrote it for Marianne Faithful. It was written in 1969, but wasn't realeased until 1971 on Sticky Fingers.
   
   At the time, their relationship was falling apart because of her drug addictions. She tried to kill herself by overdosing, and Mick was at her bedside until she came out of a coma. Upon waking, she said wild horses couldn't drag me away, meaning nothing could drag her away from this life.
   
   So, the first 4 lines were written by Keith Richards. Nothing to do with Marianne. Mick kept them in, and as someone suggested, it was about an innocent, naive girl he first met and fell in love with.
   
   She fell from grace in his eyes, because she became jaded by drug use. But even though she wasn't the girl he first fell in love with, "you know who I am"- meaning, that whatever she has become, she should know he still loves her.
   
   "I know I dreamed you a sin and a lie"- The destruction and what she had become disillusioned him.
   
   Suffered a dull aching pain- now you decided to show me the same- meaning they had hurt each other through destructive behavior towards eachother, she felt the pain first, from drug use and from his destructive pattern, now she has done the same to him by her self-destructive behavior and her destructive behavior towards him. It could be affairs, it could be despair, it could be the self-destructiveness, or all three. We don't know.
   
   no sweeping exits, or offstage line could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind- no matter what hurt they have caused eachother, there is still a great deal of love between them.
   
   I have my freedom but I don't have much time- the relationship as it is is over, and he must stop hurting or he will drown in it.
   
   Faith has been broken tears must be cried- there is no going back because the have destroyed each other and the relationship, and they must mourn the end of the relationship, and of what they did have together, this great love.
   
   Let's do some living after we die- they can't be together in this life, but hopefully will be able to be together in death- sort of like a Romeo and Juliet thing.
   
   Finally, wild horses couldn't drag me away- away from the memory of their love.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Dec 3rd 2009 !⃝

   The meaning of this song seems so obvious to me. These two people have been together for awhile. They've loved each other and hurt each other. Specifically, the singer has previously hurt the other. Now it's the other person who has betrayed the singer. But the singer is saying that he's not leaving; that no matter how much it hurts, he's staying with her. That he loves her enough to get past the hurt--that he'll forgive her--that nothing can drive him away. It's a beautiful, poignant, raw declaration of commitment and love.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   MaryJane

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   Sep 29th 2019 !⃝

   I know the story behind the Stones' relationship and have read what is considered the "real" interpretation of this song...heroine and addiction and commitment and love. But I think everyone can interpret this song differently based on their own life experiences. For me it's about a man and woman who have been together and loved each other a long time but he has broken her trust ("Faith has been broken") and now the relationship is ending because she chooses not to continue suffering (emotionally) which is causing him emotional pain. He feels that her leaving is her way of hurting him back ("I've watched you suffer a dull aching pain, now you've decided to show me the same") however he loves her and doesn't want hostility or hurtful words. For me "Let's do some living after we die" means he wants the two of them to enjoy the rest of their lives and be happy even tho they won't be together (after their relationship dies). And "I have my freedom but don't have much time" refers to his being single (even tho not by choice) but his youth is now gone. Again this is just how the song fits into my life. It's by far my favorite Stones song and I listen to it often, usually with tears in my eyes.
4. anonymous

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   Apr 16th 2023 !⃝

   Absolutely beautiful song reminds me of a guy I still love and will always love the deepest love I’ve ever felt in my life although we parted ways he will always be the love of my life ❤️❤️
5. anonymous

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   Apr 20th 2021 !⃝

   Let’s all agree it’s about Horse (heroin) I have nothing else to add other than it’s one of the best songs of all time
6. anonymous

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   Apr 9th 2021 !⃝

   Before reading all these ideas, i did think it was abt people's emotional problems. However, now i believe it's about all the senseless slaughtering of Wild Horses..
   It's about a human being who loves these beautiful, free creatures but realizes he can't save them all by himself and it's killing him inside.
   Watchng man's inhumanity towards creatures who have done him no harm.
   He feels their pain and suffering throughout his own body and he just can't turn it off.
   

