Songs about Horses

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Aug 08 - 07:56 AM

I haven't read thru all of these but there are a couple John Stewert songs that come to mind:

"How Will We Ride" I belive is the name of one ("Shoot all the wild horses, how will we ride"

"Mother Country" also has a very movibng part abot E.A. Stuart driving "Old Campaigner stone blind... And will you look at her and he driving her stone blind... A little while later old E.A. Stuart died"

B~

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 06 Aug 08 - 01:53 PM

Marymac90:

The song you refer to, "Cool Water," was written by Bob Nolan, of the Sons of the Pioneers. That song, along with "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," another composition by Nolan, were two early favorites of mine and both were heard frequently in the 1940's and '50's. Of course, Jack Palance gave a whole new sound to "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" in "City Slickers."

Subject: Lyr Add: SKY BALL PAINT (Bob Nolan)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 10 Dec 09 - 08:03 PM

Don't forget another Sons of the Pioneers classic by Bob Nolan:

SKY BALL PAINT

Old Sky Ball Paint was a devil's saint, his eyes were a fiery red.
Good men have tried this horse to ride and all of them are dead.
Now I won't brag but I rode this nag till his blood began to boil.
Then I hit the ground and I ate three pound of good old western soil.

[Chorus]
Singin' hi ho, whoopee ti yo,
Ride him high and down you go,
Sons of the western soil.

So I swore, by heck, I'd break his neck for the jolt he gave my pride.
I threw my noose on that old cayuse and once more took a ride.
He turned around and soon I found his head where his tail should be
So I sez, sez I, perhaps he's shy or he just don't care for me.

[Chorus]

In town one day I chanced to stray upon old Cross-Eyed Jim.
For a whoop and a holler and a counterfeit dollar I sold the nag to him.
But when he plants the seat of his pants in Sky Ball's leather chair,
I'll bet four bits when Sky Ball quits that Jim will not be there.

[Chorus]

I've also heard it done with Sheriff Jim in the last verse.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Artful Codger
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 05:47 AM

"Chopo", by N. Howard "Jack" Thorp

Ahem, no horse turns up explicitly in "Bonny Light Horseman"; the closest is in the line "When mounted on horseback he so gay did appear".

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Amber
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 06:12 AM

Copper and May is a really beautiful song and someone at my club sings it, but I can not remember who wrote it.

Amber

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Genie
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 02:24 PM

"Run, Molly, Run" is about racehorses.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Genie
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 02:29 PM

"The Surrey With The Fringe On Top" has a verse about the two white horses that would pull the surrey.

(Then there's the poem - by Oliver Wendell Holmes, IIRC - about "The Wonderful One-Horse Shay.")

Also, there's song called "Government On Horseback" (which is really political satire, not so much about real horses).

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD FAITHFUL (Michael Carr/Jimmy Kennedy)
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:04 AM

This is the song somebody mentioned as being in a Roy Rogers movie - the movie was My Pal Trigger. Gene Autry also sang it ten years earlier in The Big Show, which featured a very young Roy Rogers in a bit part as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers.

OLD FAITHFUL
(Michael Carr/Jimmy Kennedy)

Old faithful, we rode the range together
Old faithful in every kind of weather
When your round up days are over
There'll be pastures white with clover
For you, old faithful pal of mine.

Hurry, up old fellow,
'Cause the moon is yellow tonight
Hurry, up old fellow
'Cause the moon is mellow and bright.

There's a coyote howlin' to the moon above
So carry me back to the one I love
Hurry up, old fellow
'Cause we gotta get home tonight.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Genie
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 01:28 AM

Ian Tyson recorded a song about a horse named Barney.   It tells of Barney's owner, broken-hearted, having to "put old Barney down" so as to be able to "bury him deep 'fore the ground got too hard."    The beloved horse was very old and feeble and would not have made it through the winter.
I think "Barney" may be the title of the song.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Gene
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:00 AM

Dean Martin's "My rifle, my pony & me"

