Songs about Horses

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Beer
Date: 20 Nov 12 - 08:23 AM

Bring'em all in.
Adrien

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: 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: 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: Anne Neilson
Date: 19 Nov 12 - 06:39 AM

"The Baron o Buchlyvie"!

(See what a wee sleep will do!)

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: Georgiansilver
Date: 17 Nov 12 - 02:48 PM

Ride On by Christy Moore! {lyrics}

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: 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: 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: Beer
Date: 11 May 11 - 10:38 PM

Nice to see this thread refreshed.
ad.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Gene
Date: 12 Dec 09 - 10:00 AM

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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Mick Tems
Date: 06 Aug 08 - 05:07 AM

All over South Wales, and spreading northwards, the horse ritual called the Mari Lwyd is flourishing. Y Fari Lwyd (translated, the Grey Mare or the Holy Mary) is a midwinter custom in which a horses' skull, clad in a white sheet, is carried by by a man from door to door, the party demanding in verse (pwnco) to be let in. The people in the house, again in verse, take up the challenge to keep the horse out. Eventually, the people in the house relent and let the Mari Lwyd party in - the party sing a wassail (Y Washael) and costumed characters called the The Leader, Merryman, Pwnsh and Siwan (Punch and Judy) dance around the room.

We'll be going out with the Llantrisant Mari Lwyd this Christmas; the Mari Lwyd tradition is 28 years old. On New Year's Day, I shall drive to the village of Llangynwyd to see the oldest tradition going, the Llangynwyd Mari Lwyd, kept alive by Cwmni Caerdydd, the Cardiff dancers. An estimated guess shows 20 Mari Lwyds all going strong.

The Llantrisant Mari Lwyd song version goes:

Wel dyma ni diwad
Gyfeillion diniwed
I ofyn cawn gennad
I ofyn cawn gennad
I ofyn cawn gennad i ganu.

(Well, here we are, gentle friends, asking your permission to sing)

Mae Mari Lwyd yma
A sêr a ribanau
Yn werth i rhoi goleu
Yn werth i rhoi goleu
Yn werth i rhoi goleu nos heno.

(The Mari Lwyd is here, with stars and ribbons, it's worth it to give light tonight)

Mae Mari Lwyd lawen
Yn dod yn y dafarn
I ofyn am arian
I ofyn am arian
I ofyn am arian a chwrw.

(The happy Mari Lwyd comes to the pub, asking for money and beer)

Wel, tapwch y faril
Gyllongwch yn rhugl
A rhenwch e'n gynil
A rhenwch e'n gynil
A rhenwch e'n gynil Y Gwyliau.

(Well, tap the barrel, let it flow freely, it's Christmas!)

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 06 Aug 08 - 04:57 AM

One of my favourites is Enniscorthy Fair, a.k.a.Galtee Farmer.
Man takes his old horse to the fair to sell it; dealer buys it, takes it away, cleans it up, clips and grooms it and sells it back to him at a higher price.
Man's little daughter is the only one who recognises it when he takes it back home.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 05 Aug 08 - 10:28 PM

Jeff, that doesn't sound like it, but I've been fooled by lyrics before. Send me an email and I'll send you the song. dale8r AT hotmail.

Dale

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,JeffB
Date: 05 Aug 08 - 06:18 PM

DWR,

I'd love to hear those songs sung some time.

Could the name of that town be Canowindra? It's a country in mid-NSW a couple of hundred miles inland from Sydney, near or on the Lachlan River.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Black Hawk on Works PC
Date: 05 Aug 08 - 03:03 AM

Water for My Horses by Hoyt Axton

The Horse Trader by Jimmy Driftwood

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 09:14 PM

I did just now see an error in my transcription of Troy Cassar-Daley's song -- wondering, fast asleep should be wandering, fat and sleek. Should have paid closer attention to Paterson's original!

Another Australian song I thought of was Saddle Boy, originally by Slim Dusty and later recorded to good advantage by the Dead Ringer Band. You can find Kasey and Bill Chambers version on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfiZThR9e_I That is one in which the horse has secondary billing, but still worth listing.

Corrections made. -Joe-

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Beer
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 08:36 PM

John Williamson from down under comes to mind. Don't know all his material but a heck of a singer and writer. He does a great job at "Diamantina Drover" by Hugh McDonald. A tune that referees to in a way to horses.

DWR, thanks for all that info. and everyone else who has been posting. Been away for a bit.
Beer (adrien)

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Arkie
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 08:24 PM

Hopefully DWR's post will open the door to more suggestions from Down Under. There must be a number of other good "horse" poems and songs from the great writers and singers from Australia.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 07:59 PM

DWR-

Very nice choices.

Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: IN THE DROVING DAYS (Banjo Paterson)
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 07:45 PM

Andrew Barton Patterson's book, The Man From Snowy River, was published in 1917. One of the many wonderful poems in the book was In The Droving Days. I first heard this on a PBS special about his poetry many years ago. Sadly, my VHS copy of that show has long since disappeared, but I still remembered the poem when I started reading this thread.

So here's Banjo's original followed by what I think is a loose but respectful adaptation by Troy Cassar-Daley from his 1999 album Big River.


IN THE DROVING DAYS
By Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson
From The Man From Snowy River And Other Verses 1917

Only a pound,' said the auctioneer,
'Only a pound; and I'm standing here
Selling this animal, gain or loss.
Only a pound for the drover's horse;
One of the sort that was never afraid,
One of the boys of the Old Brigade;
Thoroughly honest and game, I'll swear,
Only a little the worse for wear;
Plenty as bad to be seen in town,
Give me a bid and I'll knock him down;
Sold as he stands, and without recourse,
Give me a bid for the drover's horse.'

Loitering there in an aimless way
Somehow I noticed the poor old grey,
Weary and battered and screwed, of course,
Yet when I noticed the old grey horse,
The rough bush saddle, and single rein
Of the bridle laid on his tangled mane,
Straightway the crowd and the auctioneer
Seemed on a sudden to disappear,
Melted away in a kind of haze,
For my heart went back to the droving days.

Back to the road, and I crossed again
Over the miles of the saltbush plain --
The shining plain that is said to be
The dried-up bed of an inland sea,
Where the air so dry and so clear and bright
Refracts the sun with a wondrous light,
And out in the dim horizon makes
The deep blue gleam of the phantom lakes.

At dawn of day we would feel the breeze
That stirred the boughs of the sleeping trees,
And brought a breath of the fragrance rare
That comes and goes in that scented air;
For the trees and grass and the shrubs contain
A dry sweet scent on the saltbush plain.
For those that love it and understand,
The saltbush plain is a wonderland.
A wondrous country, where Nature's ways
Were revealed to me in the droving days.

We saw the fleet wild horses pass,
And the kangaroos through the Mitchell grass,
The emu ran with her frightened brood
All unmolested and unpursued.
But there rose a shout and a wild hubbub
When the dingo raced for his native scrub,
And he paid right dear for his stolen meals
With the drover's dogs at his wretched heels.
For we ran him down at a rattling pace,
While the packhorse joined in the stirring chase.
And a wild halloo at the kill we'd raise --
We were light of heart in the droving days.

'Twas a drover's horse, and my hand again
Made a move to close on a fancied rein.
For I felt the swing and the easy stride
Of the grand old horse that I used to ride
In drought or plenty, in good or ill,
That same old steed was my comrade still;
The old grey horse with his honest ways
Was a mate to me in the droving days.

When we kept our watch in the cold and damp,
If the cattle broke from the sleeping camp,
Over the flats and across the plain,
With my head bent down on his waving mane,
Through the boughs above and the stumps below
On the darkest night I could let him go
At a racing speed; he would choose his course,
And my life was safe with the old grey horse.
But man and horse had a favourite job,
When an outlaw broke from a station mob,
With a right good will was the stockwhip plied,
As the old horse raced at the straggler's side,
And the greenhide whip such a weal would raise,
We could use the whip in the droving days.

'Only a pound!' and was this the end --
Only a pound for the drover's friend.
The drover's friend that had seen his day,
And now was worthless, and cast away
With a broken knee and a broken heart
To be flogged and starved in a hawker's cart.
Well, I made a bid for a sense of shame
And the memories dear of the good old game.

'Thank you? Guinea! and cheap at that!
Against you there in the curly hat!
Only a guinea, and one more chance,
Down he goes if there's no advance,

Third, and the last time, one! two! three!'
And the old grey horse was knocked down to me.
And now he's wandering, fat and sleek,
On the lucerne flats by the Homestead Creek;
I dare not ride him for fear he'd fall,
But he does a journey to beat them all,
For though he scarcely a trot can raise,
He can take me back to the droving days.


The place name in the first sentence of Cassar-Daley's song is a complete mystery to me. I tried various C and K variants of what sounded like Kanambo to me, but I got no results. Closest I could come with the choices I made was Koniambo which is in New Caledonia, off to the east of Australia and that's a bit of a stretch, geographically. After conferring with Arkie on other possible names, we came up with Colamba, Columba, Calambo ~~ well, you get the picture. Perhaps one of our Australian friends can set us right on this. Arkie also helped decipher some of the more difficult passages in Cassar-Daley's text.

