‘Hot Burrito’ Redux: In Defense of #2

In honor of Gram Parsons’ well-deserved posthumous induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we thought it might be fun to ask ourselves a musical question. It wasn’t meant to be rhetorical, but now we’re not so sure. “Hot Burrito #1” or “Hot Burrito #2”?

Let us explain. Back in 1969, the Flying Burrito Brothers, consisting of singers-guitarists Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman, bassist Chris Ethridge, and pedal steel guitar wizard Sneaky Pete Kleinow, recorded their first album, The Gilded Palace of Sin. The Burritos were fresh from their roles on the Byrds’ trendsetting country-rock LP Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and Hillman and Parsons were living with Byrds drummer Michael Clarke in a San Fernando Valley, California, bachelor pad they called Burrito Manor.

The country-rock scene in Southern California had been brewing for a few years before The Gilded Palace of Sin changed the game. Parsons and Hillman were the pioneers and architects, and they wrote half the songs on the band’s influential debut. Their so-called “Cosmic American Music” gathered many influences, including the connection between Nashville country and Memphis soul. Beyond the classic Parsons-Hillman numbers, the album included a pair of country-soul covers written by Memphis icons Chips Moman and Dan Penn.

And then there were the two songs Parsons wrote with his Mississippi-born bandmate, Ethridge. Ethridge recalled hanging at Burrito Manor and showing Parsons a couple of old melodies from his youth, writing “Hot Burrito #1” and “Hot Burrito #2” together that day and recording them that very night. The song titles came quick and easy, and Ethridge played piano on both tracks.

What’s the diff, the uninitiated might ask? “#1” is a ballad, the sort of yearning heartbreak for which Parsons was revered — unexpectedly (for the time) vulnerable and aching; “#2” is a rocking country-soul number that wouldn’t feel out of place at a Southern church sermon, particularly during its climactic call-out “Jesus Christ!” The former is an instant tearjerker, the latter, a grower in its funky, distorted sincerity.

So which did our panel of experts prefer? Rolling Stone senior music writer Angie Martoccio immediately held these truths to be self-evident and said, “Is this something people actually debate?” (A fair question.) “‘#1’ is usually seen as superior. ‘#2’ is great, but one of many great moments on Gilded Palace.”

Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield clearly agreed, stating, “‘Hot Burrito #1’ by a Cosmic American Mile. Gram at his most forlorn, pained, aiming for high notes he can’t reach, even the mega-cringe line, just perfect.”

When all the smoke cleared, our final tally wasn’t even close. Not one music lover we asked was willing to go on the record in sole support of “#2.” That’s right, “#1” was deemed ultimately preferable. Maybe that’s why it was called “Hot Burrito #1.”

Filmmaker Ron Mann voted for “‘HB#1’ — the song most likely to break your heart,” and singer-songwriter John Fullbright placed his order as “‘Hot Burrito #1’ please, with extra longing and a side of strange but beautiful chord progression. No fuzz.” My Morning Jacket singer Jim James was equally emphatic, writing in an e-mail, “i LOVE both Hot Burritos so much!!! Grams voice is the sunrise, the glowing sound of the promise of true romance coming up over the horizon.”

We even asked Gram’s daughter, Polly, for her Parsons pick, and she said, “‘One’ — Written for mom.” Now, how can you argue with that?

Worth noting: Elvis Costello recorded a cover of “Hot Burrito #1” in 1981 for his country album, Almost Blue, but was so proprietary that he renamed it “I’m Your Toy” because he felt the original title wasn’t serious enough. Talk about an artist making a song all their own! I guess Elvis really is King.

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Several writers insisted that they really, really loved “#2” but still had to give their vote to “#1.” That includes Rolling Stone alumni and Parsons’ biographers Holly George-Warren and Ben Fong-Torres. George-Warren told us: “I love both ‘#1’ & ‘#2,’ but the instrumental simplicity of ‘#1’ makes the vulnerability conveyed in Gram’s vocals all the more powerful. One of the saddest Burrito songs, it gets me in the gut every time I hear it, and the way his voice breaks in the lyric ‘I’m your toy, I’m your old boy’ is just heartbreakingly beautiful. You can’t fake that kind of emotive singing.”

We also lobbied Cameron Crowe, who, as a teenager before he was almost famous, interviewed Parsons. Crowe explained that it was a close call but … “I still choose ‘#1,’ though the Sneaky Pete solo at the end of ‘#2’ makes this a photo finish.”

Still, it can’t be denied that “#2” boasts its own appeal. Noted for Parsons’ passionate performance, the exclamatory chorus, and Sneaky Pete’s fuzz-drenched psychedelic steel guitar, the rambunctious tune has had its champions over the years. Groups like Dinosaur Jr. and the Black Crowes have covered “#2,” and Alex Chilton and Big Star performed it way back in 1973. Revered Americana doyenne and Parsons singing partner Emmylou Harris recorded the song for her Evangeline album in 1981 — the same year Costello tried to rewrite history.

So in the end, everybody wins. If you’re a die-hard Gram fan and have an opinion, more power to you. Me personally? I always went for “Hot Burrito #2” and am sticking to it. I think this whole endeavor was my unconscious defense of “#2”; I just didn’t realize it until we finished asking all the beloved pundits and scribes. Sorry to have wasted everybody’s time, and congrats again to Gram Parsons and his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class of 2026!

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Now then: Joe Walsh and the James Gang — “Funk #48” or “Funk #49”?

Mitch Myers is a Chicago-based music journalist and the author of The Boy Who Cried Freebird: Rock & Roll Fables and Sonic Storytelling. Read his Basement Vapes column here.