Songs about Horses

Subject: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 08:48 PM

A friend recently connected me with a beautiful song called: The Last Trip Home by The Battlefield Band. This got me to thinking that I also know a few others that can bring a lump to your throat such as Garnet Rogers "Small Victory" and Brendan Nolan's "Old Ned". Any other you can think of? Stewball was a good one as well.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: frogprince
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 09:04 PM

I think the first song I fell in love with as a little kid was Gene Autry singing "Strawberry Roan"; he used to do it on radio, but I've never been able to find it recorded except for one verse on a three record set of Gene. Much further along, I discovered "The Zebra Dun", on Cisco Houston's last recording. Eventually those two horses got together HERE.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 09:54 PM

Thank you frogprince for those two. I know Strawberry Roam but the other stumped me.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Effsee
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 10:05 PM

How about Eric Bogle's song, "As If He Knows".

Subject: Lyr Add: OLD RED (Marty Robbins)
From: Arkie
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 10:16 PM

The x-rated version of Strawberry Roan is popular among some groups.

Two other songs about horses is Patonia and Old Red. I think Patonia is traditional. Old Red was written by Marty Robbins.

Old Red

Old Red was one of the orneriest yet
I've seen at the big rodeo
He'd bite you and kick you and stomp out your life
Old Red had never been rode

Meaner than sin, wild as the wind
That blew on the Montana plain
Old Red was one of the last of his breed
And wasn't about to be tamed

From Idaho a young cowboy came
To ride in the big rodeo
The young cowboy's name was Billy McClain
And Billy had never been thrown

The greatest desire filling young Billy's heart
To ride this old outlaw called Red
He drew him one day and I heard Billy say
"I'll ride him or drop over dead"

Old Red was wicked down there in the chute
He was kicking and stomping about
Billy climbed in to the saddle with ease
Then yelled "Turn him loose, let us out"

Old Red came out with his head on the ground
His back hooves were touching his nose
Tryin' to get rid of the man on his back
But the man went wherever he'd go

Billy was rakin' Old Red with his spurs
From his tail to the tip of his chin
He was doin' right well, but Billy could tell
This outlaw would never give in

Old Red was runnin' straight for the fence
Suddenly stoppin' and then
He reared on his hind legs and fell on his back
Takin' poor Billy with him

There was a hush in the crowd and they knew
This would be Billy's last ride
The saddle horn crushed Billy's chest when they fell
And under Old Red Billy died

Old Red lay still, no more would he move
The cowboys that seen it could tell
In tryin' to throw Billy off of his back
Old Red broke his neck when he fell

Out in the West is the place where they rest
This cowboy that never was thrown
And one foot away restin' there 'neath the clay
Is the outlaw that never was rode

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 10:25 PM

Arkie, I had forgotten about that one. Mary Robbins was a great story teller and Old Red was one of them.

Effsee,
I should have known there would be one out there by Eric. Don't know how the melody goes but the lyrics in reading then are very moving.
Thank you both.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 11:40 PM

Lots of songs with horses in them, but none particularly about horses.

I remember one about the life of a ploughboy that talked of currying horses, but I suspect that was grooming rather than a recipe.

LTS

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Joy Bringer
Date: 30 Jul 08 - 11:50 PM

I think when anyone thinks of music associated with horses the theme from the early seventies television show "Black Beauty" comes to mind.

Can't think of any songs associated with horses. In commercial music I always liked the one by America "A horse with no name".

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Marymac90
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 01:20 AM

"Tennessee Stud" is one that's been frequently recorded.

What's that Neil Young song with the talking part in the
middle? One where he sings about catching and taming a wild
mare, and how she'll be "just like a wife"! [Chestnut Mare]

Garnet's late brother Stan did one with a horse in the title.
It wasn't about the horse, but it was such a great story-
song, I hafta mention it here--"Harris and the Mare".

I'll probably think of more later...

Happy Trails...

Marymac

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 02:59 AM

Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's 'A Horse Named Bill'

eric

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 03:24 AM

Creeping Jane.

