Kleinow and Ethridge instigated a reformation of the band in 1975 which continued through 1984. The band was reformed once again in 1985 and were disbanded for a final time in 2001.
The band best known as the "Flying Burrito Brothers" actually 'borrowed' their name from the original "Flying Burrito Brothers", composed of bassist Ian Dunlop and drummer Mickey Gauvin, bandmates of Parsons from the Boston-based International Submarine Band, plus any of a loose coalition of musicians, including Parsons himself from time to time. In a deliberate choice of focusing on just creating and playing music without the distractions of the music industry, in 1968 the original Brothers moved from Los Angeles to New York City. From this base they continued to tour the Northeast playing their eclectic traditional/rockabilly/blues/R&B-oriented version of rock, using the name "The Flying Burrito Brothers East" after Parsons' group became famous.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Parsons and guitarist/mandolinist/bassist/vocalist Chris Hillman thought this same moniker would be perfectly suited to the band they had been dreaming of since early 1968, when, as members of Roger McGuinn's band The Byrds, they created one of the first country-oriented rock albums, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. They immersed themselves in their vision in their house in the San Fernando Valley, dubbed "Burrito Manor", even replacing their wardrobe with a set of custom country-Western suits from tailor to the C&W stars, Nudie's Rodeo Tailors (Parsons's had marijuana leaf embroidery) and began a period of intensely fruitful creativity. At this juncture, the band also included pianist/bassist Chris Ethridge and pedal steel guitarist "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow.
Their first album The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969) did not sell terribly well, being a radical departure from anything most of the record-buying public (either rock or country) had ever seen, but the group had a cult following which included several famous musicians, such as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Parsons soon became friends with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and left the group after 1970's Burrito Deluxe, which also saw the departure of Ethridge and addition of guitarist/dobro player/vocalist Bernie Leadon and drummer Michael Clarke (of The Byrds). Rick Roberts replaced Parsons and released a self-titled album with the group in 1971. Kleinow then left to become a session musician and Leadon joined The Eagles. Al Perkins and Roger Bush replaced them, and Kenny Wertz and Byron Berline joined as well, releasing The Last of the Red Hot Burritos (1972), a live album. The band fell apart. Hillman and Perkins joined Manassas, while Berline, Bush and Wertz formed Country Gazette. Roberts reassembled a new group for a 1973 European tour, and then began a solo career before forming Firefall with Michael Clarke.
As Gram Parsons's influence and fame grew, so did interest in the Flying Burrito Brothers, leading to the release of Honky Tonks (1974), a double album, and the recreation of the band by Kleinow and Ethridge in 1975. Floyd "Gib" Gilbeau, Joel Scott Hill and Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram) also joined, and the band released Flying Again that year. Ethridge was then replaced by Skip Battin for Airborne (1976), followed by an album of unreleased early material, Sleepless Nights. For the next few decades, the group released albums and toured and had a country hit with "White Line Fever" (1980, a cover by Merle Haggard) and then became the Burrito Brothers. Headed by prolific songwriter and ace guitarist John Beland and Gib Guilbeau, and normally featuring Sneaky Pete, this incarnation scored moderately well on the Country charts in the early 1980s. Through numerous incarnations (including Brian Cadd for a time), the band released albums and toured throughout the 1980s up till 2001 when John Beland "officially" ended FBB. While the bands work during the 1980-1999 period was exceptional, after 1984 none of the many releases had any chart impact. Sneaky created a Burritos spinoff in his new band Burrito Deluxe, which featured Carlton Moody on lead vocals and Garth Hudson from The Band on keyboards. While a good band, there has never been any real continuity with the true Burritos and this group can not be considered anything more than a spinoff. Pete however, left the band due to illness in 2005, leaving no direct lineage to the original masters.
Gram Parsons died on September 19, 1973. "Sneaky Pete" Kleinow died on January 6, 2007. Chris Hillman is still a very successful singer-songwriter, having been part of Souther-Hillman-Furay, McGuinn-Clark-Hillman, then going on to form the Desert Rose Band (1986-1993) with Herb Pedersen. He still sings with Pedersen today as Chris and Herb, having released "The Other Side" (2005).
Hippie Boy
The Flying Burrito Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A sight came before my eyes
It was a little hippie boy
I must have been twice his size
His appearance typefied his strange breed
Gaudy clothes, long stringy hair hanging down
I'd seen perhaps a thousand
In my early trips to town
As he walked on beside me on down the block
I noticed no unpleasing smell
He might have been on the weed or even LSD
But if he was I couldn't tell
So we walked together that way through this neighborhood
Finally he turned around to me and he
He said "friend you know we're a million miles apart
But you know something?
We can enjoy the sunshine and the weather
So why don't we put our differences aside
And just talk to each other?
You see this box beneath my arm?
