Tender Mercies – Four White Stallions

 

Originally posted: April 19, 2016  
 Tender Mercies album art
  • Track: Four White Stallions
  • Artist: Tender Mercies
  • Album: Tender Mercies
  • Year: 2011
 

Lyrics:

She had four white stallions coming up around the bend
Four strong angels at her command to send
Four more seasons, for all that’s broken to mend

I got four good reasons why I cant go back there again

She had skin like a statue, milky white and pure
Carved by an artist who’s hand is demure
Got a mind like a saber
Razor sharp and sure

She had skin like a statue, milky white and pure
Carved by an artist who’s hand is demure
Got a mind like a saber
Razor sharp and sure

God how I hate myself for still wanting her

Tell me it’s nicer dreaming, visions soft and sure
No way to find there’s nothing left to me and her
Nothing more but a heart still at war

She had four white stallions coming up around the bend
Four strong angels already sent
Four more seasons for all that’s broken to mend…


The Tender Mercies version of Four White Stallions is available here:

And the Counting Crows’ version is found on Underwater Sunshine (Or What  Did On Summer Vacation), a collection of B-sides, rarities, and live tracks:

 

As part of my continuing plan to bring you a mix of both well-known and not-so-well-known tracks, tonight on DWB Radio, we are spinning Four White Stallions by Tender Mercies. If after listening to the first 30 seconds or so of this track, you think, “Golly, that sounds sort of familiar,” then go with that feeling because it should sound familiar. Tender Mercies was formed by two members of the Counting Crows, guitarist and backing vocalist Dan Vickrey, and drummer Jim Bogios.

Tender Mercies’ roots go back to the early 1990s at the same time the Crows were forming in San Francisco. Before hooking up with Adam Duritz and skyrocketing to fame with the Crows, Vickrey and some other local players formed the Tender Mercies, which was a short-lived venture thanks to the meteoric blast to fame enjoyed by the Counting Crows when they released August and Everything After in 1994. Predictably, Tender Mercies as a band was shelved, though the Crows augmented their live sets with Tender Mercies tracks since at the time the Crows only had one full album from which to draw and they became headliners almost overnight (meaning they needed more than 11 tracks to fill out a set list. In those early days, Four White Stallions was a song often performed live by the Counting Crows.

After their rise to fame and subsequent leveling off to adult alternative mainstays, the Crows released a live version of this track in 2006 on New Amsterdam: Live at the Heineken Music Hall and 2012’s Underwater Sunshine (or What We Did on Our Summer Vacation), which is a collection of cover songs.

In 2011, during a hiatus from the Crows, Vickrey and Bogios reformed Tender Mercies and released this long-awaited self-titled debut.

Enjoy, my babies!

Video:

Here is audio recording (no video) of the album version of the track:

And here is a live version of the track:

And lastly, we have the Counting Crows performing Four White Stallions:

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