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 11:43 AM

In addition to Father Ted and Dougal, with their "My Lovely Horse" (which I guess is the one posted by Suibne, tho' I can't see the clip), there several other Irish ones: I've heard one called "Horses and Plough", and another called "The Mowing Machine", which struck me as very pleasant and moving (I don't have the words), and then there's Percy French's "Sweet Marie", which begins:

I've a little racing mare called Sweet Marie,
And the temper of a bear has Sweet Marie;
But I've backed the mare to win,
And on her bet all my tin,
So we'll take a trial spin, Sweet Marie---

Hold yer hoult, Sweet Marie!
If ye boult, Sweet Marie,
Ye'll never win the Farmers' Cup for me;
And if ye don't pull it through,
Faith! I'm done -- and so are you,
For I'll sell ye off for glue, Sweet Marie.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Arkie
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 12:41 PM

Here are several more that I don't think have not been mentioned:
    Pinto the Wonder Horse Is Dead - Tom T. Hall
    Comanche - recorded by Johnny Horton and likely by others
    Your Horse is out of the Stable - Thom Bresh (about a different kind of horse).

Subject: Lyr Add: THE HIGH-METTLED RACER (Charles Dibdin)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 12:39 AM

Here's the original text, with correct attribution, of the song posted above by Black Belt Caterpillar Wrestler:


THE HIGH-METTLED RACER.
Charles Dibdin

See, the course throng'd with gazers, the sports are begun
The confusion but hear!--I'll bet you, sir!--Done, done!
Ten thousand strange murmurs resound far and near,
Lords, hawkers, and jockeys assail the tired ear.
While with neck like a rainbow, erecting his crest,
Pamper'd, prancing, and pleas'd, his head touching his breast,
Scarcely snuffing the air, he's so proud and elate,
The high-mettled racer first starts for the plate.

Now Reynard's turn'd out, and o'er hedge and ditch rush
Hounds, horses, and huntsmen, all hard at his brush:
They run him at length, and they have him at bay,
And by scent and by view cheat a long tedious way;
While, alike born for sports of the field and the course,
Always sure to come thorough a stanch and fleet horse,
When fairly run down the fox yields up his breath,
The high-mettled racer is in at the death.

Grown aged, used up, and turn'd out of the stud,
Lame, spavin'd, and windgall'd, but yet with some blood,
While knowing postilions his pedigree trace,
Tell his dam won that sweepstakes, his sire gain'd that race;
And what matches he won to the ostlers count o'er,
As they loiter their time at some hedge ale-house door,
While the harness sore galls, and the spurs his sides goad.
The high-mettled racer's a hack on the road.

Till at last having labour'd, drudg'd early and late,
Bow'd down by degrees, he bends on to his fate!
Blind, old, lean, and feeble, he tugs round a mill,
Or draws sand till the sand of his hour-glass stands still.
And now cold and lifeless exposed to the view
In the very same cart which he yesterday drew;
While a pitying crowd his sad relics surrounds,
The high-mettled racer is sold for the hounds!


[The above text can be found in many old books. An old musical arrangement can be found in The Harmonicon, Volume 2, Part 2 edited by William Ayrton (London: Samuel Leigh, 1824), page 38.]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BLIZZARD (Harlan Howard)^^
From: kendall
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 08:14 AM

THE BLIZZARD
(Harlan Howard)

There's a blizzard coming on
How I'm wishing I was home
My pony's lame and he can hardly stand
Listen to that norther sigh
If we don't get home we'll die
It's only seven miles to Mary Ann
It's only seven miles to Mary Ann.

That wind's howling and it seems mighty like a woman's screams
We'd best be moving faster if we can
Dan, just think about that barn and that hay so soft and warm
It's only 5 more miles to Mary Ann.

You can bet we're on her mind cause its nearly supper time
I'll bet there's hot biscuits in the pan
Lord, my hands feel like they're froze and there's numbness in my toes
But it's only 3 more miles to Mary Ann,
It's only three more miles to Mary Ann.

Dan get up you onery cuss or you'll be the death of us,
I'm so weary but I'll help you if I can,
Alright Dan, perhaps it's best that we stop a while and rest
It's still 100 yards to Mary Ann
It's still a hundred yards to Mary Ann.