Subject: Lyr Add: CHESTNUT MARE (The Byrds)
From: GUEST,McGee
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 03:55 AM

Chestnut Mare by The Byrds

Always alone never with a herd
Prettiest mare I've ever seen
You'll have to take my word

I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can
And when I do I'll give her my brand

Well I was up on stony ridge after this chestnut mare
I'd been chasin' her for weeks
Oh, I'd catch a glimpse of her every once in a while
Takin' her meal, or bathin
A fine lady

This one day I happened to be real close to her
I saw her standin' over there
So I snuck up to her nice and easy
And I got my rope out
And I flung it in the air

I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can
And when I do I'll give her my brand
And we'll be friends for life
She'll be just like a wife
I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can

Well I got her, and I'm pullin' on her, she's pullin' back
Like a mule goin' up a ladder
I take this chance and I jump up on her
Damned if I don't land right on top of her
Well she takes off, runnin' up on to that ridge
Higher than I've ever been before
She's runnin' along just fine, till she stops
Something spooked her
It's a sidewinder, all coiled and ready to strike
She doesn't know what to do for a second
But then she jumps off the edge
Me holding on

Above the clouds
Higher than eagles were gliding
Suspended in the sky

Over the moon
Straight for the sun we were riding
My eyes were filled with light

Behind us black walls
Below us a bottomless canyon
Floating with no sound

Gulls far below
Seemed to be suddenly rising
Exploding all around

I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can
And when I do I'll give her my brand
And we'll be friends for life
She'll be just like a wife
I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can

And we were falling down this crevice, about a mile down
I'd say! I look down and I see this red thing below us
It's our reflection in a little pool of water
About six feet wide, and one foot deep
And we're comin' up real fast
Crawling down right through it
We hit and we splashed it dry
That's when I lost my hold and she got away
But I'm gonna' try to get her again some day

I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can
And when I do I'll give her my brand
And we'll be friends for life
She'll be just like a wife
I'm gonna' catch that horse
I'm gonna' catch that horse
I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can
I'm gonna' catch that horse if I can

Subject: Lyr Add: WILDFIRE (Michael Martin Murphey)
From: GUEST,McGee
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 04:01 AM

WILDFIRE by Michael Murphy

She comes down from Yellow Mountain
On a dark, flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
With a whirlwind by her side
On a cold Nebraska night

Oh, they say she died one winter
When there came a killing frost
And the pony she named Wildfire
Busted down its stall
In a blizzard he was lost

Chorus
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire

By the dark of the moon I planted
But there came an early snow
There's been a hoot-owl howling by my window now
For six nights in a row
She's coming for me I know
And on Wildfire we're both gonna go

We'll be riding Wildfire
We'll be riding Wildfire
We'll be riding Wildfire

On Wildfire we're gonna ride
Gonna leave sodbustin' behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,keith A o' Hertford
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 06:46 AM

Homeward (Home lads, home.)

Subject: Lyr Add: POOR OLD HORSE
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 06:48 AM

Poor Old Horse - though not the shanty, which isn't about horses as such. As such it exists in various traditional versions - see Here.

A fine version was collected by Jim Eldon at the Appleby Horse Fair, here it is with extra verses from Grieg & Duncan

Poor Old Horse (The Old Grye Song).

Once he was a young horse, he was a young horse in his prime;
and his master used to ride him, and he thought he was very fine.

Chorus:
But he's still my own, bonny sweet, who rode so many the mile;
over hedges, ditches, brooks and bridges, gates and cleared many the stile.
Poor old horse, poor old horse, oh cherry old grey.

And his legs and his irons have all goe to decay;
likewise he poor old body, it's all withered away.

Once he wore the clothing of the lindsay oh so fine;
and his eyes they sparkle, and his mane it did shine.

Out from the warm stable to the fields he has to go;
let it rain, hail, or sun shines, or the winds blow high and low.