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   Aug 30th 2020 !⃝

   This song makes me Smile and I want to Slow Dance: All tho I often wonder what it means I think it’s bout Lovers who we’re trying to make things work out and no matter what they were going through the Man says nothing could drag him away from her and even tho the ending relationship had taken a very sad but ending Turn with what they had been through he had to Go but will c her Again in another Life!! How Sad
8. anonymous

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   Aug 30th 2020 !⃝

   This song makes me Smile and I want to Slow Dance: All tho I often wonder what it means I think it’s bout Lovers who we’re trying to make things work out and no matter what they were going through the Man says nothing could drag him away from her and even tho the ending relationship had taken a very sad but ending Turn with what they had been through he had to Go but will c her Again in another Life!! How Sad
9. anonymous

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   Mar 2nd 2020 !⃝

   I think it's about gram parson having to take care of his mom at the end of her life.
10. anonymous

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    Feb 24th 2020 !⃝

    This song was written for me, when I was 18. The song that played on the radio after the knock on the door that changed the trajectory of my young self. My first love, after a horrible argument, was killed in a car accident. I know he would never have left this world that way. All these years later, I still think of him.... When this song plays, that morning and every detail plays over in my memory.
    

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Feb 28th 2018 !⃝

    Love, loss, drugs, love!
12. anonymous

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    Feb 7th 2018 !⃝

    OK, let's end this thing once and for all. In the liner notes to the 1993 Rolling Stones compilation album Jump Back, Jagger states, "I remember we sat around originally doing this with Gram Parsons, and I think his version came out slightly before ours. Everyone always says this was written about Marianne but I don't think it was; that was all well over by then. But I was definitely very inside this piece emotionally." Richards says, "If there is a classic way of Mick and me working together this is it. I had the riff and chorus line, Mick got stuck into the verses. Just like "Satisfaction". "Wild Horses" was about the usual thing of not wanting to be on the road, being a million miles from where you want to be."
    Keith Richards gave it ti Gram Parsons to record first.
13. anonymous

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    Feb 6th 2018 !⃝

    It's a sad love story
    
    illness or disease has striken his lover.
14. KevinBarryLynch

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    Mar 11th 2012 !⃝

    Some interpretation's are very close but some have had the gender wrong, its Mother & Son.
    The song was written about Keith's first born son Marlon, & the Graceless Lady is Anita Pallenberg (absolutely nothing to do with Marianne) one time girlfriend of Brian & later had an affair with Mick on the set of "Performance" It just so happen I know Marlon & one night at a great little celeb hang out in Soho NYC He gave me the lowdown. You might say I heard it from the Horses mouth (Please pardon the Pun !) My FB name is Kevin B. Lynch, hit me up and listen so some of my own music or go here>>>>.KEVIN B. LYNCH | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos
    www.myspace.com/needlessjunkie
15. anonymous

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    Feb 26th 2012 !⃝

    You Should Have Seen Me Runnin - The New Riders Of The Purple Sage
    
    I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT WENT WRONG BUT I'VE BEEN LOOKIN' FOR A SONG
    THAT I LOST, SOMEWHERE OUT ON THE WAY
    AND IT'S BEEN THE WORST OF YEARS, I JUST COULDN'T COUNT THE TEARS
    BUT I THINK I HEAR THAT MELODY AGAIN TODAY
    
    SO YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME RUNNIN
    RUNNIN ALL THE WAY
    YEAH, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME RUNNIN
    COMING HERE TODAY
    YEAH, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME CRYIN'
    SINCE YOU'VE BEEN AWAY
    SO YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN ME TRYIN'
    TO GET BACK HERE TODAY, TO GET BACK HERE TODAY
    
    WELL I WAS HAPPY FOR A WHILE AND I ALWAYS HAD A SMILE ON MY FACE
    TO SHOW THE LOVE WE HAD
    BUT YOU THOUGHT YOU OUGHT TO GO
    AND I THOUGHT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW
    THAT SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE I NEVER HAVE FELT SO BAD
    
    AND YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME RUNNIN
    RUNNIN ALL THE WAY
    OH YEAH, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME RUNNIN
    COMING HERE TODAY
    OH, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME CRYIN'
    SINCE YOU'VE BEEN AWAY
    SO YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN ME TRYIN'
    TO GET BACK HERE TODAY, TO GET BACK HERE TODAY
    
    WELL I'VE BEEN DYIN' FOR YOUR SWEET, SWEET LOVIN EVER SINCE YOU'VE BEEN AWAY
    YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN ME RUNNIN, RUNNIN, RUNNIN
    COMING BACK TODAY, SHE'S COMING BACK TODAY
    