Late that night the storm was gone and they found him there at dawn
He'd have made it but he couldn't leave old Dan,
They found him on the plain with his hands froze to the reins,
He was just a hundred yards from Mary Ann,
He was just a hundred yards from Mary Ann. ^^

---

Note from Joe Offer: Songfile.com says the songwriter was Harlan Howard. Harlan Howard recorded the song, as did Ed Ames, Jim Reeves, and Chris Ledoux.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Artful Codger
Date: 11 May 11 - 09:24 PM

In July of 2008 "Black belt caterpillar wrestler" posted the lyrics to "High-Mettled Racer". The text was written by Charles Dibdin; the Bodleian Library has a broadside dated ca. 1790. In Sporting Anecdotes (1820), Pierce Egan wrote:

"On the publication of this song, it was so much admired in the Sporting World, that it is said, the late Mr. Charles Dibdin, cleared upwards of £2000 by it."

At least one theater production was based on the song, including one in which, at the end, a magician resurrects the animal to life.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 11 May 11 - 10:38 PM

Nice to see this thread refreshed.
ad.

Subject: Lyr Add: ARKLE (Dominic Behan)
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 11 May 11 - 11:30 PM

ARKLE   (Dominic Behan Essex Music)

It happened in the Springtime of the year of sixty-four,
When Englishmen were making pounds and fivers by the score;
He beat them in the hollows, he beat them o'er the jumps,
A pair of fancy fetlocks he showed them all at once.

He's English, he's English, as easy might be seen,
With a little bit of Arab stock and more from Stephen's Green;
Take a look at Millhouse, throw out your chest with pride,
He's the greatest steeplechaser on the English countryside.

But a quiet man called Dreaper living in the Emerald Isle
Says, "That horse of yours called Millhouse surely shows a bit of style,
But I've a little fella and Arkle is his name,
Put your money where you put your mouth and then we'll play the game."

Now the English racing gentry, laughing fit to burst,
Said, "You tried before Tom Dreaper, and then you came off worst;
If you think your horse could beat us, you're running short on brains,
It's Millhouse that you're speaking of, and not those beastly Danes."

Arkle now is five to two, Millhouse is money-on;
They're off, and dear I do believe the champion has it won.
There are other horses in the race to test the great chap's might;
But dearie me, it's plain to see the rest are out of sight.

With two more fences now to go, he leads by twenty lengths,
Brave Arkle's putting in a show, poor chap, he's all but spent;
Millhouse rides on majestically, great glory in each stride;
He's the greatest horse undoubtedy within the whole world wide.

But two to go, still Arkle comes, he's cutting down the lead;
He's beaten bar the shouting, he hasn't got the speed;
On the run-up to the last, my God can he hold out,
"Look behind you Willie Robinson! Man, what are you about?"

They're at the last and over, Pat Taaffe has more in hand,
He's passing England's Millhouse, the finest in the land,
My God, he has us beaten, what can we English say?
The ground was wrong, the distance long, too early in the day?

So came all ye gallant Irishmen wherever you may be,
And let the glasses toast a round to Arkle's victory.
When the English think they've bred a horse to wipe out this disgrace,
Sure we'll send another over to take great Arkle's place.

This was my party piece when I was much younger and learning to
play the guitar. Arkle tells the true story of a Guinness-drinking
racehorse – a steeplechaser – who was the Irish equivalent of
SeaBiscuit in the1960's.He beat the great English favorite Mill House
in The Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1964, a race which has been called
"one of the 10 greatest horseraces of all time."
This was the second major battle won by the Irish on English soil.
The first was when Master McGrath the legendary Irish greyhound
beat all comers including Rose, the pride of England in 1869.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: emtee
Date: 17 Nov 12 - 11:49 AM

A song about an old farmhand remembering "The Old Ways" when he used to work the fields with his horse

The Old Ways

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: r.padgett
Date: 17 Nov 12 - 02:11 PM

O a tear to my eyes you blighters!!and I don't like racehorses

Ray

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 17 Nov 12 - 02:48 PM

Ride On by Christy Moore! {lyrics}

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Anne Neilson
Date: 18 Nov 12 - 09:41 AM

And there's a fine song from Ken Campbell about the famous Clydesdale horse sire that provided the line of many champions -- I believe his skeleton is in the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow.
But I've forgotten the title/mislaid the connection! Will try to get on to it soon...