Oh, he's stealing all my hay, spoiling all my corn,
He's eating up the long grass that grows against the wall.

They'll beat him, whip him, cut him,
Til the huntsmen let him go.
Poor old horse, poor old horse, oh cherry old grey.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,keith again
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 06:50 AM

Discussion of above song here.

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE HORSES
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 06:59 AM

ALL THE PRETTY LITTLE HORSES
(Hush-a-bye)

Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake, you'll have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.

Black and bay, dapple and grey,
Coach and six little horses,
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby.
Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby,
When you wake, you'll have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.

Way down yonder, down in the meadow,
There's a poor wee little lamby.
The bees and the butterflies pickin' at its eyes,
The poor wee thing cried for her mammy.

Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
Go to sleepy little baby.
When you wake, you'll have cake,
And all the pretty little horses.

"American Folk Traditional: According to Living Documents in American History from Earliest Colonial Times to the Civil War, edited by John A Scott, (Trident Press 1963), the song was collected by Alan Lomax, who learned it from his mother, who took it from North Carolina to Texas after the Civil War".

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/prettyhorses.htm


A sound clip of this song is included on this page.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Cats
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 07:00 AM

Jon Heslop has written a beautiful song called Horse Days about the horses that would race to be the first in the harness when the lifeboat maroon went up. The men had to run over the headland from Cadgwith and when they got to the farm the farmer had the horses ready in the cart to take them down to the lifeboat shed. When the internal combustion engine arrived in Cornwall, they were no longer needed but every time the maroon went up the horses would still run to the yard and stand ready. The song is written from the horses point of view and, even though I am biased when it comes to his songwriting, this is a stunner!

Subject: Lyr Add: THE HIGH METTLED RACER (Graham Pratt)
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 07:15 AM

Graham Pratt put the poem "The High Mettled Racer" (origin unknown to me) to a tune of his own I believe.

THE HIGH METTLED RACER.

See the course throng with gazers, the sports are begun.
Amid the confusion the betting is done.
Ten thousand strange rumours resound far and near,
As Lords, hawkers and jockeys assail that idea.
While with neck like a rainbow, erecting his crest,
Pampered and prancing, his head on his breast,
Scarce sniffing the air, he's so proud and elate,
The high mettled racer first starts for the plate.

Now Reynard's put up and o'er hedge and bush rushed,
Hounds, horses and huntsmen all hard at his brush.
Through marsh, fen and briar, led by their snide prey,
By scent and by view chase their long tedious way.
While alike bred for sports of the field and the course,
So sure to come through, such a staunch 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 turned out of the stud,
Lame, spavined and wind gone, yet still with some blood,
While knowing postilions his pedigree trace,
With "His dam won that sweep." and "His sire won that race."
And what matches he won too, the ostlers count o'er,
Loitering their time at some alehouse door.
Whole the harness sores gall and the spurs his side goad,
The high mettled racer is a hack on the road.

'Til at last having laboured, dragged early and late,
Bowed down by degrees, he bends unto his fate.
Blind, old, weak, and feeble he trots round a mill
Or draws sand, 'til the sand in his hourglass stands still.
Now at last cold and lifeless, exposed to the view,
In the very same cart that he yesterday drew,
While a pitying crowd his sad relic surrounds,
The high mettled racer is sold for the hounds.

Subject: Lyr Add: GRAY AND BLACK HORSES
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 07:20 AM

GRAY AND BLACK HORSES

I went to down to the woods an' I couldn' go 'cross
So I paid five follars fer an ole gray hoss.
De horse wouldn' pull, so I sol' im fer a bull.
De bull wouldn' holler, so I sol' im fer a dollar.
De dollar wouldn' pass, so I throwed it in de grass.
Den de grass wouldn' grow. Heigho! Heigho!

