The song is NOT about Heroin!! I mean, seriously!! Does the band Godsmack's name refer to a deity on heroin?!?!?!
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."
Actually....In reference to that oh so bold comment about Godsmack...No, it doesn't refer to a deity on heroin, but "God's name is Smack to some." The quoted line is a line from the song Godsmack by Alice in Chains. It is the song that Godsmack got their name from. And that line means that Heroin is like God to some people. If you ever have done Heroin, you that would make so much sense.
Actually....In reference to that oh so bold comment about Godsmack...No, it doesn't refer to a deity on heroin, but "God's name is Smack to some." The quoted line is a line from the song Godsmack by Alice in Chains. It is the song that Godsmack got their name from. And that line means that Heroin is like God to some people. If you ever have done Heroin, you that would make so much sense.
It's good to read a post like SoundandFury101's, which lays out and explains the history of the song, rather than positing his own interpretation as fact, with little to no evidence. Not that authorial intent is sacred, but far too many are willing to promote their private interpretation as canon.
It's good to read a post like SoundandFury101's, which lays out and explains the history of the song, rather than positing his own interpretation as fact, with little to no evidence. Not that authorial intent is sacred, but far too many are willing to promote their private interpretation as canon.
To sum up - the 'meaning' of this song is simple as all hell, obvious and literal, but that doesn't change the fact that it's about the deep and sacred experience of the Desert.
To sum up - the 'meaning' of this song is simple as all hell, obvious and literal, but that doesn't change the fact that it's about the deep and sacred experience of the Desert.
The song is NOT about Heroin!! I mean, seriously!! Does the band Godsmack's name refer to a deity on heroin?!?!?!
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."
Actually....In reference to that oh so bold comment about Godsmack...No, it doesn't refer to a deity on heroin, but "God's name is Smack to some." The quoted line is a line from the song Godsmack by Alice in Chains. It is the song that Godsmack got their name from. And that line means that Heroin is like God to some people. If you ever have done Heroin, you that would make so much sense.
Actually....In reference to that oh so bold comment about Godsmack...No, it doesn't refer to a deity on heroin, but "God's name is Smack to some." The quoted line is a line from the song Godsmack by Alice in Chains. It is the song that Godsmack got their name from. And that line means that Heroin is like God to some people. If you ever have done Heroin, you that would make so much sense.
It's good to read a post like SoundandFury101's, which lays out and explains the history of the song, rather than positing his own interpretation as fact, with little to no evidence. Not that authorial intent is sacred, but far too many are willing to promote their private interpretation as canon.
It's good to read a post like SoundandFury101's, which lays out and explains the history of the song, rather than positing his own interpretation as fact, with little to no evidence. Not that authorial intent is sacred, but far too many are willing to promote their private interpretation as canon.
To sum up - the 'meaning' of this song is simple as all hell, obvious and literal, but that doesn't change the fact that it's about the deep and sacred experience of the Desert.
To sum up - the 'meaning' of this song is simple as all hell, obvious and literal, but that doesn't change the fact that it's about the deep and sacred experience of the Desert.