Album: Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
Year: 1968.
As someone who was getting into The Byrds at the same time he was getting into punk rock, I’ll admit that it took me decades to fully understand the charms of Sweetheart of the Rodeo. It was probably wasn’t until the early 90s when the erased Gram Parsons vocals showed up on the first box set, followed by the alt-country movement and my subsequent discovery of Parsons’ solo albums and the Flying Burrito Brothers.
And while I’ll never revere it the same way I love those psychedelic albums, it’s impossible for me not to love their take on Gram Parson’s “100 Years From Now,” even if I’m a heathen and prefer the take with McGuinn & Hillman singing harmony to the one where Gram sings all by his lonesome. Either way, they’re asking a great question:
One hundred years from this day
Will the people still feel this way?
Still say the things that they’re saying right now
Featuring a dynamic pedal steel hook from Lloyd Green and some subtle leads from Clarence White, “One Hundred Years From Now” feels like the missing link between The Everly Brothers and Rank & File and a song that could – in any era – fit snugly in either the Rock or Country camps, while reminding you that those camps reside on the same lake.
Also: believe it or not, we’re nearly halfway to finding out the answer to the question that Gram poses in the lyrics. It’s possible (not probable, but possible) that somebody could be reading this in 2068 who knows the answer.
Video for “One Hundred Years From Now” (McGuinn/Hillman vocals)
Video for “One Hundred Years From Now” (Gram Parsons vocal)