Flying Burrito Brothers – Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise)

I love this band, and I need to post more by them. Today, I have a theme going: alt-country, with one of the pioneers and one that picked up the mantle a little longer down the line. Like Little Feat, this band was more popular with other musicians than with the public. So the public missed something special here. 

This was the opening song on the album The Gilded Palace of Sin. They didn’t ease you in… they hit you hard with this country song with rock attitude. It’s built around a cool rhythm and sharp harmonies. I like how it had a Bakersfield sound mixed with rock’s drive. It was written by Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman. 

This song showed how country music could carry an edge without losing its roots. What makes it work is how natural it sounds, blending those two styles. Pedal steel in the background while the rhythm section drives like a rock band. It set the tone for the whole Burritos sound.

This song, like the album, barely made a dent in the music world of 1969. They developed a cult following upon its release that included Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. Over time, it turned into a blueprint for country-rock.

Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise)

She’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguiseNow a woman like that all she does is hate youShe doesn’t know what makes a man a manShe’ll talk about the times that she’s been with youShe’ll speak your name to everyone she canShe’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguise

Unhappiness has been her close companionHer world is full of jealousy and doubtIt gets her off to see a person cryingShe’s just the kind that you can’t do withoutShe’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguise

Her number always turns up in your pocketWhenever you are looking for a dimeIt’s all right to call her but I’ll bet youThe moon is full and your just wasting time

She’s a devil in disguiseYou can see it in her eyesShe’s telling dirty liesShe’s a devil in disguiseIn disguise (in disguise)In disguise (in disguise)In disguise (in disguise)In disguise

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

42 thoughts on “Flying Burrito Brothers – Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise)”

  1. They were a creative group of guys. As you say they just never found a place. Since you mentioned it, when did Parsons relationship with the Stones begin. Pre or during Burrito Brothers. The timeline seems quite tight around then, in particular the sequence of events around Wild Horses. Apologies if I am jumping ahead to a future post! In which case never mind I will wait to read about it!

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  3. Pingback: Flying Burrito Brothers – Christine’s Tune (Devil in Disguise) – MobsterTiger

  5. Lot of talented guys passed through that band and doubtlessly they did help create that country-rock or alt country sound, so thank you Burritos! Their name helped them be remembered too…if they were ‘the chargers’ we’d have largely forgotten their name by now

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      1. Regarding the name. I see that Chris Hillman is doing or did something with Syrius (which I misspelled, mea culpa) calling it his Burrito Stand.

        Gotta love it.

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  6. I generally dig what I’ve heard of The Flying Burrito Brothers to date, which is much less than what I wish it would be. “Christine’s Tune” sounded vaguely familiar – love their warm sound! Their harmony singing reminds me a tiny bit of The Everly Brothers. Another group I should spend more time with. The longer I blog, the bigger the “To Explore” pile gets!😆

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  7. This was a band I did not appreciate enough at the time. After Gram Parsons brilliantly remade The Byrds for “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” , he moved on to the Burritos. Yeah, you have to call it country rock and not country when you put Fuzztone on the pedal steel guitar.

    Now I want to go search out the Sweetheart of the Rodeo recordings before they overdubbed Parsons’ vocals with McGuinn. McGuinn’s voice was never my favorite part of The Byrds. (Okay, I just did. One example: McGuinn sounds like a parody of a country vocalist on “The Christian Life” and Parsons sounds like the real thing.)

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    1. McGuinn, the reason I’m a fan of him is his 12 string Rickenbacker sound but I would like to hear those tapes as well. I have read where the “Legacy” edition of that album contains those vocals.
      I agree…they would fit more of Parsons style because the man was a living breathing dictionary of country music from what I read…he knew it inside and out.

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  8. Christine Frka (often called Miss Christine), was a well-known groupie and member of Frank Zappa’s group, the GTO’s. She was known for her connections to the Byrds and for dating Chris Hillman, but she died in a car accident.

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    2. Jim, this is from wikipedia:
      Miss Christine (sometimes known as Miss Crispy), born Christine Ann Frka on November 27, 1949, in San Pedro, California, was the first babysitter for Moon Unit Zappa, Frank Zappa’s first daughter. She is shown on the front cover of Frank Zappa’s 1969 album Hot Rats emerging from an empty swimming pool on Errol Flynn’s former estate in the Hollywood Hills. She dated rock musician Alice Cooper and is credited with creating his stage persona.[5] Frka also dated Todd Rundgren and Russell Mael; Frka died on November 6, 1972, of a barbiturate overdose in a house in Cohasset, Massachusetts, which at the time was being rented by Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers.[6] She overdosed shortly before her 23rd birthday.

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  9. it was that era right? I just got into a good chat with Chat GPT about the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment and what being alive then what that must have been like, and wondering if at any point we had that in my lifetime…the 60s maybe?…..but when you think of the time of the Burritos, Gram, California maybe later on, the days of Echos in the Canyon…art was all around? maybe

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  13. This is one image of the Flying Burrito Brothers. Then Gram left, Chris took over, brought in Rick Roberts and made that wonderful third album. After that, with neither Gram nor Chris forging the way, the band brought in a local bluegrass band and there are records that are a little distant from what Gram had in mind.

    I would like to say, and am obviously saying it here, that the Desert Rose Band is in many ways a later version of the Flying Burrito Brothers. I have nothing bad to say about DRB.

    Great stuff.

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  14. We are all Chuck’s children (Berry, that is). In the same sense, many of us are Gram’s kids. What we listen to is firmly rooted in what Mr. Berry and Mr. Parsons developed. Same as with the Beatles, we owe them an obvious debt. Sure, their music is linked to the stuff they heard, and discovering that is often a jubilant occurrence, or have you not listened to Roll ‘Em Pete, which I am proud to say I suggested to Max to post a few months ago.

    Christine’s Tune is the first Gram song that pops into my head when I think of that era of the Burritos. Yes, I am old enough to have been in the Palomino Club. Yes, I regret that it wasn’t more often. The Palomino was a nightclub in North Hollywood, on Lankershim Blvd., where the music came together.

    Thanks for posting this, Max.

    Did you get to see the exhibit on Los Angeles country rock at the Country Music Hall of Fame? I don’t remember the exact title, and I don’t know if the exhibit is still open, but it sounded like a great thing.

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