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Anne Neilson
Date: 19 Nov 12 - 06:39 AM

"The Baron o Buchlyvie"!

(See what a wee sleep will do!)

Subject: Lyr Add: SEE THOSE HORSES RACE (J H Hills)
From: GUEST,John from Kemsing
Date: 19 Nov 12 - 09:31 AM

"SEE THOSE HORSES RACE." (J.H.HILLS)

LYRIC:-

I don`t want to own them.
I don`t want to lead them.
I don`t want to ride them.
I don`t want to feed them.
I just like to see those horses race.
I just like to see those horses race.

They run them in cross country.
Run them in steeplechase.
Run them on the flat
They can run them any place.
I just like to see those horses race.
I just like to see those horses race.

I don`t care for dressage.
Strutting back and forth.
I can take show jumping
On a tight and twisting course.
But I prefer to see those horses race.
Yes, I prefer to see those horses race.

Silky black, chestnut,
Pie-bald, skew-bald, grey.
Sorrel and all colours.
Its just the same to me.
I just like to see those horses race.
I just like to see those horses race.

Arab mares and stallions.
Thoroughbreds, maidens.
Four year olds and over.
In the sport of kings.
I just like to see those horses race.
I just like to see those horses race.

Epsom, Lingfield, Aintree.
Cheltenham and York.
Leopardstown and Longchamps.
I`ve been to them all.
Just to see those horses race.
Just to see those horses race.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 20 Nov 12 - 08:17 AM

correction re "Ride On", recorded by Christy Moore: I believe the author is Jimmy MacCarthy

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 20 Nov 12 - 08:19 AM

do songs of the Kelpie (mythical water horse) qualify?
What about The Unicorn ("sure as you're born, the loveliest of all was the unicorn"), and any songs about Pegasus, the Trojan horse, rocking horses,etc?)

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 20 Nov 12 - 08:23 AM

Bring'em all in.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: open mike
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 04:06 AM

Tonight We Ride...by Tom Russell..
Darcy Farrow..

I like to sing a little round that i learned in girl scouts..

I like to ride a horse and buggy,
I like to ride all over town
I like to hear old Dobbin go clip clop
I like to see those wheels go 'round

horsey horsey on your way
we've been together for many a day
so let your tail go swish
and your wheels go 'round
giddy up we're homeward bound

Juni Fisher sings Horse Like You:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8emLY2qlqk

Belinda Gail .. Horse Corral Meadow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndXN0X5E74k

Joyce Woodson -- She's in Love with Her Horse...(short sample here:)
http://www.joycewoodson.com/mp3s/horsefortheweb.mp3

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: open mike
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 04:25 AM

Ragtime Cowboy Joe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y7t7ttZCXU

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Eddie1 (Still sans cookie)
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 05:50 AM

Some years ago
on this thread, Effsee referred to this song

As If He Knows
[Lyrics]
For me, this makes any other song about horses seem a sick joke. Maybe that's too melodramatic but that's me.
Warning - have some tissues nearby

Eddie

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 08:43 AM

Eddie,
That is a tough one to listen to. Eric Bogle has a way of doing this with his songs.
Ad.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Jack Campin
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 11:03 AM

One of the great Japanese songs, the Packhorseman's Song:

Esashi Oiwake

(can't find a good vocal version at present, that one is on a flute).

Subject: Lyr Add: PONIES (Jeffrey Hawthorne Bullock)
From: Larry The Radio Guy
Date: 21 Nov 12 - 04:08 PM

One of my favorites....I heard it by Michael Johnson in 1987.