Through dat huckleberry woods I couldn' git far,
So I paid a good dollar fre an old black mar.'
W'en I got down dar, de trees wouldn' bar;
So I had to gallop back on dat ole black mar'.
"Bookitie-bar'! Dat ole black mar'; "Bookitie-bar!' Dat ole black mar'.
Yes she trabble so hard dar she kolt off my h'ar.

from Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes-Wise And Otherwise {Port Wshington, N.Y, Kennikat Press Edition, 1968; 45; originally published in 1922}

-snip-

The beginning two lines are a floating verse that's usually given as "I went to the river and I couldn't get across/so I paid five dollars for an old gray horse."

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: quokka
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 08:19 AM

There is a song about a horse - 'my shiny black Bess', otherwise known as:

the Woody Guthrie song 'The Unwelcome Guest', music by Billy Bragg. It's in the DT, search for "unwelcome Guest' and threads will appear.
Cheers,
Quokka

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 08:50 AM

Molly and Tenbrooks? from Big Mon

eric

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 08:52 AM

Thank you all. There are some great horse songs appearing. Insane Beard thanks for that link. Very interesting. Keith A., Homeward (Home lads Home)is a great tune. Never heard it before. Cats. Been looking but can't seem to find the lyrics but what you have written makes for a great story. Black Belt. Powerful sad song. Thank you so much. Good one quokka. A new one to me as well.
Thank you all once more.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Marymac90
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 08:55 AM

Thanks McGee, for providing the name "Chestnut Mare"
and the name of the proper artists, The Byrds.

Marymac

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 08:56 AM

eric, thanks. That's another one I forgot about.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: topical tom
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 09:13 AM

Several versions of the song "Stewball" can be found here

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: topical tom
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 09:24 AM

Another nice song is
My Pony Knows The Way by Tom Paxton

Subject: Lyr Add: HORSE DAYS (Jon Heslop)
From: Cats
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 09:25 AM

Beer, lyrics below. What is even better is that it is a true story. I heard it on Radio Cornwall when the son of the past coxswain of the Lizard lifeboat was on. As soon as I got to a phone I called them and they played the interview done the phone for me. When I arrived home I told Jon and within days he had written the song.

HORSE DAYS


My father used to tell me of his father's father's days
When men would come from Cadgwith up the steep and rocky way.
How that peril on the sea would send a fire into the sky
And they would stand behind the gate to watch the men run by.

Now no fire disturbs our ease, there's no longer need to run.
Willing men defy the seas but the horses' day is done.

When the signal called the farmer then the cart was brought in haste,
The boy would fetch the horses, not a minute would they waste.
The crew could catch their breath and ride, thankful for a faster speed
For every second saved on land could save a soul in need.

In time we learned the meaning of the fire in the sky
We knew we would be needed when we saw that star on high.
Over field and over meadow, 'twixt the hedges, down the lanes
We would run to be the first one to the bridle and the reins.

We each knew our duty, each to their appointed task.
Like the men who knew the danger we would never have to ask.
There was pride and there was honour in the job we had to do,
No reward except the knowing that the lifeboat had come through.

Came the day we were not needed 'neath the dark and stormy sky,
Horse and cart were superseded, we just watched the men drive by.
Now the fire is extinguished and the men go past unseen
But our story is remembered, like the fields forever green.

© Jon Heslop, March 2006

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 09:42 AM

Thanks tom. Learned Stewball long ago when I first picked up the guitar. Mr. Paxton's song is also a great one.

Cats, that is a wonderful story and thank you for the lyrics. Very well written indeed. Does Jon have this song on c/d?
Adrien

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 09:50 AM

Here's one of the best My Lovely Horse

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Susan of DT
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 09:53 AM

Tickle Cove Pond

Red-Headed Stranger

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:09 AM

"Pony Man," by Gordon Lightfoot - my grandson's favorite.