By the way, lucerne flats refer to fields of fine quality hay.

The Droving Days
Troy Cassar-Daley
From Big River 1999

I was out at Colamba on a business trip
Tired, hungry and dry in the lip
I went past a sale yard and spotted a mate
I pulled in to see him just for old time's sake

Well, he was after a yearling that he hoped could run
In all the bush races for money and fun
Well, I was only there for a yarn, of course
But I found myself staring at an old drover's horse

He had a rough bush saddle and a single rein
Laid across his tangled mane
He brought up the memories that no-one could raise
As he took me back to the droving days

Well, my mind wandered off for most of the day
And I finally heard the auctioneer say
"Well, give me ten dollars and he's in the bag
Only ten dollars for this worthless nag"

Well, I put in my bid for a sense of shame
But God only knows why I felt his pain
He had a busted knee and a broken pride
So I'll take him home for his final ride

In a rough bush saddle and a single rein
Laid across his tangled mane
He brought up the memories that no-one could raise
As he took me back to the droving days

Well, now he's wondering, fast asleep wandering, fat and sleek
Of On a lucerne flat at Half Way Creek
And though he scarcely a trot can raise
He still takes me back to the droving days.

In a rough bush saddle and a single rein
Laid across his tangled mane
He brought up the memories that no-one could raise
As he takes me back to the droving days

As he takes me back to the droving days

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: kendall
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 01:16 PM

She was only a cowboy's daughter, but, all the horsemen knew'er.

I'm not a horse person, but those Budweiser Clydesdales are some of the most beautiful beasties I've seen.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ANGELS TOOK MY RACEHORSE AWAY
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 12:42 PM

THE ANGELS TOOK MY RACEHORSE AWAY
starring Richard Thompson as Henry the Human Fly

Well the angels came to see me today
Said "We've taken your racehorse away"
And I believe it was that bookmaker from Crail
I believe that he put one in her pail

All the finest in the field
Only measure to her shoulders, they only ever see her heels
And I believe every sporting man will cry
I believe they'll see everything come passing by

She won the Lanark Silver Bell and she stole every heart away
She stood her stand at sixteen hands and I'd ride her easy
But they've taken, they've taken my racehorse away

There's a racecourse in the sky
And that's where all the racing horses must go by and by
And I believe every steward, lord and groom,
I believe that they're calling her home

She would look at me in the eyes and that was all she had to say
She stood her stand at sixteen hands and I'd ride her easy
But they've taken, they've taken my racehorse away

Subject: Lyr Add: HEAVY HORSES (Ian Anderson)
From: Mr Fox
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 11:44 AM

Little Johhny England do a nice song called 'Early to Bed' about plough horses:

"Early in the morning
In the pitch black and the cold
I lead the team across the Yard
And wait as I've been told........"

And, though it's not strictly folk, this is a classic:

HEAVY HORSES (Ian Anderson)

Iron-clad feather-feet pounding the dust,
An October's day, towards evening,
Sweat embossed veins standing proud to the plough,
Salt on a deep chest seasoning.

Last of the line at an honest day's toil,
Turning the deep sod under,
Flint at the fetlock, chasing the bone,
Flies at the nostrils plunder.

The Suffolk, the Clydesdale, the Percheron Vie
with the Shire on his feathers floating.
Hauling soft timber into the dusk
to bed on a warm straw coating.

Heavy Horses, move the land under me.
Behind the plough gliding slipping and sliding free.
Now you're down to the few
And there's no work to do:
The tractor's on its way.

Let me find you a filly for your proud stallion seed
to keep the old line going.
And we'll stand you abreast at the back of the wood
behind the young trees growing.
To hide you from eyes that mock at your girth,
and your eighteen hands at the shoulder.
And one day when the oil barons have all dripped dry
and the nights are seen to draw colder
they'll beg for your strength, your gentle power
your noble grace and your bearing.
And you'll strain once again to the sound of the gulls
in the wake of the deep plough, sharing.

Standing like tanks on the brow of the hill
Up into the cold wind facing
In stiff battle harness, chained to the world
Against the low sun racing
Bring me a wheel of oaken wood
A rein of polished leather
A Heavy Horse and a tumbling sky
Brewing heavy weather.