PONIES
Words and music by Jeffrey Hawthorne Bullock

Somewhere out on the prairie
Is the greatest cowboy that's ever been
And when he lays his hands upon the ponies
They shudder with an understanding skin

And he says ponies
Now ponies don't you worry
I have not come to steal your fire away
I want to fly with you across the sunrise
Discover what begins each shining day

When the storm clouds in the west
Are quickly gathering
The ponies they run wild there
Before it rains

You'll see their sleek dark bodies
Brightly gleaming
You know the fire is flying through
Their brains

And he says ponies
Now ponies don't you worry
I have not come to steal your fire away
I want to fly with you across the sunrise
Discover what begins each shining day

And he says ponies
Now ponies don't you worry
I have not come to steal your fire away
I want to fly with you across the sunrise
Discover what begins each shining day

And he says ponies
Ponies don't you worry
I have not come to steal your fire away
I want to fly with you across the sunrise
Discover what begins each shining day
I want to fly


[Also recorded by John Denver; Royal Wade Kimes; Jim Horn & Jim Salestrom; Lynn Anderson; Michael Martin Murphey & Johnny Cash; Michael Johnson]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CARTER AND HIS TEAM
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 May 13 - 12:12 PM

This is in response to JeffB, who posted on 01 Aug 2008. (What is the chance he'll see this?)

From The Children's Garland of Verse edited by Grace Little Rhys (London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd., 1921), page 91:


THE CARTER AND HIS TEAM

I was once a bold fellow, and went with a team,
And all my delight was in keeping them clean,
With brushes and curries I'd show their bright colour,
And the name that they gave me was "a hearty good fellow."

As every evening I went to my bed
The thought of my horses came into my head.
I rose in the morning to give them their meat
As soon as I got my shoes on my feet.

The first was a white horse, as white as the milk;
The next was a grey horse, as soft as the silk;
The next was a brown horse, as sleek as a mole;
The last was a great horse, as black as a coal.

As I went a-driving all on the highway,
When light went my load, then I fed them with hay;
And watered them very well, when we came to a pond.
(And after they've drunk, boys, go steady beyond.)

My feet they grew weary as I walked by their side;
I said to my mate, "I will get up and ride."
And as I was riding I made a new song,
And as I did sing it, you must learn it along.

[Dave Webber & Anni Fentiman sing a similar song, which they call THE CARTER, on "Bonnet & Shawl" (1996).]

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: open mike
Date: 21 May 13 - 04:16 PM

I DID A 2 HOUR RADIO SHOW WITH SONGS ABOUT HORSES...
i will check to see if i can find th eplaylist...

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST
Date: 21 May 13 - 04:54 PM

Donkey, Jack Donkey by Bill Caddick - sums up most of the horses I ever backed ...

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: open mike
Date: 21 May 13 - 05:12 PM

here are some

Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard / Horse Called Music / Heroes / Legacy / http://www.willienelson.com/

Corinne West / Horseback in my Dreams / Bound for the Living/ Make Records

Lonesome Traveler / If Wishes Were Horses / Looking for a Way / www.lonesometravelerband.com

Tom Russell has an album called "Indians, Cowboys, Horses, Dogs" / Hightone / http://www.tomrussell.com/

Dave Stamey / If I Had a Horse + Somewhere West of Laramie / If I Had a Horse / Horse Camp / www.davestamey.com....

The Rice Brothers / Darcy Farrow / Rice Brothers 2 / Rounder / www.tonyrice.com

Caroline Doctorow / Carmel Valley Ride / title song / Narrow Lane / http://www.carolinedoctorow.com/

Michael Martin Murphey / Tennessee Stud / Horse Legends / Warner Western / http://www.michaelmartinmurpheymusic.com/....

Chris Williamson / Goodbye Old Paint / Fringe / Wolf Moon / http://www.criswilliamson.com/....