"The Old Gray Mare" came to mind during my group's annual 30-mile high Sierra trail ride this past week. All but two of nine are over 60.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:15 AM

Jez Lowe wrote one about Galloway ponies who went blind because of working in the mines.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:15 AM

Insane Beard that was a great laugh. Susan, Tickle Cove Pond is a favorite. Forgot about it. Love Ron Hynes singing it. Great Lightfoot song. Your grandson has good taste.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:29 AM

Guest Volgadon, could the title be Beaumont's Light Horse?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,greycap
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:31 AM

How about EmmyLou Harris's 'Say a prayer for the cowgirl' and Waylon Jennings's 'The Union Mare and the Confederate Grey'?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Cats
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:37 AM

Beer, not yet. In think he intends putting it on the next one but if you want a copy pm me and I will sing it onto a tape or CD for you when we get back from Sidmouth and Bideford Festivals.. unless you are at either where you will find Jon in the New Tavern and me in the Middle Bar and both of us in the Middle Bar on Lifeboat night [Tuesday] when it will get sung.

Subject: Lyr Add: DROVING WOMAN (Kev Carmody)
From: quokka
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:40 AM

I've found another one that most of you won't have heard of by indigenous Australian singer-songwriter Kev Carmody, called 'Droving Woman' from the album CANNOT BUY MY SOUL. This is a very powerful song about the death of a much-loved man while trying to break in a horse. (The horse bit is near the end,sends a chill down my spine when I hear it)

DROVING WOMAN

She buried him down on the edge of the town
Where the brigalow suckers on the cemetery creep
She stood with them children in a heavy brown gown
What you want you just can't always keep

"I'm sorry", I says, "I knew him so well,
Though your body is young you just never can tell
When the hand of fate rings the final death knell"
She just turned with the slightest of smiles

She says, "At the start well we knew it so hard
We were always dealt the severest of cards
Honeymoon spent droving Jamieson's stock
Through the wildest winter you've seen

Romantic notions of horses and land
They were soon dispelled as a fantasised dream
Watching cattle at night in the mid-winter cold
Turns a person both wiry and old

The flame of the breakast fire'd be dead
As the sun rose up he'd be miles up ahead
I'd be breaking the camp there and rolling the beds
While he fanned the stock wider for feed

When the weather turned sour with the onset of rain
And the truck bogged down to the axle mains
He'd move ahead with pack saddles and chains
And I'd wait in the mud by the road

With the blankets and canvas there hung out to dry
With nothing for heat 'cause you couldn't light a fire
With no stock permit for the forthcoming shire
The dog'd whimper in the winter wind rain

Cattle don't camp where they're sloshing in rain
They keep walking all night like a dog on a chain
He'd be red-eyed and weary with a pack horse gone lame
I'd sit miles behind in the mud

It was down through Charleville up to Julia Creek
Living on syrup and damper and salted corned meat
We had nothing but the 'roos and the mailman to meet
We'd move up and down with the rains

But them inland skies have the starriest of nights
With the dance of the fire throwing flickering lights
The beauty of its sunsets were a constant delight
I felt nature had let me intrude

The enormous vastness of them inland plains
Gives you a lonely contentment to which
you can't put a name
Its satisfied glow city folks seldom attain
They spend life on a right rigid rail

The kids got their schooling from the government mail
We posted their work at each cattle sale
They considered their learning a self-imposed jail
They'd rather help their father and fail

Early last month at the end of the dry
He was given a horse nobody could ride
Alert were his ears with a fire in his stride
He was young and his spirit was wild

To catch him each morning was an hour-long battle
We had to collar rope his near side to throw on the saddle
He'd bite and he'd strike, oh he made my nerves rattle
Pandemonium reigned with each ride

It was a hot summer's morning at the government bore
There was a stillness around that I'd never felt before
How could he know it was fate at his door
That was stealthily watchin' his moves

He mounted up quick taking slack from the reins
Grasped a full hand of hair from the horse's long mane
He'd just hit the saddle when the horse went insane
Churning dust in a frenzy of fear

The girth on the saddle let go at the ring
The surcingle slipped, it was impossible to cling
The horse felt it go, made a desperate fling
He was thrown to the length of the reins

I heard his spine snap like a 'roo shooter's shot
He'd busted his back on the concreted tough
Sickness and fear were the feelings I got
For the doctor was a six-hour drive