Bring a song for the evening
Clean brass to flash the dawn
across these acres glistening
like dew on a carpet lawn
In these dark towns folk lie sleeping
as the heavy horses thunder by
to wake the dying city
with the living horseman's cry

At once the old hands quicken
bring pick and wisp and curry comb
thrill to the sound of all
the heavy horses coming home.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: DonMeixner
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 11:13 AM

The Last Trip Home, By Davey Steele.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Black Hawk on Works PC
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 11:08 AM

Colorado Horses by Will Dudley

Mandrake by Tex Morton
Gunda???? Grey by Tex Morton

Running Shadow by Michael Martin Murphey
Ponies by Michael Martin Murphey

Champion the Wonder Horse by Frankie Laine
Mr Ed from TV series :-)

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,JeffB
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 09:47 AM

Leeneia, I would be delighted to send you the tune of The Carter. At present I am waiting for Mr Offer to bake me a cookie, after which I will send you a PM.

Oven's hot and ready to bake. Just send me an e-mail if you have trouble with registration, or if you are already registered and need to know how to reset your cookie.
-Joe Offer-
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: GUEST,Briagha
Date: 04 Aug 08 - 09:44 AM

The CD "Gentle Giants" is a compilation of songs about Clydesdale horses, including Robin Laing's "Heavy Horses," the Davy Steele song "Last Trip Home" mentioned above, and Christine Kydd singing "Gone are the Strong Ones." Great album.

Subject: RE: Songs about Horses
From: Charley Noble
Date: 03 Aug 08 - 08:39 PM

Andrew-

And another fine song about horse sense!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: LIFEBOAT HORSES (Andrew McKay)
From: Crane Driver
Date: 03 Aug 08 - 06:42 PM

Here's my Lifeboat Horses song, called ... er, 'Lifeboat Horses'

It's a traditional story from Mumbles, the fishing village at the west of Swansea bay, from the days when lifeboats were launched from horse-drawn waggons. I really want this to be a true story

LIFEBOAT HORSES
© Andrew McKay, 2004

In the village of Mumbles, at the end of the bay,
They keep two fine horses, a brown and a grey,
When the signals ring out they are harnessed away,
To go down to the sea for the lifeboat.
And the lifeboat crew's coxswain he mentions with pride,
How the brown and the grey, they would work side by side,
By day or by night, at high or low tide,
To go down to the sea for the lifeboat.
To go down to the sea for the lifeboat
To go down to the sea for the lifeboat
By day or by night, at high or low tide,
To go down to the sea for the lifeboat

And also in Mumbles there lives a proud man,
With mutton-chop whiskers and gloves on his hands,
Who makes a fine living from the dead of the land,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat.
And he's got two horses, they're regal and black,
They stand in the traces, with plumes on their backs,
He takes many folks forward, brings none of them back,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat,
He takes many folks forward, brings none of them back,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat

But the black horses sickened, they lay on the floor,
The horse-doctor came round, with his potions galore,
He said "No more hearse driving for a fortnight or more,
In your sombre black hat and your frock-coat"
"But the squire's just died, oh it couldn't be worse,
I haven't a horse for to handle the hearse!"
Then he scratched at his head, and he muttered a curse,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat,
Then he scratched at his head, and he muttered a curse,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat

Then he said "These two horses, the grey and the brown,
They were bought and maintained for the good of the town,
They do nothing all day but just wander around,
And go down to the sea for the lifeboat!"
Well, the brown and the grey didn't quite look the part,
In the nodding black plumes of the old dead-man's cart,
But they started off strongly, and the proud man took heart,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat,
But they started off strongly, and the proud man took heart,
In his sombre black hat and his frock-coat

'Twas a stormy old day but they pulled with a will,
On squire's last trip to the top of the hill,
Till the signal rang out from the coastguard so shrill,
"Come down to the sea for the lifeboat!"
Well, the horses they faltered, and then they stood still,
And then they turned round and walked back down the hill,
Though the proud man he hollered and hauled with a will,
They went down to the sea for the lifeboat
They went down to the sea for the lifeboat,
They went down to the sea for the lifeboat,
Though the proud man he hollered and hauled with a will,
They went down to the sea for the lifeboat

They pulled that old hearse right out into the bay,
The mourners stood watching in shock and dismay,
As the squire's remains drifted out and away,
Going right out to sea like a lifeboat.
And from that day to this, the brown and the grey,
Have had nothing to do but to eat grass all day,
Till the signal rings out from the coastguard to say,
"Come down to the sea for the lifeboat!"
"Come down to the sea for the lifeboat!"
"Come down to the sea for the lifeboat!"
Till the signal rings out from the coastguard to say,
"Come down to the sea for the lifeboat!"

Horses aren't as stupid as some people think.