G. W. Groethe / My Father's Horses / Bar-D-Roundup / Cowboy Poetry.com

The Be Good Tanyas / Horses / Chinatown / Nettwerk / http://www.begoodtanyas.com/

Pedro Marquez / Comes a Horseman / Nevada /Heart Bar Ranch

John Tyson / Mustang Moon / Wild Horse Crossing / Lacy J. Dalton / http://www.letemrun.com/Wild-Horse-Crossing.htm

Juni Fisher / title tune + Roundup to Remember / Let 'er Go, Let 'er Buck, Let 'er Fly /Red Geetar / www.junifisher.net

Sisters of the Silver Sage / Ghost Riders in the Sky / Swingin' & Trail Dreamin'

Ramblin' Jack Elliot & Arlo Guthrie / Ridin' Down the Canyon / Friends of Mine / Hightone /

Rich Flanders / Song of the Trail / Yondering / JAZ Music / www.richflanders.com

and last, but not least....

Garnet Rogers / Small Victory / song about a rescued race horse / www.garnetrogers.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge5_gLtSWd4

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD NED (Ted Egan)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 May 13 - 10:43 PM

From The Land Downunder by Ted Egan (Norwich : Grice Chapman, 2003), page 128:

OLD NED
Ted Egan

1. They reckon Old Ned is too stiff to be riding,
Too old at the stockyards when the drafting is done.
His eyesight is shot for the tracking and the guiding
He'll muster no more with the camp on the run.

2. Let him dream on; let the old bloke remember
The days when he rode where the wild cattle were.
Pension him off, but just let him cherish
Memories of stockwhip, stirrup and spur.

3. In his day, there were few who could stay there beside him
Through the gidyea and the wattle when slinging the lead.
Few horses could throw him; no man could outride him:
Best in the Gulf, the old-timers agreed.

Repeat 2.

4. Let's yarn to Old Ned in his camp by the river,
Far from the hills that were mustered back then.
The legendary stockman, it's sad that he'll never
Go running the pikers and the cleanskins again.

Repeat 2.

Repeat 1.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: eftifino
Date: 22 May 13 - 01:48 AM

I can't believe that I haven't seen any mention of Steeleye Span's rendering of "Skewball" (Not the US Stewball). It's on their Ten Man Mop album.

I don't know if it can be obtained these days (I live Down Under), but my late father, The Irish Actor Noel Purcell, recorded a 6-kleenex monologue called 'Pretty Polly', about an old Dublin Hackney driver and his equally old Polly. If it is available, it was recorded on the Glenside Label by Walton's of Dublin in the '50s. I had a 78, but it broke!

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST
Date: 22 May 13 - 02:58 AM

ouwe bles is a popular yodel song sung by many Dutch cowboy-style yodelers like the boy-yodeler Bobby Klein [trans from Dutch] also sung by Belgian cowboy yodeler Bob Vrieling.

"in the afternoon when i get home from school
i help my father around the farm
until my father says: "Stop dreaming and
go bring back ole Bles from the pasture"
then I grab the really Ole Bles by the head
and swing uyp on his back and here is
where i become a real cowboy, or so I imagine
and I'm riding across the Texas prairies...
[lots of yodeling]

My 2nd yodel book was recently published: YODEL IN HIFI: FROM KITSCH FOLK TO MODERN ELECTRONICA. you can find more info at: http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/4594.htm

bart plantenga

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD FAITHFUL AND I (from Les Wilson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 May 13 - 07:11 PM

Not to be confused with another song with a similar title and theme: OLD FAITHFUL.


OLD FAITHFUL AND I
As sung by Les Wilson on "Old Faithful: Songs from the Saddle"

On the great plains of Texas we wander,
Away from the mountain so high,
Serenading the sky and the grasslands,
My old horse Faithful and I.

[Yodel]

When the purple shades close on the prairie,
And the pale moon rises on high,
We'll rest by the campfire in silence,
My old horse Faithful and I.

[Yodel]

When the sun beats down without mercy,
For the cool of the evening we sigh,
And long for the shadows of nightfall,
My old horse Faithful and I.

[Yodel]

Subject: Lyr Add: PATRICK (Mike Beck)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 May 13 - 08:45 PM

PATRICK
As sung by Mike Beck on "Mariposa Wind"

My name is Patrick,
And I live in the mountains
Outside Salinas,
Way up in the sky.

