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A Horse With No Name Lyrics
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life There were plants and birds and rocks and things There was sand and hills and rings The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz And the sky with no clouds The heat was hot and the ground was dry But the air was full of sound I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la ... After two days in the desert sun My skin began to turn red After three days in the desert fun I was looking at a river bed And the story it told of a river that flowed Made me sad to think it was dead You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la ... After nine days I let the horse run free 'Cause the desert had turned to sea There were plants and birds and rocks and things there was sand and hills and rings The ocean is a desert with it's life underground And a perfect disguise above Under the cities lies a heart made of ground But the humans will give no love You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name It felt good to be out of the rain In the desert you can remember your name 'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain La, la ... |
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02-20-2002
04-08-2009
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03-27-2002
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04-18-2002
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04-30-2002
"You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can't remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no name"
Cuz It was just on the radio, and that makes alot more sense, and its sounds right-er
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05-14-2002
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06-09-2002
I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
(He gets through his troubles by taking unidentified drugs)
It felt good to be out of the rain
(His troubles are over)
In the desert you can't remember your name
(Because you're so #$^$in' wasted)
Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
(See previous answer)
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06-25-2003
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07-04-2004
[On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound]
The first verse talks about how in the beginning, this new relationship was full of life and a change from what he was experiencing before.
[I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain]
The "horse with no name" is the girl he had the one-night stand with. She had no name because it wasn't important for the purpose he was using her for. He was glad to be out of the rain, which was the tears he had cried since the breakup. The desert is a dry place, thus a place where he had no more tears since he was with the new girl.
[After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead]
After spending more time with this new girl, it began to remind him of his lost love, which was counter-productive since the whole reason he was with the new girl was to get the other one off his mind.
[After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
there was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love]
After some more time, he let the new girl go, since she had served her purpose. He was still sad about losing his original love, but sadly, he wasn't any better off after being with the new one (and is undoubtedly in a worse place).
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09-30-2004
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12-05-2004
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01-13-2005
The America album was released in Britain to moderate response. Though "I Need You" was discussed as an initial single, Warner Bros. asked the band to come up with another song that would break them on the radio. So, five months after the album came out, they went into a small London studio and demoed four new tunes. Among them was an enigmatic Bunnell number with a catchy rhythm that was initially called "Desert Song." Much to the band's surprise, that was the song that Warners chose to release.
The band went into Morgan Sound Studios (where Beckley had played bass on demo sessions a few years before) to record the song, with Samwell producing and Kim Haworth brought in on drums. At Samwell's suggestion, "Desert Song" was retitled "A Horse With No Name."
A tune as famous as this one deserves a detailed explanation, though Bunnell suggests that its meaning has evolved over time: "I was messing around with some open tunings--I tuned the A string way down to an E, and I found this little chord, and I just moved my two fingers back and forth, and the entire song came from basically three chords. I wanted to capture the imagery of the desert, because I was sitting in this room in England, and it was rainy. The rain was starting to get to us, and I wanted to capture the desert and the heat and the dryness."
The imagery came from Dewey's childhood: "I had spent a good deal of time poking around in the high desert with my brother when we lived at Vandenberg Air Force Base [in California]. And we'd drive through Arizona and New Mexico. I loved the cactus and the heat. I was trying to capture the sights and sounds of the desert, and there was an environmental message at the end. But it's grown to mean more for me. I see now that this anonymous horse was a vehicle to get me away from all the confusion and chaos of life to a peaceful, quiet place."
Bunnell adds an aside about his choice of language in the song: "I have taken a lot of poetic license in my use of grammar, and I always cringe a little bit at my use of 'aint's,' like 'ain't no one for to give you no pain' in "Horse." I've never actually spoken that way, but I think it conveys a certain honesty when you're not picking and choosing your words, and you use that kind of colloquialism."
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01-22-2005
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02-05-2005
I love the desert motif in songs, that's what originally caught my attention here. the bare expanse. all these interpretations of the theme of the song (drugs, love life, spiritual journey?) have in common is this bare expanse of "desert" where one is/feels alone and has to figure his shit out. the desert is SUCH a spiritual place, for me anyway...
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04-16-2005
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05-07-2005
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05-28-2005
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06-12-2005
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06-19-2005
-On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things-
Our hero starts out on a journey, and notices how much life there is. It's odd, to find such life in the desert.
-I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain-
The rain is where he started from- the rain is all his problems, so he goes to the desert, where you wouldn't expect all this rain (problems) to follow. I interpret this as his time of solitude, of finding himself. He sort of shuts off from life and looks introspectively, because out in the desert, there's only him and the horse with no name. The horse could be many things, I haven't decided what it means to me. However, one thought is it's his own desire to flee- the 'horse' is carrying him off to the desert.
-After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red -
As he's looking inwardly, he's finding a lot of crap he doesn't want to deal with. The solitude is getting to him. He can't live alone with his thoughts.
-After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead-
I think this refers to some sort of a relationship- when he left, he broke this relationship, and now it's dead. It could also be some character trait of himself (good sense of humour, positive outlook, ect) that was taken away when he was in the rain.
-After nine days I let the horse run free
'Cause the desert had turned to sea-
Finally, he can't take the solitude, so he goes back into the world again. But he doesn't go back to whereever he came from, he moves to somewhere else.
-There were plants and birds and rocks and things
there was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above-
So, he settles down into this new life, expecting it to be perfect. But he finds it isn't. Like where he came from, the water (problems) are still there. Also, there are the parts of the desert- he's still being introspective.
-Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love-
People are shallow and messed up, no matter where he goes.
However, I really like Tack's understanding of the song- very well put.
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06-21-2005
I'm pretty sure you are quite right. A horse with no name did become a slang for heroin. This song is about him being on heroin and then coming off.
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06-21-2005
I'm pretty sure you are quite right. A horse with no name did become a slang for heroin. This song is about him being on heroin and then coming off.
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12-07-2005
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12-21-2005
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12-21-2005
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12-28-2005
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01-07-2006
anyway, i got my money on this song being about heroin. even if the lead singer says its not.
05-17-2009
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