I looked at his face and his colour turned white
He turned slowly and said "I can't make it 'til night,"
My body is broken, I'm bleeding inside"
And the life slowly drained from his eyes

I'll sell up the plant and move here to town
Before the winter returns with a chill on the ground
For what I've just lost can seldom be found
I was blessed with the gentlest of men

Eventually the children will move to the East
But I couldn't stand the bustle of even a quiet city street
I'll stay in the scrub here where my heart really beats
For some dogs grow too old for change."

cheers
Quokka

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:43 AM

Thanks for the invite Cats but I'm a little distance from you. Just outside Montreal Canada. I am still very interested as to how the melody goes.
Adrien

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Teribus
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:43 AM

"The Story of Mongrel Grey" - Banjo Paterson

"The Horses of Ameland"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Teribus
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 11:44 AM

And how could I have forgotten:

"Pawkie Paiterson's Auld Grey Yaud"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Arkie
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 12:25 PM

Other songs that come to mind.

Widdecombe Fair (Tam Pierce, Tam Pierce, lend me your gray mare)
Which brings to mind The Old Gray Mare Ain't what she used to be.
Old Paint (I ride an old paint and lead an old Dan)
Wild Horse (fiddle tune)
Run for the Roses (Dan Fogelberg)
Pony (Kasey Chambers)
Commanche (Johnny Horton)

Ballad of a Runaway Horse written by Leonard Cohen, sung by Jennifer Warnes & others. Would this one count? May be song alluded to earlier by Emmylou.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 12:38 PM

Here's one I learned in grade school. It originated in an eastern European country, but I don't remember which one.

John, must you lend your fine horse for the fight?
Beautiful horse, black as the night.
John, if you listen and do as I say,
you will be gay, riding away.

Hide your fine horse,
- black as the night -
Deep in the fields
Far out of sight.

Then when the fighting is over one day,
You will be gay, riding away.

=====
The idea that ordinary people would have their horses taken away to be in battle came as a shock to us.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 01:08 PM

leeneia I hope someone come in and knows the rest. Very interesting.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 01:14 PM

Ed McCurdy did a beautiful talking one about what horses think about us, how silly we are to take our shoes off every night and why do we play on the grass and not eat it, and so on...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Volgadon
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 01:58 PM

"Guest Volgadon, could the title be Beaumont's Light Horse?"

Oddly enough, I think the title is Galloways.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 02:00 PM

The Jez Lowe song is called 'Galloways' ! And Jon Harvison has a song about the modernisation of farming called 'Heavy Horses'.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WONDERFUL GREY HORSE
From: Fergie
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 03:10 PM

What about this one?

THE WONDERFUL GREY HORSE

My horse he is white, although at first he was bay,
He took great delight in travelling by night and by day;
His travels were great, if I could the half of them tell,
He was rode in the garden by Adam the day that he fell.

When banished from Eden, my horse was losing his way,
From all his fatigues, no wonder that now he is gray;
At the time of the flood he was rode by mony a spark,
And his courage was good when Noah took him into the ark.

On Babylon plains he ran with speed for the plate-
He was hunted next day, it is said, by Nimrod the great;
After that he was hunted again in the chase of a fox,
When Nebuchadnezzar eat grass in the shape of an ox.

He conducted him home straightway into Babylon Town'
Where the king was restored once more and solemnly crown'd
He was with King Saul, and all his troubles went through,
And was with King David the day that Goliah he slew.

When he saw King David hunted about by King Saul,
My horse took his leave and bid farewell to them all,
He was with King Pharoah in Egypt when fortune did smile
He rode him very stately along the banks of the Nile.

He followed Moses who rode him through the Red Sea,
He then led him out, and he sensibly galloped away ;
He was with King Cyrus, whose name is in history found
And he rode on my horse at the taking of Babylon Town'

When the Jews remained in chains and mercy implored,
King Cyrus proclaimed again to have them restored ;
He was in Judea when Judas Maccebus the great,
Had rode on my horse, as ancient historians relate.