To you it's plain, it has no charm
But to someone dearest to my heart
This box has played a tragic part
This little one can't tell you himself
About his life and how he died
But if anyone else could speak for him,
I guess I'm qualified
This boy was in Chicago, he didn't know why he was there
He was with his family and friends and he didn't really care
You might have been one of those who saw
The struggle there on your television screen
The tragic thing is so much else happened
That no one else could have seen
A stranger handed this boy a dollar
To do a simple chore
To carry a package to a nearby hotel
And when he returned he'd get two more
But when he came back he sort of lost his way walking through the crowd
One of them things you ask yourself,
How the Lord allowed
But when he was found he was like he is now,
Dreaming sweet and still
And in his little hand was a crumpled dollar bill
Now you can take that dollar
Get four cents on it, compound it quarterly at any downtown bank
So they can back some hot new tank or atom bomb
Well, what I'm going to tell you now, you can stay or you can leave
You kind of listened to my story so far but just one more thing
It's the same for any hippie, bum or hillbilly out on the street
Just remember this little boy and never carry more than you can eat
Now could you help us sing this song, please
There will be peace in the valley for him now we pray
I will think of the little hippie boy that way
The Flying Burrito Brothers' "Hippie Boy" tells the story of a chance encounter between the singer and a young hippie boy. The singer, who is larger than the boy, is struck by the boy's appearance, which he characterizes as "gaudy" and "strange." Despite this, the singer does not find the boy to be unappealing, and the two walk together through the neighborhood. The boy tells the singer about his life, and shares with him a box that is a reminder of a tragedy. The box belonged to a young boy who died in Chicago, and was given to the hippie boy by a stranger who asked him to deliver a package to a nearby hotel. The boy became lost in the crowd, and when he was found, he was dreaming and holding a crumpled dollar bill.
The song is a poignant reminder of the often tragic circumstances behind the hippie movement of the 1960s. It draws attention to the fact that, while many people saw the protests and the music, they did not necessarily see the underground culture that fueled the movement. The song also highlights the humanity of the hippie subculture, despite its often unconventional appearance.
Line by Line Meaning
I was walking down the street the other day
One day, as I walked along the street
A sight came before my eyes
I encountered a sight that caught my attention
It was a little hippie boy
A young boy with a hippie appearance
I must have been twice his size
He was much shorter and smaller than me
His appearance typefied his strange breed
His look and clothing were characteristic of the hippie culture
Gaudy clothes, long stringy hair hanging down
He wore flashy clothes and had unkempt, long, and thin hair
I'd seen perhaps a thousand
I had seen many people like him before
In my early trips to town
During my early visits to the city
As he walked on beside me on down the block
He continued to walk with me as we moved down the street
I noticed no unpleasing smell
Despite his appearance, he didn't have an unpleasant odor
He might have been on the weed or even LSD
He may have used marijuana or the drug LSD
But if he was I couldn't tell
However, I couldn't discern whether he was high or not
So we walked together that way through this neighborhood
We continued to walk this way through the community
Finally he turned around to me and he
After some time, he faced me
He said 'friend you know we're a million miles apart
He said to me that we were different from each other
But you know something?
But then he said something else
We can enjoy the sunshine and the weather
We can both enjoy the warmth and beauty of the outdoors
So why don't we put our differences aside
Therefore, we should ignore our disparities
And just talk to each other?
In order to simply engage in conversation?
You see this box beneath my arm?
He then pointed to the box he was carrying
To you it's plain, it has no charm
To an outsider, it appears unremarkable
But to someone dearest to my heart
For someone special to me
This box has played a tragic part
This container had been involved in a terrible occurrence
This little one can't tell you himself
The young boy whom the box belonged to was unable to convey the details
About his life and how he died
Regarding his life history and how he passed away
But if anyone else could speak for him,
If anyone could represent his story,
I guess I'm qualified
The hippie boy felt that he was qualified
This boy was in Chicago, he didn't know why he was there
The boy was in Chicago, but didn't know how he got there, or why he was there
He was with his family and friends and he didn't really care
He was surrounded by loved ones, and unconcerned about his situation
You might have been one of those who saw
The listener may have observed
The struggle there on your television screen
The viewer may have watched the conflict on their TV
The tragic thing is so much else happened
Unfortunately, there were other unfortunate events that occurred
That no one else could have seen
But those events went unnoticed
A stranger handed this boy a dollar
A passerby gave the boy a dollar
To do a simple chore
In order to accomplish an easy task
To carry a package to a nearby hotel
To transport an item to a nearby lodging establishment
And when he returned he'd get two more
Upon his return, he was promised an additional two dollars
But when he came back he sort of lost his way walking through the crowd
Unfortunately, he became lost in the commotion when he tried to return
One of them things you ask yourself,
It was one of those paradoxical events that one ponders
How the Lord allowed
How God permitted it to occur
But when he was found he was like he is now,
Ultimately, he was discovered in the current state he finds himself in
Dreaming sweet and still
The child was dreaming peacefully
And in his little hand was a crumpled dollar bill
But he still clutched the dollar bill in his tiny hand
Now you can take that dollar
It's feasible to take that bill
Get four cents on it, compound it quarterly at any downtown bank
And convert it into interest by depositing it at a city bank, quarterly
So they can back some hot new tank or atom bomb
It might fuel the construction of a powerful military vehicle or weapon
Well, what I'm going to tell you now, you can stay or you can leave
The singer offers the listener an out – they can choose to stay and listen, or not
You kind of listened to my story so far but just one more thing
The listener has been paying attention thus far, but he has one more thing to elaborate
It's the same for any hippie, bum or hillbilly out on the street
This situation is not unique – it could happen to anyone, regardless of their social status
Just remember this little boy and never carry more than you can eat
The story of this little boy is a reminder to be content with what one has, and not to go overboard in pursuit of more
There will be peace in the valley for him now we pray
We pray that he has found peace in a better place
I will think of the little hippie boy that way
The artist intends to remember the boy in the spirit of the message he conveyed
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CHRISTOPHER HILLMAN, GRAM PARSONS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind