Not That Kind of Guy

“Hot Burrito #1,” a song by Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge that first appeared on their 1969 Flying Burrito Brothers LP, The Gilded Palace of Sin, has always haunted, mesmerized and half-embarrassed me, when it wasn’t making me swoon. It bypasses the usual artifice by being extremely plain-spoken in its message, and by marrying its lyrics to a melody that is in no way sentimental but is in every way melancholic.

You may be sweet and nice
But that won't keep you warm at night
'Cause I'm the one who showed you how
To do the things you're doing now

He may feel all your charms
He may hold you in his arms
But I'm the one who let you in
I was right beside you then

Once upon a time you let me feel you deep inside
And nobody knew, nobody saw
Do you remember the way you cried?
I'm your toy, I'm your ol' boy
But I don't want no one but you to love me
No, I wouldn't lie
You know I'm not that kind of guy

She’s with someone else. He’s aching and not ashamed to say so. He goes so far as to remind her about the time they made love, and how she cried. Does it get any more personal than that? Yet he doesn’t take it farther. He pulls back at that point, says he knows he’s just her toy, but that he doesn’t want anyone else but her, making me ache for and with the guy.

Forty years later the song has been recorded by all kinds of people. My favorite version is by Robb Strandlund, perhaps because he slows it down, thereby increasing the swoon factor. Here’s the Flying Burrito Brothers version, set to stills:




And here it is by the Japanese country-rock band The Ma’am. If not even a Japanese country-rock band can ruin it, "Hot Burrito #1" must be a hell of a good song.