The poor captive Jews received these news with great joy,
My horse got new shoes and pursued his journey to Troy.
When the news reached Troy, with my horse he was found,
He crossed over the wall, and entered the city I'm told.

The city being in flames, by means of Hector's sad fate,
My horse took his leave, and there no longer would wait;
I saw him again in Spain, and he in full bloom,
With Hannibal the great, and he crossing the Alps into Rome

My horse being tall, and the top of the Alps very high,
His rider did fall, and Hannibal the great lost an eye;
My horse got no ease although his rider did fall,
He was mounted again by young Scipio who did him extol

On African's Plains he conquered that part of the globe.
My horse's fatigues would try the patience of Job ;
He was with Brian the Brave when the Munster men he
did command,
Who in thirty-six battles drove the vile Danes from our land

At the battle of Clontars he fought on Good Friday all day,
And all that remained my horse drove them into-the sea;
He was with King James when he reached the Irish shore.
But, alas! he got lame, when Boyne's bloody battle was o'er-

To tell the truth, for the truth I always like to tell.
He was rode by St Ruth the day that in Aughrim he fell ,
And Sarsfield the brave, at the siege of Limerick town,
Rode on my horse and crossed o'er the Shannon I'm told.

He was rode by the greatest of men at the famed Waterloo,
And Daniel O'Connell long sat on his back it is true,
To shake off the yoke which Erin long patiently bore-
My horse being /ill / he means to travel no more.

He is landed in Erin, in Kerry he now does remain,
The smith is at work to fit him with new shoes again;   
Place a good man on his back he is ready once more far the field.
And he never will stop till the Tories, he'll make them to yield.

From Here

Subject: RE: Folklore: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Murray on Saltspring
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 03:14 PM

There was a pleasant sentimental song in a Roy Rogers film starting "Old Faithful, we've roamed the range together". Not folk, but gentle and quite memorable. About fifty years ago I suppose.

Subject: Lyr Add: MOTHER COUNTRY (John Stewart)
From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City
Date: 31 Jul 08 - 03:53 PM

This one is not exactly all about a horse, but what a good one.




Title: MOTHER COUNTRY
Songwriter: John Stewart

There was a story in the San Francisco Chronicle that of course I forgot to save
But it was about a lady who lived in the 'good old days'
When a century was born and a century had died
And about these 'good old days' the old lady replied
"Why they were just a lot of people doing the best they could"
"Just a lot of people doing the best they could"
And then the lady said that they did it, "pretty up and walking good"

What ever happened to those faces in the old photographs
I mean, the little boys…….
Boys? . . . . . Hell they were men
Who stood knee deep in the Johnstown mud
In the time of that terrible flood
And they listened to the water, that awful noise
And then they put away the dreams that belonged to little boys

And the sun is going down for Mister Bouie
As he's singing with his class of nineteen-two
Oh, mother country, I do love you
Oh, mother country, I do love you

I knew a man named E.A. Stuart, spelled S.T.U.A.R.T.
And he owned some of the finest horses that I think I've ever seen
And he had one favorite, a champion, the old Campaigner
And he called her "Sweetheart On Parade"
And she was easily the finest horse that the good Lord ever made
But old E.A.Stuart, he was going blind
And he said "Before I go, I gotta drive her one more time"
So people came from miles around, and they stood around the ring
No one said a word
You know, no one said a thing
Then here they come, E.A. Stuart in the wagon right behind
Sitting straight and proud and he's driving her stone blind
And would you look at her
Oh, she never looked finer or went better than today
It's E.A. Stuart and the old Campaigner, "Sweetheart On Parade"
And the people cheered
Why I even saw a grown man break right down and cry
And you know it was just a little while later that old E.A. Stuart died

And the sun it is going down for Mister Bouie
As he's singing with his class of nineteen-two
Oh mother country, I do love you
Oh mother country, I do love you