My name is Patrick,
And the man who rides me,
He feels what I feel;
He thinks what I think;
His touch goes down to my feet.

My name is Patrick,
And it's easy to run,
And I can stop on four feet,
And no cow can get by me.

And I'm straight up in the bridle,
And my reins and reata,
They're braided by the man
I allow on my back,
Whose touch goes down to my feet.

Back in '57,
The bridle class in Salinas,
The great horses were there,
And the men who rode 'em, too.

And I chased the wild cow,
And I turned her on the fence,
And the people all cheered,
And they all looked at me.

'Cause my name is Patrick,
And I live in the mountains
Outside Salinas,
Way up in the sky.

My name is Patrick,
And the man who rides me,
He feels what I feel;
He thinks what I think,
And his touch goes down to my feet.

When I'm turned out in the golden hills,
I eat the sweetest grass
That grows under the oak trees
Where the fog drifts to the ground.

Now my name is Patrick,
And I sleep on the ridges
Where the wind off the ocean
Brings the scent of manzanita
And it blows through my mane.


[Reputedly written about a horse belonging to Bill Dorrance, one of the original "horse whisperers."]

Subject: Lyr Add: SILVER STALLION
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 May 13 - 09:56 PM

SILVER STALLION
Written by Lee Clayton
As sung by The Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, & Kris Kristofferson)
on "Highwayman 2" (1990), "Highwayman Super Hits" (1999), "The Highwayman Collection" (2000), and "The Essential Highwaymen" (2010).

[Kristofferson:]
I'm gonna steal me a silver stallion,
With not a mark upon his silky hide,
And teach him he can trust me like a brother.
One day we'll saddle up and ride.

[Cash:]
And we're gonna ride, we're gonna ride,
Ride like the one-eyed jack of diamonds with the devil close behind.
We're gonna ride.

[Jennings:]
I'm gonna find me a reckless woman,
Razor blades and dice in her eyes,
Just a touch of sadness in her fingers,
Thunder and lightnin' in her thighs.

[Cash:]
And we're gonna ride, we're gonna ride,
Ride like the one-eyed jack of diamonds with the devil close behind.
We're gonna ride.

[Nelson:]
I'm gonna chase the sky forever,
With the woman and the stallion and the wind,
And the sun is gonna burn into a cinder,
Before we ever pass this way again.

[Cash:]
And we're gonna ride, we're gonna ride,
Ride like the one-eyed jack of diamonds with the devil close behind.
We're gonna ride.

[Also recorded by Lee Clayton on "Gettin' Filthy"]

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 22 May 13 - 10:33 PM

Marie-Lynn Hammond has just released Hoofbeats, an entire CD of horse songs that she's written over the past few years. You can find more details on her web site.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Allen in Oz
Date: 22 May 13 - 11:23 PM

Has The Tennessee Stud been mentioned yet ?

AD

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: mg
Date: 23 May 13 - 03:20 AM

Jingle Bells
Pony Boy
Horse seining song by Hobe Kytr..absolutely awesome song
Mentioned in Coal Town Road
horse with no name?
old nelly on golden wedding day [Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet]

Some beautiful ones about WWI..
something about horse infantry?

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: mg
Date: 23 May 13 - 03:23 AM

Short Grass by Ian Tyson
one horse open sleigh

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Allen in Oz
Date: 23 May 13 - 11:07 PM

Type in Wonga Springs on youtube to see what Australians are singing about horses

AD

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Dot Callery
Date: 24 May 13 - 09:49 AM

Tom Russell - Although a horse-thief song still worth looking up - 'The Sky Above, the Mud Below'.

Subject: Lyr Add: SHE COULD RUN (from Lacy J. Dalton)
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 24 May 13 - 10:55 AM

She Could Run
(Lacy J. Dalton ?)

It was in the dead of winter, in a hail of snow and ice
When the pride of old Kentucky came gasping into life
She was weak and she was wobbly
and her legs were much too long
But her heart was like a chalice
where the fire of God was strong
And she could run... run... run...

