The "Farther Along" was inspired by Gram Parsons who broke into that song at Clarence White's funeral ... just finishing the book
Hot Burritos which demonstrates how bitter Chris Hillman has become over the years ... he was even bitchin' about GP singing at Clarence's send off ... duh ... Clarence's brother Roland personally thanked Gram for the song ... it was a song Clarence recorded with the Byrds (apart from its appropriateness at such an event ... there were many musicians in attendance and the service included absolutely NO music).
From John Einarson via the Byrdmaniax Yahoo! Group:
I recently did an online interview for a magazine but thought some of what I
said addressed the issues currently under discussion here on this list so I've
pulled some of it out here. The questions were about why the book was undertaken
now and about the Parsons legacy. These are merely excerpts from a longer
interview.I felt the time was right to tell the Burritos story from the perspective of the
band not just the Gram Parsons side of the story. In recent years there has been
so much written about Gram and with each writing the other Burritos, especially
Chris Hillman, have been pushed further and further into the background becoming
almost supporting players to Gram. This was certainly not the case. I approached
Chris with the idea of presenting the real Burritos story to counter all the
exaggerated myths and he, too, felt it was time to set the record straight. A
recent Parsons biography and the Amoeba Records release of a live Burritos
concert credited as a Gram Parsons release had not sat well with him.
Chris has had to live with the increasing legend of Gram Parsons for over 30
years. In virtually every interview Chris has done he has been asked about Gram
and with each year the mythology gets more and more exaggerated. He's not bitter
about it, just frustrated that the truth is being lost in the legend and Gram
has taken on saint-like proportions. The fact is no one knew Gram Parsons better
than Chris Hillman. Chris was Gram's closest and best friend. They were partners
who together wrote some of the best songs of either of their careers. But Gram
torpedoed their friendship in his flawed bid for stardom. He sabotaged the Byrds
when he was in it, he sabotaged the Burritos when he was in that band, and he
did the same to his own career. For Chris, loyalty and friendship are important
qualities. He thought he had that with Gram until Gram betrayed their
relationship through his selfish and over-indulgent actions and behaviour. So
then to continually be confronted with this exaggerated image of Gram as saint
is pretty difficult to bear after so many years. Chris is a man known for rarely
mincing his words, pulling punches or suffering fools lightly. He speaks his
mind and you either accept what he says or you don't. The book gave him the
opportunity to speak his mind and whether you like what he says or not you have
to respect the fact that no one knew Gram better than Chris. Everybody else
writing about Gram is merely an armchair or Monday morning quarterback. They
didn't know Gram the way Chris did. So he speaks with considerable authority.
And the fact is that others throughout the book corroborate Chris's perspective.
I cast a wide net in seeking the input of many close to the Burritos during
their time, not just the usual suspects who show up in every Parsons tome -
groupies, roadies etc - but several people hitherto not on record before like
A&M's Jerry Moss and Bob Garcia for example. They all share the same view of
Gram.
It's that live fast, die young imagery that attracts people to Gram's story; the
candle that burned brightly for too brief a time. As Chris states in the book
our society loves fallen heroes, whether they were heroes or not. Gram Parsons
will forever be 26 years old, handsome, and bedecked in his Nudie suit. He'll
never get old. As Bernie Leadon points out in my book, "We remember his virtues,
not his sins". Our society also loves bad boys, screw ups, over-indulgers.
Hollywood is littered with those types with no end in sight. Gram had, as Tom
Russell stated in the book, that "wasted boy in Hollywood thing" going for him
that is considered fascinating and attractive. Plus when you add in the Southern
gothic tale of money, drugs and death - the poor, misunderstood little rich boy
- it makes for a concoction that titillates. Then throw in the circumstances of
his death and the body-snatching episode and it's ripe for the tabloids. All the
above lends itself to the creation of myth and legend. "How can you argue with a
dead guy?" asks Leadon in the book? You can't. He's become mythic in proportion
to the others in the band. What "Hot Burritos" does is try to balance the legend
with reality as told by those closest to Gram in the Burritos. It was not his
band, he was not the leader, he did not write and arrange all the songs, and he
was unceremoniously booted out for increasingly selfish, irresponsible and
downright unacceptable behaviour. The myth needed a reality-check.
The question is would we be reading and writing about Gram Parsons if he had not
died so young and under the circumstances in which he did die? If Gram was still
alive and in his mid 60s would he be the legend he is now? Would he be this
mythic character larger than life? You can't separate the legend from the way he
died. The Parsons mystique is based on that moreso than his musical legacy which
is limited at best. He did not single-handedly invent country rock nor was he
even the first, best or most innovative one at doing it. What about Gene Clark,
Richie Furay and Rusty Young, Mike Nesmith, Rodney Dillard, Chris Hillman, Larry
Murray, Clarence White, Bernie Leadon, Rick Nelson, Steve Young, Ian & Sylvia,
Craig Fuller........? These guys don't get the same notoriety or acclaim because
they didn't overdose in a cheap desert motel and have their bodies stolen and
set afire. Or fall down drunk or stoned and let their bandmates down. They
weren't "elegantly wasted". But over their careers they created a body of music
that was and is important and helped give birth to country rock. They, too,
have had to endure the exaggerated notion put forth increasingly as fact that
Gram created country rock and is the Godfather of that genre. It ain't so.