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She comes down yellow mountain
On a dark flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
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 his stall
In a blizzard she was lost
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 howlin' 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
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
On Wildfire we're going to ride her
We're gonna leave sod bustin' behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire
On a dark flat land she rides
On a pony she named Wildfire
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 his stall
In a blizzard she was lost
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 howlin' 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
She ran calling Wildfire
She ran calling Wildfire
On Wildfire we're going to ride her
We're gonna leave sod bustin' behind
Get these hard times right on out of our minds
Riding Wildfire
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She is never found, nor is the pony.
The young boy has grown into a young man and still remembers his lost love, most often when autumn comes and the owl calls outside his window, reminding him winter is soon to come. He has never forgotten the young girl he loved, and still hold a torch for her: "She's coming for me, I know. And on Wildfire, we're both gonna go."
It's a song of desperate longing for a childhood love long dead... about how love never dies and burns forever, eternal, with the memory of the one we cherished.
Without doubt this was one of the most beautiful, just plain emotionally affecting songs of the 1970's. Between this, the Charlie Brown series and Dan Fogelberg's "Another Auld Lang Syne", my childhood was pretty damned moody. How about yours.
It kills plants. :/
@smarterthanyou2010....you're an idiot.
Wildfire was a dream Michael had about a magic horse. When he awoke, he wrote it down.
This is one of the best love songs EVER recorded.
The story is from the 19th Century, when Nebraska was still the wild, wild west, the settlers lived in homes made of sod, and life was hard.
She is either the daughter, the wife or the fiance of the singer. He loved watching her ride her pony Wildfire, she was a vision of raging life, and love.
She died during a 'killing frost' of the kind that blanketed the midwest in the winter of 2007-2008. The horse ran off, being spooked by something, and was never seen again.
By the dark of the moon refers to the time when the moon is full to when it is new again, and is the time that you plant crops that grow below ground, such as potatoes, beets, turnips, etc. The singer was following the old farmers almanac, but his crops were destroyed by an early snow before he could harvest.
He lay there in his cold, empty sod house, knowing he would die of starvation that winter, as promised by the hoot owl outside his window, which in native american lore meant death was coming.
So he waited for her and Wildfire...
Wildfire is a metaphor for something that takes you away from hard times. The song pays tribute to the bravery and hardships faced by our ancestors.
It's a masterpiece.
If the rest of your explanation is correct, I imagine the owl is there for the sixth night because the singer is already starved to the point of imminent death, and he's hoping this fantasy of woman and horse is coming to take him from his lonely life of toil and now famine. She is his preferred version of an angel.
Thoughts?
Otherwise, very touching.
When he says "They say she died one winter" I get the feeling he feels she's not really dead, because he sees her still.
But that's just my interpretation. Michael Murphy doesn't even know.
"There's been a hoot owl howlin' 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"
could not be clearer.
The introduction is elaborate because, whether he knew it or not, Murphey was setting the scene for us of another world. One none of us has ever visited. That's why the recording it has both a dream-like and haunting character.
With that being said, the song lays out like so. First verse he describes what he is waiting for. Second verse describes how what he is waiting for came to be. Third verse he describes how he got into the situation he is in to be waiting for the "Spectre of Death".