At six months old they noticed she was faster than the rest
By the time she was a yearling she was racing past the best
So they took her down and trained her,
but they never used a whip
'Cause she'd shoot off like a cannonball
when they let her take the bit
And she could run... run... run...

Now I've heard it said
A racin? horse is only born to run
Some say horses don't possess a soul
But I have seen a shining there
As bright as any sun
And that comes from only
One great source I know

Well, they ran her in the Derby and she won it by a length
Then she took the famous Preakness
in a show of speed and strength
They named her in the papers as a favorite of the crowds
A third win at the Belmont Stakes
Would take the Triple Crown
And she could run... run...
Praise be to Glory she could run

But on the morning of the Belmont
the rain was pourin? down
And the track was wet
and dangerous that day
The bell rang and they cried "They're off!" but the big Bay swerved and fell
And she went down
trying to jump out of his way

Well, the jockey heard her leg bone snap
as they slammed into the fence
"Dear God, don't let this be," he prayed,
but that's the way it went
She struggled but she could not rise ?
Her eyes rolled white and wild
As he knelt to calm her in the mud he cried just like a child
'Cause she could run... run... run...

Now I've heard it said
A racing horse is only born to run
Some say horses don't possess a soul
But I have seen a shining there
As bright as any sun
And that comes from only
One great source I know

Well, she never felt the poison they gave to end her pain
She only heard a quiet voice and felt a gentle rain
Her spirit raced towards the light and she became aware
Of blue sky all around her and bluegrass every where
And she could run... run...
Praise be to Glory, Praise be to Glory

Praise be to Glory, she could run...

Subject: Lyr Add: BALLAD OF THE ABSENT MARE (Leonard Cohen)
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 24 May 13 - 11:02 AM

"Say a prayer for the cowgirl" by Emmylou Harris was mentioned up above. The actual title is "Ballad of the Runaway Horse", an adaptation of Leonard Cohen's song "Ballad of the Absent Mare". Jennifer Warnes sings this as well.

"Ballad Of The Absent Mare"

Say a prayer for the cowboy
His mare's run away
And he'll walk til he finds her
His darling, his stray
but the river's in flood
and the roads are awash
and the bridges break up
in the panic of loss.
And there's nothing to follow
There's nowhere to go
She's gone like the summer
gone like the snow
And the crickets are breaking
his heart with their song
as the day caves in
and the night is all wrong

Did he dream, was it she
who went galloping past
and bent down the fern
broke open the grass
and printed the mud with
the iron and the gold
that he nailed to her feet
when he was the lord

And although she goes grazing
a minute away
he tracks her all night
he tracks her all day
Oh blind to her presence
except to compare
his injury here
with her punishment there

Then at home on a branch
in the highest tree
a songbird sings out
so suddenly
Ah the sun is warm
and the soft winds ride
on the willow trees
by the river side

Oh the world is sweet
the world is wide
and she's there where
the light and the darkness divide
and the steam's coming off her
she's huge and she's shy
and she steps on the moon
when she paws at the sky

And she comes to his hand
but she's not really tame
She longs to be lost
he longs for the same
and she'll bolt and she'll plunge
through the first open pass
to roll and to feed
in the sweet mountain grass

Or she'll make a break
for the high plateau
where there's nothing above
and there's nothing below
and it's time for the burden
it's time for the whip
Will she walk through the flame
Can he shoot from the hip

So he binds himself
to the galloping mare
and she binds herself
to the rider there
and there is no space
but there's left and right
and there is no time
but there's day and night

And he leans on her neck
and he whispers low
"Whither thou goest
I will go"
And they turn as one
and they head for the plain
No need for the whip
Ah, no need for the rein

Now the clasp of this union
who fastens it tight?
Who snaps it asunder
the very next night
Some say the rider
Some say the mare
Or that love's like the smoke
beyond all repair

But my darling says
"Leonard, just let it go by
That old silhouette
on the great western sky"
So I pick out a tune
and they move right along
and they're gone like the smoke
and they're gone like this song