Graham Parsons and Keith Richards were hanging out together a lot and Parsons was in the studio when the Stones Recorded
Sticky Fingers. Parsons was given permission to record
Wild Horses as long as he didn't release it as a single(Did Graham Parsons ever have a single???). Anyway Graham's version actually came out before
Sticky Fingers was released. Parsons' fans argue that Graham wrote the song
http://nodepression.com/article/ive-...te-wild-horses and there is no doubt that his friendship with Richards greatly influenced the Stones' "Country" flavored records and songs. Since Mick, Keith and Graham all said it was a Glimmer Twins tune I'll go with that via Occam's razor. I've seen Mick quoted elsewhere saying that the lyrics were inspired by a Marianne Faithful Overdose. When she was revived he supposedly told her that he thought he had lost her and she replied "wild horses couldn't drag me away". I'm not sure which one is technically the cover version but the Stones version is way better.
Warning - off-topic tangent ahead. As a side note Dead Flowers is definitely a Graham Parsons inspired song and one of the most obvious "drug songs" ever recorded. Parsons allegedly sent Richards heroin through the US mail. The two were known to refer to heroin as "Dead Flowers" and the type of heroin they used was called "Brown Susie". Mick said he didn't care much for the country tunes because he considered himself a blues singer but I disagree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS_yyRk_dj8
Segue back to topic - Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle both covered Dead Flowers. Both had battles with addiction and both recorded Heroin influenced song (Townes - White Freight Liner and SE - South Nashville Blues and CCKP). The normally prolific Earle did not record a record during his "4-year vacation in the ghetto" which ended with a 60-day jail term for his second drug arrest in less than 12-mos. He was arrested in South Nashville
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M-nU5c6kRM
During said vacation SE hocked his guitars and allowed Robert Earl Keen to record my favorite SE song
Tom Ames Prayer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5xhyuCkPBA SE wrote the song as a teenager in the 70s but never recorded it so he offered the song to REK for some walking around money. Clean and outta jail in 1994 SE then released an acoustic album of old unrecorded songs and covers -
Train a Comin' - including
Tom Aames Prayer. I love REK but he can't touch Steve on that one.
Thus ends perhaps my longest ever DBR post.