    This song reminds me of Run For The Roses or The Race Is On or Wild Horses On The Loose & many other songs which compare horse racing and Love... The New Riders of The Purple Sage sing this one and I think it is about a jockey who says he is "runnin" because he is ONE with his horse... It is a song that has deep hidden meaning between the lines... It is a tune about odds, risks, taking chances and running. When the Rider sings, "you should have seen me runnin", it obviously means that he is betting you that you did not ^actually^ see him runnin. He is taking a shot in the dark that you didn't visualize his attempts at sprinting. You should have, but you didn't. He is disappointed in you because you were either oblivious, you purposely looked away or you are just pretending that you did not see him runnin when you really DID see him runnin but you simply will not admit it. Whatever happened, he is upset about it for many reasons not least among them that he was damn good. Hence he might be taking a gamble in his own obscure way because he doesn't know for certain if you saw him runnin or not.. He is somewhat angered that you mysteriously never observed his efforts at rapid action. The main point, regardless of anyone's seeing him or not, is that he loves this woman and he is taking risks runnin back to her. Maybe he is runnin step by step.. Who really knows because who really saw... This part of the song I can process. Here is where the Rider loses me: The relative risks of a particular event and the event's odds ratio are totally different from each other. How, I have no clue... All I know is that even if they do sound synonymous they are two distinct statistical concepts. I am trying to understand... I believe the relative risk is like this: “ A horse racer's risk of developing delusional disorder is ten to twelve times that of non-horse racers.” And the odds.. well.. they are the likelihood that the horse will win the race. The RISKS are the dangers of becoming a horse racer and the ODDS are the chances that his horse will ever win at it. Am I right?
    
    The odds are, I am probably wrong. My brain doesn't see life, Love and runnin this way. It's difficult for me to grasp concepts in general and most definitely statistical probability concepts. In my life, I have heard only one specific statistic that I enjoyed and retained due to its relevance.. Are you ready? Here it is: 95% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I believe this is most likely true. Are there risks to believing this statistic? I don't see them. What are the odds people will believe this statistic? Hhhm. You tell me.. Anyway, this horse racing compared to Love business is all much too much for my cerebellum. It makes my head ache with numbers. This is what perplexes me greatly: When the chances are high a specific event will occur, for instance his cryin and tryin & runnin > the relative risk and odds ratio diverge significantly. What this means is extremely problematic to me due to the likelihood that I just don't get it. The odds are in my favour that I do not "enjoy" subjects that I simply do not understand in the slightest bit. In my opinion, horse racing sucks in terms of comprehending the inherent risks, odds & chances that I will WIN at it, but that doesn't mean I won't take a risk and play anyway. There must be a formula that most intelligent gamblers can use to bet on the probability of my bizarre risk-taking behaviour. Maybe they'll win. This is all very exhausting for me to ponder. Sooo...
    
    The parts of the song that I understand are as follows and are listed alphabetically in no particular order:
    A. he loves her
    D. he is trying to run & race to her
    C. he has cried a major amount & has tried very hard to make it back to her
    B. he felt sad when he was away from her
    G. she is sweet to him
    F. he is happy when he is with her & he smiles
    E. she is a song and a melody to him
    J. he is going to get back to her TODAY
    
    And just an aside... I love Donna Godchaux & Buffy Sainte-Marie chanting in the background. For some goofy reason they make me smile.. Sometimes they sound like sheep, which is a quality I truly adore in female singers.
    
    Thank you for reading my post. I love The Rolling Stones very much too. smooches to all

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
16. anonymous

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    Feb 16th 2012 !⃝

    So let's add fuel to the fire. While it is reported that Keith Richard's wrote it for Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman swore that Gram wrote it and gave it to Keith. This caused the end of Chris and Gram's relationship and Gram's departure from the Flying Burrito Brothers, who recorded the song before the Stones did.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
17. anonymous

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    Feb 15th 2012 !⃝

    Its about horse or Heroine and the pain from it how they watched each other suffer and it does have something to do with a girl but not how you think!
18. anonymous

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    Dec 10th 2011 !⃝

    A lot of interesting thoughts posted here, but consider this; since Kieth Richards wrote this song for Gram Parsons, maybe it has nothing to do with the Stones at all. Maybe a closer look at Gram Parsons life at the time?

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