America - A Horse With No Name - 2005 |
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"A Horse With No Name" is a song by the band America. It was their first and most successful single, released in early 1972, topping the charts in several countries. It was certified "gold" by the Recording Industry Association of America. Songwriter: Dewey Bunnell; Release Date: 2005 Despite (or perhaps, because of) the song being banned by some U.S. radio stations (including one in Kansas City) because of supposed drug references the song ascended to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the album quickly reached platinum status. The song did chart earlier in the Netherlands (reaching number 11) and the UK (reaching number 3), than it actually did in the United States. The interpretation of the song as a drug reference comes from the fact that "horse" is a common slang term for heroin. The song's resemblance to some of Neil Young's work aroused some controversy. "I know that virtually everyone, on first hearing, assumed it was Neil," Bunnell says. "I never fully shied away from the fact that I was inspired by him. I think it's in the structure of the song as much as in the tone of his voice. It did hurt a little, because we got some pretty bad backlash. I've always attributed it more to people protecting their own heroes more than attacking me." By coincidence, it was "A Horse With No Name" that replaced Young's "Heart of Gold" at the #1 spot on the U.S. pop chart. The song has also been ridiculed for its banal, oddly phrased lyrics, including "The heat was hot"; "There were plants, and birds, and rocks, and things"; and "Cause there ain't no-one for to give you no pain." Randy Newman once described it as a song "about a kid who thinks he's taken acid". Comedian Richard Jeni mocked the song's title. "You're in the desert," he said. "You got nothing else to do. Name the freakin' horse!" In 1999 the literary magazine Lamia Ink published a short play by American playwright Meron Langsner entitled The Name of the Horse, in which the problem of the horse's name is explored. [1] |
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